Day 1357 - No shirt, no shoes, no meal

A sermon shared with Northside Presbyterian Church, August 28, 2016, Chattanooga, TN

OT reading:  Proverbs 25: 6-7

NT reading: Luke 14:1, 7-14

Why would I choose such a title for a reflection upon a scripture passage concerning the fellowship of the common table? As I recall that sign became widespread on the door or front window of diners, restaurants, drug stores and other places of business in the 60’s and 70’s. It was a response to the informal ways of many youth of the time. Besides offending their sensibilities, many people assumed a shirtless and/or shoeless youth who also perhaps had long hair was a trouble maker or worse, a hippie that did not merit a welcome. Quite simply, the title captures our passage in Luke by counter-example.

These verses really are connected to last Sunday’s reading, Luke 13:10-17. As you may recall, that passage was about a leader of the synagogue who accused Jesus of violating the Law by healing a woman suffering an 18 year-long crippling illness, an illness at the time considered caused by an evil spirit or sin. On its face it was about working on the sabbath, but Jesus said it was about freeing someone from illness or sin. The essence of that teaching is to read scripture not literally but with discernment, prayer and humility to listen for the Holy Spirit to guide our decisions about doing the right thing.

Today we find ourselves with Jesus on the Sabbath at the home of the chief Pharisee, who may be the one who challenged Jesus about working on the sabbath last week. (see verses 2-6). The Pharisee invites Jesus to a common meal, maybe for an illicit purpose. Verse 1 says, “On one occasion when Jesus was going to the house of a leader of the Pharisees to eat a meal on the sabbath, they were watching him closely.”

You’ve all read the new testament and know that meals are a very common and central event – the Lord’s Supper and feeding the 5,000 are two examples. Reviewing the nature of the common meal in Jewish life in Ancient Palestine helps us here.

When Job lamented his unmerited woes in Job 31:16-17, he asked, “(Have) I have withheld anything that the poor desired, or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail, or have eaten my morsel alone” - in other words, has he shirked his obligation to provide the common meal.

People often believed guests were sent by God. Do you recall the occasion when Sari laughed in reaction to the words of the three divine visitors to Abraham (Gen. 18). Hospitality and the common meal can be a sacred duty as well as the social event that holds together the fabric of religious and family life.

The attitude towards meals is not limited to Jews but was and is widespread in Palestine.  Etiquette requires the hospitality of eating the common meal.

Eating alone was disliked and even wrong as Job noted. After a meal has been prepared an Arab has been heard to call out an invitation to all three times from a high spot in the neighborhood to come and partake of the meal.

You might be surprised at how this value of the common table persists in Palestinian life today. A modern Palestinian described the value of the ancient practice of the common table this way, quite closely reflecting the circumstances of Jesus’ time.

“The Palestinians' political experience and reality have served to further strengthen family ties. With no real government-sponsored social safety-net, and with the lack of a functioning economy or enough independent government institutions or even enough banks to provide home or student loans, Palestinians have to rely on family and neighbors to fill the gaps. The family serves as the primary source of identity and extended families live together in compounds or villas divided into apartments for all male sons and their families. Palestinians place a high premium on generosity and hospitality, as does Arab culture in general. Palestinian homes are always ready to receive an unannounced guest with food, sweets and Arabic or Turkish coffee. Visits with family and neighbors are commonplace, often occurring once or twice a week.”

The invitation to a meal is an honor in itself. It is a bonding experience of collegiality in the face of the oppression of the world. The shared meal strengthens the fabric of social structure of religious communities, even if in this case it may have been intended to strengthen the Pharisee’s social group and weaken that of Jesus.

In this common meal Jesus observes the invited guests prideful jockeying for the better seat. Jesus is moved to share a parable dealing first with the guests, then the host.

He says when you are invited to a common meal, say a wedding feast (today, a business luncheon or party for a friend) don’t angle for the seats near the guest speaker or distinguished guest because you may end up having your pride injured by being asked to move to the end of the line. If you go to the end of the line first, you may experience the host honoring you by asking you to move up to a seat beside the principal guest.

But don’t you think Jesus is offering common sense? Who wants to go into a crowd and be embarrassed by being asked to move down a seat or two or more, so someone can be seated in your place and reflect a higher esteem than you are held?

Remember parables use a common sense to make a point beyond common sense understanding. Jesus is talk about something more important than seating arrangements. He appeals not to the common sense of the invited guests to avoid pride and an injured ego, but to deny pride and embrace humility. Jesus concludes, “ ¹¹ For all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.” The meal is a vehicle for a message about pride and humility.

Jesus emphasized this by continuing to address the behavior and attitude of the host. He takes the host to task for inviting the rich and famous who may offer the host a benefit either financially or by raising personal stature. “Don’t invite the people who might repay you in kind or otherwise, rather invite those who have no chance of paying you.  Why?  Because your compassion will be repaid in the resurrection of the righteous. They will be exalted.

Reflection:

 Think about what Jesus has done. He has taken a situation where people are using the common meal not to build the social fabric but to gain personal reward, the attendees by rubbing shoulders with the rich and powerful, the host by encumbering the guests with an obligation to respond in kind.

The force of this parable about the common meal would not be lost in the times of this story.  What about the common meal strengthens social and religious cohesion?  I suggest it is the humility required in both invited attendees and host to acknowledge the solidarity and grace that comes from the attitude, “These are the people with whom I share a common value.” When Jesus says “the people” he means everyone.

This gives me pause. Have we lost something of great value by letting go of the old “pot luck” dinners at church and at homes of relatives? I long for the old family get-togethers at Easter and Christmas when I caught up with the stories of cousins, aunts and uncles, great aunts and great uncles. Those meals cemented our place in the family life. Taking the time to cook and bring a favorite dish to a congregational dinner shares hospitality that makes you and the partakers part of the whole congregation. Perhaps we ought to revive this lost practice?  I can hear the thoughts why it won’t work; however, as next week’s lesson from Luke tells us we have to give up something to get something.

As usual, Jesus turns an ordinary event, a meal, into a lesson not about rules for conduct at meals and who to invite, but about ways of living the humble life as a follower of Jesus. Jesus reminds us of his earlier teachings on pride and humility. Do you remember the one about drinking from his cup, of having to serve to be served?

But maybe focusing on the common meal is a good place to put humility into practice. Often we go to a reception looking for the table with a place card holding our name, or the name of the group we represent. The usual reason for the place card is our normal action to look for the best seat. Do we try to arrive at important social gatherings early, looking for a good seat? Maybe not all the time, but I’m willing to think sometimes we take more pride in the invitation and being counted among friends of the host.

Remember Jesus does not let the host off the hook. Who do we invite to our get-togethers?...Friends, people who might give us an edge in business or relationships either as customers or employees or is it collegiality? Do we invite people we like to cement our social group, rather than people of the broader community for whom the good news was sent?

Jesus is pretty clear about embracing an two-way attitude of humility towards the world. It applies to those who are invited and to the ones who invite.

But it still seems easier to keep the focus on the concrete meal than the implications of his declaration in John’s gospel, “I am the bread of life…” Or, the caution to his disciples of the narrow road and need for intentional humility when we feel the urge to let pride prevail. We don’t think about him chiding James and John wanting to celebrate sitting next to the King, but asking, “Are you prepared to drink from my cup?” (Mk 10)

Perhaps a more concrete example captures the parable. How often do we exercise the pride of self-centered thinking when we pull into a parking lot taking the closest space to the entrance of the store? What happens when an elderly person comes in that doesn’t have handicap plates but has great difficulty walking from the back of the lot to the entry of the store? How often on the road do we speed up when someone tries to pass us to slip into the lane ahead of us? Do we shake our fist, utter an expletive, or wave them in?

Among a crowd of strangers do we look for and move towards people we know rather than strike up a conversation with someone we don’t know?  

I know in these days we all worry about threats to our personal safety and I don’t advise discarding common sense.  But how often do we walk down the street and pass by someone who looks poor or homeless and worry they may panhandle us so we just walk on by avoiding eye-contact?  Even when we feel safe and comfortable how often do we ignore and avoid acknowledging the people who make us uncomfortable because we instantly judge they are less important than us, or a bother.

My point is pride victimizes us all even when humility ought to carry the day. It is a hard road not do that. It takes a lot of work and practice instinctively to walk half-way across the parking lot of Publix in the rain so someone who needs a closer space gets it. It might mean saying “Hello” to the person we pass on the street knowing we might be asked for money and have to decide how the best way to answer. Making humble acts one’s normal, unthinking action is a hard job that takes a lot of practice.

The real test for all of us succumbing to the Christ-like humility in this parable is do we hang signs that say, “No shirt, no shoes, no meal meaning we don’t want your type around here, go back where you came from?” In other words, the true proof of a humble person is whether we work every day to be sure humility is written in our heart.

Amen.