Second Presbyterian Church

"Table Manners -- Thoughts on the Coming Kingdom of God:
Preaching From the Gospel of Luke"
April 3, 2005

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Sermons Homepage » Sermons for 2005 » Sermons for April 2005 » Sermons from the Series on Luke

#45 in the Series on Luke
The Rev. Daniel E. Hale, D. Min.

• Isaiah 12: 1-6
• Luke 14: 1-24

INTRODUCTION

The setting is at dinner on a Sabbath. Jesus is invited to a ruler of the Pharisee's house. They were watching him. They were watching him, because Jesus had already offended many Pharisees by calling them hypocrites and calling into question their rules and rituals concerning the Sabbath. The Pharisees were offended by Jesus' apparent lack of following some of their rules; especially rules about what you can or cannot do on the Sabbath day.

I
HEALING TAKES PLACE

There was a man there who had the dropsy. Basically he had retention of fluids possibly due to either a kidney or a heart condition. "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath, or not?" Jesus received no answer. He called forth the man with the dropsy and healed him and sent him on his way. "Which of you having a son or an ox would not rescue it on the Sabbath if it fell in the well?" They could not reply to Jesus' question. But the point is clear: In the Kingdom of God healing and rescuing people from the depths of their illness was not only legal, it was a sign of the compassion and love of our Lord!

II
HOW WE SEE OURSELVES

The next section Jesus tells a parable about where people sit at the table. Being a parable we are forewarned that Jesus is again describing what the Kingdom of God is like. "Don't take a seat of honor, lest the host comes and makes you move for someone more prominent than you. Instead, take the lowest seat and the host may come to you and ask you to move up into a more honorable place at the table."

Here we have to be careful. There would be little difference between going after the seats of honor and everybody rushing and competing to take the seat of lowest honor just to manipulate the host into honoring you in front of everybody else!

The point is simply this: those who exalt themselves shall be humbled. Those who humble themselves shall be exalted. Pride is everywhere, including the church! I don't believe Jesus is talking about personal respect. Everyone should to be treated with respect. I believe that Jesus is talking about the kind of arrogance that separates people; that puts down people. We all tend toward this kind of arrogance when we become secretly insecure and afraid inside. It's the arrogance that either secretly or openly puts down other people in order for us to feel better about ourselves. When we do this, we are setting ourselves up for the fall! It's the arrogance of believing that we are more deserving of the Grace of God than other people.

When it comes to the Redemption of Jesus Christ and the Grace of God, no one has room to boast. You did not make yourself a Christian. I did not make myself a Christian. Jesus Christ redeemed us by dying on the cross and rising from death! There is nothing there for us to brag and be arrogant about! Nothing!

III
HOW WE SEE OTHERS

And the next section takes this spiritual truth about the Kingdom of God further: whom are we serving? Hospitality is not true hospitality when it is among family and friends. Jesus noted that when we serve a meal for family and friends we pretty much expect to be invited to their place for supper.

True hospitality comes when we serve a meal and invite those who cannot return the favor: the poor, the lame, the crippled, the blind. And this is not charity! This is not a feeding the street people project! The Kingdom of God, notes Fred Craddock (Interpretation, Luke, page 177), has no "projects." It is not just about "feeding the poor; it's sitting down and breaking bread with the poor, the lame, the crippled and the blind. It's being in respectful relationship with fellow children of God.

Once again, Luke notes how the Kingdom of God turns the values of the world upside down. When I examine how I am doing, when I examine my performance concerning this, I am humiliated. I have nothing to boast about or to be arrogant about. We are constantly reminded by Luke to not make assumptions about people according to their status in our society. In the Kingdom of God the status is based upon the Grace of Jesus Christ and the person's heart, not his social standing in the city or in the congregation!

IV
THE KINGDOM COMES FIRST

Have you ever thrown a gala, invited the people, only to not have them come? Regardless of how important the excuses were, it was frustrating. The three reasons listed by the invited guests were good, legitimate reasons. One had bought property; one had bought five yokes of oxen; and one had just gotten married. Marriage was a powerful exemption. According to the Hebrew law (Deuteronomy 20: 7 & 24:5) a man was exempted from military duty up to a year after the wedding. We miss the point of this parable is we understand that the reasons for missing the banquet were just lame excuses. They weren't; they were very good, important reasons for missing a banquet.

And that is the point. What reasons do we use to turn down the invitation to Christ's banquet? When someone attends the banquet of the Lord he comes because that is where he wants to be - it's his first choice of where he'd like to be. I could be checking my new property, I could be trying out my new tractor, or I'm away on my honeymoon. I could be gathering with the people of God to worship God and to enjoy the fellowship of Christ and his followers.

I guess the question for us is this: do we do whatever we can to come and worship God together? Or do we look for a really good reason to miss coming to worship God together? No one's motives are perfect. But Jesus invites us to look at them anyway.

Why? Because as we grow as Christians, we must put Christ and his kingdom first. Jesus calls for us to accept His free Grace, then to place our entire lives into following him. We will note just how important this is next Sunday when Luke has Jesus talking directly about this subject. Amen.

The Rev. Daniel E. Hale, D. Min.