I have to admit to an initial discomfort at today’s gospel. Luke tells us Jesus has been invited to “the home of one of the leading Pharisees.” Jesus no sooner arrives for dinner than he begins to lecture his guests where they are to sit and that they should not take a place of honor at the table — they are to be humble. But the humility seems to be artificial, with the hope of being rewarded with a higher place by their host. Then Jesus lectures his host about not inviting friends or relatives to a dinner, but to invite “the poor, the crippled, the lame and the blind.” Jesus is a discomfiting guest to invite to dinner!
What is he up to? Is he giving helpful hints on how to win places of honor? After all, his disciples were mostly no-account people and perhaps longed for distinction in a privileged religious world. Is he advising his followers to pretend humility so that religious dignitaries would see their humble state and honor them? Certainly there have been and will be religious charlatans in the halls of the religious elite. However, Jesus taught that they were not to be concerned about exterior acts of piety as much as they were to have humble hearts prepared to mingle and eat with the least in society.
Meal settings are frequent and important in Luke’s Gospel. Did you notice at the beginning of today’s passage Luke says that Jesus told a parable to the invited guests? So, the passage isn’t a strategy for how to win honored places at the table, and avoid embarrassment in front of other guests. Jesus’ mission wasn’t to come to teach us good etiquette, or to suggest guidelines for advancing in religious and social circles.
If it is a parable it should convey meaning for the life of disciples. His contemporaries competed with one another to win favor in God’s eyes and show their peers how well they kept religious laws. They were the ones who watched Jesus when he entered the Pharisee’s home and observed his behavior. Hadn’t they already criticized him for curing on the Sabbath, associating with the wrong kind of people and touching the unclean and afflicted?
Since it is a parable we look to what it teaches us about our relationship with God and then one another. There’s no need to push our way forward before God to be noticed and honored. Some people who have much and are honored in their community appear more esteemed in God’s eyes than those who have little and may be afflicted. The poor, uneducated and stressed, would have no time to become proficient in the Law and be on a par with those Pharisees at table. But God notices the least and humble of heart and raises us up based sheerly on grace. We may be in the lowest places by choice or circumstances, but we are not overlooked by our God who, in Jesus, has come to where we are and says, “My friend, move up to a higher position.” (I like the earlier translation, it’s more direct, “My friend, come up higher.”)
Remember too that in Luke’s community there were many non-Jews converting to Christianity. They were late comers to the dinner party and, to Jewish converts, not as prepared or established in the traditions of God’s chosen people. Who hasn’t been to parishes and Christian communities where the influx of newcomers upsets the older generation whose parents paid for and built the church; or whose predecessors were founders of the religious congregations and provinces? We feel we have earned our places in our religious communities and then God comes along and upsets the established order. While we maintain our dignity and sense of earned privilege, God offers generous welcome and favor to the late arrivals drawn from the highways and byways to the Lord’s banquet. These people cannot repay the favor, but are signs to us of the free, unearned gift of God’s grace.
I don’t think Jesus is telling me, on my next home visit, to avoid the opportunity to celebrate with family and friends. Such meals maintain and build up deeper bonds of commitment and love. But I do believe he is reminding me to notice those who don’t have strong family ties and supporting friends and not neglect them. They need our presence and support, they need a voice to defend, protect and assure them of their human dignity. We must make sure they are recognized and given a place at the table where they can be honored and their voices heard. We don’t do this to get rewards from God, that’s in God’s hands — God’s very generous hands.
Meals in Luke’s Gospel are not just about individual meals, not once-and-for-all incidents in Jesus’ ministry. Each meal also points to an tells us something about the Eucharist, where we find ourselves as we hear today’s gospel. We are not eating in the house of the Pharisee where we are being watched and evaluated. When we entered the doors of our church today we again passed through the “Door of Mercy.” In the eyes of the world what happens here is all turned around. We are honored guests, not because of what we have done and deserve, but because Jesus is our host and has called us to be his beloved guests, and brothers and sisters to one another.
He hasn’t invited us because of our stellar performance in the world, but because he already loves us. His words and actions have convinced us that we are invited to this table whether “out there” we come first or last. So, we approach this meal with joy and profound gratitude that our host has seen and acknowledged us and calls us forward to be full and equal partakers in the banquet he has so lovingly prepared for us. Jesus is our host today and comes to each of us and says, “My friend, move up to a higher position.”