September 1, 2019
Luke 14:1, 7-14
How many people here today remember the “kid’s table” where all of the children sat during big family meals? I have fond memories of sitting at the kids table at my Nanny Knight’s house during holiday meals. All of us could “cut up” and just be kids without the adults telling us to act differently. The funny thing is, the kids table seemed to go away when my generation became parents. For some reason as we became parents, the idea of separating the kids from the adults when it came time to eat at large family gatherings seemed like a preposterous idea. And even though this practice has apparently run its course, I must admit I still love the kids table.
Where people sit to eat a meal is not limited to big family gatherings though. Just last week, the first week of school for most school age kids in the Triad, I overheard Amy and Emma Grace talking about where Emma Grace sat to eat lunch. Evidently by the time she made it to the cafeteria, her options went from limited to non-existent. When I heard Emma Grace explaining how limited her options were, I became confused and then started to feel a little frustrated and angry. “What do you mean you couldn’t find a place to sit and eat?” I asked. She replied, “well by the time I got there everyone had already chosen their seat and initially I couldn’t find a seat.” “Couldn’t find a seat? Why wouldn’t someone just move over and make room for you?” “Well it really doesn’t work like that. Everyone chooses their seat at a table and that is where they sit for lunch during that school year.” She then said, “Dad I figured it all out and it’s ok. Really.” Now I know this is her way of trying to reassure me that everything really was ok, but as you can tell, the idea that she could not initially find a place to sit and eat is troubling to me.
As most of you know, I love to cook, but my love really isn’t about the cooking. It’s about providing a meal and when it comes to providing a meal, making room for everyone to have a seat is huge to me. Which brings me to our Jamestown Community Farmers Market. Last year when we partnered with the Jamestown United Methodist Church to provide a free meal to everyone who comes on those Wednesday evenings, something magical began to happen. The aspect I most love about our farmers market today was born that first Wednesday when we set up tables and chairs for people to sit and eat because they did just that, sat down and ate. I wish everyone here could make the time to take part in this ministry, even if sitting down to eat dinner with other people is all you do, because there is something quite magical about it all.
No matter how many tables and how many chairs we set up, it always feels like seating is limited on those Wednesday evenings. This especially hit home at the start of the farmers market this year when there wasn’t a seat for our friends from the group home up the street. For the past two years these men, and the Group Home employee who comes with them, have only missed one or two Wednesday evening meals with us, but on that particular Wednesday there wasn’t a seat available. So I told my friend Bill, he’s the one who won four gold medals at the Special Olympics, to follow me, which he did. So, I took Bill down to our picnic shelter and let him know I would make sure Frank and the others found their way over to him. That evening as I stood and watched all of the people enjoying their time at the Market and especially enjoying their dinner together I realized that on that night we didn’t make room for everyone and I vowed that wouldn’t happen again. You see, those Wednesday evening meals that we offer during our Farmers Market are our weekly banquet offerings to our community and I want to make sure everyone has a seat.
***************************
Central to the very ministry of Jesus the Christ is making sure that everyone, the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind, are invited to the banquet and are provided a seat at the table. This idea of everyone being invited seemed lost on that Sabbath day when a leader of the Pharisees invited Jesus over for a meal. It was there, as he looked around at the other invited guests, that Jesus saw the exclusive nature of this invitation. It was there that Jesus saw the way those distinguished invitees angled for the VIP seats, because to sit anywhere else would be a smack in the face. It was there that Jesus was yet again reminded of the importance society placed on “Giving great honor to those who are distinguished. Of ignoring those who are ordinary or ‘defective.’ And of seating charts that are set up to emphasize the high status of some and the lower status of others.
Seeing this destructive social ordering yet again seemed to be too much, so Jesus, without anyone asking, did what he typically does and taught those in attendance about a new way of living in the world. And this lesson just happens to be about being invited to meal. This lesson just happens to include seating charts and food, and while on its face it is about those things, it is also about so much more. This lesson, like so many others, is about social justice and loving others and Jesus usest his particular setting to teach being an invited guest, being an uninvited guest and being a host. In other words, Jesus is teaching and speaking to everyone, both then and now.
Meal scenes play a recurring role in Luke’s Gospel and in this particular one the social dynamic of first-century life is on full display. If you were a person of honor, you did what you could to sit in certain seats when invited for a meal. Apparently, everyone either thought they were, or wanted to be considered guests of honor, so sitting in those seats was critically important, as though your own self-worth was wrapped up in where you sat down to eat. It seems to me that Jesus is speaking directly to that idea of self-worth when he begins his lesson about where to sit when you are an invited guest.
The thing is he is speaking to a group whose only understanding of self-worth comes from a society of social ranking, and he is teaching about humility. He isn’t denouncing the system of honor at meals, he is instead painting a much different picture about how one receives honor. Don’t only and always angle for the high seats of honor for there may come a time when doing so will lead to humiliation. Instead be humble and angle for the lower seats because there will come a time when doing so will lead to great honor.
Then Jesus turns his attention to the one who has the most control over the banquet and its guests, the host and his message to him is a bit more direct. It is also a bit more counter-cultural as his advice to the host throws the social ranking system on its head. “His advice to this figure of power in the story works to undermine the very system that upholds status difference at meals.” It is here that Jesus speaks directly to the system of patronage that always holds some people up while simultaneously holding others down. Next time don’t invite your friends, your family, or the rich people to your meal, for doing so creates a quid pro quo scenario. Next time invite “the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind” (14:13) for they can’t repay you like the others but trust me you will be repaid.
*************************
That one Wednesday evening awhile back is the only Wednesday evening that Bill and Frank and all of our other friends from the Group home for men with developmental disabilities, or anyone else who has come to our Wednesday Banquets have ever had to sit in a different section. The funny thing is, I don’t think it bothered our friends at all when they sat down to eat that one evening. They are so humble, and so kind, that I’m not sure it entered their mind. It did enter mine though, because we are the host. And being the host means making sure that everyone has a seat at the table. So far, we’ve done that at our Wednesday evening banquets and I trust we will continue to do so forever.
[PRAYER]
Amen!
Luke 14:1, 7-14
How many people here today remember the “kid’s table” where all of the children sat during big family meals? I have fond memories of sitting at the kids table at my Nanny Knight’s house during holiday meals. All of us could “cut up” and just be kids without the adults telling us to act differently. The funny thing is, the kids table seemed to go away when my generation became parents. For some reason as we became parents, the idea of separating the kids from the adults when it came time to eat at large family gatherings seemed like a preposterous idea. And even though this practice has apparently run its course, I must admit I still love the kids table.
Where people sit to eat a meal is not limited to big family gatherings though. Just last week, the first week of school for most school age kids in the Triad, I overheard Amy and Emma Grace talking about where Emma Grace sat to eat lunch. Evidently by the time she made it to the cafeteria, her options went from limited to non-existent. When I heard Emma Grace explaining how limited her options were, I became confused and then started to feel a little frustrated and angry. “What do you mean you couldn’t find a place to sit and eat?” I asked. She replied, “well by the time I got there everyone had already chosen their seat and initially I couldn’t find a seat.” “Couldn’t find a seat? Why wouldn’t someone just move over and make room for you?” “Well it really doesn’t work like that. Everyone chooses their seat at a table and that is where they sit for lunch during that school year.” She then said, “Dad I figured it all out and it’s ok. Really.” Now I know this is her way of trying to reassure me that everything really was ok, but as you can tell, the idea that she could not initially find a place to sit and eat is troubling to me.
As most of you know, I love to cook, but my love really isn’t about the cooking. It’s about providing a meal and when it comes to providing a meal, making room for everyone to have a seat is huge to me. Which brings me to our Jamestown Community Farmers Market. Last year when we partnered with the Jamestown United Methodist Church to provide a free meal to everyone who comes on those Wednesday evenings, something magical began to happen. The aspect I most love about our farmers market today was born that first Wednesday when we set up tables and chairs for people to sit and eat because they did just that, sat down and ate. I wish everyone here could make the time to take part in this ministry, even if sitting down to eat dinner with other people is all you do, because there is something quite magical about it all.
No matter how many tables and how many chairs we set up, it always feels like seating is limited on those Wednesday evenings. This especially hit home at the start of the farmers market this year when there wasn’t a seat for our friends from the group home up the street. For the past two years these men, and the Group Home employee who comes with them, have only missed one or two Wednesday evening meals with us, but on that particular Wednesday there wasn’t a seat available. So I told my friend Bill, he’s the one who won four gold medals at the Special Olympics, to follow me, which he did. So, I took Bill down to our picnic shelter and let him know I would make sure Frank and the others found their way over to him. That evening as I stood and watched all of the people enjoying their time at the Market and especially enjoying their dinner together I realized that on that night we didn’t make room for everyone and I vowed that wouldn’t happen again. You see, those Wednesday evening meals that we offer during our Farmers Market are our weekly banquet offerings to our community and I want to make sure everyone has a seat.
***************************
Central to the very ministry of Jesus the Christ is making sure that everyone, the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind, are invited to the banquet and are provided a seat at the table. This idea of everyone being invited seemed lost on that Sabbath day when a leader of the Pharisees invited Jesus over for a meal. It was there, as he looked around at the other invited guests, that Jesus saw the exclusive nature of this invitation. It was there that Jesus saw the way those distinguished invitees angled for the VIP seats, because to sit anywhere else would be a smack in the face. It was there that Jesus was yet again reminded of the importance society placed on “Giving great honor to those who are distinguished. Of ignoring those who are ordinary or ‘defective.’ And of seating charts that are set up to emphasize the high status of some and the lower status of others.
Seeing this destructive social ordering yet again seemed to be too much, so Jesus, without anyone asking, did what he typically does and taught those in attendance about a new way of living in the world. And this lesson just happens to be about being invited to meal. This lesson just happens to include seating charts and food, and while on its face it is about those things, it is also about so much more. This lesson, like so many others, is about social justice and loving others and Jesus usest his particular setting to teach being an invited guest, being an uninvited guest and being a host. In other words, Jesus is teaching and speaking to everyone, both then and now.
Meal scenes play a recurring role in Luke’s Gospel and in this particular one the social dynamic of first-century life is on full display. If you were a person of honor, you did what you could to sit in certain seats when invited for a meal. Apparently, everyone either thought they were, or wanted to be considered guests of honor, so sitting in those seats was critically important, as though your own self-worth was wrapped up in where you sat down to eat. It seems to me that Jesus is speaking directly to that idea of self-worth when he begins his lesson about where to sit when you are an invited guest.
The thing is he is speaking to a group whose only understanding of self-worth comes from a society of social ranking, and he is teaching about humility. He isn’t denouncing the system of honor at meals, he is instead painting a much different picture about how one receives honor. Don’t only and always angle for the high seats of honor for there may come a time when doing so will lead to humiliation. Instead be humble and angle for the lower seats because there will come a time when doing so will lead to great honor.
Then Jesus turns his attention to the one who has the most control over the banquet and its guests, the host and his message to him is a bit more direct. It is also a bit more counter-cultural as his advice to the host throws the social ranking system on its head. “His advice to this figure of power in the story works to undermine the very system that upholds status difference at meals.” It is here that Jesus speaks directly to the system of patronage that always holds some people up while simultaneously holding others down. Next time don’t invite your friends, your family, or the rich people to your meal, for doing so creates a quid pro quo scenario. Next time invite “the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind” (14:13) for they can’t repay you like the others but trust me you will be repaid.
*************************
That one Wednesday evening awhile back is the only Wednesday evening that Bill and Frank and all of our other friends from the Group home for men with developmental disabilities, or anyone else who has come to our Wednesday Banquets have ever had to sit in a different section. The funny thing is, I don’t think it bothered our friends at all when they sat down to eat that one evening. They are so humble, and so kind, that I’m not sure it entered their mind. It did enter mine though, because we are the host. And being the host means making sure that everyone has a seat at the table. So far, we’ve done that at our Wednesday evening banquets and I trust we will continue to do so forever.
[PRAYER]
Amen!
