Scripture readings: Ecclesiasticus 10:(7-11)12-18; Psalm 112; Hebrews 13:1-8; Luke 14:1, 7-14     

Collect:  Lord of all power and might, the author and giver of all good things: Graft in our hearts the love of your Name, increase in us true religion, nourish us with all goodness, and bring forth in us the fruit of good works; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reins with you and the Holy Sprit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Homily:   Pray for me, that the words I speak may be those God wants us to hear.

The first thing that struck me about today’s readings had to do with how many lists of contrasting behaviors and results there were. The results of a life filled with arrogance, injustice, pride, insolence, and anger are contrasted with what happens when life is lived in humbleness, mercy, compassion, uprightness and generosity. Thrones of rulers are overthrown, and the lowly are enthroned in their place. The exalted will be humbled, and the humble, exalted.

Honor is a big theme in today’s readings, as are the themes of hospitality and caring, especially to prisoners, the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind.

Our Old Testament reading is taken from wisdom literature written about 180 BCE. In Ecclesiasticus, a major theme is honor, which in the Old and early New Testament world meant much more than reputation; it is a commodity used to achieve social status. Being a commodity, there is only so much to go around. Honor is received by the esteem of one’s peers, but the ultimate honor is to be remembered by God, especially via a legacy of descendents.

 In this reading, those who are supposed to be the most honored, the rulers, have turned away from God, to the detriment of the whole society. Their whole concern is their own aggrandizement; their sin is pride. The writer emphasizes that such behavior results in the ultimate dishonor, that of their memory being erased from the earth.

The verses immediately following this passage ask, “ Whose offspring are worthy of honor?” The ultimate answer given is  “…those who fear the Lord are worthy of honor in his eyes. The rich, and the eminent, and the poor—their glory is the fear of the Lord.”

The psalmist, also, reminds us that the righteous fear the Lord, and that these are known for their acts of mercy and compassion, their generosity, just dealings, and their care for the poor. There are benefits to be received from living an upright and righteous life…light shines in the darkness for the upright… they will never be shaken… they will be kept in everlasting remembrance… they hold up their heads in honor.

So a generous, just, caring way of life results in an inner strength and vision, and being remembered and blessed by God, the ultimate honor.

In Hebrews we are reminded to center our lives on God, and “keep free from the love of money”. A life centered on God is one lived in mutual love. This means remembering prisoners and those who suffer, whether they are physically incarcerated, or dwell in emotional or mental prisons…but mind that word “mutual” in front of the word “love” here. For we are not only to love our neighbor, but to remember that we are loved…by God, who will never leave us. We are reminded that Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever, the best example of faithfulness we have. We may face grave perils, but Jesus will always be there:

“The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can anyone do to me?”

The Gospel presents us with more about honor. The setting is a dinner, a favorite setting for teaching in the Greek and Jewish worlds.  On the face of it, the first part seems to be about gaining honor, that most important of commodities, in human settings.

But there is something deeper here. Note that we skip over a few verses between verse 1, which sets our stage as a meal in the house of a Pharisee, and verse 7, where Jesus observes the behavior of the other guests. What happens in those skipped verses? You guessed it…Jesus, who never goes from one place to another without doing something else on the way, heals someone…and yes, as usual, he heals on the Sabbath…and this person has a disease, “dropsy”, which is something like edema and is considered a defiling disease. Jesus doesn’t wait until tomorrow, he takes care of it right away. On the way to the Sabbath day meal.

 Then Jesus points out to his host that he should invite the poor, the crippled, the lame and the blind to his banquets. The reason Jesus gives here for doing so is that God is pleased by such hospitality. Jesus points out that even though in this life the Pharisee host will not necessarily get a payback, in the end, God will repay the kindness.

With this comment Jesus is turning things in the world of the Pharisee upside down. Not only is he healing on the Sabbath, he says it is important to include the crippled, the blind, and the lame in celebrations. These were considered outside the purity code, probably not the first people an upstanding Pharisee would consider inviting to a wedding banquet.

Luke says that Jesus is telling a parable here. Hospitality and honor in this passage stand in contrast with the hospitality and honor offered at God’s banquet, where all are welcome. Jesus talks to the Pharisee in terms he can understand: gaining honor in God’s eyes, and in the eyes of men. But for us, I think Jesus is speaking more broadly, about how things will be at the ultimate banquet in the kingdom of heaven.

The first line of our reading from Hebrews reminds us that hospitality to strangers is very important. The result of being hospitable is that you may be doing something wonderful without realizing it, like entertaining angels. You might recall the story of Abraham and Sarah, and the time they entertained angels. Or you might remember those 2 disciples on their way to Emmaus on the evening of the first Easter, who persuade a fellow traveler to share a meal with them, and discover that it is actually Jesus…

Have you ever entertained angels?

Thinking about this made me remember another story. Some of you may remember Father David, a former rector of St. Paul’s. He told us of something that happened to him when he was a student. Father David studied the Russian language and was a great lover of Russian culture, especially religious tradition and iconic art. He liked to read the bible and pray in Russian, and sometimes he would visit a Russian Orthodox Church in San Francisco to worship and enjoy the liturgy. Once, after an evening service, he was having a very interesting conversation with a mother and daughter; it was getting late, but they were having such a good conversation they didn’t want it to end, so the women invited him home for supper. They continued to have a really wonderful time talking over dinner; at the end of the evening, he thanked them for their hospitality, and was astounded when they replied that it was they who thanked him, for how else could they have entertained Christ in their home?

In their hospitality, they were able to do more than entertain the stranger because Jesus told them to…they came to see that, in a strange and wonderful way, they were entertaining Christ himself.

I have been reading a book called  Many Servants; an Introduction to Deacons  by Deacon Ormonde Plater. He talks about that passage from Matthew, where Jesus says “For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me”. Of this passage, Plater says:

“Here the symbolic meaning of the poor achieves a deeper dimension than ever before. The poor are Christ. Christ is the poor. The list implies another mode of the real presence of Christ, alongside his presence in the gathered people of God, in the word proclaimed and preached, and in the bread and wine of the Eucharist…”

This is hard for some of us, myself included, to see. Maybe we are more like that Pharisee than we think… but we are folks of faith, so we try.  We can say, “Okay Jesus, we know God loves the poor, the crippled, the lame, the prisoner, the sufferer, the outcast. We will try to invite folks in, even some folks that make us feel uncomfortable, because we love you, and that seems to be what you are telling us to do.

But SEEING you in them?…..I don’t know…… “

Now, I don’t think it would be too hard to see the image of Christ in Father David. I have seen the spark of the Holy Spirit from time to time in many people (and I am sure some of you have, too), and it is astounding and lovely to behold. But this perception may come more easily at some times than at others. Just last week I passed a fellow on an escalator in a hotel lobby who remarked that I looked like an angel. It was a lovely, sincere remark, that came out of the blue from someone I did not know, and believe me, I looked in the mirror when I got back to my room and there was no resemblance to what I think an angel should look like AT ALL!

Maybe that is what limits us, our perception of what an angel, or what Jesus, OUGHT to look like. Perhaps we need to take a little time and look more closely.

Mother Teresa of Calcutta knew this. She refused to be limited by the way things “ought “ to look. She kept looking until she saw Christ “in the distressing disguise of the poor”.

When she looked at the people she was helping, she actually saw Jesus. Because she could see Jesus, she could love and care for those God sent her in a profound and holy way.

So, in acts of Christian hospitality, we have two opportunities …we can bring Christ to those we serve…and we can find Christ IN those we serve. Talk about living in mutual love! And ultimately, if Jesus has anything to say about it, we all get to sit down to dinner at the Lord’s Table…together.

Let us pray.

Lord Jesus Christ, you have taught us that what we do to each other, we do to you; make us quick to help and slow to hurt, knowing that in our neighbor it is you who receive our love or our neglect. Amen.

 

 

(I used portions of comments from The Access Bible, New Revised Standard Version with the Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical Books, edited by Gail R. O’Day and David Peterson, (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999) in the preparation of this sermon. The ending collect is taken from A New Zealand Prayer Book (San Francisco: Harper, 1989) p.635.)