A Seat at the Table
Luke 14:1-14[1]
It has long been noted
that Sunday morning worship time is “the most segregated hour in America.”[2] That view originally related to the racial separation that is still painfully
obvious in most churches across the country. While there are some notable
exceptions, most people worshipping on Sunday morning still divide up into
congregations with people who look like them. Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
observed almost 70 years ago that this situation was “appalling” and a
“shameful tragedy.”[3] While we’ve certainly made progress with racial justice in this country, I’m
afraid we still have quite a ways to go.
Of course, one of the
changes that has happened over the last 70 years is that we have a number of
ethnic congregations that enable people in this country to worship in their
native languages and using cultural forms that they’re familiar with. And I
would offer the idea that this is a good thing, especially for people who have
only recently come to our country. We have many congregations in the PCUSA that
are dedicated to serving a particular population, and I support that. But, of
course, the ultimate goal of the kingdom of God is peoples of “from every race,
tribe, nation, and language” joining together to worship God (Rev. 7:9, CEV).
One of the ways we
still tend to separate ourselves on Sunday morning is that the members of most
churches tend to belong to a particular class, both socially and economically. We
have “rich” churches, we have churches that are “middle class,” we have
“working class” churches, and we have churches that target the poor. But there
is precious little crossing of the lines drawn by what you do for a living and
how much you live on a year. I wonder if perhaps this economic segregation
isn’t as much a pressing problem as racial segregation.
In our Gospel lesson
for today, Jesus went to the home of a “leader of the Pharisees” for a meal on
the sabbath day. Very likely he had been the guest teacher at the synagogue.
And while Luke tells us that they “were watching him closely,” probably to find
something they could use against him, Jesus went right ahead and jumped into
the deep water. You see, then as now, meals were a “social” event. Then as now,
you only invited people you wanted to come into your home to a meal you were
planning. That was not only part of their way of life, it was part of their
observance of ritual purity, which they believed was a way to honor God. But it
really just became another way to separate themselves from people who were
“beneath” them.
Once again, Jesus turned
the tables on them all. In that day, the seating arrangement was all about
showing off who was where on the social ladder. The better the seat, the higher
you were. And this meal was no exception to that rule. So he reminded the
guests who very likely had come to this dinner hoping to show off their status
that in God’s kingdom, “all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who
humble themselves will be exalted” (Lk 14:11). In the kingdom of God, your
social status, your bank account, or your record of “holiness” don’t count. In
the kingdom of God, what counts is putting into practice God’s mercy freely
extended to all.
After addressing the
guests, Jesus turned to the host. After all, this “leader of the Pharisees” was
the one who had set up this dinner party. And he had invited only people who
were part of his “circle of friends,” because then as now, that’s what you did.
It’s a way of reassuring yourself and others of how high you are on the social
ladder. And that was true not only because of the people who show up to your
party, but also because you could expect to be invited to theirs. But Jesus
told this dinner host to do something radically different: to invite “the poor,
the crippled, the lame, and the blind” (Lk 14:13). And he told him to do that
precisely because they would never be able to throw a dinner party where they
could invite him!
Jesus envisioned a
kingdom that “collapses” all the barriers between sinner and saint, rich and
poor, white collar and blue collar, Republican and Democrat, black, white,
golden, or brown skin, and all the others you can think of that separate people
today. In the process, he redefined what hospitality looks like. Jesus didn’t
just talk about the kingdom as a bunch of lofty ideals. He taught those who
would follow him to put those ideals into practice in their everyday lives. And
he applied them to things like dinner parties. That can get pretty tricky.
We like to have meals
in this church. That’s a good thing, because it strengthens our fellowship. But
most of our meals are after worship, which means that we’re the only ones who
show up. I’ll have to admit that this gospel lesson leaves me wondering about
that. I think about our little food pantry: it’s been used so much that we have
to restock it almost daily. We know that there are people here who need food. I
find myself wondering what more we can do to meet that need. More than that, I
find myself wondering how we can make sure everyone in this community knows
they have a seat at our table. After all, that’s what the kingdom of God looks
like: a seat at the table for everyone, and everyone gathered at the same table.
[1] ©
2022 Alan Brehm. A sermon delivered by Rev. Alan Brehm PhD on 8/28/2022 for
Hickman Presbyterian Church, Hickman, NE.
[2] While Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. is best known for this quote, he
credited the original observation to Dr. Helen Kenyon in an article entitled
“Worship Hour Found Time of Segregation” published by the New York Times
on November 4, 1952, p. 26. Dr. Kenyon was a former Moderator of the
Congregational-Christian Churches, one of the denominations that formed the
United Church of Christ in 1957.
[3] Cf.
Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., “Communism’s Challenge to Christianity,” a
sermon delivered on Aug 9, 1953 at Ebenezer Baptist Church, Atlanta, GA; cf.
also Stride Toward Freedom: The Montgomery Story 202; cf. also Interview
on “Meet the Press,” April 17, 1960.
