Personal side note:  My pastoral care issues just got a little more intense today.  Obviously I can’t go into details but I can tell (since it is out in the news around here) that D and J’s daughter was arrested for 1st degree possession and selling of Meth.  This daughter,K, faces some serious jail time.  The family is really struggling right now trying to understand K’s actions.  Please remember them in your prayers.  Thank you.

*******

The Gospel text for this Sunday (14th Sunday after Pentecost) comes from Luke 14:1, 7-14.  It is the story of Jesus attending a dinner party at the home of the leader of the Pharisees — obviously a ploy to gather more evidence against Jesus.  During this dinner party Jesus is tested and subsequently offers a couple nuggets of wisdom about humility and hospitality.  But first…

…The lectionary here surprisingly leaves out some important verses.  Sometimes I don’t understand what these lectionary authors were thinking — verses 2 – 6 are left out.  This section tells the account of Jesus healing a man with dropsy.  On the surface it seems kind of strange that this man would be invited to such a prestigious dinner party.  But William Barclay in the The New Daily Study Bible commentary series suggests that this man was invited by the Pharisees in order to see how Jesus would deal with him.  Seems to make sense.  So in the discussion of humility and hospitality it seems somewhat incomplete to leave these 5 verses out.  Unlikely conversation: A lectionary blog also agrees that these verses are important to include. 

Jesus sees this man with dropsy and questions the dinner guests if they would help their ox or donkey that has fallen in a well (the Law says that would be alright).  Nobody answers Jesus, so he heals the man then tells a parable.  The parable is about seating assignments at a dinner party.  Jesus suggests that you take the lowest seat so if the host asks you to move up, you will be exalted in front of everyone instead of being made to look like a fool if you are asked to move down.  It is a lesson in humility.

The second teaching deals with WHO you should invite to a dinner party.  Jesus says you should invite those who are not able to pay you back, for if you invite only your friends and/or family and they return the favor, where is your reward.  It is a lesson in hospitality.  This lesson in hospitality is then expanded on in verses 15 – 24 when Jesus teaches the parable of the Great Banquet.  Maybe we should include those verses as well on Sunday.

So as I ponder and reflect on this text, a couple thoughts linger within me:
(1) Jesus says "But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind" Just like last week I am drawn back to Luke chapter 4 where Jesus says he was anointed to bring Good News to the poor, proclaim freedom for the prisoners, recovery of sight for the blind and release to the oppressed.  In this text he is living and teaching this proclamation.

(2) There is some irony here.  The Pharisees invited the man with dropsy to the dinner party not because he was welcome, but to trap Jesus.  And this man is the very person Jesus is saying you need to invite to something like this (and more).  I wonder what the Pharisees were thinking when Jesus said what he said in #1.

(3) Taking the "lowest seat at a banquet" in the hope that you will be exalted in front of others is NOT humility.

(4) Welcoming only those that you like is NOT hospitality.

When have you experienced "true" hospitality?  Who is the humblest person you know? Who are the "poor" in spirit; those who are "crippled" in their faith; the ones who are "lame" and unable to move foreward in life and the ones who are spiritually "blind" that we need to reach out to and welcome?  How can we live this proclamation better?  These are but a few things I am pondering.  What comes to your mind when you read this text? 

May God bless your day with a love and peace that surpasses all understanding.  Take care.
-edh-