Good news, Bad news
Would you pray with me?
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all of our hearts serve to draw us closer and closer to you Oh God, our love, our light. Amen.
Whenever I read this passage I think about my wedding. Actually - not my wedding day, but trying to make a seating chart for our wedding. Ok, we need to put so and so here but if we put them at this table then you know who is going to get bent out of shape. We’ve all been there right? You go to the wedding and then head to the reception and you have to find your name on that posterboard in the foyer. “Ohhhh, they put us with Nick and Susan, ok ok.”
And just like the placards in foyers in golf clubs and community centre halls all across our great nation, the Gospel writer offers us this display of the first-century social matrix.
There were finely calibrated social systems at play in ancient Rome, governed by reciprocity, status: you knew who had what, who owed you what, who was part of your group and who was not. You knew who you should be seated with and which table you should be at, thank you very much.
Now, I have good news and I have bad news. Actually, I have bad news, good news, bad news, and then some more good news.
Bad news #1: apparently we have learned little since Jesus was cruising around. These past two years have unearthed what we had buried only just below the surface. All you need to have these days is a truck with a big Canadian flag on the back and most people in Canada will put you in a certain group. We make judgements on people all the time based on the cars they drive, the shoes they wear (or don’t wear), where they shop, how they eat. We are even bad for it in the church right? “Oh, I am Christian, but not that kind.” We aren’t ruled by Roman rules of culture and society, but we have made ourselves our own silos to fit into and know who are our people and who are not.
Fear Not: Good News #1 - Jesus offers us a different way - the way he lays out in this teaching in Luke, guiding us is a way of humility, echoing the words in Proverbs, “all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.” He offers the Pharisees a taste of the banquet of God - the way of blessing where those who are marginalized are included. And we can picture it right? In this church of progressive, social justice oriented, queer inclusive humans, right? God’s dream - we know it, we can taste it - God’s dream of guaranteed basic income, adequate stable housing, fresh local produce for all and a keen sense of belonging and belovedness. This is a dream we can get behind - if this is the painting Jesus is getting out the watercolours for, let me fetch my palate. I’m in.
Now, here’s the next bit which could be the rest of this good news, or the start of bad news #2: Jesus points to the reality that, yes, this is God’s dream in the eschaton, in the final reconciliation of all things, when the kin-dom, the Kingdom is realized…but more poignantly, this is a strong political challenge to the status quo - both of the Roman Empire and more and more what we see in front of us today.
And maybe, maybe we hear this and think, “Oh good, I vote right, give right, love right. I am doing this good work that Jesus is calling those religious people to. Fantastic, Jesus and I are painting from the same palate here, God’s blessings are mine.” But, I just want to offer a modern translation of this reading,
“Now,” he says, “when you plan your next backyard BBQ, don’t invite all the members of the Beach Street players or your local NDP service crew. Don’t invite your friends from choir or even your friends from church - no, when you are thinking about who to share that smoked brisket with, make sure you invite the guy you always shuffle past at Thrifty’s, invite your opinionated uncle. When you send out the facebook invite, make sure the lonely widow down the street is on your friends list. And don’t forget the neighbour whose cat is always using your garden as a litter box. Oh, and of course, your coworker on the other side of the vaccine conversation.
Turns out we might have a few different colours in our painting than Jesus has in his. Turns out we might need to get a little more uncomfortable. In this piece of Scripture - Jesus is talking to the religious people who think they are doing all the right things - we are the religious people who think we are doing all the right things.
Now: Good news #2 is that this is not a moralization on all the things that you are not doing. This is not a Jesus finger wagging moment. This is a reminder - a reminder of how we might align ourselves more closely with God’s dream for the world, God’s dream which is rooted and grounded in love: love for all. This is a reminder that there is so much love poured out all over us, that we don’t have to fear being uncomfortable or pushing past our old ideas or confronting the places where maybe we have become too complacent.
This Good News #2 is actually the BIG, capital G capital N Good news of the Gospel that Jesus shared - the good news that all are welcome at Gods table. Today, and in the great BBQ in the next realm. And if you, if we, are fortunate enough to know that we are a part of the dinner party, its up to us to make sure there are seats enough for everyone - that the invites have been made and sent, and the salad forks are out. It is up to us to hear this reminder, let it be the impetus to shake the dust off, and see where we have become a little crusty, a little too comfy, maybe stuck in our own ideas.
So, dear ones, I challenge you. Not to do more things or better things, not first anyway. No, I challenge you first to claim your place as a child of God - you know you are - I told you all those years ago when I preached here last, I will tell it to you again today: you are precious, you are beloved, there is nothing you can do to break the web of God’s love that holds and sustains you. So first things first, claim it. But as Jesus guides us, claim it, not to sit at the head of the table, but to be able to relinquish that spot. Claim it so you can offer your seat to another. Claim it and give it away, because that is where God’s blessings lie, that is how God’s love is shared and increased.
May we dare to live into this challenge, this great good news, one piece of discomfort at a time.
Amen