August 28, 2022 - The Twelfth Sunday After Pentecost - Seated at a Wrong Meal

 Pastor Sara presided over the service today. Luke 14:1, 7-14 was the Gospel text in today's lectionary.

I have learned to become aware when lectionary readings skip verses like today's. The first verse is an observation that "Jesus was going to the house of a leader of the Pharisees to eat a meal on the sabbath, and that "they were watching him closely". This clearly sets the scene for what is to follow.

Like those who were watching closely, let's try to watch Jesus closely here ourselves. The next verse says "he noticed how the guests chose the places of honor, he told them a parable." We are told that he was going to eat a meal but we are not told where he sits at the table or even if he sits at this table. Instead, he talks to the one who invited him and says:

When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, in case they may invite you in return, and you would be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.

We can talk about the patronage demonstrated in Roman or Judaic seating arrangements at this time and how Jesus is commenting on the politics of the table hierarchy but, for me, what he points out is that the true purpose of a meal is to feed people and a more fundamental violation is happening at this meal for those concerned about more than where they are sitting.