Where Does It Stop?

Keeping it all

A number of years ago I was told that Bill Gates would lose more money stopping and picking up a $100 bill than if he simply left it on the ground and kept walking to his next appointment or destination. Now Bill and Melinda Gates do a lot of charity and work closely to end malaria, but at the same time they are worth a lot of money. I have also been reading a lot about the pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong and one of the articles I read was about how two of the richest men in Hong Kong have lost over a billion dollars each, and their net worth is around $13 billon or so each. I also recently read a story, though I can’t remember who it was, who said they had several hundred million dollars and that this kind of money could last them several lifetimes.

So what do you do with money that you don’t need because it could last you several lifetimes? In ancient Egypt the pharaohs were buried with much of their treasure so that they could take it with them to the afterlife. This notion was not unique to Egypt though. It happened in much of the world as well at that time. The way you often got wealthy was by associating with other wealthy people and making business and marriage arrangements to ensure that your wealth increased.

One of the best ways to make those connections was by having people over to dinner. It was a great way to meet or re-connect with people, but it was also a way to show others the wealth you had. It also served the purpose of then having that person invite you over to their dinner party since you had invited them. It was the socially right thing to do and it ensured that you stayed in the right crowds. That concept hasn’t changed much over the centuries.

Healing at Dinner

That is exactly the situation Jesus finds himself in when he is invited to be at a dinner party with some Pharisees. This dinner was a gathering of the religious elite in society and as our text tells us the main reason Jesus was invited was so that they could watch him closely. Our text skips this story that comes before the teaching on hospitality and humility, but in a lot of what I have read I have seen that these two stories are undeniably connected to one another.

Luke 14:2-

Luke 14:2–4 NRSV

Just then, in front of him, there was a man who had dropsy. And Jesus asked the lawyers and Pharisees, “Is it lawful to cure people on the sabbath, or not?” But they were silent. So Jesus took him and healed him, and sent him away.

Jesus cures a man from dropsy in the story. He does yet another healing on the Sabbath, but this time Jesus confronts them before the healing and further drives his point home after the healing. And none of the Pharisees, even though they were watching him closely, could not argue with Jesus about healing this man. Dropsy is a disease that causes a person to become waterlogged and yet they are always thirsty. Not only was it a disease, but in society at that time it also became a metaphor for a person who had an unquenchable desire which fell into the category of sin and a failing of self-control on a persons part.

Connecting the Stories

Then our author tells us that Jesus tells them a parable. Now, this parable doesn’t sound like any other parable we’ve ever heard before. Instead it sounds like a story about going against the culture of inviting people of honor to a banquet and about being exalted by sitting lower than you think of yourself. However, if you connect the stories together then you can see how it can be a parable.

Jesus cures a man who suffered from a disease that was all about never being satisfied or filled, and here Jesus is sitting at a table where the host has hand selected the people he wants at his table because they represent people who can help him. People who can reciprocate and help fulfill what he needs. In other words Jesus is sitting around a table with people who have metaphorical dropsy. These people have an insatiable appetite for their status and to keep the status quo for them that they are inviting only those who will fulfill that role for them.

The parable isn’t just about inviting people to a wedding banquet and sitting at places of honor, but it is about ridding oneself of the unquenchable desire to move up the ranks and increase your wealth by only associating with those who can improve that status.

Leveling the Playing Field

God doesn’t want us to improve our status and gain wealth that would last us several lifetimes if the whole purpose of it was simply to gain wealth and take it with us, which we know cannot happen anyway. We talked about that several weeks ago, that earthly treasure cannot come with us, but God’s treasure can.

The parable today not only warns against that unquenchable desire for wealth and status, but it also teaches us about how God sees God’s kingdom. God desires a level playing field where rich and poor are at the same table. Where all people are seen as the same in the eyes of God so that the haughty can be humbled and the lowly exalted to the same level knowing that through God all people are called children. All people are loved and all people know that the the only unquenchable desire is God’s desire for us all to know God and have a relationship with God.

Isn’t it true, that all of us will be blessed? If it is God who is the host, if it is God who invites us, will God not invite all people, in all of creation, no matter what they look like? No matter what race or gender they are? No matter if they are poor, crippled, lame or blind? God invites us and there is nothing that we can do in return to repay God. There is no gesture. There is no act. There is no deed or prayer or anything else that we can do in return to God when God invites us to the banquet. We can show our appreciation by extending that same love, that same blessing to others, by bring them to this table, but we can never repay God, not with all the wealth in this world. Be blessed and enjoy the promise of the gift of the resurrection. Come to the banquet that we are about to celebrate to once again be reminded of the promises and blessings of grace, forgiveness, and mercy that is offered in the meal, the banquet God has set before us. The banquet where all are invited no matter what. Receive the bread and the cup, receive the blessing of God. Amen.