Dear one, just sit down

Prayer

Our merciful God and heavenly Father,

With childlike reverence we call upon you, knowing that you are our father in heaven. You have promised us every good thing if we only ask.

And so we come to you with the desires of our hearts.

Make us more like Jesus each day. May we view this broken world and the fallen humans in it through eyes of compassion, not contempt. Give us patience and hope and grant that it might be seen in us wherever we are.

May we be known by our love, and not our dogma. May we be known for our compassion and not our condemnation, that we might be good citizens of a different kingdom.

Give us patience to wait for your salvation, as we travel through this valley of tears. And walk with us, we pray, through our triumphs and sorrows, through our fears and our joys, through our weeping and our laughing – may we do all for your glory.

May we learn how to sit with the wounded and give food to the hungry and water to the thirsty, remembering that saints of old entertained angels without knowing it.

May we hallow and magnify your name and look to you alone for every good thing. Our help will not come from armies or horses or the strength of men, but through your help alone.

Bless our governor and our president with wisdom. Give sobriety and justice to lawmakers and judges. We pray, father, for your mercy on all the families that lost their homes in our community last night. Raise up helpers and give relief.

And dear Father, protect us from evil. Tear down the foolish and the proud. Remove the wicked from pulpits, from offices, from leadership – and give us wise leaders. We don’t deserve them, but we come to you again knowing that you do not give to us what we deserve, but you give according to your bountiful goodness. Even just and sober leadership comes from your hand and so we plead to you according to your compassion.

Give us health for another day. Be merciful to our loved ones. Give healing to Judy’s sister Kim. Give Ernie health and protect his family from this virus. Give Hugo a successful treatment in Texas. Give Bud strength. Provide for Roger and give him health.

And father, there are many in our congregation that suffer from sorrows that only you know.

Bring joy to those who suffer from depression. Give courage to the anxious and fearful. Give justice to those who have suffered tremendous harm.

In our community, give freedom to those in bondage and deliver the oppressed. Bless the work of those who reach out to heal the suffering in the community – the Red Cross, TIP, Women’s Friend, Casa De Esperanza – give them the resources that they need.

Give us a heart of mercy, that we might relieve suffering wherever we find it according to our abilities. Join our hearts together in love and grow our congregation. Provide for our needs and open our doors wide. Be merciful to the wandering and those who are in trouble. Give reconciliation to broken relationships.

As we wrestle with our doubts and anxieties, as we struggle through our longings and loneliness, and wondering what our purpose is – direct our eyes to where Christ is. You have created us, and have re-created us in his image, and you delight in us. Cause us to rest in that delight, and give us patience through another day.

Bless the preaching of your word today. Guide my lips and give us ears to hear

And together:

Scripture

1 Samuel 2:1–10 NKJV

1 And Hannah prayed and said: “My heart rejoices in the Lord; My horn is exalted in the Lord. I smile at my enemies, Because I rejoice in Your salvation. 2 “No one is holy like the Lord, For there is none besides You, Nor is there any rock like our God. 3 “Talk no more so very proudly; Let no arrogance come from your mouth, For the Lord is the God of knowledge; And by Him actions are weighed. 4 “The bows of the mighty men are broken, And those who stumbled are girded with strength. 5 Those who were full have hired themselves out for bread, And the hungry have ceased to hunger. Even the barren has borne seven, And she who has many children has become feeble. 6 “The Lord kills and makes alive; He brings down to the grave and brings up. 7 The Lord makes poor and makes rich; He brings low and lifts up. 8 He raises the poor from the dust And lifts the beggar from the ash heap, To set them among princes And make them inherit the throne of glory. “For the pillars of the earth are the Lord’s, And He has set the world upon them. 9 He will guard the feet of His saints, But the wicked shall be silent in darkness. “For by strength no man shall prevail. 10 The adversaries of the Lord shall be broken in pieces; From heaven He will thunder against them. The Lord will judge the ends of the earth. “He will give strength to His king, And exalt the horn of His anointed.”

Text

Luke 14:7–14 NKJV

7 So He told a parable to those who were invited, when He noted how they chose the best places, saying to them: 8 “When you are invited by anyone to a wedding feast, do not sit down in the best place, lest one more honorable than you be invited by him; 9 and he who invited you and him come and say to you, ‘Give place to this man,’ and then you begin with shame to take the lowest place. 10 But when you are invited, go and sit down in the lowest place, so that when he who invited you comes he may say to you, ‘Friend, go up higher.’ Then you will have glory in the presence of those who sit at the table with you. 11 For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” 12 Then He also said to him who invited Him, “When you give a dinner or a supper, do not ask your friends, your brothers, your relatives, nor rich neighbors, lest they also invite you back, and you be repaid. 13 But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind. 14 And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you; for you shall be repaid at the resurrection of the just.”

Sermon:

Verses 1-24 of chapter 14 all take place at a supper that Jesus was invited to.

I spoke of it last week, and would encourage you all to go back and listen to these if you have missed them.

The whole thing goes together. Jesus takes the opportunity of the supper to teach about his kingdom and contrast it with the kingdom that is sought by the Pharisees of all ages.

If you seek a kingdom of wealth and power, you have no room for mercy. Those who are not with the program are shunned or cast out.

The rules - even good laws from God like the laws of the Sabbath - become twisted and used to keep people in bondage.

But God gave the nation of Israel the ancient laws of the Sabbath to point to Christ and his kingdom, where fellowship with God is restored and there is peace, wholeness, soundness - the restoration of the fallen creation.

Jesus, to point to this wholeness and restoration, healed the man with dropsy, fulfilling the sign of the Sabbath.

That brings us to the next section - the seating arrangements at the supper.

Luke tells us that this is a “parable.” Jesus often spoke in parables, fulfilling Psalm 78:1-2

Psalm 78:1–2 NKJV

1 Give ear, O my people, to my law; Incline your ears to the words of my mouth. 2 I will open my mouth in a parable; I will utter dark sayings of old,

Jesus told his disciples that he spoke in parables to fulfill Isaiah 6

Luke tells us that this is a parable so that we would not mistake it for simply practical wisdom.

What occurs here really occurs, and Jesus gives practical wisdom about it -

But the real point is the Kingdom of God - which means that we have to look deeper.

The Holy Spirit must open our eyes to Jesus point or we will miss it.

The Event

So first, lets look at the event itself:

After Jesus heals the man with dropsy, the pharisees are angry with him. But of course, they can’t let that show. It would be impolite.

And Jesus moves on - he watches people milling and talking and at the same time, they are jockeying for the best seats.

May arrange a cushion here or there. Maybe get close to the host and keep him engaged until the dinner bell rings and then, just naturally, find yourself sitting right next to him...

There were centuries of tradition - honor and shame. There was a definite pecking order of social status, and a continual fight to move up the ladder.

Every society has its own pecking order and social status order, but in order to understand what Jesus is saying, lets look at this particular one.

Already, those invited were part of the in crowd. The outsiders were standing around watching - including this man with dropsy, as well as publicans, sinners, and a “mixed multitude”

We don’t know who the host was, but he was apparently a wealthy man, with many servants to prepare this supper - and an invitation meant that you had arrived as part of the in crowd.

Now what was all important was who sat where at the feast.

Those closer to the host had greater honor. Everyone noticed who was at the top. The ones at the top got the best tables at the restaurants, were greeted at the marketplace. They knew everyone, got the best deals in the marketplace - because everyone wanted a tiny glimpse of that person’s glory.

Those lower down were at least part of the in crowd - but their status wasn’t as glorious as those further up.

So to those in this culture, where you sat at the table or at the synagogue was everything. It defined your place in society.

Jesus watched everyone jockeying for position. And he saw an opportunity to once again draw a contrast between the kingdom of God and the kingdoms of men.

This time, he does it in the form of a parable.

So his advice here seems like pretty sound advice. He is the “Wisdom of God” after all, and the one described in the whole book of Proverbs.

When you go to the feast, everyone is watching everyone and jockeying for position. So let suppose you can actually manipulate your way to a seat by the host.

And now everyone looks on you with envy - and then the host says, “No. This isn’t for you. Go down there...”

Talk about a walk of shame!

Rather, Jesus says, take the lowest seat that you can take. Then, the host will see you and perhaps say, “Hey - move up here!” and everyone will wonder who the new “in person” is..

From an earthly perspective, it seems like wise counsel.

But it is a parable that speaks to the heart of mankind.

Jesus is certainly not teaching us a better way to manipulate a higher seat.

application

This one, I had to look at deeply. It is not within my nature to strive valiantly for an invitation to a social engagement, nor to jockey for position once I am there.

I see in myself the type of pride that is condemned, even though the application of the parable might be different.

Yet this parable applies even to the introverts among us, and those who would far rather stay home with a good book than attend a social engagement where the whole town is watching and determining who’s who in the pecking order.

It has, again, to do with the rest that was signified by the Jewish Sabbath. Jesus said, “I came to give you rest.” When I saw that in context, my meditations on this passage went another way.

And it occured to me - no one at this feast actually enjoyed the meal.

Those at the top were too full of pride to enjoy the food. Those at the bottom were too full of envy. No one just sat and rested and enjoyed the company of the person that they were next to. How could they?

And this is why we fail to rest. This is why we can’t find peace. We cannot see beyond our pride to simply sit and fellowship.

born looking

We are born looking for someone looking for us. Are we wanted? Are we loved? Are we safe? Will someone be there to help? Will someone be there to soothe?

And every human is born with those needs. Because of nature or nurture, everyone responds differently, with different personalities. Some have more pain and grieve more loss. Some have less. Good parents can ease the fears of the child with good nurturing, as the Lord nurses his lambs in his bosom…But in this life, none of us have the answer given to us as satisfactorily as we would like.

We all long for Eden, and we all live in a cursed world. Parents fail us. Spouses fail us. And it leaves a mark. Sometimes we need help and it isn’t there and that leaves a mark. Sometimes we need connection and it isn’t there, and it leaves a mark. Sometimes we long for intimacy and it isn’t there and it leaves a mark. Sometimes one we though was a friend cuts us off and that leaves a mark.

And we walk through this world with the bruises and dirt and broken bones and cancer of sin clinging all over us. People sin against us, and we sin against each other at it all leaves us broken, desperate and lonely. And that terrifies us. So we spend our lives with a desperate need to justify our existence.

Am I here? Do I matter? Am I safe? Does anyone care?

I am, I said. And no one answered.

And how we answer those questions depends a lot on our experiences, our personalities, our backgrounds.

Some long to be invited to the best feasts and be seated at the head table - they are justifying their existence. “See, everyone thinks highly of me. I must be OK and acceptable and worth while.”

For others, the thought of social functions fills them with anxiety and dread. They run all of their disasters through their mind and remember how often they have been rejected and cast out, and can’t fathom going through that all over again. So when they think of the marriage supper, their hands grow sweaty and the face turns red and they desperately want to just run away.

But they still desperately long to justify their own existence. To answer that question - why am I here? What am I doing here? Is anyone looking for me? Would anyone care if I wasn’t here at all. These are the questions that the human soul is desperately seeking answers to.

For the extroverted group, they might seek to justify their existence through the approval of others, the number of their social engagements, and their seats at the tables. These are the kind of people who crash wedding parties.

For the others, it might be through work, through the number of books read, through their pride as an introvert that “we don’t need anybody else”, through athletic prowess, through music, art - if we work a little harder, get a little better, fight a little harder, write a little more, preach a better sermon,

Maybe we will finally be worth a place at the table. Maybe we will finally arrive.

maybe that gnawing voice that tears in my mind that I am stupid, worthless, vulnerable, weak, and unwanted will go away...

Just a little more.

And here is the point of Jesus parable:

“Dear one. Will you just sit down and enjoy the feast? Can you just talk to the one next to you? Taste the richness of the wine and the delicacy of the herbs and the lamb?”

What if you don’t have to justify your existence? What if you could just rest and take delight in God’s delight in you?

When God ceased his creative work he said, “Behold. It is very good”. But sin entered and life turned into an endless battle of me against you; us against them; the people at the top of the table against the people at the bottom of the table; and all of them against the riffraff outside…everyone striving for their position, to seek that which was lost in Eden and will never be returned until Jesus comes again.

And not one of them was actually delighting in God’s creation. They were too busy identifying themselves, justifying themselves - seeking someone seeking them, and looking in all the wrong places.

I have not seen Chariots of Fire in years. Maybe it is time to do so again. But I remember the two main characters.

Eric Liddell said, “When I run, I feel the pleasure of God”

Harold Abrahams said, “When the starting pistol goes off, I have 10 seconds to justify my existence.”

Do you see the difference?

And whatever strategy we use to justify our existence, the result is the same. We are so afraid of losing ourselves that we cannot enjoy God and we cannot rest.

Which is why Jesus said, “He who loves his life will lose it.”

“Give place to this man” and you move with shame to the lowest place.

Instead, Jesus gives us the book of etiquette for dining in the kingdom of God.

“Dear one. Just sit down and enjoy the meal!”

to the host

Then he turns to the host - it is the same message that he gives to the guests. You are using this meal to justify your existence - to earn some sort of place of favor.

You have put as much care into your invite list as your guests are jockeying for position - because the invite list to you is a way to curry favor, make friends in high places and answer your own existential questions.

But you won’t find it that way.

Why not, instead, fellowship with God in the everlasting sabbath - look at his creation and say with Him, behold, it is very good.

Then the invite list doesn’t really matter. Invite those who will rejoice in the food, not the ones who are looking for position and status.

Then together you can rejoice together. Taste the food together. Enjoy the wine together. Say stupid things together.

And feel the pleasure of God in our hearts -

The New King James Version Chapter 5

Eat, O friends!

Drink, yes, drink deeply,

O beloved ones!

Is not this the delight of the feast in the kingdom of God?

Conclusion

All human society follows the pattern - some seem a little crass, like this dinner party and the fight for who sits where.

Others are more subtle - who you correspond with online. Who made your clothes. Does the maitre d’ recognize you at the restaurant? Which club do you belong to...

Or a different kind of status - who is in and who is out, who is listened to and who is not. Who gets the book endorsement. Who gets the next conference invite.

Maybe if you get more done. Maybe if you are constantly on guard so you don’t say anything weird.

Maybe if you can stay young and thin and beautiful forever.

Maybe if you could get married and have enough kids.

Maybe if you could get better grades or get someone to notice you.

Micah 6:6–7 NKJV

6 With what shall I come before the Lord, And bow myself before the High God? Shall I come before Him with burnt offerings, With calves a year old? 7 Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, Ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, The fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?

And then he says,

Micah 6:8 NKJV

8 He has shown you, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of you But to do justly, To love mercy, And to walk humbly with your God?

And you can only do that if you quit trying to justify your existence and simply learn to rest.

Be at peace. Enjoy the meal. Just sit down.

You are safe. You are loved. You are accepted. You are soothed. You are dressed. You are clean.

Now just be quiet. Sit down. Eat. Enjoy the meal.

Feel the pleasure of God in Christ when you go to work. When you eat. When you drink. When you go for a walk. Go to the market. When you rise up and when you lie down.

In the kingdom of God our worth is in Christ alone. He makes us acceptable. He keeps us safe he protects us and watches over us. We don’t earn the place at the table. We don’t fight for it. We just accept the invitation and sit down and eat. Leave the rest in his hands

Speak it to yourselves. Remember the sacraments - you are washed with clean water. You are fed living bread. The blood of Christ flows in your veins.

Now stop trying to justify why you are here. You are here because God made you, redeemed you, and loves you.

And Jesus will return and all of this will be washed away. And then you will see face to face.

Until then, just sit down. And eat.