Sermon on Luke 14:1, 7-14

Pastor Jennifer Garcia

Focus: Just as Jesus pointed the guests and host of that Sabbath dinner to the liberation of the upside-down Beloved Community, the Holy Spirit connects us with others into the Body of Christ where all are valued and nourished.

Function:This sermon will encourage hearers to connect with others.

Last week, we talked about Jesus breaking the letter of the Sabbath laws in order to uphold the spirit of Sabbath by liberating a woman from her ailment.

This week, our Gospel gives us the story of a different Sabbath. Jesus was at a Shabbat dinner hosted by a leader of the Pharisees. Before we boo the Pharisees, remember thatthey weren’t the bad guys. They were highly respected religious leaders, and Jesus may have even been one of them.

Still, it seems that Jesus was getting their attention and not in a good way. After last week’s story, perhaps they were watching him to see if he would get involved in another disagreement about observing Sabbath.

If that’s what they were hoping for, they sure got it. Our reading today skips over a few verses where Jesus cured a man with edema, or swelling. Jesus then turned to the dinner guests and asked them if it was lawful to cure people on the Sabbath.

Everyone was silent, so Jesus echoed what he had told the religious leader in last week’s reading: if any of their children or animals fell in a well on the Sabbath, they would pull them out.No one disagreed, resulting in the most awkward of silences.

So, maybe Jesus was an obligatory dinner guest or even that person you might invite just so they can stir the pot and keep the conversation interesting. But either way, Jesus was getting their attention, and we can only imagine how tense that dinner was.

But Jesus was also paying attention to them. He watched as they claimed the spots of honor they felt they deserved.

The parable he told them draws from the Proverb we read in the first reading. It sounds like Jesus was reminding them of some advice for how to climb the social ladder.

But by giving them that advice, he was indirectly calling them out on the status-jockeying they were trying to get away with. So, really, he set up a lose-lose situation: either you pompously sit at the high place or show false modesty by sitting at the low place. Either way, you don’t get the result you’re looking for.

And then, he told the host a different piece of advice that definitely wouldn’t raise his social standing. “Don’t invite anyone who could return the favor. Invite those who have been ignored and excluded.”

Essentially, instead of teaching them how to climb the social ladder, Jesus turned the ladder upside down.

If the host followed Jesus’ instructions, probably none of that night’s guests would be invited. And ifsomehow they were, if they followed Jesus’ advice, they would sit at the lowest spot, deferring to those who were normally marginalized.

This is the upside-down Reign of God, where the first shall be last and the last shall be first. The least in society will sit in the places of honor, and those who normally vie for the best seats will sit at the lowest, if theydeign to be there at all.

As we discussed last week, Sabbath is about liberation. And on this particular Sabbath, Jesus illustrated the way God would turn the world upside down, freeing us from our human hierarchies and injustices.

What’s good news to the impoverished and marginalized can sound like bad news to those who already hold the power in society, but full human flourishing manifests when all human beings are valued as the images of God they are.

The point of Jesus’ parables wasn’t about pride or humility at all—it was about inclusion, liberation, and love.

These are the things worth pursuing—then and now.

But so often, our world is focused on status, wealth, views, likes, and going viral.We network instead of connecting. We post instead of catching up in person. We strive for attention when what we really want is to be loved, valued, and included.

It may sound dramatic to say that loneliness is an epidemic, but that’s what experts are saying about our society today. We’re disconnected and don’t know what to do about it. Loneliness is a vicious cycle, where the more isolated we become, the harder it is to reach out.

As we spend more time online without really talking to anyone, as we increasingly work from home without connecting with people around the water cooler, and as third spaces like community centers and, yes, faith communities become less common, we’re falling deeper and deeper into loneliness.

We all want to be loved, valued, and included, but that can feel elusive.

But that’s exactly what we foster when we live into the Beloved Community Jesus calls us to.

When we set aside our concern for social standing and who to network with to get ahead, we start paying more attention to those around us, really seeing others instead of just how being in relationship with them makes us look.

We can view sitting at the lower spot as humility, but if we’re only doing it in order to be invited to a higher place, we’re still making it about us.

I’ve heard it said that humility isn’t about thinking less of yourself, but about thinking of others more. If we’re beating ourselves up for being proud, we’re still centering ourselves.

Humility is about “right-sizing”: those who are esteemed in society might need to quiet themselves and listen to others, and those who are marginalized might need to step into their authority and inherent worthiness.

We can embrace that we are deeply valued by God and at the same time be awed by that fact. And most of all, we can treat those around us as the miraculous images of God they are. Turning outward can help us do that humble “right-sizing.”

In our vicious cycles of loneliness, it’s hard to reach out, but that’s how we break out of loneliness and break into the Beloved Community.

Who’s on the periphery of your social sphere? Who do you pass by? Whose day might you brighten by making contact? Who might you reconnect with or deepen your connection with?

Maybe there’s someone in this room you could connect with, or someone down the street, or even someone in a different country—thanks, modern technology for making that possible!

Whoever it is, please reach out. It’s scary to make the first move, but usually people are happy to be reached out to. Remind someone that you see their worth, and so does God.

And when we show hospitality to strangers, whether or not we entertain angels without knowing it, we can start seeing the divine in every guest.

We’re at the midpoint in Ordinary Time, the long green season of the church year that stretches from Pentecost to Advent. Let’s use this time to reflect on how we spend our ordinary days. Let connecting with people be part of your everyday life, and may our lives be as open and inclusive as this Table. That’s how Beloved Community spreads.