|
Century Christian
Church 1301 Tamarack Road, Owensboro, KY 42301, (270) 684-0286, Pastor: Rev. Jim Westmoreland |
|
What Kind of Banquet is this? A filthy rich man in North Carolina decided that he wanted to throw a party and invited all of his buddies and neighbors. He also invited Leroy, the only redneck in the neighborhood. He held the party around the pool in the backyard of his mansion. Everyone was having a good time drinking, dancing, eating shrimp, oysters and BBQ and enjoying themselves. At the height of the party, the host said, "I have a 10-ft man-eating gator in my pool and I'll give a million dollars to anyone who has the nerve to jump in." The words were barely out of his mouth when there was a loud splash and everyone turned around and saw Leroy in the pool! Leroy was fighting the gator and holding his own! Leroy was jabbing the gator in the eyes with his thumbs, throwing punches, head butts and choke holds, biting the gator on the tail and flipping the gator through the air like some kind of Judo Instructor. The water was churning and splashing everywhere. Both Leroy and the gator were screaming and making a commotion. Finally, Leroy strangled the gator and let it float to the top, like a dime store goldfish. Leroy then slowly climbed out of the pool. Everybody was just staring at him in disbelief. Finally the host says, "Well, Leroy, I reckon I owe you a million dollars." No, that's okay. I don't want it," said Leroy. The rich man said, "Man, I have to give you something. You won the bet. How about half a million bucks then?" No thanks. I don't want it," answered Leroy. The host said, "Come on, I insist on giving you something. That was amazing. How about a new Porsche and a Rolex and some stock options?" Again Leroy said no. Confused, the rich man asked, "Well, Leroy, then what do you want?" Leroy said, "I want the name of the so-and-so who pushed me in the pool." And all of the guests went home and said to themselves, "Wow, that was some kind of party!" Our reading from Luke tells us that Jesus was going to the house of a leader of the Pharisees to eat a meal on the sabbath." Larry Bethune, in a sermon titled "We're Saving Your Place," points out that meals can be strategic opportunities to get to know someone or for you to become better know to them. Anthropologists speak of "the language of meals." In every culture meals are one of the most direct ways people connect with each other. (1) Meals are especially important in the Gospel of Luke. Luke tells us about the feeding of the five thousand, the way Jesus is recognized in "the breaking of bread," and the common meal of the early church where no one goes hungry - these are all pictures of God's banquet of heaven. Imagine, heaven and the church described as a party, one great feast. What does that do to our idea of the church? Some people think of the church as a funeral, and some see it as a lecture, and some want it to be a place to attack other people so they can feel good about themselves. But Jesus uses the images of a picnic, a banquet, a feast. What would it be like if we all thought of church as coming to a party? So, in the midst of all of these images of the church as shared meals is this dinner party that Jesus attends with some Pharisees. (2) Imagine that you are the leader of a religious splinter group. The news of your growing group of followers has been getting around. Now, you have been invited to the home of one of the leaders of the mainline group that you've been split off from. Other leaders will be there too. What an opportunity! How does Jesus use his opportunity? In v. 7-11 Jesus notices how the guests choose the places of honor at which to seat themselves. Now, the Pharisees have probably been prejudged by most of us. The fact is that they were sincere religious people who believed in the scripture and tried to follow it. Perhaps a lot like us. They wanted to win God's favor. They wanted to believe they were right where everybody else was wrong. They expected to be first in line for God's heaven. Maybe they were too much like us, at times. Jesus watched them jockey for position at the table. He told them they should start at the bottom of the table and be invited up rather than start at the top and be invited down. A good strategy, but of course, they would have to take the risk that nobody would invite them up. He was "gigging" them, bursting the bubble of their pride! They all already had a place of privilege. They all already had a place at the table. But it wasn't enough for them just to be invited. They needed a pecking order. Have you ever been to a party where the pecking order was so important that you had to watch what you said to the bosses above you and and the people below you felt the same way about you? Did you enjoy yourself? I mean, what kind of party is that? (3) Jesus told them, "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." You have to remember, these were not just social but moral categories in those days. In those days they thought if you were poor, crippled, lame, or blind, it was because God didn't like you. Besides, as in our day, the whole point of giving parties was to improve your social standing, to demonstrate your social status, to move to the head of the line. So Jesus was turning their world upside down, and ours too, with this notion that you should intentionally invite the lowest of the low rather than the highest of the high to your parties. It was counter-cultural. It was revolutionary. And, it still is. (4) To reach out to those who can give us nothing in return goes against our natural tendencies. If we could add 20 more people to our church between now and the first of the year and you could write a description of who you wanted, what would you put on it? How would you describe them? Are there any of us that would put the poor, the crippled, the lame and the blind on our list of people to go and invite to come to our church? We already post our service schedule in the yellow pages. What more would we have to do to get the poor, crippled, lame and blind here next Sunday and the Sunday after that? Who is it that God wants us to reach out to and invite and bring with us become a part of the Body of Christ at our church? We fall into a self-serving, self-preserving, institutional mentality when we think about getting people who can give us what we need. Instead of us being God's channels to show his love and life-changing power to others, we can easily play the role of the "needy" and only look for what we can get out of others. God does expect us all to use our talents and abilities and share our financial resources to help to do his work, whether we are "old" members or whether we are among the "newer" members. The way a church finds its real life and power in Christ is the same way that we as individual followers of Jesus do. Jesus said that whoever loses his life for my sake shall find it, that "all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted." Some of the people that we overlook are the people we need. They may not have much money, position or power, but they can teach us, and they can share their souls with us, and we will be changed because of it. Over 100 years ago a crying little girl stood near a small church from which she had been turned away because it was "too crowded." "I can't go to Sunday School," she sobbed to the pastor as he walked by. Seeing her shabby, unkempt appearance, the pastor guessed the reason and, taking her by the hand, took her inside and found a place for her in the Sunday school class. The child was so happy that they found room for her, and she went to bed that night thinking of the children who have no place to worship Jesus. Some two years later, this child lay dead in one of the poor tenement buildings. Her parents called for the kindhearted pastor who had befriended their daughter to handle the final arrangements. As her poor little body was being moved, a worn and crumpled red purse was found which seemed to have been rummaged from some trash dump. Inside was found 57 cents and a note, scribbled in childish handwriting, which read: "This is to help build the little church bigger so more children can go to Sunday School." For two years she had saved for this offering of love. When the pastor tearfully read that note, he knew instantly what he would do. Carrying this note and the cracked, red pocketbook to the pulpit, he told the story of her unselfish love and devotion. He challenged his church leaders to get busy and raise enough money for the larger building. But the story does not end there... A newspaper learned of the story and published it. It was read by a wealthy realtor who offered them a parcel of land worth many thousands. When told that the church could not pay so much, he offered to sell it to the little church for 57 cents. Church members made large donations. Checks came from far and wide. Within five years the little girl's gift had increased to $250,000, which was a huge sum around the year, 1900. Her unselfish love had paid large dividends! When you are in the city of Philadelphia, look up Temple Baptist Church, with a seating capacity of 3,300. And be sure to visit Temple University, where thousands of students are educated. Have a look, too, at the Good Samaritan Hospital and at a Sunday School building which houses hundreds of beautiful children, built so that no child in the area will ever need to be left outside during Sunday school time. In one of the rooms of this building may be seen the picture of the sweet face of the little girl whose 57 cents, so sacrificially saved, made such remarkable history. Alongside of it is a portrait of her kind pastor, Dr. Russel H. Conwell, author of the book, "Acres of Diamonds". Some of the people that we overlook are the people we need. Who are we inviting to the banquet, to our church? Who are we supposed to invite to become a part of our lives? The poor, the lame, the blind, the crippled? Anyone who is struggling? A single parent? Young adults who see the church as old and irrelevant? The bored and the pleasure-seekers who are growing older and never have any time for God? Whoever the overlooked and disenfranchised may be, God calls us to look and see and care enough to reach out to them to make them welcome. And, whenever we get satisfied with who we are, or worried about what we are not, there is a question that we need to ask ourselves: What kind of banquet is this? _______________
1. From a sermon, "We're Saving Your Place" by Larry Bethune, University
Baptist Church, Austin, Texas, September 2, 2001.
2. Ibid
3. Ibid
4. Ibid. |
|
|