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“Hospitality, Honor, Humility”
Jeremiah 2:4-13; Psalm 81 or 112; Luke 14:1, 7-14;
Hebrews 13:1-8, 15-16
Rev. Sandy Nuernberg
Oakland-Cambridge Presbyterian Church, Cambridge, WI
22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time -
Christian Vocation Sunday
Labor Day Weekend
September 2, 2007
Please pray with me, O
God, as we listen and hear your Word, help us to see ourselves as you see
us. Help us to humble ourselves before you, and live as your disciples
following the example of Christ Jesus, who exuded hospitality, put aside all
honor, and radiated humility, all for the sake of ourselves. We pray in
Jesus’ Name. AMEN.
Ah, it is the beginning of fall as
we come into September, another picturesque season in the landscape of life for
us in the Midwest; we are in celebration of our countries labors–it’s Labor Day
week-end as well. I can hardly believe it is here, I don’t know about you. In
celebrating our labors, we have been reading, watching, and noticing the polls
that come around this season; football and all its glory. I just noticed in
reading the local sports page that the AP/ESPN polls top twenty-five teams, even
before the football is snapped from center, includes university/college teams of
USC in the top position, and the Badgers in the top ten-7th at last
glance. That’s a wonderful honor for Bucky football, but looking closer, perhaps
these polls and statistics indicate from last season what we might expect
of our favorite teams this fall.
If you are not a sports fan, other
kinds of polls are available; the top universities in their fields in the U.S.,
the best restaurants in Chicago, or the best of tastes in Madison this week-end,
or the top 10 ways to celebrate America’s pastime, baseball, in September and
October, but we won’t go in the direction of the skids for the Brewers in
August! (Whoops, I snuck in sports again!!), or celebrating Princess Diana’s 10th
year after her death as the fairy-tale princess perfect. We find all kinds of
reasons and excuses to celebrate, to honor days, others, things, don’t we? Yet,
deep down, we want to be honored ourselves, or have others honor our
accomplishments in being who we are, don’t we? Let’s be honest; truth be known,
we hope to and want to leave a personal legacy, don’t we?
But you know what? Jesus also
found reasons, chances to celebrate, and today’s texts bring us ‘up close and
personal’ in that regard; the hospitality, honor, and humility of Jesus Christ
is visible and invisible for our pondering in both readings. Our texts are
excerpts about honoring our Christian faith and what it’s about. More impressive
for us, though, is how Jesus watches us and teaches us as we celebrate. Our
texts speak of ethics, style, and behaviors in our Christian lives, our life’s
works, yet they also give us the opportunity to reflect upon how we measure for
ourselves the hospitality, honor, and humility of others. Most of all, Jesus
teaches us, in a world where “I” and “me” is so prevalent, about God’s Kingdom.
It’s about our receiving honor in experiencing loss; the loss of our position at
the table, or in not receiving an award of honor, but in proclaiming the Kingdom
by receiving others who can not be hospitable, honorable, or humble, those
receiving the lowest stations in their lives, “the poor, the crippled, lame,
blind.”
Picture ourselves in Jesus’ day,
or even in our own world, at one place; the home of a prominent leader. For
Jesus it was the house of a religious leader, a Pharisee (those people Jesus had
conflicts with and they did with Him), along with other lawyers, leaders of the
time. Today, it might be that party you’ve always wanted to be invited to; the
honorable hero or heroine at their beautiful home. It’s the Sabbath, and Jesus
is invited; we know from last week’s Sabbath that these people are hoping for a
miss-step by Jesus because he has healed on this special day, so those in
attendance are ‘eyeing’ Jesus, visibly trying to find fault with his actions. We
are especially aware of that behavior in today’s world, watching those in
leadership roles, nationally or locally, how they may miss-fire in their speech
and actions. They become daily headlines, even before that sometimes, on late
night television! But at the party, aren’t we trying our best to sit next to
these ‘honorables’ because it might help us to ‘bask in glory’ with our being
with them, or to tell others of our honorable role in their presence? We need,
want the edge on someone. Sometimes in conversation, we aren’t really listening
because we are too in tent on what we did; where we traveled; how
much we have. In Jesus’ day place guarded in a special way. It was
highly valued in the hierarchical world.
But Jesus’ style of hospitality,
honor, and humility are, it seems, all here at one sitting, turning the tables
upside down ( not literally!) on the
guests; he has His eyes on them/us in a visible way at first; He watches
and waits as everyone is seated at table. Then Jesus teaches us hospitality,
which is not so much in the inviting of those who are like us, but in our
actions as we arrive to the party. He tells them/us a parable, an earthly story
for us, but it’s about the honor of being in the Kingdom of heaven, where
God chooses who sits where. Jesus teaches us humility, for maybe, just
maybe, someone more distinguished might show up, and what will we do? God forbid
if we’d have to move, and someone sees us go to a lesser, the ‘lowest place’ at
the table. Early on in being here, I chuckled watching us take our respective
places in the pews, (or at fellowship) as we entered church!!
Jesus tells us that in order to be
honored, we must be able to be humble in the presence of all, “For all who exalt
themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted (v.
11).” In other words, Jesus’ table manners suggest that if we come
humbled, we can attain honor. In doing this, He says, ‘Friend, you can always
move higher!’ What a tremendous story for us to learn of Jesus’ hospitableness,
but also how we might attain honor in the Kingdom, lose recognition in our
strategy of humility towards ourselves, and mostly, others.
Likewise, Hebrews has a snippet of
what Christian faith is all about. We are wise in urging us to ‘show
hospitality’ to strangers, because we might not even know who we are
entertaining; it might be someone really special. God was warning them to listen
to who was speaking to them on earth (God), in order to prepare them for the
Kingdom. If we can’t let ‘mutual love’ continue as we see and act with one
another on earth, how are we going to attain God’s Holy Kingdom where God
announces the ‘pecking order’, the seating arrangements? If we don’t insist upon
our own selfish selves finding honor, God will do it for us. That old and often
taught adage, God is in control, and not we ourselves; all we need do is
abide.
As we come to the glorious feast
of the Kingdom of God, this Lord’s table discloses to us what our own human life
of God’s hospitality, God’s honor and God’s humility is intended to be–a life
that is being together in mutual sharing, celebrating, and love. The meaning for
us of the Lord’s Supper, of our partying and banquets together, is inseparable
from Jesus’ own practice of table fellowship and hospitality with sinners and
the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind; it is throughout his ministry. Our
meal today is a concrete sign and seal of God’s promise of new life,
reconciliation of a new heaven and a new earth; eating and drinking together
unites us with Christ, as we are nourished by the hospitality, the honor, the
humility of Christ, and in our lives the love of a self-giving, other-affirming,
and a community-forming triune God. Most especially invited are those who are
poor, sick, or lame, or on the boundaries, as it is our churches mission in the
world today, and for the Kingdom, ‘Thy will be done.’
Thanks be to
God. AMEN.
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