Luke 19:1-10

Ah…Zacchaeus…the wee little man!

• He is one of our favorite New Testament characters.
• The children like him because he is small.
• Many of them know the Bible school song that features his story.
• Zacchaeus was a wee little man,
  And a wee little man was he.
  He climbed up in a sycamore tree
  For the Lord he wanted to see.
• There is something enchanting about a tax collector who climbs a sycamore tree.
• Walking along a road in Jericho…Jesus sees him…calls him to come down…
• And then he invites himself to the unusually small tax collector’s home.
• The Lord be with you.

But let’s not forget who Zacchaeus really was.

• Luke calls him a chief tax collector.
• That means the Roman empire had given him the franchise in the oasis city of Jericho.
• That was a big deal for such a short little guy.
• As a first-century tax man…Zacchaeus fronted the money to pay off Rome.
• Then he employed a number of neighborhood tax collectors to collect what he needed…and to charge whatever more they could get.
• He was the Big Cheese in a first century pyramid scheme.
• Zaccheaus took his cut first and made a lot of money.
• It was a murky business…prone to corruption.
• It is no surprise that tax guys were quickly regarded by their neighbors as thieves and sinners.

Luke says Zacchaeus climbed the tree so he could see Jesus over the crowd…

• But it may be that he also used the tree’s foliage for cover.
• He wanted to see Jesus but did not want anybody to see him.
• If spotted…the crowd…full of his neighbors…would have him right where they wanted him.
• He was vulnerable.
• Most likely…Zacchaeus did not plan to come down from his perch until Jesus and the crowd moved on.

When Jesus reached the spot…he looked up and said to him: Zacchaeus…come down immediately…I must stay at your house today.

• And now the entire story turns.
• The chief tax collector climbed down to greet the man he wanted to see.
• He welcomed Jesus and said:
• Yes…you must come to my home.
• The crowd that hated Zacchaeus now spewed their venom.
• The Bible verse says: they began to grumble…but snarled is more like it.

Do we see what Jesus had just done?

• At risk to his own life and reputation…Jesus rescued a tax collector.
• He shielded this thief from a crowd that despised him.
• The Lord did not merely impose on the rich man’s hospitality.
• He saved his life.
• It was a rescue story.
• Luke says Zacchaeus welcomed the Lord joyfully.

And then the chief tax collector for the city of Jericho…a wealthy man…

• Declared he would give half of his riches to the poor.
• And if he had ever cheated anyone…he would quadruple the amount and pay it to the victims.
• A rescue story became a generosity story.
• Jesus saved a short man from an angry crowd…
• And the short man used his money for financial justice.
• This was stunning.

Over the years…Bible readers have wondered about this turn of events.

• Some think there was a table conversation in Zacchaeus’ house that transformed him.
• But the story reveals no mention of table or conversation.
• Everybody was still standing in the middle of the street…surrounding Jesus and Zacchaeus.

Others have thought that Jesus looked into the tax collector’s eyes and let him know he was loved.

• And suddenly…miraculously…the cold heart of Zacchaeus melted…and he changed his ways.
• That’s a pleasant thought…kind of an Ebenezer Scrooge story.
• But the text does not say anything about the defrosting of the tax collector’s soul.

The best hint comes from Joachim Jeremias…the New Testament scholar from the past century.

• In his research about the despised trades in first-century Palestine…
• He tells us that any alms given by tax collectors would have been rejected.
• Why? Because the money was regarded as tainted.
• The ill-gotten gains were considered poisonous.
• The only way a chief tax collector could give money to the poor was if he gave up his occupation.

With this…the pronouncement of Jesus takes on greater meaning.

• Zacchaeus is a son of Abraham.
• He…like his fellow Jews…is a true-blue child of God’s covenant.
• Now he signaled he was a different man…that he was giving up his job.
• No longer excluded because of his scornful occupation.
• No longer an outcast due to the economic plundering of his neighbors.
• No longer to be hated or despised.
• He was literally saved through the graciousness of Jesus.
• His money had isolated him from his community…but now…no longer.

We have no idea how Zacchaeus proceeded at the end of our story.

• Yet he pledged to do what he said.
• Something punctured the protective bubble around his assets.
• He felt empowered to relinquish his grip.
• In the presence of Jesus…he affirmed he was on a journey to generosity…
• A journey that the people of Jericho would never have imagined.
• We can assume he had to work through the complications of unloading half of his wealth.

We can affirm he was profoundly generous…and we know why…

• Jesus saved his life.
• Jesus risked his own life to save the life of Zacchaeus.
• That profound act of unexpected grace created more grace.
• This is how generosity works.
• When we start giving…more giving is created.
• When we commit to sharing…our hearts are enlarged.
• Generosity is an ever-deepening invitation to participate in the needs of the world…to the glory of God.

This is the invitation that our church makes to us.

• We are invited to support the work of God.
• Because God in Christ has found us…
• We in turn find a way to share it.
• Because the Risen Christ has invited himself into our lives…
• We pass it along to others.
• Because we have discovered ourselves rescued and redeemed…
• We make the same happen for others.
• Generosity is an essential discipline as we follow Jesus.
• And it is good for the soul.
• The more we give…the more joy we create for others.

For through our generosity…the Spirit of God is working in the world.

• So then…we become the children of Abraham for our time and place.

Luke 18:9-14

Has anyone ever said you look like someone else…or that someone else looks like you?

• How does this make you feel?
• Be thankful you are not Kayla Nicole…
• A media personality and the ex-girlfriend of NFL star Travis Kelce.
• How would you like to be compared to Taylor Swift?
• Probably not so much…and Nicole doesn’t either.
• In an interview this past winter…she said that the constant media comparisons have been exhausting…
• And have led her to question her self-worth.

Comparisons can be complex…dangerous and ultimately destructive.

• Smart people like Teddy Roosevelt…the 26th president of the United States…
• And Mark Twain…who was not the president of anything…
• At least not anything reputable…said…respectively:
• That comparison is the thief of joy and that comparison is the death of joy.

Examples abound in fact and fiction:

• Think of Mozart and Antonio Salieri.
• Elizabeth Bennett and Mr. Darcy.
• The comparison complex is also found in the Bible.
• Witness Cain and Abel…the former foolishly comparing his offering of the fruit of the ground to the latter’s firstlings of his flock.
• Or Moses and his brother Aaron…they both compared themselves unfavorably with the other.
• And remember Jacob and Esau…
• And the younger and elder brothers in Jesus’ parable of the prodigal son.
• Even the disciples of Jesus himself fell to playing the comparison game…
• Bickering about seating arrangements in the future kingdom of God.
• The Lord be with you.

So…playing the comparison game is usually not a good thing.

• It is the mother of pride…envy and jealousy…
• Which in turn bears the grandchildren of visible…tangible sins such as Cain’s fratricide…
• And other transgressions about which we read in the early chapters of the Bible.
• Comparison is a very dangerous drug that can ultimately harm relationships and personal growth.

All of which brings us to the two characters in our text:

• A Pharisee and a tax collector.
• In this story told by Jesus…we find the black-robed religious cleric…
• Comparing himself favorably with the widely despised creep and functionary of the imperial and occupying Roman government…a tax man.

The worshiping cleric was in the temple praying…

• He is a relentless temple-goer who feels that there are two kinds of people in the world:
• Good people like himself…and bad people like that tax guy over there.
• He knows that God cannot possibly have any argument with him.
• In fact…he is the poster priest for pious religiousness.
• He is a man who thinks that he is riding a gravy train with biscuit wheels.
• And he is not wrong.
• He is not a thief…he is not a rascal…he is not an adulterer.
• And he is not a tax collector…a criticized servant of the foreign occupying forces.
• He is telling the truth when he claims to fast twice weekly and tithe religiously.

So…what is his sin?

• Why does Jesus take such a dim view of a good man…
• Who any reasonable person would say was a model of virtue?
• Here’s the thing…if you wanted a world in which there were either more men like him…
• Or more tax collectors…what would be your vote?
• I thought so.

But…what if the question is rephrased.

• Of these two men…which is the more appealing and attractive one?
• Your response now is probably different.
• We like the underdog…not the perpetual favorite.
• We prefer to hang out with people who are modest…unassuming…real…and genuine…
• Rather than with the arrogant…yammering aristocrat of the world who can only talk about themselves…even if what they say is true.
• What the Pharisee says in the temple is nothing but the truth…so help him God.
• And Jesus found it disgusting.

But here is the problem…

• We…the good people that we are…
• Move in the direction of aligning ourselves with the very person we have criticized.
• Without thinking…we pray:
• “Oh my God! I am so glad I am not like the mother who neglects her children and dares to give me parenting tips!
• Or…that I am not one of those homeless people living in encampments on our city streets!
• I am so thankful that I had the good sense to make good choices…
• Land a great job and that I worked my way through school…
• So that my family does not need to live on the public dole…which my taxes are funding!
• Then we bow…cross ourselves…and leave the church without realizing that the Pharisee is us!

Comparing ourselves to others…who in our opinion…must be ranked beneath us…is our secret sin.

• No one is likely to mistake us as a humble sinner in need of the mercy and grace of God.

And then we realize that this religious fellow congratulating himself in the temple square has an eye problem.

• A point-of-view problem.
• He is not seeing right.
• He expresses his thanks to God…to be sure.
• But it is the thanks of someone who truly believes that he has done all the heavy lifting…
• That his success is all his own doing.

Jesus makes it clear…that the issue here is not that everything he says is a lie…it is not.

• The problem is his view that he alone is responsible for the good things in his life!
• That is…although this man dressed in religious robes is a good guy…
• And he gives thanks to God…
• He is so into himself…that he is one of those guys who can strut sitting down.

The difference between him and the other guy…of whom we are glad there are not too many…let’s be honest…

• Is that this thieving…lowdown tax man knows who he is…
• He knows he is a sinner and he knows that he needs the mercy and grace of God.
• And it is this self-awareness that makes him the true saint of this story.

So…for us…it is good to get…sooner than later…to the tax collector’s desperation.

• He was at the end of his rope.
• He had nowhere to turn.
• He saw no way out except to turn to the grace and mercy of God.

The outcomes we hope for are best achieved…not when we compare how we are doing as opposed to the other guy…

• But as we keep our eyes focused on the One who alone is the hope of our salvation.

As we live in godly humility and desperation…we will discover…

• Over time…that we will become humbly compassionate…
• That we will advocate for the little guy…
• That we will think about others more than ourselves…
• That we will seem to have a lot of patience…gentleness and kindness.
• A consensus that…in fact…we will seem to be a lot like Jesus himself.
• To be like Jesus.
• This is the only comparison worth making.

Luke 18:1-8

I don’t have a prayer! There’s no way I’m ever going to…

• Get a date with her/him.
• Get on the varsity team.
• Get a loan for that house…or get a loan to start my small business.
• Get into the college I prefer.
• Win this lawsuit.
• Avoid this penalty.
• Get justice.

We get the picture here…because we have all been in a similar spot at one time or another.

• One of the implications in all these situations may be:
• I don’t have a prayer…so why pray?

But…another side of this is to say:

• I’m going to try everything I can to fix this issue…solve this problem…work this out…
• Then…if it still is not resolved or fixed or worked out…I will try praying. It can’t hurt…right?

For many…prayer is the measure of last resort…

• Often uttered in frustration because we have tried everything else.
• I guess I should pray … although I really don’t think I have a prayer.
• I wonder if Jesus ever heard people say:
• I don’t have a prayer.
• We don’t have a record of that…
• But we do have today’s text in Luke 18 which says something along those lines.
• The Lord be with you.

Jesus told a parable about the need to pray always and not to lose heart.

• Clearly…Jesus had heard the words…
• Or at least the sentiment expressed in expressions like: I don’t have a prayer.
• So…he told this story.
• The judge is described first.
• He neither feared God nor had respect for people.

Coming to him was a widow with very few resources.

• Her one hope was that the judge would rule in her favor.
• Grant me justice against my accuser.
• One scenario is that this lady…recently widowed…had lost her inheritance to one of her children…
• Probably the oldest son…who claimed it for himself.
• Cruel…but this often happened.
• Or…she lost it to an unscrupulous businessman.
• We don’t know the details…but in Jesus’ story it could have happened like this.
• It is also easy to assume she had no other choice in how to fight this…except to go before this judge.

So…she really had two adversaries.

• The person who wronged her and the judge who refused to listen to her.
• He had no regard for God and certainly no regard for this poor widow.
• It looked like she didn’t have a prayer.

Except for her audacity…with nothing to lose…she kept coming back.

• At first the judge ignored her…then was annoyed by her…then was really annoyed by her…
• Then lost sleep because of her…then began to worry what his peers might say.
• So…for his own benefit…he finally decided to rule in her favor.
• He took no pleasure in doing so…but at least she was off his back.
• So…in the end…the poor widow found justice from a corrupt and cruel judge.

Then Jesus said: Listen to what the unjust judge says.

• Jesus continued by contrasting the unjust judge with God.
• And will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night?
• Will he delay long in helping them?
• I tell you…he will quickly grant justice to them.
• That sounds encouraging and helpful…except Jesus closed this section with a rhetorical question:
• And yet…when the Son of Man comes…will he find faith on earth?
• Said another way…Jesus meant:
• But when I come back…I’m not so sure you will even have faith in me?

This points to the real lessons in this parable.

• Jesus said the parable was about their need to pray and not to lose heart.
• Jesus wanted to make sure they understood what losing heart might look like.
• Will he find faith on earth? Will Jesus find faith in us?

Here’s the thing: God is not represented by the unjust judge.

• Quite the opposite.
• God does not grant us justice to stop us from pestering him.
• God gives to his children his love and mercy and grace.
• God is never reluctant to hear from us.
• He loves us abundantly and wants us to love him in return.
• God wants us to remain faithful…and he wants to find faith on earth in us and through all who love him.

I believe the question about finding faith on earth stems from the reality that God’s timing…

• And God’s actions do not coincide with our wants and needs.
• When life is going well and the future looks bright…faith is easy and natural.
• We think and believe…I love God and want to live for God…and I have complete faith in God.
• But…as we well know…life gets in the way.
• Sometimes things fall apart…sometimes the roof caves in…sometimes the lights go out…
• Sometimes we find ourselves trapped in the darkness of our souls…
• With no sign of hope…with no glimmer of grace…with not even a whisper of love.
• And we think of so many devastated a year ago by hurricanes Helene and Milton.

We say there is no hope and we do not have a prayer.

• How do we go on praying and having faith when things go from bad to worse?
• How do we find the will to get up each day when we have no hope?
• How can we keep the faith?

The widow in Jesus’ parable knew this feeling well.

• She could have given up and lived her life in misery.
• No one would have been surprised.
• But she kept up her push for justice.
• And in the end…to everyone’s surprise…
• This wicked judge gave her what she wanted and the justice she deserved.

Will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long in helping them? I tell you, he will quickly grant justice to them.

• Jesus includes this promise at the end of the parable.
• This is Jesus giving a long view of a life of faith in God.
• The promise does not include time frames.
• God’s quickly may not be the same as ours.
• What God does promise is that our cries offered to God are always heard…
• And that he will not delay long in giving help.

The important part for us is to pray and not lose heart.

• We did not realize it earlier…
• The hurricanes hit us…
• We had repairs to our building that needed to be done…
• The cost seemed insurmountable…
• But thanks to our commitment and prayers and God’s love…
• We always had a prayer.
• Thanks be to God.
• May Christ be with you.

Luke 17:11-19

Like every other kid who received a 10-dollar bill or a shirt for their birthday…

• I was expected to send a thank you note to Grandma.
• But it never felt like a natural outpouring of my gratitude.
• It felt like an obligation…an obligation I would gladly give $10 to get out of.
• So yes…there have been times in my life I have not been so grateful…
• That gratitude naturally flowed into a thank-you note to someone.

But our text for today tells of a leper who Jesus healed returning to praise God and give thanks to Jesus.

• And this week as I thought about the grateful Leper…
• I began to realize that I do not praise God as I should.
• I realized how much easier it was for me to talk last week about lamenting and complaining to God…
• And how much trickier it feels to cut loose and praise God.

It is so much easier for me to long for what I want…

• To resent what I have lost…to resent others for what they have…
• Then it is for me to be thankful for what I have.
• I am not alone here though.
• I mean…when is the last time we heard a newscaster say:
• Not a single school shooting in America this week. Praise God.
• Or…the Nation is grateful this week for all the successful cancer treatments that have left thousands of people with a clean bill of health.
• We generally do not find a lack of trauma to be worthy of comment…
• Much less to be worthy of gratitude.

This week I thought about what praise is and what it is not.

• How praising God is not just stroking God’s ego…sycophantically telling God how awesome he is…
• As though God has low self-esteem and created us for just this purpose.
• How thankfulness is not an obligation like the thank-you note to Grandma was…
• But…is an act of freedom that doubles the joy of what was received.

So…rather than talk about praise…I thought that what I really needed this week…on a spiritual level…was to praise God.

• So…I invite you to listen in.
• The Lord be with you.

¹¹On the way to Jerusalem Jesus was going through the region between Samaria and Galilee.

• That you O God…are one who comes to us in the regions between.
• The boundary spaces that we often fail to notice or we fear altogether.
• I thank you…thank you for those who bring water in the desert danger of liminal border-crossings.
• Thank you for the space between my wakefulness and sleep.
• Thank you for being in the regions between…that we try to pretend are not there…
• Demilitarized zones and back-alley ways and underneath bridges.

¹²As he entered a village…ten lepers approached him. Keeping their distance… ¹³they called out…saying, “Jesus…Master…have mercy on us!”

• For your approachability in Jesus…O God…I give you thanks.
• Thank you for coming to us in the most vulnerable way possible…contained in human skin.
• Thank you for revealing your glory in the person of Jesus Christ whom lepers approach.

 ¹⁴When he saw them…he said to them… “Go and show yourselves to the priests.”

• That you see me O God…I give you thanks.
• Thank you for seeing that which I try to hide.
• Thank you for seeing my hurt and my fear.
• Thank you for seeing my heart and my humor.
• Thank you for seeing that I am stronger than I think…
• And that I am also not nearly as strong as I think.
• Thank you for seeing this broken world in all its beauty…
• And…especially thank you for seeing all these things and then responding in nothing but complete love.

Thank you for (over many years of ministry) how you have sent these your people to show themselves to me…

• In sending babies and retired folks and suburban moms and corporate guys and social workers and students…
• That you for having shown yourself to me.
• Knowing…as you do…that without the stories…gifts and scars of each of these people…I would never see enough of you.

And as they went…they were made clean.

• That healing happens in community O God…I praise you.
• Thank you for the way in which you bring your people together to be healed.
• For the ways in which we harm each other instead…forgive us.

 ¹⁵Then one of them…when he saw that he was healed…turned back…praising God with a loud voice.

• Praise to you God for the ones who turn back.
• Thank you for all the people in my life who speak your name…
• Who bravely point to you as the source and ground of all goodness…
• Who dare to recognize you as God and who remind me that you are real…
• And you are actively redeeming me and them and all of creation.

¹⁶He prostrated himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him. And he was a Samaritan. ¹⁷Then Jesus asked… “Were not ten made clean? But the other nine… where are they? ¹⁸Was none of them found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?”

• Blessed be God the Word who came to his own and his own received him not…
• For in this way…God glorifies the stranger.
• Thank you for revealing yourself in the foreigner…I think.
• I mean…it is one of the less comfortable aspects of following you…Jesus.
• But thank you for loving me too much to allow me to stay comfortable for too long.
• Thank you for interrupting my pride and for refusing to leave me as is.
• It is uncomfortable but…in your faithfulness…
• You always lead me through death to more abundant life.

¹⁹Then he said to him… “Get up and go on your way…your faith has made you well.”

For all the things that in going on my way I have failed to even notice I give you thanks today.

• Thank you for this community.
• Thank you for the chaos of children.
• Thank you for the two Christmas palm trees in my yard.
• Thank you for friends who text me back.
• Thank you for coffee.
• Thank you for the person in my 12-step meeting who reminded me that when in doubt…
• Just say…Thy Will be Done…because I totally had forgotten about that part.
• Thank you for clean water and safe roads and electricity and garbage pick-up.
• Thank you for 55 years of marriage to my college sweetheart.
• Thank you for babies.
• Thank you for never leaving me.
• Thank you for the supper I got to share with my daughter and family this week.
• Thank you for all the people who make me laugh.
• Thank you for creating us to sing.
• Thank you for cats and dogs.
• Thank you for the way in which I am fed at your table of grace…
• And for allowing me to speak there and tell the story of the night you were betrayed.
• Thank you for the bread and wine which we are about to receive.
• Thank you for giving me one more day to sing your praise.
• And for every other gift I am too blind to see…that comes from you.

It is all a gift!

• Every day…we stand in the shade of trees we did not plant…
• We live in houses we did not build…
• We eat food we did not produce…
• We ponder ideas that are not original to us…
• We sing songs and tell jokes that we did not compose…
• We live in physical bodies with minds and spirits that we did not create…
• It is all a gift…every flower that we smell…
• Every drop of water that we drink…
• Each and every minute of our lives is a completely unmerited…undeserved gift from God.
• Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Luke 17:5-10

When I was a little boy…I was given a small necklace…in Sunday school.

• It was a Christian necklace…but it held…not a little gold cross or a silver Jesus fish Ichthus symbol…No.
• Hanging from this gold chain was a small…clear…plastic orb…
• That contained within it a tiny round seed.
• OK…You see where this is going.
• Yup…it was a mustard seed.
• If you have faith the size of this tiny mustard seed…Jesus said…you could uproot a huge tree and throw it in the sea.
• The Lord be with you.

Well…I don’t know…but I need some help here.

• I have never understood why…if given such vast power over physical objects…
• One would…out of all the options available…choose to uproot trees and throw them into the sea.
• I have no idea what good that does.

And regardless of the relative merits of mulberry bush uprooting…

• This text has often made my faith feel inadequate…
• Because I have always heard it as this syllogism:
• With only a teensy-weensy amount of faith…Pastor Chip…could perform miracles.
• Pastor Chip does not perform miracles…
• Therefore…Pastor Chip has so little faith…it’s not even as big as that mustard seed around his neck.
• And well…for the record…that necklace was super cheap and turned my neck green…so…I didn’t wear it much.

 

Many years ago…I had an interesting experience around how some people struggle with what they think it means to have faith.

• It was a four-week community faith event in which I was the speaker.
• I was asked to give four talks on four different aspects of faith.
• And what I really love about these kinds of events is doing the Q and A.

And hearing these questions…I realized the sheer number of questions that were so similar.

• Things like…is it ok to feel distant from your faith when you are going through a really hard time in life?
• And… What does it even mean to have faith?
• And…What if I am not sure what I believe?
• And…Is doubt…ok?
• And one was really a statement and not at all a question…someone said:
• Sometimes I wonder if there really is a God because of all the hurt and suffering in life.

And so…with these questions and the texts for today rattling around in my brain…

• I started to think about how often we assume that having faith means not doubting.
• We assume that having faith means not struggling with faith…
• That having faith means being totally trusting and peaceful…
• And serene when tough stuff is happening to us or around us.

But here’s the thing: When the hard stuff in life happens…

• Not only do we feel bad…
• But then we add to it the feeling of total inadequacy about our faith…
• Which just makes it all worse.

We think having faith is like being the little engine who could:

• I think I can I think I can…and if we just muster up enough…
• A tiny mustard size amount of faith we can do anything…
• We can trust God when things are bad and never struggle or doubt…
• And we can even uproot bushes into a watery grave if for some reason we think that’s what is called for.

This Gospel feels like Jesus is scolding us for not having even the tiniest amount of faith.

• Which can easily lead us think that if we have the right amount of faith…
• Then the hard things in life will not be hard and we will never doubt.

OK then…here’s the thing: In Greek there is a future conditional clause:

• That is…If you were to have the faith of a mustard seed…implying that you do not have that faith now.
• But there is also an…according to present reality conditional clause…meaning…If you have the faith of a mustard seed…and you do.
• So…Jesus is not scolding them for not having even the tiniest amount of faith.
• Instead…when they ask him to increase their faith…
• He is affirming that the disciples already have the faith to do what is expected of them.

So…the disciples do not need more faith.

• The disciples need to realize that they already have faith…
• And even if it’s a small amount…that is enough.

[Jesus is asking me how much faith do you have?

• And I say…I don’t know Jesus…it’s not very much…it’s tiny…
• And Jesus says…good enough for me!]

And this brings me back to the questions I got during the four-week community faith event.

• People there said that they were struggling with the fact that hard things in life are hard.
• That somehow since they doubt God amid their own suffering…
• That this somehow means they lack faith and this worries them.
• We tend to think that having faith means unwavering belief…and never doubting…
• And always no matter how awful things get…
• Never ever having negative feelings about God.

It’s like we have forgotten the strong…and awesome tradition in the Hebrew Bible of complaining to God.

• It is called lamenting…and we should reclaim this part of our tradition.

I have a friend who says if you are going to have a praise band in your church…

• That’s fine…but only if you also have a lament band too…
• Because being the people of God has always meant a whole lot of both praise and lament.
• And yet we think that being in a place of praise is having faith…
• And being in a place of lament is lacking faith…but that is simply not true.

I love the way some the characters in the Old Testament really have it out with God.

• How they confront the Almighty…it’s wrangling at its best.
• Often…when we are angry with God…we just give him the silent treatment.
• But not so with our ancestors in the faith.
• If they felt there was some serious neglectful or abusive or absentee parenting from God…they complained.
• And their complaints were not a sign of faithlessness.
• Quite the opposite…
• Their complaints…and their questions about God…were a sign that they were in relationship with God.

The central theme of Habakkuk…the text we heard as our first reading is…unlike the proud…the righteous live by their faith.

• It is easy to think that the righteous means the same thing as the religious…the pius…the priggish.
• But righteous in these texts is not primarily a moral category…
• It’s a relational category.

The faith of the Righteous then…is not as much about never doubting…

• As it is about having a heart which longs for that which it cannot create for itself.
• To be righteous is to be a person…to be a people…
• Who take the promises of God seriously enough to be unafraid of lament.
• Who know that doubt is as much about being in relationship with God as faith is.

Jesus was right…

• Even if our faith is a tiny mustard seed amount…it is enough.

Luke 16:19-31

This morning…Luke introduces two characters.

• Two really different guys.
• One is rich…well-dressed…well-fed…secure in a gated home.
• Interesting…he’s never given a name.
• He is defined only by his wealth and possessions.

 

The other…lays outside of the gate.

• His name is Lazarus.
• (Not Mary and Martha’s brother…not that Lazarus).
• We do not know why he is poor.
• We do not know how he ended up at the gate of the rich man.

 

The Greek word translated as “lay” implies that someone threw him at the gate.

• That he was “dumped” at the gate.
• Did someone want to get rid of him?
• Was he dumped once…or did someone dump him every day?

His stomach growls from emptiness.

• Life has so stripped him of dignity that he longs for the scraps that fall from the rich man’s table.
• Dogs also hang around the gate.
• Wild dogs…waiting for the rich man to throw out his trash.
• The dogs lick Lazarus’ sores.
• We should not see this as comfort.
• Lazarus is too weak and sick to fight them off.
• He has nothing but a name:
• Lazarus…the Greek form of Eliezer…meaning…God is my help.
• The Lord be with you.

Death…the great equalizer…hits them both.

• We read that the rich man was buried.
• But Lazarus was not.
• His body was likely dumped in the Gehinnom Valley…
• A garbage dump that lay just outside of Jerusalem…to get it out of the way.
• Many churches hold a service once a year for all the people in the city who die on the streets but have not had a proper burial.
• Those churches would recognize Lazarus during that memorial service.
• So…Lazarus would finally find dignity in those gracious memorial liturgies.

It is here that the story turns……that is…after their deaths…everything flips.

• Lazarus…the man who was dumped at the gate is carried by angels up to Abraham…the great patriarch.
• After experiencing no dignity in life…Lazarus receives a place of honor in death.
• The rich man…who lived a life of comfort and indulgence…ends up in a place of torment.

We do not know exactly how Lazarus experienced this great reversal.

• He utters no words and Luke does not share his thoughts.
• We assume he felt gratitude and comfort at the end of his misery.

We do know how the rich man experienced his punishment.

• But even in retribution…he had a sense of entitlement.
• He thought Lazarus should come take care of him.
• He wanted relief from his agony…
• And he expected Lazarus to provide it.
• He gave nothing to Lazarus before death.
• But thinks Lazarus should meet his needs after death.
• This is the way of the world.

The television series This Is Us concluded its six-year run with a moving episode about death…and hope.

• This Is Us chronicled the lives of the Pearson Family over 50 years.
• But in an orderly narrative…each episode jumped from the present to the past to the future.
• We saw how the family’s past shaped their present.
• How the experiences they encountered in the present set the stage for the challenges to come.

 

In one of the series’ final episodes…eighty-year-old Rebecca…the family matriarch…is dying.

• She is bedridden and in the final stages of Alzheimer’s disease.
• The nurse has summoned the family.
• Rebecca probably will not make it through the night.

 

As Rebecca’s body shuts down…her spirit begins its journey to eternity…on a train.

• The kind of vintage train she rode with her father when she was a child.
• A train decorated in brocade and plush seats.
• A train on which passengers dress in elegant formal wear.

 

Rebecca is again as young and beautiful as she was the day she married her beloved husband…Jack…a half century before.

• As Rebecca moves through the train…she sees her children at every stage of their lives.
• All happily hanging out with each other.
• In each car…she is greeted by the many wonderful people who have blessed her life.
• Including her daughter-in-law and sons-in-law and grandchildren.
• The light in Rebecca’s eyes reveals the joy she is experiencing in remembering again.

 

In the lounge car she is greeted by Dr. K…the obstetrician who delivered her three children.

• He’s serving as bartender.
• As he mixes a cocktail for her…
• Rebecca confesses her fear that she made too many mistakes in raising her family.
• K assures her that there are no perfect games in parenting.
• No one ever came back and said to me… ‘Doc…I got this parent thing down.’ 
• K tells Rebecca that even in the sadness and mess she and her family experienced…
• Rebecca made something beautiful and wonderful.
• What a thing you made of it all…Rebecca. 
• What a big…messy…gigantic…spectacular thing!

 

As her children say their goodbyes to Rebecca in real time…

• Rebecca’s soul continues to move from car to car on the mythical train…
• Reliving one memory after another.

 

Finally…at the moment of her death…Rebecca comes to the last car…the caboose.

• There she is reunited with her husband…Jack…
• Who died years before as the result of a house fire.
• As they embrace…Jack tells her: You did so good. 

 

Rebecca confides to Jack her fear of leaving her family now when they need her.

• It’s hard to explain…Jack says…you will do all those things with them…you will be there.

 

On her train ride to eternity…Rebecca sees her life in its totality.

• She comes to a new awareness of the good she did as a mom.
• The blessings she realized in her marriage.
• The many broken hearts…and bones…she was able to mend.

 

So…here’s the thing…to follow Jesus is to be aware of the good that has blessed our lives.

• The good we and others possess because we are all created by God.
• And the good we can do as a result.

 

That is the failing of the rich man in today’s story:

• His complete ingratitude for all that he was granted in life.
• And his lack of awareness of the good he could do for Lazarus at his gate.
• Stepping over Lazarus as he walked out his front door.

 

With humility and gratitude…

• Today’s gospel opens our hearts and spirits to discover…
• As Rebecca comes to see on the train…
• The blessing…the good…the hope that is us.

Luke 16:1-13

Jesus tells this little parable about a dishonest manager who…upon hearing that his boss was going to fire him…

• Goes to all his boss’s debtors and gives them a break on their debts.
• He forgives them much of what they owe.
• You know…so he could gain friends in the business before he’s cut from his job…
• In order to get another job from people he has now done favors for.

Now…his boss finds out about it and says:

• Well played…sir! He praises his shrewdness.
• And then…Jesus goes on to say:
• If you are dishonest in little you will be dishonest in much. 
• Likewise…if you are honest in little you will be honest in much…
• And you cannot serve money and God.
• The end. The Lord be with you.

Now…wait a minute.

• Jesus tells a story about a manager who is dishonest…who then gets praised…
• And then Jesus says that dishonesty is something that applies to big and small things…
• And once you are dishonest you are always dishonest…
• And you cannot serve God and money and…wait…
• Are we supposed to be dishonest or supposed to be honest?
• It seems dishonesty gets praise at the beginning…but honesty gets praise at the end.
• Which is it?

 

So…here’s the thing: dishonesty is underrated in poisoned systems…it really is.

• Here’s an example of what I mean:
• You are in occupied Poland in the 1940’s.
• There are people hiding in your cellar.
• If they are caught…they will be sent to a camp…maybe Auschwitz or Stutthof.

The SS come to your door and ask you:

• Do you have anyone hiding in your cellar?
• What do you say?  Do you tell the truth according to the system?
• If you say: Yes…they are dead.
• But if you say: No…the system in place considers your statement a lie.
• And yet…in another system…the community/Kingdom of God…it is the truth.
• Because the SS has no claim over their life.

So…is there anyone in the cellar that the Nazis’ can lay claim to?

• No…there is not.
• Honesty and dishonesty depend on systems of operation…
• And we often put our emphasis on the so-called fact of a matter instead of the system of operation.

Well…here’s another example…closer to home:

• My friend John is a Lutheran seminary student in St. Paul…
• In that liberal-progressive state of Minnesota…the year 1969.
• He works the counter at a drug store a block from the seminary.
• The poisoned system says that when black people come in and sit at the counter…the owner says he is not to serve them.
• Well…a black person comes in.
• John welcomes him to come in and sit down.
• John serves him.
• The Kingdom of God system says that no one is ever turned away from the table of grace.
• And guess what…no surprise…the owner fires John.
• Honesty and dishonesty depend on systems of operation…

In the world of the landowner…returning to Jesus’ story…the landowner controls the cogs and the wheels of the system…

• Because of the money and power…they hold.
• That is a poisonous system because it rewards the privileged on the backs of those who go without.
• The owners can fire without due cause.
• They can hold people in enormous amounts of debt because of the money and power they possess.

But in the system of God…where you serve God and not money…it is not so.

• In that system…forgiveness of debt is praised over due payment.
• The honesty of the system of Caesar and Empire and power is dishonesty.
• And being dishonest in the system of Empire is honesty.
• This is the system of God.

Somewhere along the line in Christian thought we have forgotten that.

• As Jesus says:
• The people of this generation are more shrewd than children of the light/Christians. 
• So…Why are you not shrewd/clever in the opposite way that the system is shrewd? 
• Why are you not shrewd/clever in your love and forgiveness?
• It is a good question for people who follow Jesus.

For instance…what would it mean if the church began offering no-interest loans to people struggling to pay their rent…

• And…oh…by the way…do not report that loan to child-care systems because they would then remove you from food stamps…so just keep it under your hat?
• It would mean the church is operating in a different system where dishonesty to the state is honesty toward God.
• I’m just the messenger here.
• Just saying…what Jesus is teaching here.

Seems a little too radical?

• I mean…there must be some rules for what is honest and dishonest…right?
• Yes…it’s radical.
• Jesus was killed for talking like this.

Let’s not get too crazy…let’s not throw everything out.

• We cannot just go around not expecting payment and forgiving all debt…
• And being dishonest with everything in this poisoned…but present system.
• But can we at least…just for a moment…ponder the system we are in?
• Jesus calls us to ask what is dishonest and honest in our current system…
• In relation to the system of God.
• Is our honesty serving systems that praise money?
• Is our system bending toward forgiveness?
• Are we a manager of a system of the community of God or the community of Money?

 

And…let’s not forget how the story ends.

• In the system of privilege and violence…
• The Empire and the powerful and the established bring Jesus…the manager of love…
• Up on charges without proof…
• Fire him from living…
• And on the cross he says:
• Forgive them their debts…they know not what they do…

Jesus was dishonest to their systems of power and privilege…

• He…the one we call the way the truth and life.

And yet…we still often hold honesty to our poisoned systems above the honesty toward…that way…that truth…that life…

• That honest life.

Luke 15:1-10

Forty-years later…in an essay in The Boston Globe…Kim Costigan recently wrote of the days she spent with her friend Kathy and her family.

• I felt lucky…part of something special.
• There was a type of freedom and little worry about teenage mischief.
• The daily presence of parents and dinner on the table.
• It gave me a feeling that this was a safe place where no one would be judged.
• Kathy’s parents let their kids be themselves and make mistakes.
• They loved them unconditionally.
• I was drawn to this family…which felt like the opposite of mine.

The friends of Kathy’s siblings would peel off as dinnertime approached.

• But I would stay.
• Kathy’s mom and dad and whichever kids were not away at their jobs would sit at the table.
• And we would eat as a family.
• I had not had that feeling of warmth around a dinner table before.
• And it nourished me just as much as the food they served.

Kathy’s family had always taken in stray dogs and cats…

• And my favorite was a yellow Labrador mix with a missing leg.
• He ran right alongside his four-legged counterparts with no problem.
• And was loved and cared for just like the rest of the dogs and cats that lived there.

It was not until many years later…as an adult…

• That I realized I was another one of the strays who was lost…
• And then was found…
• Finding my way to this refuge.
• The Lord be with you.

 

I thought of Kim and her friend Kathy…

• When I read this passage in Luke’s Gospel about the lost sheep and the lost coin.
• These two parables define Christ’s mission in the world.
• Jesus came to save that which is lost.
• That is the heart of the Gospel.

 

Earlier in Luke’s Gospel Jesus sees a tax collector by the name of Levi sitting at his tax booth.

• “Follow me” Jesus said to him and Levi got up…
• Left everything and followed him.

 

Then Levi held a great banquet for Jesus at his house…

• And a large crowd of tax collectors and others were eating with them.
• But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law complained to Jesus’ disciples about Jesus’ conduct.
• They asked: “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?”
• Jesus answered them:
• It is not the healthy who need a doctor but the sick.
• I have not come to call the righteous…but sinners to repentance.
• We are Jesus’ target audience…
• Because we have all at one time or another gone astray.

 

St. Paul writes in his letter to Timothy:

• Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners.
• This is good news because we are all sinners.
• At heart we have a flaw…a weakness.
• At heart we are all broken.

 

St. Paul described his own situation:

• I do not understand my own actions… he wrote.
• For I do not do what I want but I do the very thing I hate (Romans 7:15).
• He is describing us.

 

The Bible is very realistic about the nature of humanity:

• Abraham was the father of the Hebrew nation but he was far from perfect.
• Read the story and you will find him willing to give his wife to Pharaoh to save his own skin.

 

Jacob found favor with God and his name was changed to Israel.

• That’s good because his earlier name meant conniver …
• And he lived up to it or down to it.

 

David was a man after God’s own heart and yet David was an adulterous murderer…

• Psalm 51: Create in me a clean heart.

 

Peter was Jesus’ closest disciple and most outspoken friend…

• Yet Peter denied him with a curse.
• Even St. Paul…as he writes words of encouragement to Timothy…
• And gives God thanks for finding him worthy to serve God…
• Confesses to Timothy that he himself is the chief of sinners.

You and I…like all the above…are flawed creatures.

• We are so adept at justifying our basic nature that we may not be aware of it.
• The devil is an insidious creature.
• We are flawed…the Bible calls it sin.

 

I was once asked who gave me the most trouble in my congregation.

• I answered: “I’ve had more trouble with Pastor Chip than any other person alive.”

 

Someone once said:

• There is so much good in the worst of us…
• And so much bad in the best of us…
• That it hardly becomes any of us to talk about the rest of us.

 

Mildred…she was the self-appointed church gossip.

• She spread the word that George…a new member…
• Was an alcoholic after she saw his pickup truck parked in front of the town’s only bar one afternoon.
• George…a man of few words…didn’t explain…defend…or deny…
• He said nothing.
• Later that evening…George quietly parked his pickup in front of Mildred’s house . . . and left it there all night!

 

Kathy and her family make a place for Kim at an especially traumatic time in her life.

• Their love as a family makes them a place of refuge for all who come to their table.

 

Today’s Gospel of the lost challenges us to make places of refuge for those going through difficult times.

• To seek out the struggling and marginalized and help find their place in community.
• There are many lost sheep…lost coins…lost brothers and sisters among us.
• People who go unnoticed and unloved…who don’t seem to fit.
• Whose talents and gifts have no outlet.
• Christ asks us to seek out the lost.
• To see that they have their rightful place at our tables.
• In our churches.
• In our communities.

 

Listen again to how Jesus ends each of these parables:

• Rejoice with me…I have found my lost sheep…
• I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.

 

• And again: Rejoice with me…I have found my lost coin. In the same way…I tell you…there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.

Luke 14:25-33

Jesus knew how to gather a crowd.

• The Gospel of Luke portrays him as a magnetic presence.
• Large groups of people were drawn to his teaching.
• No doubt some scratched their heads when they heard one of his parables…and then laughed out loud when they got the point.
• People with physical and emotional needs leaned forward to experience his healing touch.
• When their lives were changed…they told others about it.
• The word spread quickly.
• He drew people from every station and strata of life.

No wonder…then…that Luke tells us that crowds traveled with Jesus.

• They stuck to him…where he went…they went.
• The mass of people was enormous.

Perhaps some clung to him because of the parables Jesus told…like the one we read last week.

• He had been invited for dinner.
• At the table…the Lord declared that next time the host should expand the guest list.
• A meal should never be limited to those who might return the invitation.
• Therefore…invite those who could never return the favor.
• The host should invite everyone without bounds.

The crowds had been sticking to Jesus like Velcro.

• All were welcome to follow him.
• All were free to go wherever Jesus went.
• But that did not mean everybody who was attracted to Jesus would finish the journey with him.
• So…in today’s gospel reading Jesus says some things that would likely thin the crowd. The Lord be with you.

The first thing he said is drastic.

• Want to follow me? Hate your parents…your spouse and children…your extended relations…even your own life.
• That’s harsh. It is one of the fiercest sayings he ever uttered.

If we didn’t know better…we would think this was a reply to fuel family tension.

• A teenager may explode when given a clear curfew.
• A future bride may despise her father if he rejects her choice of a husband.
• Pain begets pain…words screamed become scars.
• Loved ones are despised.
• Should not the followers of Jesus be concerned about peace in their own families?

Scholars tell us this is a particular form of speech commonly used in Semitic cultures.

It is either-or language…just like when Jesus said we cannot worship God and wealth.

• No slave can serve two masters…for a slave will either hate the one and love the other or be devoted to the one and despise the other.
• Here…the distinction was between God or family.
• We cannot give both ultimate honor.
• For followers of Jesus…to hate their families meant giving the family second place in their affections.
• God’s Kingdom comes first.

If we surveyed a large auditorium of Christians today…some would be struggling with Kingdom-family choices.

• Some may hear Christ calling them to stand up for a cause that their own brothers and sisters resist.
• Others may feel a tug to make a life change that family members will not understand.
• When a person senses God’s call to pursue a new direction or a deeper expression of faith…
• Those most resistant to that call may be sitting around the same dinner table.
• As the preacher Fred Craddock often quipped:
• The Holy Spirit rarely calls someone in a voice loud enough for the whole family to hear.

The point is this: The call of Christ comes before everything else.

• Whether we choose to follow him…or he chooses us…discipleship is a matter of increasing clarity.
• When we follow Jesus first…his invitation precedes our own willful wishes.
• His values come before our own. Everybody and everything else must line up after him.

Jesus reminded his hearers that this clarity comes with a cost.

• At various points…the discipleship road is steep.
• They might be blessed for a season to find the path level…even refreshing.
• Yet discipleship always demands something from them…and from us.
• By putting Christ first…we choose to put other matters aside.

These days…a few excited converts may make a show of this…declaring how much they have sacrificed for their faith and obedience.

• The fervent student deletes the hardcore rock-and-roll from his Apple Music play list.
• Announcing how sanctified he has become.
• The modest office worker convinces herself that a lack of social life is a spiritual discipline.
• There may be little transformation in these souls.
• At most they might experience a slight recalibration of the spirit.

Far more stirring are the quiet sacrifices that some make in leading lives of faithfulness.

• There is the divorced engineer who passes up lucrative opportunities for relocation because she values the stability she provides for her children by staying in their small town.
• Or there is a dentist who takes two weeks of unpaid personal time to fix smiles in an underserved city.
• A retired teacher tells her pastor that she will not be in worship most
• Sundays because the nearby soup kitchen cannot find anybody else to prepare meals on that morning.
• That’s where God wants me to be…she says…adding…I meet Jesus in the breadline every week.

This is where discipleship hits the road:

• In acts of service that benefit other people.
• Each act requires a calculation of energy and effort.
• Helping others in the name of Christ is never a quick fix.
• It takes discipline and perseverance.
• Not only do we discern the work…we see it through.
• If we volunteer to work with teenagers…they count on us to keep showing up.
• If we dedicate our time each week to sit with a lonely friend…it does no good to allow interruptions in that schedule…there is a cost.

When clarity is gained and the cost calculated…we discover one of the secrets of the Christian life.

• There is a surprising liberation that comes as we follow Christ by offering our lives to others.
• We can travel lightly…not needing luxuries.
• God sets us free from our more selfish desires.

Joy…that is the secret.

• Not happiness…nor freedom from struggle…but the sense that our lives have aligned with the purposes of God.
• In giving ourselves away for the sake of God’s kingdom…we gain a clearer sense of who we are.
• We see what God is doing and how we can be a part of it.
• This is the true significance of being Jesus’ disciple.
• In the best and deepest sense…we lose ourselves and gain the Savior.

The crowds will not always understand the call of discipleship…nor will they follow through to the end.

• Jesus knew this…and he invites all to live the life of God’s dominion…
• Yet the crowd often thins out as its members perceive what that life requires.

But we know what it will take…for his voice is uniquely calling us.

• With increasing clarity…a counting of the cost and a deepening commitment…
• Each of us is invited to respond to Jesus’ self-giving love by offering ourselves to him and his purposes.
• We come to Christ with nothing in our hands.
• Why? Because it is easier to embrace him when we are no longer clinging to anything else.

Luke 14:1, 7-14

Seating charts are the Rubik’s Cube of event planning.

• Few tasks are more comically daunting…or more fraught with peril…
• Then deciding who sits next to whom at a wedding reception…
• It’s a delicate dance of diplomacy…requiring the wisdom of Solomon…the creativity of Picasso and…the conflict-resolution skills of a hostage negotiator.

A wedding seating chart is not just about logistics…

• It’s a test of imagination…because if done right…
• It is not just about keeping the peace but creating a magical mingling of personalities where everyone…
• At least for one night…feels as though they are in the best seat in the house. The Lord be with you.

It’s a seating situation that gives Jesus an opportunity to direct our attention to two groups of actors in our drama this morning:

• The guests and the hosts.
• The text says that Jesus was going to the house of a leader of the Pharisees to eat a meal on the Sabbath.
• So…let’s start with the guests.

Ordinarily…absent restraints like queue belt barriers at TSA security lines…

• The average person is going to jockey for or pay for the best affordable seat on the Airbus 320…or in the opera house…or sports arena.
• In fact…it is this very human tendency that has been the driving force behind most efforts to prevent damage when chaos may ensue.
• Southwest Airlines had a longstanding policy of allowing passengers to pick their seats once they have boarded.
• But not anymore.

In our passage…Jesus observes how guests choose places of honor for themselves.

• He quickly sees that the host and guests have it all wrong.
• Instead of clamoring for the best seats…Jesus advises choosing the lowliest…least desirable seating.
• Like the one in which a large fern obscures your view of the speaker’s dais…
• Leaving the hosts to move you to the front if they see fit.
• He ends with the principle:
• For all who exalt themselves will be humbled…and those who humble themselves will be exalted.

Humility goes a long way…does it not?

• There is something about humility that makes us look good.
• I believe it is because…like disciples…humble people are coachable.
• They seem intuitively to recognize that they do not have all the answers…and are open to learning from others.
• Humility is kind of a hedge against catastrophic errors of judgment.
• This is what the French philosopher Montaigne (Mann-tayn) was getting at when he said:
• I prefer the company of peasants because they have not been educated sufficiently to reason incorrectly.
• Humility never claims to have all the answers.
• And this is refreshing when we see it in others…especially in sports icons or those who are well known.

Why is humility so attractive when we see it in others?

• Well…I think we all like humble people because they are often authentic and have an aura of wisdom and a commitment to others.
• It is a virtue that balances confidence with kindness…ambition with service…and success with self-awareness.
• Humility is about lifting up and valuing others more than ourselves.
• And this is rare because we live in a world often dominated by self-promotion.
• So… it is kind of awesome when we spot someone who is other-centric…
• And therefore someone who inspires us to be a better version of ourselves.

On the other hand…the perks of pride are short-lived.

• Pride overestimates its importance.
• It whispers: You deserve the best seat.
• S. Lewis called pride the complete anti-God state of mind…
• Because it focuses entirely on self…ignoring God and others.
• And so…here…Jesus points to the perils of pride or pride’s peril.
• Do you really want to dash for the best seat in the house…plant your flag…
• Only to have security arrive and not-so-gently suggest you take a seat in the balcony?

And so…for Jesus…there was no better example of this than the ego-stuffed…pompous and self-righteous Pharisees…

• Who seemed to be just begging to have someone poke a pin in their pride.
• Jesus had little patience for super-pious religious types who looked as good on the outside as they were awful on the inside.
• This is what pride and arrogance do:
• They camouflage how empty and superficial the subject actually is.

One more issue remains here…because Jesus surprises us by offering an incentive: a future reversal of fortunes.

• If you humble yourselves now…do not worry.
• Someday you will be exalted.
• Why do we and should we defer to others?
• Because it is in our best interests to do so?
• If so…this is a problem.

Do you see where this is headed?

• It just seems a little crass to do something good because we shall someday be repaid in kind…
• Or because humbly offering the best seat to someone else makes us feel good.
• But…here’s the thing…it is what goes unnoticed.
• Jesus’ advice about seeking a humble seat at the table is not really about the reward…
• But rather about the One doing the rewarding!
• It is God who will lift up the humble.
• It is God who will exalt the righteous.
• It is God who will grant us our reward in this life and the next.
• This makes a huge difference.

So…we should not get overly concerned about whether the gentle reminder to humble ourselves is really a back door…

• Side door…or garage door way of suggesting that altruism is the best way to draw attention to ourselves.
• It is not.
• In this world…the chances that we are going to get upgraded to First Class just because we have a nice smile and a modest demeanor are slim to none.
• We will still have the middle seat between a chatty Patty on our right…who can talk our ears off…
• And on our left…a plus-sized…350-pound offensive linebacker for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Finally…a quick word about the host’s concern about the guest list.

• Jesus reprimands his host about a banquet for family or friends…
• Jesus says…instead invite the poor…the crippled…the lame…and the blind. 
• Here…Jesus reminds us about the restorative and radical nature of our mission…
• But also calls for a hopeful image when the people of all nations…tribes and languages will sit down at the feast prepared for them before the foundation of the world…
• A feast at which we…too…will be present.

The late Pope Francis said:

• The measure of the greatness of a society is found in the way it treats those most in need…those who have nothing apart from their poverty.
• A Church which goes forth is a Church whose doors are open. Going out to others to reach the fringes of humanity does not mean rushing out aimlessly into the world. Often it is better simply to slow down…to put aside our eagerness to see and listen to others…to stop rushing from one thing to another and to remain with someone who has faltered along the way.
• At times we must be like the father of the prodigal son…who always keeps his door open so that when the son returns…he can readily pass through it.

In God’s kingdom…the best seat on the seating chart is not earned by self-promotion…

• But by a heart of humility and a meek-shall-inherit-the-earth (Jimmy Carter like) desire for peace.
• Jesus himself is our template.
• He not only taught us about humility…he lived it.
• Philippians reminds us that although Jesus was equal with God…
• He took the form of a servant…humbling himself to the point of death on a cross.

So…before we scramble to get the best seat…to get to the head of the line…to grab the pole position…

• We might remember his promise:
• You will be blessed because they cannot repay you…for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.