Making God Smile – Luke 14:1, 7-14

A text – Luke 14:1, 7-14

14:1 On one occasion when Jesus was going to the house of a leader of the Pharisees to eat a meal on the sabbath, they were watching him closely.
14:7 When he noticed how the guests chose the places of honor, he told them a parable.
14:8 “When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet, do not sit down at the place of honor, in case someone more distinguished than you has been invited by your host;
14:9 and the host who invited both of you may come and say to you, ‘Give this person your place,’ and then in disgrace you would start to take the lowest place.
14:10 But when you are invited, go and sit down at the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he may say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher’; then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at the table with you.
14:11 For all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”
14:12 He said also to the one who had invited him, “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.
14:13 But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind.
14:14 And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”

A reflection:

Here is the Gospel of Luke’s embodiment of Proverbs 25: 25:6 Do not put yourself forward in the king’s presence or stand in the place of the great;  25:7 for it is better to be told, “Come up here,” than to be put lower in the presence of a noble.

Jesus is at a Sabbath meal with leaders of the Pharisees. He knows that they know this passage from Proverbs, and he knows they are persons of common sense who ought to know better than to jockey for position. Yet he observed behavior which made him give this advice about wedding banquets. It’s pretty sensible advice for avoiding shame and disgrace. Yes, it is better not to be publicly shamed.

But Jesus goes on, as always, to take this advice a little bit further. He gives advice about hosting the banquet itself. Hosting a banquet is something one might do to raise one’s position in a stratified community. Jesus says, Don’t host a banquet for your friends or relatives. Host a beautiful extravagant banquet for the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind – for all the folks who never get invited, for anyone who is invisible to the strata of society you might have been thinking to impress. Host a banquet for people who would never be able to repay you. Bless them, and God will repay you.

Bishop Desmond Tutu was once in Massachusetts, visiting the Episcopal diocese there and taking part in the events that had been on the diocese’s calendar for months prior to his arrival. One of those events was an award presentation to a local school for under-privileged children. They asked Father Tutu if he wanted to say a few words. When the Archbishop rose to speak, he lauded the community leaders for the great work that was being done for the poor in the community. He said, “God sees what you are doing here and smiles because it is very close to God’s heart.”

When we give the banquet for the poor, then, we don’t even do it to be repaid by God, though that will happen. We do it because every time we love the invisible, every time we serve those who don’t usually get served, every time we are generous with our time and talents and goods and gifts, God smiles because it is very close to God’s heart.

A prayer:

Lord God, Thank you for loving us. Thank you giving us gifts that make our lives so good. Help us to distribute those gifts, sharing them with others, including those who are normally excluded. Help us remember to make you smile. Amen.