Possibly the single most important thing

Luke 14:1-14

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. 2 Just then, in front of him, there was a man who had edema. 3 And Jesus asked the experts in the law and Pharisees, “Is it lawful to cure people on the Sabbath or not?” 4 But they were silent. So Jesus took him and healed him and sent him away. 5 Then he said to them, “If one of you has a child or an ox that has fallen into a well, will you not immediately pull it out on a Sabbath day?” 6 And they could not reply to this.

     7 When he noticed how the guests chose the places of honor, he told them a parable. 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, 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. 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. 11 For all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

    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 and sisters or your relatives or rich neighbors, in case they may invite you in return, and you would be repaid. 13 But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. 14 And you will be blessed because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”

In last week’s passages from the previous chapter in Luke, we saw Jesus encounter condemnation for healing someone on the Sabbath, and here he is at again.  This time he was at the house of Pharisee eating a meal.  He was their guest, but the goal, apparently, was an opportunity to scrutinize his words and deeds, possibly to catch him in some misstep.  The text says that a man with edema suddenly appeared before Jesus - perhaps not a coincidence - and, seeing him, Jesus posed the question of whether it is lawful or not to good on Sabbath.  The Pharisees decline to answer, presumably fearful of the implications either way.  Jesus answers for them, observing that if any one of them had a child or even an ox who fell into a well on the Sabbath, then obviously they would rouse themselves to rescue.  

Jesus then makes an observation about how they are seated, apparently having seen them jockeying for the places of honor at the table.  This concern with position at the table is perhaps not so culturally resonant for us, but we are all familiar with the little ways we seek to exalt ourselves - and even more so with all the little ways we feel slighted or marginalized.  Human nature is fairly fixed on this point.  

This observation Jesus makes is hardly unrelated to the Pharisees reluctance to the answer the question posed to them regarding healing on the Sabbath.  Perhaps the fundamental problem with the Pharisees is simply that they are complacent beneficiaries of the status quo, more interested in preserving their position than in the truth.  Like most political creatures, they lack real conviction, desiring the office less because it provides a platform to serve the common good and more because they enjoy the trappings.  And honor in this realm is very much a zero-sum game.  If one person is elevated, another is demoted, if everyone gets a trophy, no one does, so they fight over a limited pie (and that already the scraps left to them by the Romans).    

They would rather not risk following the clear logic of Jesus’ question to its conclusion, for voicing out loud that it’s lawful to heal on the Sabbath runs the risk of condemnation from their fellow Pharisees.  Better to say nothing and maintain your standing.  If you follow politics today you might have noticed this dynamic plays out still.  There is nothing new under the sun.  People who ostensibly stand for something often care only for themselves.  And this is how you become the sort of person who objects to healing someone in need.   The problem is not with the Pharisees’ teaching, Jesus said - they’ve got the doctrines and dogmas more or less right - but their unwillingness to actually have mercy on others, their using the law as justification to not lift a finger - that’s a problem.  The Pharisees might claim to believe the right things, but they do not live as if those things were indeed true.  They run from the implications.  

Here’s a preposterous thought experiment.  Imagine there were some aliens who arrived on Earth without familiarity with human history and culture but who could nevertheless read and interpret our texts, like the Bible.  And imagine that we gave our curious alien friends the four Gospels and asked them what they thought was the most important aspect of Jesus’ teaching.  Especially if they were able to recognize that the same idea finds expression in various metaphors and parables, I think they might very well conclude that the heart of Jesus’ teaching is the imperative to humble ourselves that we might be exalted, to makes ourselves last that we might become first, to die to ourselves that we might truly live, and so on.   Now, to be fair, I haven’t done a rigorous analysis, but it does seem to me, as someone who reads the Bible a fair bit, that this theme comes up a lot.  But I have come to think of this as the heart of Jesus’ teaching not just because of its frequency, as if the answer can be quantified, but because,Jesus did not merely speaks these words but he fulfilled them in the very shape of his life.  He very much put his money where his mouth was, laying down his life so that it might be lifted up.  

We could perhaps imagine an alternative history in which the church centered this aspect of Jesus’ teaching and made it essential to Christian discipleship, but alas, that is not our history.   It’s disconcerting to entertain the possibility that the church has gotten the story wrong, or has at least elevated trivial aspects and sidelined the essential, but - even if we take a high view of the Spirit’s guidance - it is undeniable that Christians have not always been shining examples.  We might well see it as providential that Jesus’ primary foil in the Gospels is indeed the Pharisees, those religious folks who are convinced they have the answers but who are actually tragically deceived.  

The plain reality is that Christians - especially Christians in positions of authority - have very often played the role of the Pharisee.   If we ask why it is that this essential aspect of Jesus’ teaching is de-emphasized or outright ignored, the answer is quite simple: it does not serve the interest of those in power, those who benefit from the status quo.   This kind of Gospel is inherently destabilizing, for it demands of those in positions of power, not that they be served, but that they serve, that they excel in humility, that they seek not their own interests but the interests of others.  There are, of course, many notable exceptions throughout the centuries, but in the main church leaders and ordinary Christians have found themselves invested in perpetuating a faith that, like the Pharisees, frequently misses the point.  

So Jesus gave them - and gave us - some useful advice.  When you come to a banquet, rather than assuming the place of honor and running the risk of suffering the humiliation of being sent to the lowest seat, rather assume the lowest position and - if indeed you “deserve” a higher place, the master will honor you by moving you up.  This advice, of course, is not limited to banquet seating protocols but it is, in fact, the proper approach to any and every situation.  God will lift up the lowly and humble the haughty.  This is a universal principle, a foundational truth.  In a world where we feel compelled to climb to be top, push others down, exalt ourselves and denigrate others, Jesus’ promise subverts the usual power structure, it turns the world upside down.  It is good news to the powerless, but a sober warning to the powerful.  

When Jesus was crucified it certainly seemed as if an unforgiving world had rendered its final verdict on his life, but, as you know, God vindicated Jesus’ life, revealing that this is way that leads to eternal life, to all good things.  The promise in Jesus’ teaching, embodied, substantiated, in his life, is that we can likewise humble ourselves to love and serve others, sacrificing even to the point of death, and that God will lift us up.  The way to get to the top is to put yourself at the bottom.  

And then Jesus takes the point even further.  He tells those Pharisees that, if indeed they’re going to hold a banquet, rather than inviting those who might return the favor, you should invite the poor and lowly, those who will never be able to hold their own banquet and invite you in return.  They can’t pay you back, but God will.  This is a difficult teaching, for it highlights the reality that, even when we are generous with what we have, there is typically some aspect of us which, even if only subconsciously, is aware of how this act might benefit us (even if it’s only to make us feel good about ourselves).  Jesus here throws karma out the window and calls us to something higher, a standard which we cannot meet, which only he himself managed in this life, but one toward which we should strive in the hope that, the extent to which we humble ourselves is the extent to which God will lift us up.  And we might also hope that, this isn’t just a promised deferred, but one which would discover to be true here and now.  But there’s really only one way to find out.