Trinity Episcopal Church
Hattiesburg, Mississippi
Fourteenth Sunday After Pentecost (Proper 17)
September 2, 2007
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About the Revised Common LectionaryThe 75th General Convention in June, 2006 directed that the Revised Common Lectionary (RCL) replace the Book of Common Prayer lectionary "effective the First Sunday of Advent 2007; with the provision for continued use of the previous Lectionary for purposes of orderly transition, with the permission of the ecclesiastical authority, until the First Sunday of Advent 2010." The Rt. Rev. Duncan M. Gray, III has indicated to the clergy of the Diocese of Mississippi that the RCL be used in this Diocese. The General Convention of 2000 which initially authorized the trial use of the Revised Common Lectionary (RCL) actually modified the RCL slightly to conform to Episcopal worship needs. In addition, the weekday feasts and fasts are a matter of Episcopal usage and are not supported by the RCL. |
Jeremiah 2:4-13
Psalm 71:1-6
Hebrews 13:1-8, 15-16
Luke 14:1, 7-14
Collect of the Day
From the Revised Common Lectionary as Adapted for Use by the Episcopal Church
and Authorized by the 74 th General Convention of the ECUSA
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. When he noticed how the guests chose the places of honor, he told them a parable. “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; 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. 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. For all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.” 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. 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.” (Luke 14:1, 7-14)
No More Scorekeeping
The Rev. Dr. Bill Stroop, Rector
After a historic five-year boom propelled by a strong economy and a low interest rate, the real estate market went bust in 2006.[1] And as we have probably all heard, the situation did not improve all that much during the first half of 2007.[2] Although this is not good news, there is some silver in this particular cloud for us in Hattiesburg. According to CNN Money, the Hattiesburg housing market has held its own, and in fact has increased a little.[3]
From a buyer’s standpoint, moving to Hattiesburg about a year ago was a good thing. When I was looking for a house in August 2006, one of the primary features I looked for was a good sized dining room. One of my favorite rooms in any house is the dining room. I enjoy a big table, spread with linen, and set with china. I enjoy the sight of light twinkling through the facets of crystal, and the tinkling sound of dishes. I enjoy the feel of stemware in my hand. Somehow food tastes better, and conversation is enhanced by the total experience of a beautiful and spacious dining room. I have often been disappointed by the dining areas I find in more modern houses, which is one reason I was attracted to the historic district of Hattiesburg.
Beginning with the post-Korean War building book of the 1950’s and the development of the L-shaped space, the dining room has gotten short shrift. Modern living has shifted from supper to the entertainment center. It is as if modern life wants us to quickly graze on fast food (rich with carbohydrates and saturated fat), and then return to the entertainment area where we can individually zone out by tuning into the movie of the week. Gone are the days of good conversation and insightful dialog. Gone are the days of hammering out what is wrong with America over a plate of meatloaf. Gone are the days of telling our Congressmen and women how they should vote by poking the air with a fork or a knife in our hands. In Jesus’ time, gathering around the supper table was a central part of life. And when supper became a banquet, it was a major social event.
Beginning with the fourteenth chapter of Luke, we hear about all kinds of suppers and feasts, starting with Jesus’ supper with the leader of the Pharisees that we heard about today. For the next several chapters of Luke, Jesus will recite example after example of meal experiences to make various points about how we are all equal in God’s eyes.
Imagine if you will a house with what I would call a proper dining room: a table for twelve set with china, crystal, and polished silver. It is glorious! Now enter the guests; let’s make them Episcopalians or Presbyterians – “pleasant but a bit shirty.”[4] Now bring in Jesus.
Jesus notes how our dinner guests cluck and sniff about the seating arrangements. He tells them a parable that not only stings, but hints at things strange and dark.
First, he tells them that when they are invited by someone to a big party, don’t sit in the best place, because somebody more important than you may have been invited by your host. And then the host will have to come to you and say, “I’m sorry but this seat is reserved.” And you will be ashamed and have to go to the lowest place. Ouch, that stings! Jesus warns them that “everyone who exalts himself will be humbled and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”
But then come the strange and dark parts. Jesus suggests that when giving a banquet we should not invite our friends or brothers or rich neighbors. Well, why not? As Leslie Gore once sang, “It’s My Party,” we ask, “Why can’t I invite who I want?!” Jesus tells the rich Pharisee that he should have invited the poor, the maimed, and the blind. Although the Pharisee could have taken Jesus’ remarks personally, I don’t think Jesus meant them that way. Jesus knows where he is going on this final walk to Jerusalem, and he knows how he’ll end up. Death is stalking him. And he sees that death itself is the key to salvation, not life and worldly success.
As Fr. Robert Farrar Capon writes, “At this dinner party, he is surrounded by social winners; establishment types who are positive they have the right tickets, religious and otherwise. These are people who might see clawing their way to the top of the social heap as validation of their righteousness. When Jesus addresses his Pharisee host, he is principally concerned with redressing the imbalance he feels all around him, to assert that a life lived by winning at all cost, doing the socially [acceptable] thing, doing the expedient thing, is a losing proposition.”[5]
All the way through the Gospel of Luke, Jesus levels the playing field. Over and over again, Jesus is critical of the Lists of Favorites everyone keeps: Being First, Being Found, Being Big, Being Important, Being Alive. What Jesus says to his host is, “Stop being a Bookkeeper!” The Pharisee is like most of us: concerned with who‘s in and who’s not; concerned with the balance sheet and remembering scores. But if anything, the Gospel of Luke rebukes that idea. The Gospel tells us that being a mental accountant is a bad idea. Bookkeeping is wrong.
Jesus warns us to give up keeping records on people. Don’t consult the Friend/Foe book or the Nice/Nasty book either. Don’t look at the Just Like Me/Different Than Me, Rich/Poor, or the Good/Bad volumes. Jesus knows that we have somehow come to believe that to keep God happy, to keep our children safe, to keep the cosmos running, we have to be ready, at any moment to have our books opened and audited. Jesus tells us that we have become mired in this kind of scorekeeping. Jesus encourages us to just let this kind of thinking go. He says, “Thumb your nose at the books! There is no Guinness Book of Spiritual Records!
Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem to die, and put an end to that notion of divine bookkeeping. Jesus came not to judge the world by to save it. And salvation will come when we just give up the accounting practices that shackle us.
So what will salvation look like? I don’t know, and neither do you. But I want to share with you something from Robert Capon that speaks to me of truth about salvation and God’s love in Jesus. “Just who are those who will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous? The righteous are not the stuffy, just types with yard-long lists of good works, but simply the forgiven sinners of the world who live by faith – people who trust Jesus. And who are the unjust? They are the forgiven sinners who continue to live like accountants. They will show up in heaven and show their record books asking Jesus to check his books against theirs. And what will Jesus say to one of these people? He will say, “Just forget it! I suppose we have those books around here someplace, and if you’re really determined to make a spectacle of yourself, I guess we could find them. But frankly, in the Kingdom of God no one really pays attention to them. And while you are weeping about your failures, and justifying yourself by your accomplishments, I am simply going to read aloud from my Book of Life. And you know what it says? It’s simply going to say You Name. Nothing else. None of your bad deeds will be there, because they are erased. And none of your good deeds will be recorded, because I didn’t count them, I just enjoyed them.”[6]
I think that God will welcome us, just as Jesus welcomed the poor, the lonely, and the despondent. He will invite us to the cosmic party regardless of how we’re dressed. He’ll say, ‘Plunk yourself down right here next to me. Let’s look at the crystal and the silver, and laugh about how silly and hard it was to keep records all those years. We’ll begin to laugh. And before long the party will be so loud with laughter, we won’t even be able to hear how much fun we’re having! And that is the Good News: We are all saved by God’s love, and it is our faith in that love that inspires us to do good things for our neighbors. It is what inspires us to offer gifts of salvation to everyone we meet.
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Hear the word of the LORD, O house of Jacob, and all the families of the house of Israel. Thus says the LORD: What wrong did your ancestors find in me that they went far from me, and went after worthless things, and became worthless themselves? They did not say, “Where is the LORD who brought us up from the land of Egypt, who led us in the wilderness, in a land of deserts and pits, in a land of drought and deep darkness, in a land that no one passes through, where no one lives?” I brought you into a plentiful land to eat its fruits and its good things. But when you entered you defiled my land, and made my heritage an abomination. The priests did not say, “Where is the LORD?” Those who handle the law did not know me; the rulers transgressed against me; the prophets prophesied by Baal, and went after things that do not profit. Therefore once more I accuse you, says the LORD, and I accuse your children’s children. Cross to the coasts of Cyprus and look, send to Kedar and examine with care; see if there has ever been such a thing. Has a nation changed its gods, even though they are no gods? But my people have changed their glory for something that does not profit. Be appalled, O heavens, at this, be shocked, be utterly desolate, says the LORD, for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living water, and dug out cisterns for themselves, cracked cisterns that can hold no water.
Psalm 71:1-6 In te, Domine, speravi
1 In you, O LORD, have I taken refuge; *
let me never be ashamed.
2 In your righteousness, deliver me and set me free; *
incline your ear to me and save me.
3 Be my strong rock, a castle to keep me safe; *
you are my crag and my stronghold.
4 Deliver me, my God, from the hand of the wicked, *
from the clutches of the evildoer and the oppressor.
5 For you are my hope, O Lord GOD, *
my confidence since I was young.
6 I have been sustained by you ever since I was born;
from my mother's womb you have been my strength; *
my praise shall be always of you.
Let mutual love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it. Remember those who are in prison, as though you were in prison with them; those who are being tortured, as though you yourselves were being tortured. Let marriage be held in honor by all, and let the marriage bed be kept undefiled; for God will judge fornicators and adulterers. Keep your lives free from the love of money, and be content with what you have; for he has said, “I will never leave you or forsake you. “So we can say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can anyone do to me?” Remember your leaders, those who spoke the word of God to you; consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. Through him, then, let us continually offer a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that confess his name. Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.
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. When he noticed how the guests chose the places of honor, he told them a parable. “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; 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. 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. For all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.” 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. 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.”
Lord of all power and might, the author and giver of all good things: Graft in our hearts the love of your Name; increase in us true religion; nourish us with all goodness; and bring forth in us the fruit of good works; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever. Amen.
[1] John W. Schoen. “Has housing market bottomed out? Sales of existing homes fell in 2006 at fastest rate in nearly 20 years.” MSNBC Report, 25 January 2007, accessed 30 August 2007 at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16812267/.
[2] Reported by Robert Shiller and accessed 30 August 2007 at http://www.housingintelligence.com/housing-derivatives/futures-portend-further-declines.html.
[3] Les Christie. “Most overvalued housing markets. Latest analysis of 299 markets: See how your hometown ranks.” Accessed 30 August 2007 at http://money.cnn.com/2005/12/29/real_estate/buying_selling/handicapping_housing_markets/index.htm.
[4] Robert Farrar Capon. The Parables of Grace. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1988. p. 120.
[5] Capon, 124-125.
[6] Capon, 127-128.
The Mission of Trinity Episcopal Church is to be an open and diverse Christian family dedicated to serving God and all creation by fostering spiritual growth through worship, prayer, education, service, stewardship, and celebration. |
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Copyright © 2007, William G. Stroop - All Rights Reserved.
30 August 2007
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