The Rev. Kenneth H. Saunders III
Christ Church
Cleveland, NC
RCL Year C (Proper 17) - August 29, 2010
Jeremiah 2:4-13
Psalm 81:1, 10-16
Hebrews 13:1-8, 15-16
Luke 14:1, 7-14
As most of you know, I grew up in Southern Virginia. I was very blessed to have known both sets of my grandparents, who lived very close to us.
On Sunday afternoon, after church, we would gather at my grandparents house for a proper “southern” Sunday dinner… complete with homemade fried chicken, mashed potatoes, coleslaw, and my grandmothers famous homemade rolls.
My dad’s whole side of the family would be there… His older sister, her husband, and their 4 boys… My uncle (dad’s twin brother) and his wife… and us 4 (Mom, Dad, my sister and I). At any given time, there would be 14 to 21 of us that would eat Sunday dinner there.
At my grandparent’s home, as I would imagine in most houses, seating for that many people was a problem. They were fortunate enough to have a long rectangle table in the dining room. I can remember that my grandfather would always sit at the “head” of the table with my grand mother to his right. Likewise, my father, being the oldest male of the 3, would sit at the other “head” of the table, with my mother to his right. Everyone then would sit in their “proper” place… My aunt would sit to my grandfathers left and my dad’s brother would sit to my fathers left. The youngest folks at the table were my older teen cousins.
My sister, younger cousin and I would sit at the “kids’” table in the kitchen. It was considered an honor in my family to sit at the adult table… and I didn’t get to move there until I was in high school! This arrangement isn’t strange to us. Some of you may have experienced the same kinds of things whether it was in your own families or your jobs.
I know that I have experienced this type of hierarchical “seating chart” most of my life. Throughout military school and college, formal business dinners and functions, and other formal gala affairs, it was always the same… Folks always sat in positions of honor, depending on who you were and how important people thought that you were.
In our Gospel lesson today, Jesus is invited to the house of the leader of the Pharisees for a dinner on the Sabbath… The Pharisees, you know, were the religious elite, (the important folks) and they are very interested in Jesus’ eating habits. After all, Jesus had been known and often accused of eating with tax collectors, outcasts, and sinners. Upon arrival at the home for dinner, Jesus immediately notices how the guest choose their places of honor. Once again, Jesus takes the opportunity to upset the traditional order of things and stand society right on its ear.
Who sat where at a meal during the time of Jesus, as in some cases today, was a critical statement of social standing. Dinners were important social occasions, and they were often used for political gain. Who you ate with, and who you associated with defined who you were and how important your position was to the society.
So, the folks invited to this dinner, scramble around the table to be the first to get to the “good seats” (the places of honor) so they might be seen and have a chance to “hob-knob” with the right people… they strived to be the ones sitting in the positions of power and authority.
But Jesus sees this and teaches them, he says, if you are invited to eat with someone, do not sit in a place of honor, but go sit in the lowest place… because, all who exalt themselves will be humbled and all who humble themselves will be exalted.
But Jesus doesn’t stop there with his teaching on the “seating chart” he goes on to teach them about their guest list of “who should have been invited.” He says, don’t invite the rich and famous, so that they may invite you in return… but invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind, and you will be repaid on the day of resurrection.
Now, if we see Jesus’ teaching simply as a lesson in social etiquette for dinner parties – of how to arrange our seating chart and our guest list, we are completely missing the point… Jesus is speaking to us in a much larger context. He wants us to understand how powerful it is to share a meal equally with someone. To eat with someone is to engage them intimately, to share God’s generosity with them either as a host (as God is our’s) or as a guest (as we are God’s) …
We are at our best, as Christian people, when we share a meal… Some folk would like to think that Christianity in a nutshell revolves simply around a “personal relationship with Jesus Christ.” A personal relationship is necessary, but Christianity is a very social concept, and we connect with God and experience God through our relationships… our interactions with each other as part of the body of Christ.
Eating together in fellowship with one another is one of the best ways that we can accomplish this. So, it shouldn’t be strange to us that the central act of Christian worship (since the beginning) includes table fellowship at the celebration of Holy Eucharist.
Through the Eucharist, the spiritual grace that comes from being united with one another in Christ is imparted to us. That is why we sometimes call it communion... It is a gathering of the community in union with each other and with God… in one great fellowship of love. We know through scripture that Jesus desires to have that close fellowship with us. That’s why he told us to share a specific meal when we gather… Jesus wants to connect with us intimately as our host.
It is only Christ Jesus who frees us from the constant competition of our culture’s struggles for power and esteem. Jesus frees us from hierarchical relationships and the attitudes, and barriers that they create, so that we can be free to create community with each other and enjoy the security that only comes from God’s grace in our lives.
In the middle ages, the myth about King Arthur and the knights of the round table help us understand today’s lesson. The legend is that King Arthur was a humble king, as was his father, and he understood his place as the first among equals.
They used a round table because a “round table” doesn’t have any position of power or privilege… It has no “head.” It was said that Merlin, Arthur’s trusted magician, built this table copying Joseph of Aremethia’s “Grail Table,” or the table supposedly used by Christ and his disciples at the last supper. A table where all who sit at it are considered equal…
Jesus teaches us this morning that we should cultivate and practice humility in our lives, and uses something as common as sharing a meal to show us how simple it can be.
In that practice of humility the standards and practices of discrimination and prejudice are overthrown. The outcasts, repentant sinners, and yes – even the tax collectors, will be accepted as equals in the kingdom of God. They will all be with us at the table of Christ!
Jesus is inviting us into that kind of fellowship with him, to eat at his table, and experience the foretaste of that great heavenly banquet that we will experience at the resurrection of the righteous…
There is no hierarchy at the table of Christ, there is no prejudice, no class, and no race… There is just us… us in the company of all faithful believers, sitting with Jesus at his table. And what an incredible honor it is for us to even be invited.
Christ Church
Cleveland, NC
RCL Year C (Proper 17) - August 29, 2010
Jeremiah 2:4-13
Psalm 81:1, 10-16
Hebrews 13:1-8, 15-16
Luke 14:1, 7-14
As most of you know, I grew up in Southern Virginia. I was very blessed to have known both sets of my grandparents, who lived very close to us.
On Sunday afternoon, after church, we would gather at my grandparents house for a proper “southern” Sunday dinner… complete with homemade fried chicken, mashed potatoes, coleslaw, and my grandmothers famous homemade rolls.
My dad’s whole side of the family would be there… His older sister, her husband, and their 4 boys… My uncle (dad’s twin brother) and his wife… and us 4 (Mom, Dad, my sister and I). At any given time, there would be 14 to 21 of us that would eat Sunday dinner there.
At my grandparent’s home, as I would imagine in most houses, seating for that many people was a problem. They were fortunate enough to have a long rectangle table in the dining room. I can remember that my grandfather would always sit at the “head” of the table with my grand mother to his right. Likewise, my father, being the oldest male of the 3, would sit at the other “head” of the table, with my mother to his right. Everyone then would sit in their “proper” place… My aunt would sit to my grandfathers left and my dad’s brother would sit to my fathers left. The youngest folks at the table were my older teen cousins.
My sister, younger cousin and I would sit at the “kids’” table in the kitchen. It was considered an honor in my family to sit at the adult table… and I didn’t get to move there until I was in high school! This arrangement isn’t strange to us. Some of you may have experienced the same kinds of things whether it was in your own families or your jobs.
I know that I have experienced this type of hierarchical “seating chart” most of my life. Throughout military school and college, formal business dinners and functions, and other formal gala affairs, it was always the same… Folks always sat in positions of honor, depending on who you were and how important people thought that you were.
In our Gospel lesson today, Jesus is invited to the house of the leader of the Pharisees for a dinner on the Sabbath… The Pharisees, you know, were the religious elite, (the important folks) and they are very interested in Jesus’ eating habits. After all, Jesus had been known and often accused of eating with tax collectors, outcasts, and sinners. Upon arrival at the home for dinner, Jesus immediately notices how the guest choose their places of honor. Once again, Jesus takes the opportunity to upset the traditional order of things and stand society right on its ear.
Who sat where at a meal during the time of Jesus, as in some cases today, was a critical statement of social standing. Dinners were important social occasions, and they were often used for political gain. Who you ate with, and who you associated with defined who you were and how important your position was to the society.
So, the folks invited to this dinner, scramble around the table to be the first to get to the “good seats” (the places of honor) so they might be seen and have a chance to “hob-knob” with the right people… they strived to be the ones sitting in the positions of power and authority.
But Jesus sees this and teaches them, he says, if you are invited to eat with someone, do not sit in a place of honor, but go sit in the lowest place… because, all who exalt themselves will be humbled and all who humble themselves will be exalted.
But Jesus doesn’t stop there with his teaching on the “seating chart” he goes on to teach them about their guest list of “who should have been invited.” He says, don’t invite the rich and famous, so that they may invite you in return… but invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind, and you will be repaid on the day of resurrection.
Now, if we see Jesus’ teaching simply as a lesson in social etiquette for dinner parties – of how to arrange our seating chart and our guest list, we are completely missing the point… Jesus is speaking to us in a much larger context. He wants us to understand how powerful it is to share a meal equally with someone. To eat with someone is to engage them intimately, to share God’s generosity with them either as a host (as God is our’s) or as a guest (as we are God’s) …
We are at our best, as Christian people, when we share a meal… Some folk would like to think that Christianity in a nutshell revolves simply around a “personal relationship with Jesus Christ.” A personal relationship is necessary, but Christianity is a very social concept, and we connect with God and experience God through our relationships… our interactions with each other as part of the body of Christ.
Eating together in fellowship with one another is one of the best ways that we can accomplish this. So, it shouldn’t be strange to us that the central act of Christian worship (since the beginning) includes table fellowship at the celebration of Holy Eucharist.
Through the Eucharist, the spiritual grace that comes from being united with one another in Christ is imparted to us. That is why we sometimes call it communion... It is a gathering of the community in union with each other and with God… in one great fellowship of love. We know through scripture that Jesus desires to have that close fellowship with us. That’s why he told us to share a specific meal when we gather… Jesus wants to connect with us intimately as our host.
It is only Christ Jesus who frees us from the constant competition of our culture’s struggles for power and esteem. Jesus frees us from hierarchical relationships and the attitudes, and barriers that they create, so that we can be free to create community with each other and enjoy the security that only comes from God’s grace in our lives.
In the middle ages, the myth about King Arthur and the knights of the round table help us understand today’s lesson. The legend is that King Arthur was a humble king, as was his father, and he understood his place as the first among equals.
They used a round table because a “round table” doesn’t have any position of power or privilege… It has no “head.” It was said that Merlin, Arthur’s trusted magician, built this table copying Joseph of Aremethia’s “Grail Table,” or the table supposedly used by Christ and his disciples at the last supper. A table where all who sit at it are considered equal…
Jesus teaches us this morning that we should cultivate and practice humility in our lives, and uses something as common as sharing a meal to show us how simple it can be.
In that practice of humility the standards and practices of discrimination and prejudice are overthrown. The outcasts, repentant sinners, and yes – even the tax collectors, will be accepted as equals in the kingdom of God. They will all be with us at the table of Christ!
Jesus is inviting us into that kind of fellowship with him, to eat at his table, and experience the foretaste of that great heavenly banquet that we will experience at the resurrection of the righteous…
There is no hierarchy at the table of Christ, there is no prejudice, no class, and no race… There is just us… us in the company of all faithful believers, sitting with Jesus at his table. And what an incredible honor it is for us to even be invited.
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