Prov 25.6-7 - Do
not exalt yourself in the King's presence
Hebrews 13.1-8,
15-16 Keep on loving each other. Remember those in prison; keep marriage
pure; keep yourselves free from the love of money; remember your leaders; Jesus
the same yesterday, today and forever; Continually offer God the sacrifice of
praise; "And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with
such sacrifices God is pleased."
Luke 14, 1, 7-14 - Another story about Jesus and the
Sabbath - at the Pharisees' house -
being carefully watched, tells parable about being asked to the wedding
feast. - For everyone who exalts
himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted - so when
you give a luncheon, give to those who cannot repay, and you will be rewarded
in heaven.
Theme for day: Jesus Christ - the same yesterday, today
and for everGod
What is important to you? We like to do things that are well noticed and parade our own
importance. Kids often call it boasting
- but it is not just the preserve of the kid, is it? Take the fisherman - just how long was the last fish the
fisherman caught? Was it this
long? Or this long? Or what about the golfer - just how far was
that put? Was it really only two
feet? or does that story make it four
feet - yes the first time, but then... it soon becomes ten feet and then well
most of the way across the green. How
am I valued? This seems to me to be the
key question here - I am important to me, and I want everyone to think
similarly of me. Just how often we are
pushing, trying to put ourselves at the head of the guest list - but what
happens when it comes to an invite to a Royal garden party? In the end we are just pleased to be
invited. As the writer to the Proverbs
says - "it is better for the king to say to you, "come up here,"
than for him to humiliate you before a nobleman." That puts us in our places, doesn't it?
So what do these readings have to say to us in our normal
situations? Let's start with the gospel
reading. Like our reading last week,
Jesus is doing things on the Sabbath day.
He has gone to eat at the house of a prominent Pharisee. In the bits left out, Jesus has been healing
on the Sabbath - again - as with the crippled woman we heard about last
week. He has then asked the gathered
guests about what should be done if one of them finds a donkey (or is it son??)
or an ox fallen into a well? What to
do? The answer was obvious - pull it
out - pull it out! They were shamed
into silence. Here in the home of the
Pharisee Jesus was giving a new interpretation of the law. He was being intensely practical, not at all
legalistic. There was nothing to
say. So we can imagine that pre-lunch
drinks have been finished and that the guests are now moving onto the
meal. Jesus, as ever, watches closely and then uses his
observations to teach. Pause a moment
and consider - we probably have all
been at some formal dinner party and there is always that pause before
people sit down - where am I going to sit?
Do I want to sit next to that person - and there is a natural
gravitation towards the guest of honour, etc.
I remember being at a Teacher's conference and there were some well
known guests such as the author P D James - and inevitably there were some who
were keen to sit beside her rather than across the table. Out of this dinner sitting situation, Jesus
draws his point - now remember that this is at the home of a prominent
Pharisee, so we may imagine that at least some of the guests were very keen to
be sitting by him, and no doubt some were just as keen to be sitting beside
Jesus, who by this time would have been known as a prominent teacher in Israel. So Jesus tells them to look at where they
choose to sit, and that it is far better to choose a lowly seat and be moved
up, rather than the other way around.
Can you imagine how some must have squirmed around that table.
He had not quite finished. He went on to tell the assembled guests that next time they gave
a luncheon or dinner they should not
invite friends, but the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind. Then they would be blessed. This is a case of doing something for those
who cannot repay. Jesus is turning the
accepted ideas upside down. I wonder
what that says about some of our own social functions when we put on a fund
raiser meal in the hall? Just what may
Jesus be saying to us? What is
important to us? What are our values as
the community of God's people here in Pinchbeck? When was the last time we put on something for the poor, the
crippled, the lame, the blind?
How much help do we find in understanding this teaching
in the Epistle reading? What does the
writer to the Hebrews have to say?
"Keep on loving each other as brothers - that may not be easy, but
is OK. "Do not forget to entertain
strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing
it. Remember those in prison as if you
were their fellow-prisoners, and those who are ill-treated as if you yourselves
were suffering." Verses 2 and 3
are not comfortable here are they? They
are saying just what Jesus has said in the Gospel reading. In fact where the writer to the Hebrews is
going, is that Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever. What He is asking us to do is to review our
values and priorities in the light of His Kingdom values. They stand in contrast to those of the
world, and deeply challenge us. Jesus
picked this up in terms of what it was right to do on the Sabbath, and in terms
of our individual priorities.
How do we therefore go forward? We could be very legalistic, but that is to miss the point. I think that the very positive guidance that
is given by the writer to the Hebrews is key to this and it comes at the end of
the reading we had:
̃ Through Jesus,
therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise - the fruit of
lips that praise his name
̃ And do not
forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is
pleased.
That seems to me to be pretty good advice. I wonder if through Jesus we are ready to
let His Holy Spirit work such an act of renewal in our own lives? Are we up for this?
Repeat the
bullet points. and finish