Living Opposite

Luke 14:1, 7-14

9-9-07

Japanese society places great emphasis upon gift giving and rank.  There are two main times of gift giving in Japanese society, in midsummer and at the end of the year. You give gifts to anyone who has taken care of you: your teacher, your doctor, your dentist, your pastor, your neighbors. You also give monetary gifts at weddings, at funerals and to sick individuals.

Weddings are extremely important; you must invite all the important people in your life: your boss, people who you relate to you in the business world and all of the family. It is extremely expensive, because the family hosting the wedding must provide a meal and gifts for everyone who attends, and, of course, the guest provides a gift of money, usually $300 to $500. The purpose of all the gift giving and banquets is to maintain good relations with people who can help you be successful in life. The rules about gift giving are also very strict. When I was sick and had to go to the hospital, a number of individuals gave me money, but the rule is that before I die, I must gift these people the same amount of money when they are sick. A gift is never given in which the other person doesn’t return a gift of similar value.  It gets kind of ridiculous, because you wonder when it will end.

Jesus was invited to a banquet; this meal was only for people on the A-list.  Being invited to certain social events indicated that you had made it, that you had moved up to the top of the social ladder. Social status was achieved and maintained by knowing the right people, being seen with the right crowd and associating only with the right kind. Part of the requirement of attending the event was that you would also host a dinner and that you would entertain the person who invited you to his event.  It was an affirmation of each other’s position.

Jesus uses the occasion to announce a different way of societal life. Rather than trying to lift yourself up, Jesus teaches that people should lower themselves.  We like the good life, the best seats and the affirmation of those around us. But Jesus says, Take the lower seat. The understanding is that it is God who will do the exalting — not any human host. Jesus is pointing to the ways things are turned upside down in the kingdom. Life is lived opposite of the way society teaches us.

Jesus goes one step further in insulting his host. He suggests that the wrong people have been invited to the party. Jesus states that when you have a dinner party, you should invite the lame, the blind and the poor, people who could not reciprocate.  Not only would entertaining these people not lift your social status, it would lower it, because most of these people were considered unclean. Jesus also said don’t invite your family, which would be costly because they would be insulted and your inheritance would be threatened.  Jesus calls upon people to give up the concept of “who owes whom” and, instead, host the poor.  Jesus says you will be blessed for doing so, but only when the kingdom is fully realized. So we are called to trust God to give us our place and reward, not strive for position and honor in present world. 

As we take our place at the Lord’s Table, we come as equals, for we all are the same. We are all children of God. The founder of our denomination, John Wesley, understood Holy Communion to be at “converting sacrament.”  In other words, he believed that we were not only nourished for the journey of faith by the elements of the Loaf and Cup, but that at the Lord’s Table, we are changed from who we were before.  We are changed into those people who are able more and more to “live opposite” quite naturally.  For here God plants our feet securely on the high road of the kingdom of God, which makes us look at the world and the world’s values in a new and exciting way.  We become a people who no longer have to gift higher-ups to find a good seat.  We no longer seek to be on the A-list. We are content to be children of God, sharing what God has blessed us with and showing hospitality to those who can never repay us.

Let us pray the Covenant Prayer John Wesley taught: “I am no longer my own, but Thine. Put me to what Thou wilt, rank me with who thou wilt. Put me to doing, put me to suffering. Let me be employed by Thee, or brought low for Thee. Let me be full, let me be empty. Let me have all things. Let me have nothing. I freely and heartily yield all things to Thy pleasure and disposal.”