Proper 22 C 2016
St. Luke's Anglican Church, Burlington Ontario (Diocese of Niagara.)
Photo Credit: St. Andre Rublev - Jim Forest on Flickr.com |
Sermon Text:
I don’t
often speak about my family when I preach. I never really want to fall into the
trap of always bringing up the examples of my family. My family is just like
most families; we have strengths and weaknesses, we share a love that is born
out of respect and care, we make spectacular mistakes, and we have equally
spectacular successes.
But
today, with the lessons that are before us, I simply had to talk about my
parents – they’ll be horribly embarrassed but… well they’re not here to stop me
so…
The one
thing that my parents succeed at most spectacularly is hospitality. I learned that beloved art of the dinner
party from my parents. My mother has
special dishes for special occasions and when I was a child and saw THOSE
dishes come out I knew this was going to be a meal of special significance.
I was
taught the proper way to set a table, what fork gets used at what time, where
to put your napkin, and how to make conversation over an amazing meal. I learned from my parents the joy of creating
a meal for others and then reveling in the enjoyment of our guests.
Most of
those meals, though, were for family and friends – people we knew well and
loved well. But the one thing that sets
my parents apart is their extreme hospitality.
A few years ago my parents were avid campers – Stuart they would be VERY
interested in your new trailer.
Everywhere they went they would find new people to get to know. People from all over the continent – Kansas,
Texas, Colorado, Winnipeg, Vancouver, Yellowknife, etc. My dad would usually end every conversation
with, “Well, if you’re ever in Cape Breton be sure to look us up, we’d love to
show you around.”
Every now
and then one of those invitations would actually get accepted. They would receive a phone call from someone
passing through and the next thing you would know there would be an Airstream
pulling into the yard. These complete
strangers would be welcomed into their home, fed, housed, taken on a tour of
the island, and so much more. They would
put their own plans on hold to show the hospitality that is their gift to the
world. And they did it knowing that they
would never be repaid by these strangers because they would never see them
again. Driving to Texas was not in the
cards for them.
This is
the kind of hospitality that I learned from them and the kind of hospitality
that I try my best to share. This is the
kind of hospitality that both the writer to the Hebrews and Jesus are talking
about today.
“Do not neglect to show hospitality to
strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it.”
“When you give a luncheon or a dinner,
do not invite your friends… invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the
blind…for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”
Hospitality is an important theme
throughout scripture and especially in the Gospel of Luke. As with a great deal of what Jesus does in
the Gospel of Luke he is turning the social norms of the time on their head. He
is tearing apart the strict fabric of social custom and through that is
teaching us what is most important.
Jesus is a teacher, and he uses
concrete examples, he involves the people he is talking to so that he can teach
better and indeed his teachings continue to reach through the ages to touch us
here today.
In Jesus day, the closer you sat to the
host denoted how important you were in society. If you sat in the wrong place
and had to be moved away from the host then you brought great shame upon
yourself. So Jesus is offering good advice as well as teaching us who sits
where at the table where God is the host.
Jesus is constantly moved by the plight
of those who are on the margins of society. He has great empathy with all those
who are cast out by society. He reaches
out to all those who society has deemed to be worthless and shows them how
important they really are to God.
So it is with today’s Gospel
reading. In the parables that we hear
today the meaning underneath the good advice is that one day we will all be at
the table of fellowship where God is the host and to use the social norms of
the day Jesus is saying that those who will be next to God at that table are
the lowly, those who suffer the wrath of society, those who we try to throw
away.
It doesn’t mean much to God when we
throw great parties for our loved ones but it does mean everything to God when
we raise up those who have been cast down.
Now to say this was radical stuff is a
bit of an understatement. This was truly astonishing stuff! Jesus is telling everyone, those who heard it
first and us here today, that the people we think are important (even if that’s
us) are actually going to be pretty far down the table from the host; and the
people we assume are the dregs of society are being called to move higher.
So what do we do with this? Well apart from going out and inviting the world
to our homes which is unreasonable I think we can do something a little
radical.
Lately I have been listening to the
Tragically Hip. For those of you who may
not know about the Hip all you really need to know is that the lead singer of
this ironically Canadian rock band has been called the Shakespeare of
Canada. Gord Downie is a brilliant
writer and as I was listening to their new album I came across a song called
“What Blue” in which Gord sings these words:
I love
you so much, it distorts my life,
What drove and drives you drove and drives me too
When I think I'm clear, I think I'm doing fine, completely absorbed in what blue
What drove and drives you drove and drives me too
When I think I'm clear, I think I'm doing fine, completely absorbed in what blue
In your
eyes, it's what love looks like, it's the longest thing that we do
In your eyes, all the useless nights and all the dreary places and what blue
In your eyes, all the useless nights and all the dreary places and what blue
Now I’m not sure if Gord believes in
God or not. I’m not sure if he is a man of faith or not. I don’t know him. But
when I hear these words I cannot help myself but think about the radical
hospitality of our God and how we can respond to it.
Jesus is tell us today that our love
for our God should distort our lives in such a way that we a drawn to all the
dreary places; that what drives God, the love of all humanity, is what should
drive us; that our whole lives – the longest thing that we do – should be dedicated
to showing the loving hospitality of God so that those who are without hope in
this world will see the kingdom of God in us.
St. Luke’s is a place to learn about
hospitality and then set that loving care loose upon the world.
So go from this place today with your
life distorted, be driven from this place today with your mission clear in your
mind, and unleash the love that is in God’s eyes upon this unsuspecting world.
“Do not neglect to show hospitality to
strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it.”
“When you give a luncheon or a dinner,
do not invite your friends… invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the
blind…for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”
Amen.