St. Luke 14:1, 7-14
Most of us in this room will remember the famous line from the Miller Lite commercials spoken by Bob Uecker who has been the play-by-play voice of the Milwaukee Brewers on WTMJ radio for 49 years. Uecker is in the broadcast wing of the Baseball Hall of Fame and probably could score excellent seats in any ballpark in America.
Uecker also has made a career of making fun of himself so in the commercial as he is taking his place in the stands he says to the person next to him. “Great seats!”
An usher approaches, looks at Uecker’s ticket and says: “You’re in the wrong seat, buddy.” At this point Uecker utters that famous line to those around him: “I must be in the front row!” As you know, he is not. Instead he finds himself all alone in the highest deck of Dodger Stadium.
Uecker and the Brewers have gone along with the gag to the point of having Uecker seats in the last row of that team’s uppermost level. 1
For the hall-of-fame broadcaster and his team being in the front row has become a joke. For those dinner guests at the party Jesus was attending it was not.
Uecker also has made a career of making fun of himself so in the commercial as he is taking his place in the stands he says to the person next to him. “Great seats!”
An usher approaches, looks at Uecker’s ticket and says: “You’re in the wrong seat, buddy.” At this point Uecker utters that famous line to those around him: “I must be in the front row!” As you know, he is not. Instead he finds himself all alone in the highest deck of Dodger Stadium.
Uecker and the Brewers have gone along with the gag to the point of having Uecker seats in the last row of that team’s uppermost level. 1
For the hall-of-fame broadcaster and his team being in the front row has become a joke. For those dinner guests at the party Jesus was attending it was not.
Generally the Pharisees relationship with Jesus is antagonistic so we can only surmise that the reason he was invited to this one was so that they could watch him carefully. He didn’t run in the same social circles as they did and so he was an outsider for whom the welcome was cool at best and adversarial at worse.
While they are watching him, he is watching them. What he sees may have amused more than infuriated him. He sees them jockeying for the best positions at the head table and for good reason.
The Ancient Near East was a culture predicated on honor and shame, and this meant every move people made was calculated to increase their honor and decrease their shame. This was especially true about dinner parties.
Who you invited and who got to sit where were big deals, and these details dictated the guest list and the seating chart of the next party. Everything was a quid pro quo and pay to play.2
Every interaction was calculated to provide maximum reputational benefit.
You have probably seen this yourself.
A person comes into a room without assigned seating with the clear desire to be in the front row. They want to get as close as possible to the honored guest. Maybe the desire is to go home and say to their friends: “You know who I was chatting with last night?” As if they and the guest-of-honor were best friends.
At a social event for one of the cruises I was on a fellow passenger was trying to impress me. He took great pains to tell me that he studied music at Julliard, sang at some of the great opera houses throughout the world and even performed here in Chicago many years back at the Lyric.
“Where you there at the same time Ardis Krainik was the General Director?” I asked.
“Oh yes.” he replied. “He was really difficult to work for.”
Knowing now what I had expected long before I said simply. “He? Ardis Krainik was a woman!”
Any chance this guy had of making my front row were gone. As far as I was concerned he wasn’t even going to be the dining room but eating his meal next to the trash can in the kitchen.
That is just one of the great things about being retired. No longer do you have to suffer fools gladly (As if I ever did!) but title and place have less and less importance.
We who are retired know that we no longer have to build our resume to impress people. We know that we no longer have to puff ourselves up to feel important. Most of all, we know that it is the same food for those on the dias as for those in the center of the room. We all get the same dinner!
The only difference is that if you are in seated in the crowd no one will notice if you dribble soup on your shirt.
Jesus is not only offering a lesson on humility he is telling us how things are and should be for people who claim to be members of the Kingdom of God.
Then, Jesus goes on to suggest that “instead of playing by the usual rules of privilege and status and honor, his dinner companions try something unusual, even radical: go outside the circle of influence and patronage by inviting people who can never return the favor, who could never – at least by cultural standards – adequately express their gratitude.
You have probably seen this yourself.
A person comes into a room without assigned seating with the clear desire to be in the front row. They want to get as close as possible to the honored guest. Maybe the desire is to go home and say to their friends: “You know who I was chatting with last night?” As if they and the guest-of-honor were best friends.
At a social event for one of the cruises I was on a fellow passenger was trying to impress me. He took great pains to tell me that he studied music at Julliard, sang at some of the great opera houses throughout the world and even performed here in Chicago many years back at the Lyric.
“Where you there at the same time Ardis Krainik was the General Director?” I asked.
“Oh yes.” he replied. “He was really difficult to work for.”
Knowing now what I had expected long before I said simply. “He? Ardis Krainik was a woman!”
Any chance this guy had of making my front row were gone. As far as I was concerned he wasn’t even going to be the dining room but eating his meal next to the trash can in the kitchen.
That is just one of the great things about being retired. No longer do you have to suffer fools gladly (As if I ever did!) but title and place have less and less importance.
We who are retired know that we no longer have to build our resume to impress people. We know that we no longer have to puff ourselves up to feel important. Most of all, we know that it is the same food for those on the dias as for those in the center of the room. We all get the same dinner!
The only difference is that if you are in seated in the crowd no one will notice if you dribble soup on your shirt.
Jesus is not only offering a lesson on humility he is telling us how things are and should be for people who claim to be members of the Kingdom of God.
Then, Jesus goes on to suggest that “instead of playing by the usual rules of privilege and status and honor, his dinner companions try something unusual, even radical: go outside the circle of influence and patronage by inviting people who can never return the favor, who could never – at least by cultural standards – adequately express their gratitude.
Which is why this story Jesus tells is still relevant today. In it, Jesus suggests a radical restructuring of the political and social order by calling us to do more than just exchange favors with those who can offer us something of equal value or greater. Jesus tells us to reach out to those who have been pushed to the margins, those we think could never return the favor.
When we do, Jesus suggests, we imitate God, who, in every moment, extends the benefit of totally undeserved mercy and love to every single one of us. 3This is an act of compassion that none of us can repay, except by paying it forward.
What might this look like?
I think I saw it one Sunday afer worshiping at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco. The church is located in the Nob Hill section of the city an area that has both rich and the poorest of the poor in its demographics.
It is the third largest cathedral in America behind St. John the Divine in New York and the National Cathedral in Washington. It has great preaching, a magnificent pipe organ, and wonderful choirs all of which paled to something that happened at coffee hour.
Because of its climate and culture, San Francisco has close to 10,000 homeless people. About a dozen or so had congregated on the cathedral’s plaza before worship. One man in particular looked especially disheveled. 4
After worship there was a coffee hour on the plaza for the people who had attended. The usual was offered: coffee, tea, coffee cake, cookies and juice for the children.
When things were winding down the bedraggled man slowly approached one of the tables as if he were working his way to the front row at a royal banquet.
He started to reach for a piece of the well picked-over coffee cake when the well-dressed, well-coiffed woman serving said to him. “Oh! No! No! No!”
The man pulled back just as the woman continued. “No!” she said again. “Those have been out far too long. They’re a little stale. You don’t want those. Let me get you some that are fresh.”
She reached behind her and grabbed another full tray of treats. She unwrapped the cellophane and placed the tray right in front of the surprised man.
I think I saw it one Sunday afer worshiping at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco. The church is located in the Nob Hill section of the city an area that has both rich and the poorest of the poor in its demographics.
It is the third largest cathedral in America behind St. John the Divine in New York and the National Cathedral in Washington. It has great preaching, a magnificent pipe organ, and wonderful choirs all of which paled to something that happened at coffee hour.
Because of its climate and culture, San Francisco has close to 10,000 homeless people. About a dozen or so had congregated on the cathedral’s plaza before worship. One man in particular looked especially disheveled. 4
After worship there was a coffee hour on the plaza for the people who had attended. The usual was offered: coffee, tea, coffee cake, cookies and juice for the children.
When things were winding down the bedraggled man slowly approached one of the tables as if he were working his way to the front row at a royal banquet.
He started to reach for a piece of the well picked-over coffee cake when the well-dressed, well-coiffed woman serving said to him. “Oh! No! No! No!”
The man pulled back just as the woman continued. “No!” she said again. “Those have been out far too long. They’re a little stale. You don’t want those. Let me get you some that are fresh.”
She reached behind her and grabbed another full tray of treats. She unwrapped the cellophane and placed the tray right in front of the surprised man.
“Take as many as you like.” She said. “We always have plenty. Enough for everybody!”
When the well-healed serve the downtrodden. When the outcasts and the insiders feast together. When it doesn’t matter who you know. When a homeless man is treated as well and maybe even better than the wealthiest person in the congregation. When all are welcomed then, Jesus says, everyone will have a place “in the front row,” “at the head table” in God’s good kingdom.
May it be so for all of us.
Thanks for listening.
____________
When the well-healed serve the downtrodden. When the outcasts and the insiders feast together. When it doesn’t matter who you know. When a homeless man is treated as well and maybe even better than the wealthiest person in the congregation. When all are welcomed then, Jesus says, everyone will have a place “in the front row,” “at the head table” in God’s good kingdom.
May it be so for all of us.
Thanks for listening.
____________
1. “Brewers Broadcasters.” MLB.com, n.d. https://www.mlb.com/brewers/team/broadcasters.
2. Amy Starr Redwine. “The Urgancy of Now.” A Sermon for Every Sunday, August 26, 2019. https://asermonforeverysunday.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Amy-Starr-Redwine-the-Urgency-Now.
3. ibid.
4. Benjamin Oresekas, “San Francisco Homeless Count Goes from Bad to Worse, Jumping 30% from 2017.” Los Angeles Times, July 9, 2019. https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-san-francisco-homeless-count-increase-20190709-story.html.
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