God's Seating Chart

9-1-19

Grace and peace to you from God our creator and from our Lord and savior Jesus Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit, Amen.

Think about the last time you were a visitor in a new space (maybe that day is today, welcome to our neighbors Trinity Episcopal who are worshiping with us today!). You walk in and stand awkwardly in the doorway, wondering where it’s “safe” to sit, who it is acceptable to sit with, and whether or not anyone wants you to sit with them. So, you chose a spot and pray that someone will actually talk to you, or at least not notice you if you decide to sit in a corner all by yourself. Or you pray that someone doesn’t come by and tell you that YOU are in THEIR SEAT.

It’s the dreaded “first day of school” in the high school cafeteria, all over again. All these years later, we can be taken right back there – is everyone staring at me? Is what I’m wearing ok? What if no one talks to me?

And after graduation, we slowly realize that it still matters what we wear and where we live, who we’re friends with and what we watch. There will always be someone with better grades than us, with a bigger house or cooler spouse or nicer vacations or smarter kids or newer gadgets. We may think that we leave prom court and popularity contests behind us the minute that diploma hits our hands, but we never leave the the mindset that is, “high school” behind us. Even after we graduate, there are still jocks, nerds, drama geeks, popular kids, winners, and losers, and the “last ones picked” for the sports teams, and those who sit alone in the cafeteria.

This is true now, and it was true thousands of years ago, as we hear in many of our readings for today. You may be wondering why Jesus was over at the house of a Pharisee in the first place. Weren’t they enemies? Well, not exactly. True, they often went toe-to-toe. But the Pharisees were the ones who were keeping the Jewish traditions alive in a very uncertain and violent world. They were not the “bad guys.” But they sometimes got too carried away with keeping all the rules.

Somehow Jesus was invited into the home of this leader of the Pharisees. And of course, one of Jesus’s friends shows up at the party. In the verses we didn’t hear from today, Jesus heals a man suffering from unsightly swelling caused by excessive water retention. This healing happens on the Sabbath, AGAIN, so Jesus again is in hot water. So, they watch Jesus closely, to see what other trouble he decides to stir up.

And in perfect Jesus style, Jesus flips the script and is also watching THEM. He sees these men – because after all only men were invited to dine - and observes them jockey for position at the table, desperate to NOT be the “last one picked.” Imagine a cafeteria room full of middle schoolers scrambling to sit in the limited number of seats at the “cool kids” table…. All the while looking pretty “not-cool” while doing it.

Jesus is addressing how we are to act when we are both GUESTS and when we are HOSTS. But he is not simply being “Miss Manners.” He is actually proposing a way that is a complete reversal of the way we are used to things.

So often throughout history, the kingdom of God has been described as a wedding banquet. But not the over-budget, Pintrest-obsessed, too-planned affair, like so many we’ve all been to. Jesus is saying: don’t seat mom and dad at the front of the church – leave that place open for the church janitor who will have to clean up all the confetti and change the toilet paper later. At the reception, don’t seat the bridesmaids and groomsmen at the head table, instead, put Great Uncle Gary, who can’t hear well, and spits when he talks, next to the bride and groom.   

Don’t sit in the places of honor. Instead, take the lowest place for yourself. And when you give a party, invite those people who would never get an invitation, whose who could never invite you back, like the “last ones picked” by the world. Because that’s who God invites to the table…. And it’s God’s table, not ours. We are GUESTS at God’s banquet, not the hosts. We are NOT in charge of the seating arrangement or the guest list. But we still try our darndest to keep some people out of the banquet, when they have clearly been invited and picked by Jesus.

In seminary, I spent 2 January weeks in Chicago taking an immersive cross-cultural class to experience the diverse contexts and great ministries. The host family I stayed with were friends of friends, and they told me about a homeless ministry that their church supported – one night a week (Saturday), they would host people in their building and provide a hot meal. So, Saturday night, I helped serve the meal and heard the stories of a few of the people staying there that night.

The next morning – Sunday - when I went BACK to this same church for worship, in walking through that same gym to get to the sanctuary, only the smell of bleach revealed that just a few hours before a dozen people had spent the night there. Not a single person who spent the night stayed for worship. I later learned at as a term of being part of this ministry, the council has stipulated that ALL SIGNS of the previous night MUST BE long gone by morning worship. Let that sink in. Every evidence was erased that they ever had been in that space.

Of COURSE, “these homeless people” were “welcome” to stay for worship…. But not surprisingly NO ONE ever came.

This congregation forgot that these people are Jesus’ beloved friends. People like them not only get to tag along when we invite Jesus into our lives, but they are also given seats of honor at God’s table.

WE are Jesus’s friends too. We have a seat at the table, too. Because at some point in our lives we have been made to feel like the “last one picked” by the rest of the world too.

Imagine that the Lord’s Table is the exact opposite of a table in your high school cafeteria.

 The Lord’s Table is where, instead of being “the last one picked,” you have been specifically invited by Jesus. A table where, instead of wondering where it’s safe to sit, you find you have a place next to Jesus… though you may be surprised who ELSE gets to sit next to Jesus. But if you think about it though… you might not be as surprised after all.

As shame researcher Brene Brown has written, we all “hustle for our worthiness” by putting on a stellar PR campaign about ourselves, including only the good or “acceptable” parts, the parts that would get us good seats in the High School cafeteria. The parts that makes our lives look happy and successful and beautiful on social media. Slap on a smile, crop the picture, cover with a filter, and look, everything is fine. But I think many of us long for a place where we can be loved and accepted: flaws, rough edges, and all.  

Jesus loves all of those parts of us – the parts we wouldn’t dare to tell our co-workers or kids or admit on Facebook or Instagram. Jesus loves the parts of us that are not fine. Because none of us ARE fine. That’s why we need Jesus. Some of us can “pass” as fine more so than others; for some of us, our broken bits and rough edges can’t be easily hidden. But the point is, we don’t have to hide them to be loved and to sit at God’s table.

We don’t have to earn our place there, or try to hustle and social climb our way in. The invitation is already ours - along with all of Jesus’s ‘friends’ who get come along - the homeless along with suburbanites, minorities along with the privileged, those who are gay and transgender next to those who are straight, single moms and dad next to nuclear families, the “losers” and “last picks” of the world next to “first picks” and “winners.” All gathered together at the big beautiful party that God is hosting.

Everyone is invited to God’s party. We are not in charge of the invitations to the party – though we as the church all too often takes on that role. We are merely the postal service, making sure that each invitation gets delivered, rather than withheld, or “lost in the mail.” Only this invitation doesn’t need an RSVP card indicating if you’re coming or not, or what your choice of dinner is between the chicken, steak, or mushroom. Your invitation is “Come, taste and see that the Lord is Good.” And with Jesus, you’re already “in.” 

Welcome, there is a place for you here. Thanks be to God. Amen.