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LUKE 14:1, 7-14

On one occasion when Jesus was going to the house of a leader of the Pharisees to eat a meal on the Sabbath, they were watching him closely.
[7] When he noticed how the guests chose the places of honor, he told them a parable. [8] "When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet, do not sit down at the place of honor, in case someone more distinguished than you has been invited by your host; [9] and the host who invited both of you may come and say to you, 'Give this person your place,' and then in disgrace you would start to take the lowest place. [10] But when you are invited, go and sit down at the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he may say to you, 'Friend, move up higher'; then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at the table with you. [11] For all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted."
[12] He said also to the one who had invited him, "When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, in case they may invite you in return, and you would be repaid. [13] But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. [14] And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous."

[This sermon ends with a challenge for the hearers to become involved in local caring ministries. Each congregation’s particular context will provide suitable alternatives.]

HOW TO FEEL BLESSED

You are a beggar and so am I. We all stand before God with empty hands. We all need God’s grace and mercy. And none of us deserves God’s goodness! Every day God blesses us richly though we do not deserve it. Each day God forgives us for Jesus’ sake though we do not deserve it. And at the end of our lives we all end up as beggars in need of God’s grace and mercy.

Now maybe that kind of talk sticks in your craw. Maybe you just don’t get it. After all, you pay your bills. You don’t ask anyone for anything. You make sacrifices all the time. Or you got where you are today because you’ve made lots of sacrifices down the road. And so the notion that you are a beggar sounds like preacher talk – just words, not reality as you know it.

Maybe you come to church expecting to hear that you’re basically doing OK by trying to be good and responsible and godly. And what you feel like you get instead is a verbal kick in the teeth for all your efforts, because you don’t ever think of yourself as a beggar. In fact, you can’t think of anything more distasteful than the notion of being a beggar. You know there are some poor unfortunate souls that fall into that kind of situation through no fault of their own. But that’s not you! You don’t want to be beholden to anyone. And you don’t think anybody else should expect you to help them either.

As a matter of fact, if the truth be known, you don’t think you have anything in common with beggars. Even if you can understand that some people are born into abject poverty, that’s not the world that you live in. You tell yourself that they were unfortunate enough to have parents that should have had fewer kids. You tell yourself those people just are nothing like you. In short, you want to be around people that are like you – people that share your values, your work ethic, and your way of life. If you go to social outings, you want to be with people like you or perhaps with those that are a little better off than you. But you sure wouldn’t want to be with beggars.

Well you need to think again. Hear again today’s Gospel lesson. One Sabbath the Lord Jesus was going into the house of a religious leader to eat a meal. That’s when he noticed that everyone wanted to sit in the very best seats at the dinner. So he told them a story about humility. He said that if you get invited to a dinner don’t assume that you are supposed to sit in a place of honor. For, after all, if you were to sit down in a place reserved for someone else, you would be rather embarrassed to be told to get and move to a less desirable seat. He said that it was better to assume that somebody else deserved the best seats, and that it was just a blessing to be invited at all.

Now that was kind of a gentle poke at us about getting our egos under control. But then Jesus really surprised his host. He said when his host was putting together an invitation list the man should invite the poor and needy rather than those likely to return the invitation. Jesus told his host that’s how you get to feel blessed. You open your heart to the poor and needy.

So then we’ve got a problem with Jesus – or perhaps it’s more accurate to say – Jesus has a problem with us when we don’t open our hearts to the poor and needy. Jesus has a problem with us when we don’t want to be around beggars. Indeed Jesus has a problem with our wanting to be only with those that are like us.

OK then, we’re going to have to chew on that one awhile. It’s a tough sell. It’s a hard word. But that’s still a far cry from saying that we are beggars!

Several years ago a radio newscaster told about a conversation between a father and son that lived in the wealthy community of Beverly Hills, California. The dad and pre-teen boy were riding along in the father’s new Mercedes. And the boy was explaining to his father how the dad ought to give the son a bicycle that cost several thousand dollars. The father carefully explained that such a bike cost too much money. The child began to argue, and the father repeatedly stated that the answer was still “No.” Finally, the child whined, “But why won’t you buy me the bicycle? We’re rich!” His father answered, “WE are not rich! I am rich!”

That’s how it is with God and us. God is rich. God richly blesses you and me with life and breath, with food and clothing, with home and family, with time and opportunities, with talents and abilities, with role models and mentors. And if that were not enough God sent His only begotten Son into the world to save us from sin, death, and evil. God is rich. And without God’s daily graciousness none of us would be here. Without God’s goodness and mercy none of us could ever expect to spend eternity with God. In short, we are beggars. Like the young boy in the radio story, we only have what our Heavenly Father gives us.

Many years ago I spent a year doing hospital chaplaincy at a large trauma center in Dallas, Texas. Because it was both the county hospital and the teaching facility of Southwestern Medical School, the very worst cases were always routed to Parkland Hospital. Serving as part of a rotation of chaplains, I spent many a weekend night on-duty in the emergency room. On one particularly busy night I saw some men coming in wearing Timex watches and others wearing Rolex watches, and all of them were just as dead. Stripped of their clothing and worldly goods, they all looked the same – dead. It didn’t matter where they used to live. They were all on their way across the parking lot to the medical examiner’s office.

I’m an old fashioned kind of preacher. I still believe what the Bible has to say about us having to give an account of our lives to God when we die. Now you may not believe that. But what if the Bible is right? What if, when you die, God reviews your life, your checkbook, your investment accounts, and says to you, “I gave you everything you had, and that’s what you did with it!”

Now I really don’t care if you’re a Republican, a Democrat, a Libertarian, or a Socialist when it comes to economic theory. If you hang around this church, I’m going to be your pastor no matter who you are, where you live, or how you vote. And if you hang around this church, I’m going to step on your toes sometimes, because I have to answer to my Boss – not only for my own life but also for how I preached and taught the folks in the congregations I served.

The truth about us is that we are beggars before God. He gives us everything, and we deserve nothing. He gives us life, and He can take it back whenever He wants. He offers us His grace and mercy in Jesus Christ as a free gift, and we can either gratefully receive it with empty hands or we can stupidly go our own way straight into hell. But that’s too terrible to imagine.

The truth about us is that we are going to give an account to God of what we did with what He gave us. Now do you really want to go to God saying, “Well, I got mad at the church because they didn’t keep the employees I wanted them to keep. So I cut back on my giving to show how mad I was.” Or do you really want to say to God, “Well, I thought that the poor and needy didn’t deserve any of my money, so I refused to help with the Wilmington Interfaith Network and the Good Shepherd Ministry. I didn’t believe in giving to feed and educate the poor because they kept having too many babies! It wasn’t my problem!”

The truth about us is that we are going to face God like any other beggar, and God is going to be the only one that can help us on that day. If you believe that God is a gracious God that forgives sinners for Jesus’ sake, then it’s wise to start calling yourself a beggar. Because that’s what you are! And that’s what I am, too!

Each week we come to the Lord’s Table and practice being beggars. I prefer to kneel and hold up my empty hands to remind myself who is rich and who is poor. God is rich, and I am poor. God has everything, and I have nothing – really! It’s all on loan, and it can all be taken away today. So I want to take good care of God’s things. Don’t you?

Do you want to feel blessed? Get outside of your comfort zone and help out with the Wilmington Interfaith Hospitality Network between September 26 and October 10. Poor families will be staying overnight in our gymnasium. We beggars at St. Matthew’s will provide transportation to and from the network Day Center. We will provide meals each week night and three meals during the weekends. We will have dinner with the poor. We will spend the night with them. We will do their laundry. We will set up and take down their cots. And as we do it for them, we will do it for Jesus – just like He told us in Matthew 25.

Do you want to feel blessed? Open your heart to beggars. God does to you!

The Rev. Dr. Samuel Zumwalt
St. Matthew’s Lutheran Church
Wilmington, North Carolina USA
szumwalt@bellsouth.net