Luke
14:1, 7-14
“On one
occasion when Jesus went to the house of a leader of the Pharisees to eat a
meal on the Sabbath, they were watching him closely.”
Hummm.. Sounds a little too much like where we are this morning for any of us
to be able to fully concentrate on where Jesus was on that Sabbath day.
I do not have a Christ complex – but I do sense that y’all are watching
me – closely – this morning. And you
should.
Last week’s celebration of
thirty-one years of service by Pastor Miles made such an impression on each of
us that we are all keyed in this morning, and watching to see what is going to
happen. It doesn’t matter what you like
or prefer – a part of each of us resists change. And, is change coming. I will not the instrument of that change, but
I am likely to become the peg on which is hung each encounter with the
change. That’s okay. This is my role; my call. And this is the service I am prepared to
offer St. Michael Lutheran Church.
“On one
occasion when Jesus went to the house of a leader of the Pharisees to eat a
meal on the Sabbath, they were watching him closely.”
Let’s try to take ourselves back to
the Sabbath being spoken of in these verses from Luke 14.
Most Lutherans have gotten out of
the habit of carrying their Bibles. This
is one old habit which we should have never broken. Put one on your phone – that allows you to
check the scores of the Packers’ game while pretending you are looking up a
bible verse. Turn with me to Luke 14.
If the bible you are looking at has
footnotes, you might learn that this is the third visit Jesus makes to the home
of a Pharisee. The other visits are in
Luke 7:36-50 and Luke 11:37-43. These
frequent visits to the homes of Pharisees have led some to the conclusion that
Jesus himself may have been a Pharisee.
There are a number of hints of this.
Not insignificant among them is the basic realization that the greatest
divisions often emerge between those who were once very close. As the community of Christ unfolds and emerges,
there are many encounters in which the way of the Pharisees and the way of
Jesus are set in opposition.
If Jesus was a Pharisee, or had at
one time been among the Pharisees, but was beginning to split some fine hairs
and illuminate other aspects of what it meant to be a child of God – then all
eyes would have been on him. And
everyone would watch him closely. Those
who were opposed to any change would watch so that they might condemn him;
those who were looking for something different - so they could jump on the
bandwagon.
“On one
occasion when Jesus went to the house of a leader of the Pharisees to eat a
meal on the Sabbath, they were watching him closely.”
We want to pretend that the way of
Jesus and the ways of the Pharisees would have been easily distinguishable. We like to tell ourselves that we would have
no problem choosing between the direction Jesus moves and the way of those who
are so often scorned in our scriptures. But any ease in doing so may only be an
illusion developed over 2,000 years of wagging a finger in the direction of the
Pharisees.
Got a pencil and a blank page in
the bulletin? Write the distinguishing
characteristics of a Pharisee in the time of Jesus. I don’t see pencils moving. Difficult, isn’t it? Pharisees, Sadducees, leaders of the
synagogue – we have learned not to trust them, but we seldom know much about
them and why what they were doing was so antithetical to the message and ministry
of Jesus.
Yes, I am going tell you a little
about the Pharisees. Or at least give
you my short list of what I have managed to remember about them.
The Pharisees were deeply committed
members of the community. They were not
trained rabbis or professional staff. In
many ways they distrusted the teachers and paid staff. (Remember in John 10 when Jesus said – “The
hire hand does not care for the sheep”?) The Pharisees didn’t always trust the
professional church leaders. What the
Pharisees did do was study the scriptures.
They would win every round of Bible
Bingo. They knew every rule and
commandment found in the scriptures. As
a result, they were tithers. They are the
type of folks stewardship committees dream of.
They showed up on Thursdays to mow the grass, or on Friday to fill up
backpacks.
They were more than casual
observers. In watching Jesus – closely –
they knew the significance of each action he took and every word he spoke. They knew that what he did and what he said
was going to have an impact on them, on their lives, and the faith community
which they so deeply loved.
“On one
occasion when Jesus went to the house of a leader of the Pharisees to eat a
meal on the Sabbath, they were watching him closely.”
Jesus makes the most of the
opportunity.
On any other Sabbath, we would
likely focus on Jesus’ observations and comments on seeking seats of honor at
this afternoon luncheon. The topic at
hand and the subject matter is important, very important. But on this particular Sabbath, it might
behoove us to spend our time reflecting on the process.
Those good, God-fearing people who
identified as Pharisees were intent in their observance of the Laws of
Moses. The verses omitted from today’s
reading speak of an encounter much like the one from last week, wherein Jesus
heals on a Sabbath and then dares anyone to tell him this is violation of the
prohibition to do work on God’s holy day.
The good, God-fearing people who were made up the bulk of this dinner
party were painfully aware of how often and in how many ways the Commandments
were ignored or broken – by Jesus and by his followers.
Did anyone use the downtime of my
rambling to look at those other two visits of Jesus to the home of a
Pharisee? In Luke 7 Jesus allows himself
to be defiled in accepting the anointing of his feet by a woman of ill
repute. In Luke 11, Jesus and his rowdy
row friends sit down and start to eat without first observing the purification
procedures so carefully laid out in God’s holy book.
Such were the Pharisees. These were Jesus’ hosts, his friends, his
fellow worshippers. They weren’t bad
people, and they certainly were not irreverent people. I refuse to believe that Jesus was condemning
them, even when he points out their desire to sit in the places of honor. I think he is pleading with them, not to
allow their dedication to the commands of God to cause them to forget the purpose
for God’s instructions.
On any other Sunday, we would talk
about the poor, and the crippled, and the lame.
Today, I suggest we allow this reading to expose that even in Jesus’ day
there was conflict as to what was the main thing. It has always been a challenge to articulate
what is our mission and purpose. It was
in Jesus’ day, and it is for us.
On this particular Sabbath, Luke 14
is an invitation for us to ask what is the main thing – for us.
- Is the main thing observing all that is commanded?
- Is the main thing feeding the hungry and clothing the naked?
- Is the main thing being right; having all the facts perfectly lined up?
- Does the main thing involve saying “This is who we are, and you can decide if you want to join us”; or is the main thing inviting others to “come and discover with us who God is calling us to be”?
These are not simple choices or
right and wrong choices. And they are
the same choices faced by the communities of faith in our day.
Luke 14 does not depict a cosmic
battle between the wise and the ill-informed.
Luke 14 reminds us that among those seeking to do God’s will there has
always been various ways of getting to where we desire to be. Lovingly, and humbly, and always with the
awareness that everyone is one of God’s children, we acknowledge our understandings and
wishes. We offer our experiences and our
voices. And we watch closely our
speaking out and speaking up does not
offend or diminish the wishes and understandings of others.
“On one
occasion when Jesus went to the house of a leader of the Pharisees to eat a
meal on the Sabbath, they were watching him closely.”
Amen.
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