A Table of Grace--August 21, 2024

A Table of Grace--August 21, 2024

"Jesus also said 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. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you, for your will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous." [Luke 14:12-14]

You reward--you encourage--the kind of behavior that you approve of. And generally speaking, you approve of the kind of behavior you see in yourself. That may run the risk of sounding obvious, but preachers are notorious for repeatedly stating the obvious. And it seems pretty straightforward on its face that people typically encourage others to do what they already see as "good" in themselves.

When I try to teach my kids to help out with setting the table before dinner, it is because I want them to learn the importance of everyone in a family pitching in to do what needs to be done. When I want to encourage them to take on responsibility in the family, sometimes there is compensation, too--money paid for mowing the lawn, or the promise of an ice cream treat if everyone gets their laundry put away, or whatever. The goal of the reward is not just to get the table set or the lawn mowed, but to teach a whole way of thinking and acting--a whole mindset--that we all pitch in to help take care of the family. And that is an important lesson I want my kids to learn, one which I hope they can already see in me.  In other words, I only ask them to do things I am also willing to take my turn doing as well.

Or, when I catch my kids sharing with each other, or sitting next to the kid who seems left out, and then I go out of my way to praise them for their small acts of compassion, it's because (obviously) that is the kind of behavior I want to promote. I want my kids to be the kind of people who share what they have, and who look out to include the people who have been left out. And so it makes perfect sense, too, that I try myself to be the kind of person who shares and looks out for people who are feeling left out. It's all pretty straightforward, right? The values that I hold at my own core are values I want to pass along to my kids... and because I want to instill those values and practices in my kids, I look for ways to encourage them to do things that fit with my values.

If we think sharing is important, we will not only model sharing ourselves, but we will encourage it in our kids. If we think honesty is important, we will not only be honest ourselves but will promote truth-telling in our families. If we think hard work is important, we will not only work hard ourselves but we will reward hard work in our children so that it can become ingrained in them, and ultimately, so that they will do what we are encouraging them to do even without a dollar or a cookie or a prize. In other words, the real goal of the rewards and encouragements that come with parenting (or classroom management for teachers) is ultimately to shape the kind of people that our children become; and one hopes that we are encouraging them to follow the examples we set ourselves.  And part of being an example is that we make the commitment to do good in certain ways even if those we are trying to teach haven't caught on yet.

If all of that is obvious, good. I was hoping so. Because that connection between what we encourage in others and what sort of people we are ourselves is at the core of Jesus' teaching here about radical hospitality. When Jesus encourages his listeners to invite the outcast, the powerless, the ones lacking influence or wealth, and the disinherited, it is because Jesus is convinced this is God's character, too.

Let's be clear about this. Jesus isn't just making a harmless suggestion for how to win etiquette points, and he isn't offering party advice to make us more popular or well-connected. Jesus is encouraging a particular way of acting because he is convinced that God acts the same way. We are supposed to welcome and include people who cannot pay us back, regardless of their social standing or status, or even whether we like them or not... because Jesus is convinced that this is how God acts toward all of us... all the time.

In other words, according to Jesus, when God throws a party, it is for everybody. When God makes out a guest list, it is not about God collecting favors or getting something in return. When God spreads out a table, there are places set for the people on the margins and people who are against the ropes. In a world that seems more and more obsessed with getting something back in return for a favor done or an invitation given, God messes all of that thinking up by throwing parties for the anybodies and nobodies who can never pay God back.

And it is only because that kind of reckless hospitality is at the heart of God's character that Jesus then calls us to practice it as well. The talk about being "repaid at the resurrection of the righteous" is not to say that only the gracious hosts of the world will go to heaven. It is to say that God is teaching us and shaping us much the same way we teach and shape our kids. I want my kids to learn to set the table without being asked and without complaining, and so part of training them is to encourage and reward that behavior now when I see it, as well as to model it in myself.

The bottom line today, then, is that God's kind of party is one that has a place for everybody--including a special focus on including the people who will never be able to pay God back (all of us). We aren't good at that--maybe that's why we need to listen to Jesus' words again and let them kick us in the pants. We keep getting sucked into the old quid-pro-quo, deal-making, I'll-scratch-your-back-if-you-scratch mine kind of thinking that only asks, "What will I get out of it?" And God continues to try to reshape our hearts to become people who can be generous without wanting something in return, who love without expecting attention or rewards, and who include the least, the last, and the left-behind. That matters to God because it is how God loves us and welcomes us to the table--recklessly, unconditionally, and without getting something in return. In a word, it is a table of grace. And Jesus is set on shaping us to be people of such grace, too.

Lord Jesus, encourage us and shape us to become more and more fully like you--and like the living God whom you have shown us. Make us to be generous, gracious, and daring in our welcome.