Old Testament: Jeremiah 2:4-13
or Proverbs 25:6-7 or Sirach 10:12-18
Gospel: Luke 14:1, 7-14
Epistle: Hebrews 13:1-8, 15-16
Welcome to another week of Ordinary Time. We will remain in Ordinary Time until Advent, and just a reminder, "ordinary" does not mean plain or worse secular, rather it comes from the Latin ordinal or counted. All time is God's time and it is important to remember that in the midst of this Ordinary Time.
Moving into our readings this week, In Luke we have another Sabbath story similar to last week. There are seven Sabbath stories in the Gospels and five of them are found in Luke. (2 unique ones not found in any other Gospel; John also has two unique to him.) Like last week, Jesus first healed an individual and then showed the pharisees how their hypocrisy blinded them from acts of mercy and love. Next however, he offers two short parables about dinner guests.
The first story is what I would refer to as a proverb or even wisdom literature. To clarify what I mean by wisdom literature as a genre, allow me to quote from an extended section of Old Testament Wisdom:
Wisdom expresses itself in several different form: advice, often from parents to children, in grief sayings and longer instructions; questions relating to pressing problems, particularly suffering and life’s meaning; numerical sayings, maledictions and benedictions, and existential observations aimed at labeling things and expressing judgements on types of character; praise of Wisdom as a poetic (?) figure mediating divine rationality and of exceptional humans in whom she actively worked; anecdotal accounts, royal fiction, and personal biography; debate and diatribe; lists of catalogs of items; prayer and poem.
The goal of all wisdom was the formation of character. (Crenshaw, James L., 1998. pg. 3)
It is important to remember that like the wisdom literature of the Book of Proverbs, wisdom literature as genre is not meant to be a promise. It is observation and advice based on experience.
Back to our passage in Luke, Jesus told his audience that when they arrived at a party, take the place of least honor so that the host will see that and ask them to move up to a place of greater prestige. The alternative is to take the place of honor right when you arrive and then be ashamed when someone more important arrives and you are forced to go the only place left at the other end of the table. We are removed from this type of cultural experience, but the meaning makes perfect sense. Jesus however takes this practical real-life wisdom story and extrapolates the message for all experiences: “For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” (14:11) These words, heighten the significance of Jesus’ practical message into a “Kingdom Ethic,” which lead us into his next teaching.
The first story was practical and made sense. This second one is countercultural and again a part of what we can call Kingdom Ethic. Jesus said that when someone hosts a party, they shouldn’t invite their family and friends, because then they would also invite you to their own parties in repayment. Rather, the poor, crippled, lame, and blind should be invited, so that, “you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.” (14:14) These words make no sense to us and are way more than just countercultural, they go against our human nature. But Jesus was calling his followers to a higher ethic based on love, mercy, and compassion. This message is still relevant for us today.
Moving into our reading from Hebrews, the interesting thing is that Hebrews also is wisdom literature of a sort this week. Hebrews as a whole deals mostly with a comparison between the Old Covenant and the New, concluding that Christ's way is a fuller picture of the shadow revealed in the Old Testament. It contains a lot of high theology and Old Testament sacrificial language and imagery. So it is startling that towards the end of this theological treatise, the author would turn to such practical matters. But what the author is getting at is that the New Covenant in Christ requires us to live a certain way at all times in our lives. The old system was full of ritual that was just a shadow of the things to come, but now in the fullness of Christ, we can see how our behavior has to change in response to God's abounding love for us. Of course the heart of the Old Testament included this message as well, but in Christ it was moved from behind the shadows of the sacrificial system.
I think the text speaks for itself and doesn't need much commentary, but I will point out one thing in vs. 16. The author writes, "And do not neglect doing good and sharing, for with such sacrifices God is pleased." Notice how the language here is still one of sacrifice. Our new sacrifice is not one of sheep, cows, or grain. Rather it is our very lives that are laid on the altar.
This is a powerful and challenging message for all of us and one that should make us pause and consider if this is the case for us. Even as we grow and mature, the process of becoming more Christlike doesn't stop. New things and situations have to be consecrated to God and laid on the altar.
Let us be diligent to this task.
Grace and peace.
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