Sermon preached at Larbert West Church on Sunday 1st September at which service the congregaton votes for their new minister...
Hebrews 13: 1-8; Luke 14:1, 7-14
A Place at the Table
I am sure we have all attended
weddings and big family events, where there are many guests.
The good thing about those
gatherings is looking around and seeing familiar faces, that you see rarely,
and enjoying the pleasure of catching up.
Of course, if it is a gathering
for a wedding, there will also be many faces that are not at all familiar: the
family of your loved one’s new spouse; the friends they have invited who will
be completely unfamiliar.
Now, normally at these occasions
there is a table plan.
Place settings with your name,
anchoring you in the right place. Next to people you know; or perhaps your host
mixes it all up a little and puts folks together who do not know each other?
Have you ever been to a wedding
where there is no seating plan? I have!
Just the once. And it was really
tricky – there was a kind of free for all as everyone went in to the marquee;
and it made me a little uncomfortable: where to sit?
Who to sit with?
What if there’s no room for both
of us and we have to sit apart?
So many unknowns!
So this parable rings bells for
me.
Where shall I sit?
How important am I? do I go close
to the family?
Do I wait it out? If I sit here,
will someone want me to move?
What if they run out of seats?!
Oh my goodness!
Now, wedding stories aside, there
is a point to all of this.
Jesus was in the habit of quietly
observing people; he was invited to dinner by all sorts of people, for all
sorts of reasons. This particular dinner was a big affair; and he knew he was
under scrutiny.
As he watched, people vied with
each other to get the place of honour; each trying to assume a greater status,
a greater level of importance.
Each guest was delighted to have
the opportunity to listen to the great new teacher.
Often in these times, as well as
the invited guests, there would also have been any number of hangers on.
People who sat on the periphery,
watching, listening, taking stock… for these were not private secluded venues,
and many people followed Jesus.
So that, when Jesus gave the
advice to his host, to choose the poor and the outsiders to be his guests, those
very ones: the poor, the blind the lame, were very likely sitting at the side,
watching, waiting, listening in.
What a message of hope that must
have been!
They who sat on the sides,
watching everyone else feast, they were the ones for whom the feast would be
presented!
The instruction to the host to
welcome strangers – that stands the test of time.
We too are called to be
welcoming; to have open hearts and minds; to find space for those who have less
that we do.
To put those who normally come
last at the top of the list.
To be generous with whatever we
have.
To give without any expectation
of receiving the same in return.
To give without counting the
cost.
For in doing so – as we heard in
the first reading, we may entertain angels unawares.
Jesus’ stories and parables
always had a deeper meaning too; a story for everyone, at every level…
The deeper meaning of the feast
and the host – not that physical feast in the home of a Pharisee that Jesus was
attending;
not even the parable feast he
described;
instead the feast of heaven at
the invitation of God;
the hope of eternity for those
who are on the outside looking in;
for those who feel left out,
alone, marginalised, outcast – those are the ones for whom Jesus came.
His message of hope did exactly
that.
It brought hope; a hope that was
steady and reliable.
As I told the children; as we
heard in the reading from Hebrews: Jesus never changes.
Yesterday, today, tomorrow –
Jesus stays the same.
And so do Jesus’ promises.
That invitation to the feast
continues now.
We are all welcome at the host’s
table.
We are all invited.
We will all have a seat at the
table.
For in God’s house
All are welcome!
Amen
