Reflections...

Meditations, Reflections, Bible Studies, and Sermons from Kowloon Union Church  

“The Feast of Heaven”

A sermon preached at Kowloon Union Church on Sunday 28 August 2016, the fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost, by the Rev. Phyllis Wong. The scripture readings that day were Jeremiah 2:4-13; Hebrew 13:1-8, 15-16;  Luke 14:1, 7-14.


Opening prayer

God of love, may your Word inspire our minds, renew our heart and strengthen our faith.

God of life, may your Spirit dwell upon us and set us free to love. Amen.  

Introduction

Last Friday night, the Peace Making Program launched the Refugee Kitchen in KUC Space to engage the refugees and asylum seekers to share their gifts of cooking in their tradition. The Refugee Kitchen aimed at raising funds for the Peace Making Program, as well as to build connections with individuals and organizations that would support the refugee community. The highlight of Refuge Kitchen last Friday was the Pakistani course. We had a very good turn out with 37 people. Our guests enjoyed the feast very much. It was a great meal with good food and good fellowship.

At the event of the Refugee Kitchen, we were sitting in different tables without any special seats for anyone. All participants are equal.

As I began with the sharing of a meal, I will focus my sermon today on the gospel reading of Luke - a parable about a banquet shared by Jesus.  The setting for this parable was Jesus having a meal with the Pharisees on the Sabbath.

The guests attending the meal were probably the rich and the people with power like the religious leaders.

By sharing the parable of a wedding banquet, Jesus said to the guests that they should not choose the seats of honour by themselves. Jesus taught the leaders and the people with social resources and power to be humble. They should wait for the host to give them seats but not take seats on their own. This was the way that they may avoid being shamed, but even more so to receive honour from the host.

For Jesus said,
“For all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”  Luke 14:11

After sharing about how the guests should behave, Jesus talked about the host and to whom he should extend his invitation to the feast.

Jesus said the host should invite the poor, the crippled, the lame and the blind. The poor, the crippled, the lame and the blind are all nobody in society. The poor do not make an effort to give back any money. For the physically disabled people, they were regarded as non-human in Jesus’ time. They were not treated equally. This group of people would not repay the host anything either. On the contrary, they might even jeopardise the name of the host because of the social stigma attached to them.

In the ancient Jewish context, the rich and the powerful were concerned so much with being repaid by guests of kindness, power and status, Jesus’ assertion to invite the poor, the crippled, the lame and the blind (all the socially marginalized people) as guests, is very provocative. Jesus challenged the religious leaders and the people with power and status to give generously and unselfishly to the poor and the weak. He advised them not to be calculative and expect no rewards from the guests of this background. Jesus invited them to share with compassion for these people.   

The seats of honour are decided by the hosts and not by the guests.

God who is the host of the Feast of Heaven decides what seats to give and to whom he invites.

From the teaching of Jesus, we know then that how we treat ourselves and others impacts how God treats us.

Jesus’ parable of the banquet was pointing to the rich and the powerful – teaching them to humble themselves and be generous to give for the needy who cannot repay them.

In reading between the lines, I find that this parable speaks to the poor, vulnerable and the marginalised too. The extension of invitation to them and include them in the banquet is a clear affirmation of their importance and dignity. God treated them as equal and received them as his beloved children. They are part of the Feast of Heaven.

Jesus said, “For all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”  Luke 14:11

Jesus’ parable of the banquet shows us a contradiction of human reality.

I am nobody and at the same time I am somebody. This is a contradictory statement.

The statement ‘I am nobody’ is to acknowledge imperfection of the human world and the imperfect human condition of faults and failings. And thus we need to always humble ourselves.

The statement ‘I am somebody’ is pointing at a true knowledge and feeling of oneself as one is. This true self knowledge is God is our being, and we are what we are in Him. Perfect humility is meeting the mysterious love of God, who is the ground of our being. And thus we need to affirm ourselves as who we are regardless of our wealth, ability and social status, race, gender and sexual orientations.

From Jesus’ teaching through this parable of banquet, I see this deep meaning of humility. 

The Feast of Heaven is for the people of humility.

People of humility are both the guest and the host in the Feast of Heaven.

The Feast of Heaven is for the people of righteousness.

The parable of the wedding banquet reminded me of my childhood experience.

I remember my mother took me to an uncle’s birthday banquets. My uncle was quite rich, and he hosted a birthday banquet almost every year. When his sons got married, they organized wedding banquets in posh restaurants. Every time our family was invited. My mother liked to bring me to these banquets. I was lucky to have good food. Our family was poor at that time. Obviously, my parents were not able to give a lot in love gifts for the meal and never could make an effort to host them in a banquet of that scale. My uncle invited us just because he regarded us as family members. He treated us equally. From our side, apart from our respect to my uncle, he was repaid nothing from us, not by money, not by status, not by power, not even by kindness. We didn’t have the capacity and chance to do that in the way that he did. However, I believed what Jesus said:  he was blessed and repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.

Luke 14:13-14 (I quote)
Jesus said, 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.”

Jesus suggested that the host invite those who could not repay him. But he assured them he will be blessed and repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.

What does it mean – repaid at the resurrection of the righteous?

Is it a reward we gain from God in heaven after we die? Could be.

But I tend to understand this promise – repaid at the resurrection of the righteous with a ‘here and now’ perspective – taking it as a ‘present tense concept’.

We Christians are called to live a life like Christ. Jesus Christ is the righteous and he has risen from death. He eternally lives in us in every moment.  Therefore, whenever we live out the Word and deeds of Jesus Christ, we are manifesting a life of resurrection in him.

More importantly, Christ living in us is the reward itself! When Christ lives in us, we have joy, peace and love in our heart.  The best reward is God himself and having Christ in us.

If we are truly living a life like Jesus Christ, we don’t even bother to seek repayment and rewards. Why? It is because Jesus did not expect any reward and repayment from us when he came to the world and suffered on the Cross to save us.

The Feast of Heaven belongs to those who seek the love of God and live out the resurrected life of Christ – being loving, caring, and full of compassion to the needy.

Conclusion

Jesus’ teaching about the banquet is not referring to any ordinary feast on earth. He is teaching about the Feast of Heaven where God and his love are the centre. 

The foretaste of the Feast of the Heaven is the Holy Communion. Jesus Christ gave and served us by his broken body and blood. The Feast of Heaven is the host of God freely and humbly given without any reservation and any expectation of repayment from us.

In the Feast of Heaven where Christ is the centre, there is no longer you or me, them or us, host or guest. We are both the host and the guest at the same time. We are ONE in Christ – we share together willingly, generously and humbly. We give without expecting rewards and repay from others.

Sisters and brothers, let us continue to host and attend the Feast of Heaven with delight in our church at Kowloon Union Church and community at large.


Let us together enjoy the feast on earth as in heaven.  Amen.

# posted by Kowloon Union Church : Sunday, August 28, 2016



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