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
