Proper 17C + A place at the table + 8.28.22
M. Campbell-Langdell
All Santos, Oxnard
(Jer. 2:4-13; Ps. 81:1, 10-16; Heb. 13:1-8, 15-16; Luke 14:1, 7-14)
“I am the LORD your God, who brought you up out of the land
of Egypt. Open your mouth wide and I will fill it (Psalm 81:10).”
Once I heard a local priest talk about bringing a bunch of
youth to work on a collaborative service project each year in a town called Red
Shirt, on a Lakota Sioux Reservation in South Dakota, a town and people I have
also gotten to know. The priest mentioned how they always have a big meal
to which everyone in the community is invited. A big cookout. And
the priest made sure that the elderly and the children went first, leaving the
adults and then the young adults, particularly the young men who traveled with
him for last. He said that this made the young guys a bit nervous, that
they wouldn’t be able to pile up their plates as they were accustomed to, but
he pointed out, they need to be able to wait to make sure everyone has enough,
and then they will get a turn. They may not get as much as they wanted,
but they will get enough. I had a similar moment visiting friends this past
week when our friend, a long-time teacher, reminded us, “now this needs to
stretch to five of us” about the meal.
This story came to mind as I read today’s gospel, which is
simultaneously about how to act at a dinner party and also about something much
bigger. What it really seems to be about is hospitality. Let’s look at
what happens. Jesus is seeing folks whose energy is focused on having the
best spot at the table for a fancy dinner party (and let’s admit it, we’ve all
been there, wanting to sit close to the guest of honor or not far from a
delicious platter of food). And in his customary way, Jesus turns it all on its
head. He says, take a seat at the lowest spot and you can move up
further, but take the choice chair and you just might get demoted. Other
questions seem to be present here. Are we willing to sit at the lower
place at the table to make space for others? Are we willing to wait to
fill our plate, even if that means we don’t get as much? Can we be aware
of others’ needs and not just our own? Chances are, if we pay attention
to each other, we will all still get enough.
But many people in our country are not getting enough.
God says, “open your mouth and I will fill it,” but according to the film “A
Place at the Table,” one in four children do not have access to sufficient food
in our country.[1] They are considered food insecure,
which means that they don’t know where the next meal is coming from.
Another statistic is that 1 in 2 kids in the United States will require food
assistance at some point in their lives.[2]
But notice, if you move down to the lower place at the table,
just like Jesus says, you may notice who’s not there better than if you are at
the head table, being pampered. You might notice the child with not
enough on her plate, or the person who has stayed away because he doesn’t feel
invited.
We do some good things here at All Santos to address food
insecurity and access to jobs in our community. Mabel and I, as well as
others in the church, provide resources and sometimes resume assistance to help
others in their job search.
Some volunteers from local churches and our own church run a
food pantry that operates on Fridays- recently we have been serving about 100
families a week! Several churches, including our own, host a Sunday
dinner that allows each person to eat at least one truly nutritious meal that
day. We do our part. But what I hear Jesus saying in the passage is
that hospitality is an attitude and not just our actions. Those of us who
have bread to spare don’t just need to share it, although that’s key, but we
must always be conscious of those who go without. Because we forget them
to our own peril. We forget the poor and those in prison to our
peril. Why? Because if we forget, we might tend to think that we
have what we need because we are self-sufficient. Just like the people of
Israel in the passage from Jeremiah today, who have taken the good land God has
given them for granted and have turned to worshipping Baal, we might forget
too. We might forget that we, too, rely on God for every breath that we
take, for every morsel of bread that passes our lips. We might forget
that without our fountain of living water, we are nothing but a bunch of
cracked cisterns. We are some leaky jugs without God’s help.
A popular adage goes like this “God helps those who help
themselves.” I have often thought there was a lot of truth in that.
But recently, I have begun to believe differently. I now think that “God
helps those who help others.”
For almost fifteen years now, Pastor Alene and I have been
doing a true tithe of our income, giving ten percent or more off the top to the
work of the LORD in the church and in other charities that we see doing God’s
work. Before the mortgage, before paying the internet or the gas or the
light bill, on the top of our budget, there is our tithe, proportional each
month, to the cent, which may seem overly precise. But I tell you, “God
helps those who help others.” Because when we remember that we don’t go it
alone, that we did not get to this table by ourselves and that the place of
honor always belongs to the LORD, glorious things begin to happen. God
has blessed me more than I can explain, and the only way I can begin to talk
about it is that I began to give first and before I knew it, I was
receiving. We open our mouths and God fills them. We open our lives
and God fills them.
But what of these hungry children? Will we be the hands
of God to fill their mouths? Can we sit far enough back at the table to
pay attention to others’ needs? Can we be close enough to the door to
invite others in? Because commentator Rodney Sadler notes that in the
gospel of Luke this table is not just a regular old dining table, no, it will
become the table for the wedding banquet of all time, the banquet with Jesus
the bridegroom in heaven, the place where hearts and bellies alike will be
filled.[3] And guess what? We get to
live into that here at church. We invite all to this table, to be
fed. But we also strive for food justice in our community so that all
will truly be fed in body and soul. We believe that God has provided an
abundance, so that if we are willing to do our part, God will assure that
enough for all.
So, friend, come up higher and join your place at the table, but stay humble,
stay hospitable. Never forget to look for those who are hungry, for those
who thirst, whether it be for their basic bodily needs or for the gospel that
truly saves our lives. And remember, “God helps those who help others.”
[1] http://www.takepart.com/place-at-the-table/film.
[2] Ibid.
[3] Rodney S. Sadler, “Exegetical
Perspective: Luke 14:1, 7-14,” Feasting on the Word Year C, Vol. 4, 25.
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