7 When he noticed how the guests chose the places of honor, he told them a parable. 8‘When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet, do not sit down at the place of honor, in case someone more distinguished than you has been invited by your host; 9and the host who invited both of you may come and say to you, “Give this person your place”, and then in disgrace you would start to take the lowest place. 10But when you are invited, go and sit down at the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he may say to you, “Friend, move up higher”; then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at the table with you. 11For all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.’ 12 He said also to the one who had invited him, ‘When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, in case they may invite you in return, and you would be repaid. 13But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. 14And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.’

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You might have seen the list of children’s notes to their pastor:

Dear Pastor, I think a lot more people would come to our church if we moved it to Disneyland.  (Loreen, age 9, Tacoma)

Dear Pastor, I’m sorry I can’t leave more money in the plate, but my father didn’t give me a raise in my allowance. Could you have a sermon about a raise in my allowance?  (Eleanor, age 12, Sarasota)

Dear Pastor, I liked your sermon on Sunday. Especially when it was finished. (Ralph, age 11, Akron)

You may have seen various lists of children’s questions to God:

Dear God, Instead of making people die and having to make new ones, why don’t you just keep the old ones?

Dear God, Are you really invisible, or is that just a trick?

Dear God, I want to be just like my daddy when I get big, but is it possible not to have so much hair all over?

And here would be a good question for God, “Dear God, when you have a party, who is on your guest list?” That is a very good question!

In this morning’s Gospel reading the first section is addressed to guests. Guests are called to practice humility. Honor is not gained by seizing the first place. The first will be last and the last first. “For all who exalt themselves will be humbled and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

Verses 12-14 are addressed to hosts…about the guest list!

For Jesus, meals were times of celebration.  Eating together represented an inclusive fellowship that foreshadowed the inclusiveness of God’s eternal realm.

Last year, while serving as Interim Pastor of First Presbyterian in Kirkwood, Missouri, I was driving back to the office and decided to run in to Macy’s to buy a hat for the cold weather.  I didn’t realize that Macy’s was having the “biggest sale of the season.”  After selecting a hat and waiting in line at the cash register, (praying for more patience) I was on my way out of the store!  Navigating my way to the door, I approached the men’s cologne counter and a very friendly woman stepped into my path and offered me a little black fragrance card and said, “Would you like to try our new cologne?”  I took the card and on it was the word “UNFORGIVEABLE.”             I immediately recognized the theological implications and said, “I’m a minister, do you think I could wear this cologne?”  The woman paused, rather taken aback, and said, “Sure…but you couldn’t tell anyone.”  I said, “Well, I like the cologne ….ETERNITY.”

We are called to live our lives in the light of eternity…of God’s eternal values.

Jesus is emphasizing how our fellowship is to reflect the inclusiveness of God’s eternal realm where all people are accepted as equals….where the very standards and practices of discrimination will be overthrown.

“When you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind…”

There are a lot of people who would respond to an invitation! Who is on our guest list?

The church is giving a party…who will we invite????

The late Leo Buscaglia (1924 -1998) quoting from the movie Auntie Mame, said, "Life is a banquet, and most people are starving to death."

Buscaglia once talked about a contest he was asked to judge. The purpose of the contest was to find the most caring child. The winner was a four year old child whose next door neighbor was an elderly gentleman who had recently lost his wife.  Upon seeing the man cry, the little boy went into the old gentleman's porch, climbed onto his lap, and just sat there! When his Mother asked what he had said to the neighbor, the little boy said, "Nothing,…. I just helped him cry.”  Sometimes the best thing we can do for others is to be present with them…or to invite them into our presence, our party, our banquet.

God’s concern is for the salvation, the wholeness, the restoration and reconciliation of all people.  God calls us to develop a guest list that includes all people…. where the social, ethnic, economic and racial “mountains” that separate human beings are leveled.

We are called by God to be the church of Jesus Christ, a sign in the world today of what God intends for all humankind, exhibiting. God’s realm, God’s eternal values to the world

Is it easy …no…possible, yes!... with God’s power.

Mic Morris, one of the leaders of Scripture Play (an adult education class that studies the Sunday morning scripture readings) sent out the following email to the class:

“I am currently reading a book by Walter Wink titled The Powers That Be.  Dr. Wink explains how for over the past 5,000 years, humankind in the civilized parts of the world has lived under a domination system.  All corporations, institutions and governments have fallen into this perverse power arrangement and are constantly in the need of reform.  Jesus in his gospel message defined another arrangement.  A world of inclusion and equality.  He called it the Kingdom of God or the Realm of God.  He spoke for and to those who had been marginalized by these system of domination in which the powerful rule over the lowly, the rich over the poor and men over women.  Here at this wedding feast he admonishes those who chose to exalt themselves.  His message is clear all are to be included in the Realm of God, the poor, the crippled, the lame the blind.”

 And then Mic asks a very probing question at the end of his email:

“Can we add to that list those of a different race, those who speak another language, those of a different belief system or those with a different sexual orientation? Consider how often this message is delivered by Jesus in his parables and in his actions.  In how many other examples do you find this same message?   Is this the message that the religion named after him promotes today?  What examples can you give?”

Who’s on our guest list?