Downward Mobility

Luke 14:1, 7-14
September 1, 2013

If you happen to meet Queen Elizabeth
-you should rise as she enters the room
-Americans are not expected to give a full bow,
but men can bow their heads and women are expected to curtsey.
- If she comes up to you, do not take the queen's hand,
but you wait for her to offer it to you,
- and don't shake to hard, just a touch will do.
- You may refer to her as “Your Majesty.”

If you find yourself next to her at dinner,
- You may speak to the Queen, but let her steer the conversation.
- By no means should you try to imitate her accent.
- And when the Queen finishes her meal,
then everyone's meal is finished.

We might look at these and chalk it up to some old world customs
we might think that we are beyond this kind of thing in our America.
But face it, everyone treats people who are rich or powerful
a little better than we do other people.
We treat wealthy or famous people with a little more respect,
a little more honor, a little more attention.

Maybe we think that their fame will rub off on us,
Or that they will remember us some day.
Or that they will drop little packs of money where ever they go?

I worked for a wine shop in San Francisco
(It was a wine shop when important people called,
but it was really a liquor store.)
The owner was named Tony –
One day, the owner of the San Francisco 49ers called Tony
and asked him which winery he and his wife might go to
for a tasting and some lunch. 

Tony gave him the name of one and right after they hung up,
Tony immediately called up the winery and told the manager –
“when he comes to the winery,
give him the best of anything,
anything he wants and don't charge him.”
And the manager agreed and thanked Tony for letting him know.
The wineries did whatever Tony asked because
they know he would buy their wines if they did.

I was sharing an office with Tony and heard the whole conversation. 
I turned around to Tony, kind of incredulous and said,
“Tony, this guy can afford lunch, he can afford anything,
he could even afford to buy the winery,
why should they give him their stuff for free?”
He said, June, that’s how the world works.
The rich and famous eat for free.

That is how the world works.
I'll scratch your back if you scratch mine,
one hand washes the other.
We treat the rich and famous with honor.
Upward mobility.
And the hope is that maybe some of that will come back to us.
Everyone else has to pay their own way.

In our Gospel today,
Jesus is having dinner at the house
of some upwardly mobile clergy -
one of the leaders of the Pharisees.
These are big and important people
who are have been very adept at upward mobility.
getting to know and impress the right people.
And they would love to move up some more.
So they've invited Jesus over.

They aren't necessarily enemies of Jesus,
they are probably more fascinated with him
Jesus is a kind of celebrity of the day
he's popular with the people,
and they want to see what he’s all about.

They were probably hoping for a pleasant meal,
something they could tell their friends about the next day.
Maybe cull some favor with Jesus ,just in case
anything good comes out of him

But as we know, meals with Jesus and the
Pharisees are not often pleasant.
Jesus is very good at making those dinner parties pretty awkward.

First Jesus starts off with something
that could pass off as etiquitte:
Don’t try and get the most important seat.
Sit in the least important seat.

And instead of telling them how honored he is
to be invited to join them that evening,
Jesus tells them.
“Important church people,
Next time you give an expensive dinner,
why don't you do it right?
Don't invite your friends, or your rich neighbors,
or the queen or the owner of the 49ers,
or the other Pharisees, don't even invite me to the party.

Invite the poor, the crippled the lame and the blind.
You should invite people who can't repay you.
Who have nothing to give.
That would be a party that God would enjoy.”

Jesus gives them this helpful party hints for two reasons.
One:  That is God’s vision for his church in this world.
Jesus wants his church to be a place

where the poor and the lame
and the outcast are not just given charity and patronized and pitied.
But where they are invited into the banquet
where they are present at the table, given authority
Where they are given the places of honor
treated with respect, and welcomed.

As followers of Jesus we are called to
to love for love’s sake and not for what we can get back.
To share the love of God with those with the least
that the world has to give.

And two:
it is to prove to us and remind us over and over again
that the status that the world puts on us is irrelevant.
The money, the fame the power, the poverty, the shortcomings,
the addictions, those don’t count.

Our self-worth doesn’t come from
where we sit at a dinner
or if we’re invited to the party in the first place.
Our worth comes from God.
And we’re all beloved children.

We live in an upwardly mobile world,
but for our own sake and the sake of the world,
Jesus calls us to be part of a downwardly mobile gospel.

Even after two thousand years of living with Jesus,
the church sometimes forgets this call
we play the world’s game of status and power.
we have our own church celebrities,
Members are still treated with deference to their pay and power
we still give honor to those with the most
hoping to get something back.
We still try to get to the head of the table and
we try to invite the right people to our parties.
 
Tony Campolo is a famous Baptist preacher
and he tells this story.
He was traveling to speak in Honolulu.
Because of the time change, he couldn't sleep and so
at about 3am, he wandered down to a doughnut shop where,
it turned out, local prostitutes also came at the end of their night .
He overheard a conversation between two of them.

One, named Agnes, said, "You know what? Tomorrow's my birthday.
I'm gonna be thirty-nine."
Her friend said to her sarcastically,
"So what d'ya want from me? A birthday party?
Agnes said,
“No, I'm just sayin' it's my birthday.
I've never had a birthday party in my whole life.
Why should I have one now?"

When they left, Tony got an idea.
He asked the shop owner if Agnes came in every night,
The owner told him that she did.

So Tony asked if he might consider throwing Agnes
a birthday party the next morning.
The shop owner's wife got involved.
and they decorated the place,
and Tony went out and bought a cake and candles.

The next night when Agnes came in, they shouted,
"Surprise!"-and she couldn't believe her eyes.
The doughnut shop patrons sang, Happy Birthday
and she cried so hard she could hardly
blow out the candles.
She thanked everyone profusely.

When the time came to cut the cake,
she asked if they'd mind if they didn't cut it,
if she could bring it home-
just to keep it for a while and savor the moment.
and she left, carrying her cake like a treasure.

Then Tony led the guests in a prayer for Agnes,
They prayed for her and her protection and care
and that her life would be wonderful.

After the prayer, the shop owner said to Tony,
“I didn’t know you were a minister,
what church do you belong to?”
And Tony said,
"I belong to a church that throws birthday parties
for prostitutes at 3:30 in the morning.”

And this is why Tony Campolo tells this story and why I tell you now:
The shop owner said to Tony,
"No you don't. There isn’t church like that.
If there was, I would join it..."

We are asked by Jesus to be that church.
Not to pick our friends wisely,
but to pick them foolishly.

To be the church that not only gives charity to
the poor, the lame, the lost the addicted, the forgotten.
but embraces those people too.
Who invites them to the banquet.
Sits next to them at the table.
Throws them a party. Remembers their birthday
Gives them the authority and respect they deserve merely
because they are children of God.

This church building, and all it’s people may live in
the upwardly mobile world,
but this table is God's table.
And we all come to it the same.
None of us deserves it, but everyone is welcome.