Sermon for Ordinary 22, 31st August 2025

Welcome brothers and sisters and peace be with you. MAY the words on my lips and the meditations in our hearts be acceptable in your sight O Lord, our strength and our Redeemer. <Amen>

In first century Palestine, being invited to someone’s house for dinner was a way to climb up the social ladder, but being invited for the Sabbath meal meant you were almost family!

We usually think of the Pharisees as ‘the opposition,’ but that wasn’t always the situation. Today, Jesus is at a Pharisee’s house for dinner. Not just any Pharisee, either. The host for this Sabbath meal is a leader … and, as Scripture tells us, “they were watching him closely”.

As so often, Jesus uses this time as teaching opportunity, basing the lesson on what he observes.

Jesus was not giving a lesson in table manners here. He was explaining, for the people gathered at that Pharisee’s table, just how different the rules are in the Kingdom of God. To understand just how radical this teaching was, we need to remember the social system that was in place at the time.

It was a system of patronage, where honour and favours were the currency. Meal time was often the place where status was on display. Guests of honour sat near the host. If you were less important, you sat farther away. If you didn’t matter at all, you weren’t even invited.

As Jesus watched the guests at this Pharisee’s house jockeying for good positions at the table, He saw an opportunity to teach about how things REALLY work in the Kingdom of God -and He took it.

First, he addressed the guests. He reminded them of the advice found in Proverbs: “Do not put yourself forward in the king’s presence or stand in the place of the great; for it is better to be told, “Come up here,” than to be put lower in the presence of a noble.”

While this was practical social advice for His listeners, it included a reminder that the people present at the table belonged to God, not Rome. Jesus was reinforcing their identity as children of Israel. The Roman practice of self-promotion did not fit well with the prophet Micah’s reminder to “walk humbly with your God.”

This is beautifully echoed for us in Paul’s letter to the young Church in Philippi “have the same mindset as Christ Jesus … who did not consider equality with God something to be used to His own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness … and he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death. Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name.” (Philippians 2:5-9) <PAUSE>

Secondly, one has to wonder what Jesus was doing at this dinner. Why was He invited?

It is, perhaps, possible that this particular Pharisee, Simon, considered Jesus to be at least an equal. Yet social status and patronage is the very system that Jesus has come to challenge and He had no intention of “letting his host off the hook” when it came to “table manners” in the Kingdom of God.

“You’re inviting the wrong people,” Jesus told him. “You’re trying to make yourself look good by surrounding yourself with “important” people, while you ignore the very ones who should be enjoying your hospitality.”

Jesus is saying to Simon the Pharisee AND TO EACH OF US - - - you don’t need to try to impress anyone with your social status and how many important folks you know. The only one whose opinion of you that matters is God, and He knows your heart. He knows how far short of His righteousness you really fall … and he loves you anyway ! <PAUSE>

To the guests, Jesus says, Don’t seat yourself too high up the table but take the lowest place. Show the kind of humility that honours God.”

To the hosts, Jesus says, Don’t invite those who can repay you, but those who can’t. Instead of looking for ways to look down on people, to consider them as less important than you are, find ways to lift others up and stand beside them.

In our culture, just as in Jesus’ day, divisions still exist - between wealthy and poor, between powerful and powerless, between those who have and those who don’t. Jesus sees and “calls out” an incorrect cultural expectation that we cannot ignore. Christ calls us to live in a radically counter-cultural way, levelling the field for ALL God’s children.

Jesus teaches the Pharisee and his guests that they can all stop trying to make themselves seem more important, because they are already important in God’s eyes.

By His own example, Jesus teaches us how to be both a humble guest and a gracious host.

We are all at the same Table. Jesus is our host, and also our guest.

As host, he invites us to sit in the place of honour.
As guest, He shows true humility, taking on the identity of a servant, placing himself at the lowest place for our sakes.

We are both host and guest to Jesus, as well. We invite him into our lives, and we also find our place at his table, receiving his grace. Either way, the role we take needs to be centred in true humility because we are only present in the Kingdom because of God’s unfailing grace.

Many of us, because of our human frailty, don’t deserve such grace, and we aren’t any better than anyone of receiving it. Taking our place at the bottom of the table, allows us to respond with joy when Jesus, our host, taps us on the shoulder and says, “What are you doing down here? Come on up and sit by me.”

In God’s kingdom, the expectations for both guest and host are the same: Whether you are inviting Jesus into your life, or accepting his gracious invitation to join him at his feast, your place at the table is neither too high, nor too low. Because your place at the table is right next to Jesus.

So come, accept Christ’s gracious invitation, offer yours to Him and invite Jesus into every aspect of your life, and take your place beside Him and to God will be the glory.

I runga e te Ingoa o te Atua, te Matua, te Tama me te Wairua Tapu. <AMINE>