Making Distinctions
Trinity 13 Luke 14: 7-14
29 August 2010
One of my favorite books of the Bible, and one to which I frequently resort in my spiritual reading is the book of Ecclesiasticus, or, Sirach, as it is called in the NRSV. It is a book of wisdom, which is to say, it is the result of a long tradition of thinking about human life lived in covenant with God in a community informed by law and prophecy. How does a life of faith in the God of Israel work itself out in the details? What shape does faithfulness take in the daily labors of normal living? For example, there are no laws in the Bible, as far as I can remember, about whom to invite to a party you are giving or how you are supposed to behave if you go to one. But such things as banquets do not escape the observation of the wise man. Listen to these words from chapters 31 and 32 of Ecclesiasticus.
31:12Are you seated at the table of the great? Do not be greedy at it, and do not say, “How much food there is here!” 13Remember that a greedy eye is a bad thing. What has been created more greedy than the eye? Therefore it sheds tears for any reason. 14Do not reach out your hand for everything you see, and do not crowd your neighbor at the dish. 15 Judge your neighbor’s feelings by your own, and in every matter be thoughtful. 16Eat what is set before you like a well brought-up person, and do not chew greedily, or you will give offense. 17Be the first to stop, as befits good manners, and do not be insatiable, or you will give offense. 32:1If they make you master of the feast, do not exalt yourself; be among them as one of their number. Take care of them first and then sit down; 2when you have fulfilled all your duties, take your place, so that you may be merry along with them and receive a wreath for your excellent leadership. 3Speak, you who are older, for it is your right, but with accurate knowledge, and do not interrupt the music. 4Where there is entertainment, do not pour out talk; do not display your cleverness at the wrong time. 5A ruby seal in a setting of gold is a concert of music at a banquet of wine. 6A seal of emerald in a rich setting of gold is the melody of music with good wine. 10Lightning travels ahead of the thunder, and approval goes before one who is modest. 11Leave in good time and do not be the last; go home quickly and do not linger. 12Amuse yourself there to your heart’s content, but do not sin through proud speech. 13But above all bless your Maker, who fills you with his good gifts.”
All of that is good advice—especially the piece about the right of old people to speak but only if they know what they are talking about and don’t interrupt the music! I think all of this is of a piece with the advice of our Lord in today’s Gospel, too. Old Jesus ben Sirach would have agreed with Jesus ben Joseph, although our Lord’s advice is just a little more radical. There is a part of ben Sirach which realizes that the way the world is now constructed, even a man of faith has to watch out for himself sometimes. For example: “4:20Watch for the opportune time, and beware of evil, and do not be ashamed to be yourself. 21For there is a shame that leads to sin, and there is a shame that is glory and favor. 22Do not show partiality, to your own harm, or deference, to your downfall. 23Do not refrain from speaking at the proper moment, and do not hide your wisdom. 24For wisdom becomes known through speech, and education through the words of the tongue.” Sometimes there is a caution in ben Sirach that realizes that under the conditions presently prevailing, speaking too much truth can be dangerous. On the other hand he says: “25Never speak against the truth, but be ashamed of your ignorance. 26Do not be ashamed to confess your sins, and do not try to stop the current of a river. 27Do not subject yourself to a fool, or show partiality to a ruler. 28Fight to the death for truth, and the Lord God will fight for you.”
What our Lord seems to be looking for is not unlike what ben Sirach wrote, but a little more abandoned at the same time. He seems to imply an utter lack of self-regard, even when speaking or acting may seem foolish to the wise. When he was at table, he was concerned for other things as well as being an enjoyable dinner guest. He was always the master of the feast, no matter who was giving it. Of course, in this we are not like Him. Sometimes we are merely guests; at other times we are the hosts. I am sure that even Jesus was able sometimes simply to enjoy himself, but he also has some advice in today’s Gospel lesson which applies to our social lives. The first bit of teaching could be expressed this way I think: “When you go to a dinner party, remember that you are there to engage in fellowship with other people, not to pursue your own personal advantage. The whole spirit of eating with other people is ruined if you are thinking about how to look important or make the right connections that will serve your professional or business interests.” It is probably an offense against the very meaning of food to engage in what we call business luncheons.
Jesus was a guest at a marriage feast whose guests had been carefully chosen. It was all fairly formal and the order of importance of each person could be seen in the seating arrangements. Jesus observed the guests trying each to seem more important than someone else. Maybe he had actually seen a person who had arrived early demoted from the place of honour he had presumptuously taken to a seat lower in the social order. It was certainly humiliating. Better, he said, to take the lowest seat and then be moved up. But I think he would have gone on to say, better not to worry about how important you are in relationship to others—the whole business of who is more important than whom is out of place in the Kingdom. If there are distinctions to be made, then God will do it and we can leave it all up to him.
Of course, the Church has not always remembered this and has been very impressed over the years with the importance of various persons even at the Church’s own sacred meal. This happened quite early—early enough for James, a New Testament wisdom writer, to say: “2:1My brothers and sisters, do you with your acts of favoritism really believe in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ? 2For if a person with gold rings and in fine clothes comes into your assembly, and if a poor person in dirty clothes also comes in, 3and if you take notice of the one wearing the fine clothes and say, “Have a seat here, please,” while to the one who is poor you say, “Stand there,” or, “Sit at my feet,” 4have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts? 5Listen, my beloved brothers and sisters. Has not God chosen the poor in the world to be rich in faith and to be heirs of the kingdom that he has promised to those who love him? 6But you have dishonored the poor.”
“Making distinctions among yourselves”: what is more normal and natural for us than making distinctions? Jesus was concerned about a particular kind of distinction-making: the kind where the distinctions you make are towards your own advantage and the disadvantage of someone else. That is why the guests at the wedding banquet were trying to get the best seats for themselves and why Jesus issued his warning. His warning could be read as if it were simply a more sophisticated way to get what you want—pretending to a humility that you don’t have. But in reality, Jesus’ advice comes with the understanding that pride is a real debility, especially towards God. As Sirach put it: “The beginning of human pride is to forsake the Lord; the heart has withdrawn from its Maker.” Pride is part of the old human problem of trying to attain to an independence that one doesn’t have. No human being is independent or autonomous, either with regard towards God or with regard toward one’s fellow human beings. The person who tries to exalt himself is thinking that he can regard other people as competitors only and not as neighbors. Neighbors are meant to be cared for, loved, treated as oneself—not competed with for some kind of ephemeral advantage. And all such advantages and distinctions are ephemeral. Those who exalt themselves may not be humbled very soon as we reckon time, but the reckoning will come. “Pride was not created for human beings,” for the simple reason that it sets us against God and each other.
We will not soon change our competitive world with this kind of teaching, I know. On the other hand, we Christians are responsible to live according to our Lord’s designs whether that way of life ever does become popular or not. And it is truly a better way of living. I think that people around us are tired of the constant striving and would welcome a different model for interpersonal relationships. That is also related to the second part of our Lord’s advice about giving parties: whom to invite. I am sure that he would want us to be merry with our friends, but I am also sure that he would accuse many of having too narrow a circle of friends, chosen from their own little social group. Thus his comments about choosing as dinner guests those who could never repay you: not, I am sure, as a blatant act of charitable condescension, but as a genuine way to make friends amongst brothers and sisters without the resources to throw a party. Our Lord’s commandment is to love each other and not worry about our own self-importance, or about whether this will advance our own personal interests in the great competition which is much of modern life.
Banquets were never meant to be networking opportunities or dinner parties a way to pay off your friends for inviting you to theirs. We are to eat our food with reverence and usually in the company of others whom we care about or want to care about. For Christians, every such meal together is a sign of the presence of the Kingdom, a little quasi-sacramental echo of the Eucharist, in which our Lord feeds us with His own Body and Blood simply because He loves us and wants us to be in fellowship with Him as His own brothers and sisters. It is a fellowship which edifies all, in which there is no place for pride or making differences, which treats all as people who have worth in the eyes of the Lord.