Hospitality or Power?

Summary

Jesus taught that true hospitality is about welcoming strangers and putting others before ourselves. The Bible warns against trying to gain power and status by pushing others aside. Instead, we should be humble and make space for those who are often overlooked or pushed out.

Transcript

The primary impulse of hospitality is to create a safe and welcoming place where a stranger can be converted into a friend. Hospitality is just allowing people to be seen, to be invited to the table so they can eat and sit next to you and to move from unknown to known. That's the promise Jesus gives to people. He says, I know who you are. If you come to me, I am going to know you and call you a son or a daughter. We as the church, the instrument of God, the instrument of Jesus in this world should be doing the exact same thing. And so the first question I want you to consider and think about and what I was thinking about is when is the last time you've had an experience that you would consider hospitable? Think about when something that made you feel like you mattered, like you were the most important person or you were a very important person.

And what did that make you feel like? Who was that? And I'm guessing if it's happened to you at any point, you probably remember that for a long time. If it's a place, you might write a review about it. If it's a person, you might talk about how wonderful they were. If it made you feel a certain way you'd recommend it to other people. A big one for me. We went on a cruise a month ago, and if you've never been on a cruise or to a resort or whatever, they specialize in hospitality and making everybody feel very, very, very welcome and they have a good time so that when you get off the cruise, by the time you get off, you're ready to go to another one and you just keep going. But they are good people go to school for hospitality. They learn how to treat you well.

They learn how to make your experience really good. If you've been to Disney, for example, is another one that is amazing. And you might say you pay for the experience of Disney to feel hospitable or there. But what are my ones? My actually recent favorites, it's not that recent, is this plate of food up here, which is some Kansas City barbecue. And I'm not here to argue which barbecue is better or worse. It doesn't matter to me. All barbecue is good. Barbecue, okay? But two years ago, three years ago now, I started a program through Nazarene Theological Seminary for my doctor of ministry. And I've had three site visits. I went to Kansas City and went for one of them. I went to San Diego and then I went to Ireland earlier this year. This is our first trip right here. And my flight, I was looking back at it, my flight to go up to Kansas City was delayed by nine hours.

So it would've been faster for me to go from here to drive there than it would've been to wait on the plane to go up there. Now, this is the first time I would've been beating my cohort, my classmates, all the people that were there going to be teaching me. And I was super frustrated and super nervous and angry that I had been on this plane in the airport for so long. And I make jokes about it all the time that whenever I travel by myself, I always get delayed. So when our family's together, that doesn't happen for all of us with the kids, but nine hours late. So all the people had met, they had their first class and then they got to eat together and the assistant there texted me and she said, Hey, one of your classmates saved you a plate and potato salad and put it in the fridge for you for when you get here.

You can go and have this food. And they didn't have to do that, right? They didn't have to think about me. We hadn't met. But that little act of kindness set it up. So I felt welcome even when there weren't people there to welcome me. And when I walked into the hotel, the conference center, there was nobody there. I was super late, but I still got to sit down after a long day and eat some food because somebody thought about me for no other reason. And on that trip, actually, you learned about Benedictine hospitality. So Benedictines and the church world, the Catholic church, they have monks and nuns and they have these different orders. Jesuits you might've heard of Benedictines, St. Francis, if you've seen the name of a high school that's a Catholic school is probably some order of Catholic nuns and monks. But the Benedictines for about 1500 years, one of their primary focuses to understand spirituality is to be hospitable to people.

That's their whole thing. 1500 years of being hospitable to people. And these monks and nuns, they live by what's called a rule or the rules of St. Benedict of a little book a bit. But this is on the screen, how they approach guests, which chapter 53, this is from chapter 53 called of the Reception of Guests. Let all guests who arrive be received as Christ because he will say, I was a stranger and you took me in and let do honor be shown to all, especially to those of the household of the faith, and to Wayfairs, when therefore a guest is announced. Let them be met by the superior and the brethren with every mark of charity and let them first pray together and let them associate with one another in peace. That is you could be a stranger. When I went to there to visit the monks or the nuns, this is how they felt.

You didn't go there. It wasn't performative. It wasn't like, oh, we have to host these people who are just here to learn stuff. It was an all encompassing, you are welcome here. You can be here with us, pray with us. And so 1500 years, if they do nothing else good, it is that they welcome people. Kind of like in Hebrews when it says, if you've entertained people, you might've entertained angels. St. Benedict says, if you entertained a stranger, you have entertained Jesus. To bring a little bit more recent, maybe not 1500 years ago, but Eugene Peterson, who we quote a lot in here, there's a book that Jonathan bought me a couple of years ago called Tell Slant, and it goes through Luke, and this is what he writes about hospitality. In this book. He says, hospitality is an exercise in humility. When we are guests, we are in a position to receive.

Hospitality is an exercise in generosity. When we are hosts, we are in a position to give. Hospitality is giving and taking depending on where you find yourself in this equation. And so that brings us to Luke Chapter 14 is where we're going to be looking at mostly if you want to go there, the technical gospel reading for today is Luke 14 verse one, and then seven through 14. And that's a good verse by itself and it has a lot and we'll go through that. But I'm going to expand a little bit if you'll allow me to go before that and to go a little bit after this interaction because this is how it starts. In Luke chapter 14 verse one, it says One Sabbath, when Jesus went to eat in the house of the prominent Pharisee, he was being carefully watched. So if we just look at that sentence and understand the context of what is happening, it's going to set up how Jesus teaches in the next couple of verses.

He teaches the Pharisees of the guest at this party, so Sabbath. Remember, Sabbath is a day of rest and a day of healing and rejuvenation and recreation. Recreation. So you come to church for example, you get encouraged with teaching and singing and scripture reading, and most importantly, community with one another. We get strengthened through coming to the table so you can go out and be hospitable in the world. So it is a day of rest. It's supposed to be a day where we welcome people into our group, into our family so they can hear about who Jesus is. So this day, the Pharisee took a group of people including Jesus to eat at his place. It's kind of like if Jonathan invited you to go eat at IHOP afterwards, after lunch, that's kind of the setting we are at. And you would hope that maybe Jonathan would invite you because he wants to get to know you and he wants to be your friend and he wants to share meals with you and break bread.

But imagine if you found out that Jonathan and then the other pastors and leaders were there just to watch you specifically to see if you're going to mess up and how we can speak ill of you and make sure that you feel bad. And in this case, the most extreme case finds you guilty of a crime. That's the setting we're at right now. Jesus is worshiping, he worshiped here like we're doing right now with the Pharisees. They went to lunch, post church lunch, and they're all watching him to see if he messed up. And that's kind of wild because he just, the story that we read about Jesus on the Sabbath, healing in the scriptures, the crippled woman and how the Pharisee was indignant is the word that use indignant is upset that this thing happened because it doesn't seem fair. So the Pharisee was very upset that Jesus had cured this woman on the Sabbath and he says, if something you owned or somebody you cared about was injured, wouldn't you take care of them and set them free?

And so they don't have a response. The Pharisee is indignant, he's upset, but the people celebrate this great miracle that has happened. And so he keeps going and he's now worshiping with them again. And as they're leaving the synagogue and they're going to the Pharisee's house, they've come across a man who has a condition, scholars have said is edema, which is kind of like a swelling condition and makes it painful and awkward to move when Jesus stops and he looks at the experts, the people, because remember the Pharisee is a big guy. He's a big shot. So he's probably inviting big people and important people to come with him. So these are people who are learned and understanding and scholastic and worshipful, and he looks at them and he says, is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath or not? He asks them, he turns around and is it lawful to do this?

And they don't say anything, they don't answer him, they just kind of look at him. And so he takes their silence as a, okay, it's okay, I'm going to heal them. And then he sent him on his way and then he asked, Jesus asked them again, if one of you has a child or an ox that falls into a well on the Sabbath day, will you not immediately pull it out? So the same thing he talked about when he healed the woman on the Sabbath, and this time they don't say anything. They're not even indignant about it. They're not even talking about how upsetting it is. They just keep on going to the house to eat. So he is already on the way between worship with a group of people who are watching him closely to see if he messes up to doing the very thing that made them mad.

We'll say a week ago doing that thing again and then going to eat at this person's house. And then we end up here at Luke chapter 14, verses seven through 14, when he noticed how the guests picked the places of honor at the table, he told them this parable, when someone invites you to a wedding feast, do not take the place of honor for a person more distinguished than you may have been invited. If so, the host who invited, both of you will come and say to you, give this person your seat, then humiliated. You will have to take the least important place. But when you are invited, take the lowest place so that when your host comes, he will say to you, friend, move up to a better place. Then he'll be honored in the presence of all the other guests. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled and all those humble themselves will be exalt him.

Then Jesus said to his host, when you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or sisters, your relatives or your rich neighbors. If you do, they may invite you back and so you'll be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you'll be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you'll be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous. So Jesus at this place starts to, people watch after he's already done an unthinkable act. Again hearing on the Sabbath. He gets there and he watched all these people fighting for the most important spot at the table. And all these people were guessing they want to be there, they want to be seen, they want to be noticed. They've been invited by somebody, very important. So they want to have the FaceTime with them.

So they're fighting, I'm the most important, I'm the most. Lemme sit here, lemme sit here. And so Jesus quickly looks at this and says, it's all about the show. This interaction that they're having. The dinner is an opportunity for the people to show off and show up. This me, when I was a kid, we had line leaders in elementary school, did you have line leaders in elementary school and you had to walk from specials like from your class to specials, from your class to lunch. And that was a coveted spot to be put in the front of the line. And if your teacher was not very good, they did not assign somebody there. And they let the kids figure out who got to be the front and they would push each other and elbow each other and they would cry and they would be upset.

And it's not my turn or it's my turn. I got to do it. I didn't get to do it yet. And it's a chaotic mess because they're all fighting to be the most important kid. Now this is happening with adults around a dinner table. I want to be the most important kid at the table. These people are invited to an important social event that could get them noticed and more importantly, gain favor. Gain favor with their community. There's a group of people who worship together. They live together. They're a community of people who the Pharisee or the leader of the synagogue is a very, very important and influential person that can say something or do something that can make or break you. So they want to make sure they're putting on a good show.

And so the song has been stuck in my head the past week. It's from a musical called Hamilton, which is a dramatized story of Alexander Hamilton, one of our founding fathers and another man who's important to called Aaron Burr. There's a song called Wait for it. It's Aaron singing it and he's talking about how he's going to wait for his opportunity to be important. He's going to wait for his opportunity, he's going to be patient. Where Alexander Hamilton, he's mad at Alexander because Alexander just goes and he takes and he takes and he takes and he takes, he's a kind of a steamroller and just does whatever he wants and he's getting noticed and that's upsetting Aaron Burr. Now, as I was thinking about that in this story, Jesus says, don't rush to the front, right? Be patient since the lowly spot. And if you're important enough to be noticed, you're going to be invited to move up into the structure.

Now, you could do that. You can move to the lowest spot of the table and be humble on the outside, but on the inside you really are doing that, not because you are humble, you're doing that because that's what you're supposed to do. So if you follow the rules and you do the right thing and you move to the right spot that you're supposed to, you're doing the right thing and they're going to notice you. So it's still self-serving. You're not moving to the bottom of the table, you're not being patient and waiting your turn because you want to elevate other people. You're doing so because that's the way that you're supposed to get to the top. And so in this story, Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton, Aaron is patient patiently waiting, but he's not happy about it and he ends up spoiler, but he ends up shooting Alexander Hamilton in a dual at the end because he's upset that he never got his shot to be in the room where it happens, the most important person making decisions and all that stuff.
So this is not a problem that's just here in the Bible. It's like a human condition. We want to feel important, we want to be important, we want to have people notice us. But Jesus says, it's not about being noticed because you will be noticed if you are following the ways of Jesus. The person God who matters about God is the one who judges you, the most important person that judges you. The most important thing that you're judged by is God. And God will see your humble heart and you'll be rewarded. He tells the host when the people who are righteous stand before heaven. And so for the host though, it is easy to say, oh, look at these people all just fighting to get to this spot. They're just so angsty. But it goes on and talks to the host too, right? He says, essentially, why are you letting this happen?

I find it hard to believe I do. I find it hard to believe that this prominent Pharisee did not know that this would unfold in his presence. I'm guessing he has to eat every time they worship. So I'm guessing he has a dinner every synagogue day and he probably has people coming and fighting for that same spot. So it's not just some special event. They weren't fighting to be in Jesus's presence because Jesus wasn't really as important as he was influential, but he wasn't the prominent Pharisee, so they weren't fighting for Jesus. This is just Jesus observing this and he is watching this happen. And so sometimes people with power like to see other people fighting their attention and they start to pit people against each other to kind of see who's going to come out on top, who is worthy of being in my presence, like the survival of the strongest.

You could just look at, I mean, I'm not going to get into it, but you could just look at our society and see how everything has turned into this versus that, them versus us, me versus the world, the world versus me, left versus right. All that we have turned ourselves into wanting to be the most important and influential decision maker that we are hurting other people in the process. This luncheon beyond trying to watch Jesus for any slipups, it goes beyond watching Jesus members. It started out that they went to lunch to watch Jesus. Everybody's watching him and Jesus is watching them. It goes beyond that because this is a person, like I said, in power, giving attention to good attention, whether they're doing that for influence, the prominent Pharisees, the top dog there, right? That's why everybody's trying to fight be next to him, but the people that are coming are going to bring things to the table.

They're going to have influence other people. They're going to make deals, they're going to do favors and then have a favor done in return. There's something, there's a Latin word, a Latin term for this called quid pro quo, and it means something for something or this for that, you give me something, I'm going to give you something back. I'm going to do this thing for me and you're going to do this thing for me. And it is oftentimes used quid pro quo in a way that is done so power can be gained and not as a favor or something virtuous for others to participate in. And so Jesus explained this. He tells the people who are vying for the top spot, be patient and don't put yourself above where you think you are. And then he tells the host, stop doing this. Invite the right people and don't just be here.

Be generous. Essentially. Be generous and humble because if you're going to invite people to the table, make sure you're doing it because you want to follow God and follow the laws of the Old Testament, but don't do it because you just want more power. And so now we get into a little bit later, and this part is called the parable of the Great banquet, but this just goes a little bit further beyond the scriptures that we read, and this starts at verse 15, and this is in my mind kind of a funny interaction because I'm looking at this scene and I'm thinking, somebody's watching Jesus teach. He's watching these people of importance fight for a spot. He's watching the host who's holding people down, watch it, play out and have his fun, and somebody from the crowd or the group that's with them sees this.

He's like, yes. Finally Jesus, somebody is calling these people out. And when one of those at the table with him heard this, he said to Jesus, blessed is the one who will eat at the feast of the kingdom of God. He's like, yes, blessed are the people. I agree with everything that you say and Jesus, not one to let a good teaching moment go to waste, turns it back, not just then on the people importance and the Pharisee, but he turns it back on the people of God, the people at

the table, the people of God, but in a broader sense, the people of God.

He says, a certain man, this is Jesus speaking. Now, a certain man was preparing a great banquet and invited many guests at the time of the banquet. He sent his servant to those who had been invited, come for everything now is ready or is now ready. But they all began to make excuses. The first that I have just bought a field and I must go see to it, please excuse me. Another said, I have just bought the five Yim. I'm on my way to try them out. Please excuse me, still. Another said, I just got married so I can't come. The servant came back and reported this to the master. Then the owner of the house became angry and ordered the servant go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame. This group of people that he should have invited in the first place. Sir, the servant said, what you order has been done, but there is still room. Then the master told the servant, go out to the roads, country lanes and compel them to come in so that my house will be full. I tell you, not one of those who were invited will get a taste of my banquet.

God has already extended the invitation and continues to extend the invitation to come to the table. The Israelites, God's chosen people we're not chosen to be apart from the world. So they're apart from the world. They're God's chosen people to go to the world to tell how wonderful and amazing God is. And instead of doing that, they're fighting amongst themselves to be the most important person in that group of people forgetting about all the people they're supposed to be taking care of. They've already been invited, and Jesus here is saying, those who've been invited, they're not going to see the banquet they're missing. They're missing what they're supposed to be doing.

They've been so focused on serving their own interests. They forgot about being the chosen people. And that's really easy to say because oh, that's the Old Testament and the New Testament and the gospel. It's thousands of years ago, and I'm going to say to you that we often missed it. As Christians, we have often used the amazingly powerful gift of hospitality to bring ourselves, influence, make ourselves feel good, and to make ourselves rich at the expense of other people. I used to sit in this board in Toledo as a citizen advisory panel for the refinery, and basically it was community leaders and neighbors and industry people. I didn't really know what was happening. Most of the time. I don't know anything about refineries or oil, but I got to sit there because I had been invited to sit there. That meant once a month I got free food.

It was pretty good. I got to learn about things called RINs, and I got to learn about how the refinery in Toledo was this cool little gem of everywhere and how big oil is really bad, which is funny, hearing it from an oil person, the oil is bad. And I just was there because I was invited. And so Eugene Peterson says, I got to be hospitable in my presence because I got to receive the gift that people were giving me. But there's a person there who went to our church and good man, I mean, there's nothing against him but his attitude, he kept asking me, every month, you should pray, you should pray, you should pray, you should pray. You should pray, you should pray. And I said, I've not been invited to pray. This is not my event to take over. I can't just stand up and start demanding that I pray because I'm not the host that would be inhospitable of me as a guest.

Now, in the same way, if we invited people to eat with us at a church event, I'd pray before that because that's my event, and I get to be hospitable in that way and provide people stuff. But you can be an inhospitable guest. But if we are forcing ourselves to gain power because of where we've been placed, if we're trying everything in our power to gain power, ultimately just like here, we will be missing other people because of that pursuit of power. So those of us who've already been recognized, who already have a seat at the table, I hope, and you can ask yourself, am I fighting for and looking for more recognition and more power? Because I'm a Christ follower?
Proverbs 25. And so Jesus refers back to this when he says, you're going to be humbled if you get invited or if you get asked to move down a seat, this is not a new thing either. Proverbs 25, 6 through seven says, do not exalt yourself in the king's presence and do not claim a place among his great men. It is better for him to say to you, come up here than for him to humiliate you before his nobles. This is an old idea of being humble and elevating other people, not so you can gain favor, but because you understand that other people are God's creation and they should be elevated to places of importance as well. So if you find yourself shoving people away from Jesus, instead of making space for them to be close to Jesus, you'll be ending up humiliated when it comes to reap the rewards in heaven. If you're shoving people away from the table of God so you can have your spot, then you are not going to see the banquet in heaven.

Using your abilities and power for your own edification and gain will separate you from the ways of Jesus. There's this book, I'm going to put the cover up here. It's called Saved by Faith and Hospitality. This is one of the most influential books I've read in the past, probably my whole, probably the last 10 years or whatever, and it starts to, hospitality is an unnegotiable aspect of being a Christian. If you are not hospitable, then you do not know who Jesus is. That's what this book puts forward. It's pretty extreme, but this is how the author identifies hospitality. It says, hospitality is the act of process whereby the identity of the stranger is transformed into that of guests. While hospitality often uses the basic necessities of life, such as the protection of one's home and the offer of food, drink, conversation. In closing, the primary impulse of hospitality is to create a safe and welcoming place where a stranger can be converted into a friend.

Hospitality is just allowing people to be seen, to be invited to the table so they can eat and sit next to you and to move from unknown to known. That's the promise Jesus gives to people. He says, I know who you are. If you come to me, I am going to know you and call you a son or a daughter. We as the church, the instrument of God, the instrument of Jesus in this world should be doing the exact same thing. The primary impulse is to create a safe and welcoming place when a stranger can be converted into a friend. Hospitality and humility, those are the ways of Jesus. Pursuit of power is the exact opposite because it will ultimately end up diminishing other people and putting other people down and elevating yourself above them. So I want you to invite people this week from the unknown and be willing to make them known by your presence because that is hospitality.