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Who is in, who is out? Proper 17C September 2, 2007 The Rev. Larry Hunter
Just what is Jesus about in the gospel reading for today? Is he a first century Miss Manners, giving etiquette advice to would be banquet guests? If so, he is a very manipulative Miss Manners, advising banquet goers to take the lowest place to avoid embarrassment and so that hopefully the host will elevate him or her to a place of higher honor, such elevating to take place in front of all the other guests. That doesn’t sound like Jesus or Miss Manners for that matter. Jesus did not preach a false humility or social manipulation.
Well, then, is he a first century Martha Stewart, giving advice to a would be host of a banquet? “Don’t invite those who can repay you. Leave out your family, friends, and neighbors and your business associates and peers. Instead, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. They cannot pay you back.” But that doesn’t sound like Jesus either, since he regularly ate with his friends and disciples, and even spoke about how he had longed to eat with them as they shared a last supper together. No mention or the poor, the crippled, the lame, or the blind at that meal. And that doesn’t sound like Martha Stewart either. Really!
So what is going on here? Well, I don’t think Jesus is offering advice on social ladder climbing, nor on dinner party guest list arranging. He is simply being Jesus. He has been invited to a Sabbath meal at the home of a leader of the Pharisees. And in being himself, Jesus has managed to irritate both the guests and the host! To the guests he warns: “Stop clamoring for social position. Be satisfied with who and what you are.” To the hosts he warns: “Get to know some other folk besides the ones who can do you some good.”
And why does he do this? Simple. To call both guests and hosts – to call everyone – back to the values of the Reign of God. In that Kingdom, everyone is of equal value – even and maybe especially those who are rejected or despised or live on the margins of society.
In God’s Reign, all are called to look out for the least, the last, and the lost – the very people Jesus says ought to be included in the banquet. After all, Jesus lived in a time of strict delineation between those who were in and those who were considered out of favor with God and the culture. And Jesus was familiar with people seeking a higher position, even among his disciples. The mother of two of them went to Jesus once and asked that her sons be seated at his side in the Kingdom, and the disciples regularly argued about who was first among them.
It strikes me that there are some parallel values between the Reign of God that we celebrate each Sunday and the secular holiday that we observe this weekend. Now Labor Day was not always the official end of summer event that it has become for us. In his Labor Day Proclamation, our Governor wrote:
“…the holiday known as Labor Day is dedicated to the great American worker, who has made our nation strong and prosperous. It is by the labor of the worker that our economy is the greatest and most productive in the world. So it is fitting that a day be set aside to pay tribute to the laborer whose hard work drives our nation forward.“
The first Labor Day holiday was celebrated on Tuesday, September 5, 1882, in New York City. In l884 the first Monday in September was selected as the holiday. The Central Labor Union urged similar organizations in other cities to follow the example of New York and celebrate a "workingmen's holiday" on that date. The idea spread with the growth of labor organizations, and in l885 Labor Day was celebrated in many industrial centers of the country. The first governmental recognition came through municipal ordinances passed during 1885 and 1886. The first state bill to become law was passed by Oregon on February 2l, l887. By 1894, 31 states had adopted the holiday in honor of workers, and on June 28 of that year, Congress passed an act making the first Monday in September of each year a legal holiday in the District of Columbia and the territories. The form that the observance and celebration of Labor Day should take were outlined in the first proposal of the holiday -- a street parade to exhibit to the public "the strength and esprit de corps of the trade and labor organizations" of the community, followed by a festival for the recreation and amusement of the workers and their families. This became the pattern for the celebrations of Labor Day.
Speeches by prominent men and women were introduced later, as more emphasis was placed upon the economic and civic significance of the holiday. Still later, by a resolution of the American Federation of Labor convention of 1909, the Sunday preceding Labor Day was adopted as Labor Sunday and dedicated to the spiritual and educational aspects of the labor movement.
So on this Labor Sunday, how might the values of the Kingdom resonate with this holiday in which we honor those whose labor keeps the wheels of commerce and industry spinning?
Historically, labor has been seen as a commodity to be exploited like any other resource. It has only been since the rise of the modern labor movement that work rules, child labor laws, vacation pay, a humane work week and work conditions, and benefits such as medical insurance and retirement pay have been a part of the life of the average worker. The gap between workers and top managers, however, has grown tremendously. A recent headline in the Chronicle noted the great and growing disparity between executive pay and production worker pay. (“CEO pay = 364 X worker’s salary.” CEO’s averaged 10.8 Million dollars a year. The average pay of production workers is $29,544 a year.)
In the hierarchy of work, the laborer certainly would count as one of the humble of which Jesus speaks. What did he say: “those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.” Folks, it is really about what and whom we value. Labor Day recognizes and says that we as a society value those who comprise the lowest rungs of the economic ladder. The Kingdom of God teaches us that all human beings are of equal value and that all of the ways we use as human beings to delineate between ourselves are at best, artificial, and at worst, evil.
All movements of that seek to liberate human beings from oppression or degradation exhibit signs of the Reign of God. The labor movement, the women’s movement, the Civil Rights movement, the all human liberation movements –
all of these at their best are concerned with valuing the human being and improving the conditions in which we all live by providing opportunity to grow into a full and functioning human being. That is a primary value of the Reign of God in which all are welcome to the banquet.
The folks whom Jesus said should be invited to the banquet are those marginalized and maligned and excluded by the first century social structures. What might a similar list look like for our society? I think a key to understanding this passage is that Jesus is telling a parable. So its not really about a meal at all; the banquet is a metaphor for life in the Reign of God.
So in life:
To all the would be guests – which is all of us:
Exercise humility and do not think of yourself as better than – or less than anyone else. See yourself as equally valued by God, then equally value your fellow human beings – all of them.
To all the would be hosts – which is all of us:
Do not exclude the least, the lost, and the last from the fullness of life. But who are they for us? Let’s see, Jesus listed the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. I’m pretty sure that the poor would stay on the list for us. How about the homeless? They would definitely make the list. People who differ from us in religion, race, or orientation? Probably would make the list, too. You see, human society always has someone who is out – that is how we can tell that we are in. But if no one is out, no one is excluded, everyone is equally valued – well, what kind of world would that be?
Hey, wait a minute! That would be the Reign of God!