Who is on your guest list?
I have seen parties, I have seen weddings, I have attended some, some I have not attended. I have gone to graduations; I have not gone to others. When those events are happening, you have a guest list and you start inviting people to those occasions. So this is why I want us to ask ourselves: who is on your guest list?
Recently I went to Hawaii for my vacation. It was it was terrific. I went to a hotel in Waikiki where weddings were happening. You could see weddings, but the team that came for the celebration was not very big. So I know people planned weddings and they only wanted to invite special guests. “I don’t want everybody. I just want the guest list. I will invite this one, this one, this one, this one, and that’s it. I will leave the rest.”
When we have graduations – the same. When we have other parties – the same. When we have banquets – the same.
So Jesus, our Savior, is invited to a dinner. When we are invited, we go, and we learn many things. When Jesus is at this dinner, he looks at how people are behaving, sitting themselves down and eating food and this kind of thing. He is just watching them. And while he is watching them, his mind is not in that party. His mind is in the kingdom of God. So he is looking at all manner of behavior. He could see people taking the seats they call in the Bible the “seats of honor.”
Jesus Christ already had a message in his mind. He said, “I will not keep quiet. I will speak.” So he started advising people: “When you are invited to that party, to that wedding, to that graduation, to that whatever the invitation, although you are invited as a special guest, when you get there, please do not sit in those seats of honor.”
(Of course, I know as a church here, we behave very well. At church nobody wants to sit in front – they want to sit in the back seats! I was observing that this morning when people were coming in. I’m telling you the truth if these people were sincere they would have wanted to sit at the back, but there was no space so they just sat here. Every church whether it is Holbrook, the Lutheran church, everywhere, people want to sit in the back seat. I don’t think they follow this scripture because they don’t they don’t want to be moved from the back to the front. They just want to stay there!)
So Jesus is advising people that when you get there, don’t seat yourself on the seats of honor because the owner of the event may come and tell you that you are not the one to sit here. Please wake up. Go there. Just go there. And you’ll be in disgrace. You’ll be embarrassed.
Tomorrow is the Labor Day holiday. There will be celebrations here and there. People will be going to these celebrations. When you go tomorrow to those celebrations, don’t go to the seats of honor. Don’t go to sit with that very important person. Don’t go. That is what Jesus is trying to tell the people.
Why is Jesus saying this kind of a thing? Because he is thinking about the Kingdom of God. Why? Because in the Kingdom of God, honor is given. You don’t go and grab it. It is just given.
And so we may have honor here in this world, but in the Kingdom of God, honor is given. Who gets this honor? That person who is humble. Not the person who feels like “I want to be here.” Not that person who says “I want to be recognized. I mean don’t they know who I am?” That kind of a person is not fit for the Kingdom of God. That person who fits in the Kingdom of God is that person who is humble. And it’s when you are humble that God lifts you up.
There’s a song we used to sing in Sunday school. I don’t know whether you have it here:
Humble yourself before the Lord.
He will lift you up.
Humble yourself.
Our reading from Luke has that statement: those who humble themselves will be lifted up. So if we are going to get honor from God, it is not about how we want to be recognized. It’s about how we are humble.
What is Jesus saying? When you serve God, serve God in humility. The Lord in his own way will come and will bless you.
Jesus goes on to advise the people “Who do you welcome to the table? Who is on your guest list?”
So, it is now about inviting.
Each one of us has a phone and there are so many of our friends saved on our phones. Very many. Some have up to 500 or 600. But when you have an occasion, a wedding anniversary, a graduation, you only invite 10. What about the 590? Why did you not invite them? Who is on your guest list?
Jesus passes another message: when you invite, don’t only invite your family members. Don’t only invite your relatives. Don’t invite your rich neighbors. Go beyond. Invite that poor person. Invite that sick person. Invite that crippled person. Invite that immigrant. Invite that refugee. Invite those who are harassed. Invite those who have no hope. Invite them. They they may not be on your guest list, but you may have to invite them.
Why is Jesus saying we should invite those who are in a lot of need? I was struggling about this and thinking about this. Why, when we have occasions, we don’t remember them at all. I don’t know whether you have it here, but back home, let me tell you, there were those people who looked at the poor at occasions and you’d see people dragging them away. It’s like “they are not fit for that; please sit over there.”
But Jesus is against that. Jesus is telling us to invite those who cannot repay. If you invite your rich neighbors, tomorrow they will have an event they will invite you so that you are repaid. But the poor, the sick, the immigrants, the refugees they will not come back and repay you because they can’t. They don’t have the ability.
Why is Jesus preaching this kind of message? Because in the Kingdom of God, that is how we are. God has done so much for us that we cannot pay back. God has given you free life, free breath and you can’t pay that back. God has given you good health and you can’t pay that back. And this is why he’s saying even those who cannot pay you back – invite them, because these are the dynamics of the Kingdom of God. That is how it is. God has blessed us and we can’t pay God back. We were hopeless. We were poor in spirit. But God invited us to his kingdom.
Remember those who are in need. St. Teresa of Kolkata said “If you are humble nothing will touch you, neither praise nor disgrace, because you know what you are.” Jesus Christ is talking about humility, humbleness and generosity, and hospitality, and giving out to others. That is what Jesus is talking about here.
In the book of Hebrews, we read that lesson. The very first statement: let our mutual love continue. The way to show love even to those who cannot repay you is to invite them – to share with them the good news. If we only invite the rich — I’m now talking about spiritual richness now. If we only invite the rich, that is not the Gospel. Inviting those who are in need is what the Gospel is all about. That is what brings us to church every Sunday. That is what makes us think about the kingdom all the time. So that on our guest list, we remember those who are in need. We reach out to them. We show them love. We show them hospitality. That is what the kingdom of God is.
And so, this morning, think spiritually about your your guest list. Who is there? Think about that needy person somewhere. You all know them. Think about who is on your guest list. Humble yourself before the Lord. Know that the Lord has done so much for you that you cannot pay back. I cannot pay back. So, similarly, let me do as much as I can in God’s service for that other person who cannot pay me back.
You know that at parties we want it so that if I invite you, then you will invite me tomorrow. Jesus is saying a different thing. Invite even those who will not have the opportunity to invite you. That is what the kingdom of God is all about.
As we go home this morning, keep asking yourself: Who is on my guest list? What am I doing? How about those others? Do I feel for them? Do I want to reach to them? The Almighty God will bless us because that can only be done by those who will be able to be good enough to humble themselves. And God in his own ways will come and lift you up. Just like Jesus was saying, they will come and give you to the seat of honor. If you stay there, if you humble yourself, God will come and lift you up.
So may the Lord be together with us. May the Lord come and lift us up. May we show this humility. May we show this generosity. May we show this hospitality even to those who are not on our guest list. And by doing that, we have done the Gospel like never before. May the Lord bless us. May the Lord speak to us. May we check on our guest list. May we do what Jesus was doing. Because we are all children of the Kingdom, invited by God through Jesus Christ, and we are not able to pay this back. We are going to enjoy the Kingdom and we cannot pay this back. This kingdom is given to us freely. We cannot pay back God. Similarly, let us do like this.