And for me at least, it makes sense that a person who came from the ranks of the elites and became a Jesus follower would have that sort of obsession. He had his world turned upside down by Jesus, and that meant taking his focus from the top of the world\u2019s hierarchies to the bottoms. And, in doing so, he called on others to do the same.<\/p>\n
The passage we read today is one that is mostly challenging for the elites. Most of the time in the Roman Empire, people ate within their social classes. Even in Jewish circles, it was pretty common for people to create closed \u201cfalse kinship groups\u201d that they shared meals with, and the exclusivity of those groups pretended to keep people pious.<\/p>\n
There was, further, an expectation of obligation with invitations. If you went to dinner at someone\u2019s house, it was expected you would invite them over for dinner later \u2013 to a meal at least as expensive. If you couldn\u2019t do so, then you wouldn\u2019t\u2019 go to dinner.<\/p>\n
The early Jesus-following community blew these norms to oblivion. The early Jesus community expected people to show up at shared meals and eat together across every line that society might use to divide people. Not just social class, or marital status, but also those who were slaves and those who were free, those who were Jewish and those who were Greek.<\/p>\n
The thing is, while everyone benefited from knowing each other in the Body of Christ \u2013 especially across hierarchical lines \u2013 the people for whom it is most dangerous was the elite. Because for the elites, especially those in cities where propriety was most carefully protected, engaging with people \u201cbelow\u201d them in the world\u2019s hierarchies meant they might lose their elite status. Their families might cut them off, their friends might disengage, they had power and status and even wealth to lose by showing up in mixed communities.<\/p>\n
My favorite commentary, The Social-Science Commentary on the Synoptic Gospels <\/i>points out \u201cExclusive fellowship required an exclusive table, while inclusive fellowship required an inclusive one.\u201d2<\/a> The early Jesus Community was an inclusive fellowship. And it was challenging. We hear a lot in the letters of Paul about people really struggling to let go of the world and it\u2019s hierarchies in order to truly eat together as the Body of Christ.<\/p>\n All of this helps make sense of why the Gospel of Luke teaches the elites to invite people in poverty and people who were disabled to their tables. This is the Jesus way, as Luke has experienced it. And Luke\u2019s audience is most in need of learning it. Instead of being repaid by a similar invitation, Luke tells them they\u2019ll be repaid \u201cat the resurrection of the righteous.\u201d<\/p>\n That is, Luke says they should be more worried about God\u2019s ways than the world\u2019s. I worry Luke\u2019s nuance is a little bit too \u201cafterlife judgment focused\u201d and I\u2019d rather if we just thought about it as \u201cbecause that\u2019s how we practice the kindom.\u201d<\/p>\n It is interesting to try to think about how we take this passage today. There are a lot of possible lessons in it. I mean, subverting the hierarchies is the Jesus way is the prime one, but you all have heard that before! Another easy option is \u201cit is important to practice the kindom of God\u201d but, again, nothing new there.<\/p>\n Perhaps this passage serves as a simple reminder to invite someone to dinner, particularly someone you don\u2019t know yet and who might be different from you. That\u2019s a good and really practical response to this passage. It is also fabulously good for the faith community when we do invite each other over and get to know each other more deeply.<\/p>\n There is another possible radical invitation in this passage, but its impact varies. Because, like the early church, we are a gathering of people that the world sees as having different \u201cvalues\u201d or coming from different \u201cclasses.\u201d We know that all of us are made in the image of God and beloved exactly as we are, that nothing at all in the world can make one person more important than another. Yet, like the early church, we still have to do the work to dismiss the teachings of the world and practice the kindom of God.<\/p>\n So, for those of us who don\u2019t attend Breakfast already, I think this passage offers us an invitation to attend our Breakfast AS A GUEST and experience it as such. That there is something really hard about accepting help. One of my mentors often quoted Simone Weil who said, \u201cIt is only by the grace of God that the poor can forgive the rich the bread they feed them.\u201d I have such respect for our breakfast guests who are willing to receive the gifts we give them, and who do so with such grace.<\/p>\n For those whose finances are secure enough that a free breakfast doesn\u2019t make a difference, it feels very Lukan to show up at a free breakfast anyway. It can be hard to be served. It can be hard to accept a free gift. It can be hard to wait in line. It can be hard to see other people struggle. The work that our breakfast guests already do is work that some us may also need to learn how to do.<\/p>\n For those in our community who already come to Breakfast, the invitation looks different. God wants everyone to have access to good and abundant food, delicious food, to fill your bodies and lift up your souls. I think the radical invitation here is to continually shake off the myths of capitalism and sink more deeply into the stories of God. To pay attention to the ways that poverty is a condition created by society, and that it is society\u2019s sin that anyone would struggle to find enough resources in this created world of abundance.<\/p>\n Because, that\u2019s important \u2013 God created with abundance. There is enough food for everyone! There is enough rest for everyone! There is enough space for everyone! There is enough!<\/p>\n We just have to distribute resources fairly. We are called to practice the kindom. That probably means we should invert any hierarchies we find. After all, those are the teachings of the God we know. Thanks be to God! Amen<\/p>\n 1<\/a>Footnotes in The Jewish Annotated Bible editted by Amy-Jill Levine and Marc Zvi Brettler<\/p>\n 2<\/a>Page 382, \u201cMeals\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n August 31, 2025<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Rev. Sara E. Baron\u00a0<\/p>\n First United Methodist Church of Schenectady<\/p>\n \u00a0603 State St. Schenectady, NY 12305\u00a0<\/p>\n Pronouns: she\/her\/hers<\/p>\n \u00a0http:\/\/fumcschenectady.org\/<\/a> <\/p>\n As pictured in our photo show by Larry McArthur<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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