August 31, 2025 "The Goal Is Love"

12th Sunday after Pentecost

Proverbs 25:6-7a

Psalm 112

Hebrews 13:1-8, 15-16

Luke 14:1, 7-14

Dear fellow ministers of the gospel of Jesus Christ,

 grace and peace to you from the one whose purpose is love. Amen

In our gospel for today

 Jesus is at yet another dinner party

 held for him by suspicious pharisees,

 people who have decided that Jesus is a troublemaker

and who are watching him closely

 for any misstep or any reason to denounce him.

Jesus knows what they are doing

 and in turn watches them closely as well

 and having observed them jockeying for positions of honor

 as they sit down to eat

 offers what seems to be a helpful tip:

 ‘you know, if you really want to be honored, take a place lower at the table, that way your host can raise you up to a higher position at the table in front of everyone!’

This sound advice comes straight from proverbs

as we heard in our first reading

 so we can forgive the pharisees

 if they don’t hear the satire in his tone

or see the twinkle in his eye

 as he calls out what they perhaps thought

were subtle actions on their part,

 bringing attention to how ridiculous they are being

 in their maneuvering around the table.

Even the concluding statement to the parable

 pokes at their intent.

“For all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

 We’re used to Jesus preaching reversals,

 and this is definitely one of the reversals of the kingdom of God

 but it’s also Jesus’ way of asking:

Is it really humility if the goal is to still be exalted?

Or is it just a reversal of places with the same goal in mind?

 What if, Jesus wonders,

 what if honor were not the goal, the point, the driving force of life?

What if the goal, the purpose, were love of God and neighbor?

What would that look like? 

Have you considered throwing a different kind of banquet?

Jesus asks his host

 and goes on to describe the kind of banquet he envisions:

“When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers and sisters or your relatives or rich neighbors, in case they may invite you in return, and you would be repaid.  But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. And you will be blessed because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.” 

This is the true reversal that Jesus preaches,

it’s not just switching places with equals,

 it’s setting aside your own power and privilege

 to elevate those without power and privilege.

This is what Jesus has come to do,

This is what Jesus does

we hear in the ancient words of the Christ hymn in Philippians 2 just this described:

“ Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,

  who, though he existed in the form of God,

  did not regard equality with God

  as something to be grasped,

 but emptied himself,

  taking the form of a slave,

  assuming human likeness.

 And being found in appearance as a human,

  he humbled himself

  and became obedient to the point of death—

  even death on a cross.”

Paul quotes this as he urges the Philippians to

 “be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.  Do nothing from selfish ambition or empty conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves.  Let each of you look not to your own interests but to the interests of others.”

in other words, empty yourselves like Christ.

And yes the hymn does go on to say

“ Therefore God exalted him even more highly

  and gave him the name

  that is above every other name,

  so that at the name given to Jesus

  every knee should bend,

  in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

  and every tongue should confess

  that Jesus Christ is Lord,

  to the glory of God the Father.”

But exaltation wasn’t the goal,

 love was the goal.

Jesus loved the world so much

 that he gave up everything for it,

 even life

 and in doing so

he so disrupted the ways of the world

that he overcame death,

and having joined us to him at our baptisms,

he has set us free to live lives

where honor isn’t the point, but love is,

love that will build a more just hospitable world. (https://www.saltproject.org/progressive-christian-blog/lectionary-commentary-for-twelfth-week-after-pentecost) 

Well, how do we do that?

This is what followers of Jesus

have been wrestling with ever since,

 over the last month or so

 we’ve heard about the various ancestors in the faith

lifted up as examples in the book of Hebrews,

 today we have words from the concluding chapter

 with some parting practical advice:

starting with: Let mutual love continue

- that is, love within the community

but the author doesn’t stop there,

love within the community is only the starting place

Next the community is to show hospitality to strangers-

that is, show love outside of the community,

And note the form of care that is to be taken, hospitality,

 hospitality is love and care

that is particularly tangible

whether it is offering housing for a night or a meal,

it’s a good guide for real action,

and then the community is called to remember those in prison,

 and those who are being tortured,

 and they are called not just to remembrance but to empathy,

 to remember as if you were the one in prison or being tortured,

 and this empathy takes us back to hospitality- love in real tangible ways.

 If you were in prison how would you want to be cared for?

Do that.

If you were being tortured how would you want to be cared for?

 Do that.

This kind of hospitality has the community honoring relationships in the same way.

And then in a seeming turn they are urged to keep free from the love of money

- while this may seem out of place

 it makes sense,

 hospitality has a real cost,

if we love money more than people

 we will have a hard time living hospitably.

And it may not just be love of money

that stands in our way of loving people,

 especially the imprisoned and tortured,

maybe it is our sense of honor and shame,

 our value of our place in the world

over that of others that we must keep free from,

or empty ourselves of,

 perhaps it is the illusion of security for ourselves and inner circle

that we must give up for the sake of empathy and hospitality,

 and yes all of this is costly,

emotionally as well as monetarily,

 especially when right now there are so many people suffering and in need of hospitality

 real, tangible love,

those starving in Gaza,

 those being arrested and detained for their immigration status,

 children victims of gun violence while at prayer and in school.

 What will we have to give up,

 get out of the way,

to love these neighbors?

 Even as in the words of the psalmist:

“The wicked will see it and be angry; they will nash their teeth”

 are we prepared to face that?

And as our logical brains and sense of self-preservation scream ‘no!’

Jesus brings us to his banquet table,

a table where all are welcome,

 where there is space and food enough for everyone,

where each place is a position of honor.

 And having brought us to this table

Jesus feeds us, with his very self.

Bread and wine,

body and blood,

given and shed for us

 the ultimate emptying in love,

 emptying so that we may be filled,

 filled with love and forgiveness,

 courage, and faith,

faith to trust

God who said “I will never leave you or forsake you.” 

Faith “ So we can say with confidence,

 “The Lord is my helper;

  I will not be afraid.

 What can anyone do to me?”

Faith that reads to the end of the psalm that concludes

 “they will gnash their teeth and pine away; the desires of the wicked will perish.”  

Faith in the love of God,

that when lived out

 will bring a more just hospitable world,

We have this faith

We have it because we have been loved with real tangible love,

because that is the point, the purpose,

 real tangible love. Amen