Wednesday, May 1, 2013

Come As You Are


In Luke 14 we find Jesus at a meal that takes place at the home of a prominent Pharisee. A very important and resourced religious leader is throwing a Passover party and Jesus is invited. We are not sure about the motives behind the invitation because Luke tells us that Jesus was being carefully watched. He begins by healing a guy with dropsy and from that point, systematically offends everyone in the room. He starts by challenging their interpretation of the biblical law that they had dedicated their life to, and moves to an indictment on how they sit at the table, a sign of honor and pride in ancient culture. He ends his rant by telling them they should not invite their friends and family because friends and family can repay them; instead, he instructs them to invite the poor, crippled, lame and blind who cannot possibly repay them.
In Luke 14:15 one of the guests at the table hears this and says, “Blessed is the man who will eat the feast in the kingdom of God.” This guy is hoping that this statement will bring a great cheer of celebration because what he is saying is, “Look at us. We are all feasting together and we are special because we will also feast in the new kingdom, the new Jerusalem that God will establish someday. We are in, we are good, so let’s party!” Jesus doesn’t celebrate this comment, but he does tell one of his imaginative parables.
A certain man was preparing the most extravagant banquet. In Jesus’ day a wealthy man who threw this kind of party would send out two invitations. The initial invite is sent out and everyone accepts the invite. You would never have this kind of party without sending out two invitations. No one would attend a party with just one invitation because of the honor and shame code of the day. What if you received the invitation by accident and it was never the intened for you to be invited? You would patiently wait for the second invitation as the servant went out and reported that the meal was ready, the table was set, the food was hot and the music was rocking.[1]
Jesus gives us three examples in the common story-telling fashion of his day, highlighting how the people invited responded. Remember, all of these people have already received and responded positively to the invitation, but now, when the servant arrives, they give some very lame excuses as to why they cannot attend the great banquet. The first man says he must go and see a field that he just purchased. The next guy just bought five oxen, about 20,000 pounds of animal. Both are lies that try to soften the rejection. The final guy has a different excuse that seems legitimate at first glance. He is possibly using the law in Deuteronomy that gives a guy permission to not go to war for a year after marriage to defend his reasons for not coming to the party. This seems reasonable until you realize that no Palestinian village would have two major banquets at the same time. And no one would quickly get married between the first and second invitation. This guy was creative with his excuse, but he is also lying.
The servant returns to the master to report the bad news. The master tells his servants to go out into the community and invite the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame. The food should not be wasted and the house should be full with hungry appetites being satisfied. All the “important” people have had their opportunity, so now invite those who never get invited to this kind of party. Unlike the original invitees, the invisible people of their society do show up.
Philip Yancey, in his book What’s So Amazing about Grace, tells a true story that he found in the Boston Globe from 1990 that highlights this biblical truth:
            "Accompanied by her fiancĂ©, a woman went to the Hyatt hotel in Boston and ordered the meal [for the wedding reception]. They both had expensive taste, and the bill came to thirteen thousand… The day the announcements were supposed to hit the mailbox, the potential groom got cold feet. When his angry fiancĂ©e returned to the Hyatt to cancel the banquet, the Events Manager could not have been more understanding. But about the refund, she had bad news. The contract is binding. You’re only entitled to thirteen hundred dollars back. You have two options: to forfeit the rest of the down payment, or go ahead with the banquet. I’m sorry. Really, I am. It seemed crazy, but the more she thought about it, the more she liked the idea of going ahead with the party - not a wedding banquet but a big blowout. Ten years before, this same woman had been living in a homeless shelter. She had gotten back on her feet, found a good job and set aside a sizable nest egg. Now she had the wild notion of using her savings to treat the down-and-outs of Boston to a night on the town. And so it was that in June of 1990, the Hyatt Hotel in downtown Boston hosted a party such as it had never seen before. She sent invitations to rescue missions and homeless shelters. That warm summer night, people who were used to peeling half-gnawed pizza off the cardboard dined instead on chicken cordon bleu. Hyatt waiters in tuxedos served hors d’oeuvres to senior citizens propped up by crutches and aluminum walkers. Bag ladies, vagrants, and addicts took one night off from the hard life on the sidewalks outside and instead sipped champagne, ate chocolate wedding cake, and danced to big-band melodies late into the night."[2]
The servant returns to the master and tells him that what he had ordered had been done; that the wounded and broken and outcasts of society had arrived. But there is still room at the party. Then the master tells the servant to go back out and invite everyone to come in.
We see the heart of God, who is the party-throwing master, in the story. He does not make it hard for people to come to him. And he does not force people to come to him, but he does everything to compel people to attend the great banquet. He doesn’t want just a select few to be in his house, but everyone to receive the invitation. The banquet in Jewish society was about fellowship, authentic hospitality, protection and being part of the family. The invite is for all to move from the outside to the inside; for people to come as they are to the community of faith and ultimately to Christ.
God invites the rich and the poor, black, white, Hispanic, Asian, all people to the family banquet. God is not concerned with the choices we have made, nor the past that we have lived, but he is concerned that we respond to his invitation and come into the family. As God is a “come just as you are” God, the church should be a “come just as you are” community.
Jason Esposito,
Lead Pastor
            [1] Bailey, Kenneth, Poet & Peasant and Through Peasant Eyes (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing, 1983), 95-99.
            [2] Yancey Philip, What’s So Amazing About Grace? (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing, 1997), 48-49.