Guess Who's Coming to Dinner

Passage: Luke 24:13-35    

  Description: Is Jesus just a memory – a memory of a nice, loving, kind, caring person? Is Jesus just a memory or is Jesus something more? A memory is what the disciples thought he was going to be as they walked the road from Jerusalem toward Emmaus. It was a seven mile or 12 kilometre walk – steeply downhill on the way to Emmaus, which was the path they were taking at the moment when this story is captured. Two disciples, Cleopas & another, not from the inner circle of the Twelve, walking and talking after all the events of the past week – triumphant entry into Jerusalem, teaching at the temple, Jesus’ fit of anger at the same temple, sharing the Passover meal, praying in the garden (though some of them slept more than they prayed), and then the horror, the nightmare, of Jesus’ arrest, trial and crucifixion. Even the news from Peter and Mary Magdalene that the tomb was empty and that Jesus had risen from the dead only added to the overwhelming feelings and thoughts racing through their heads. A 12 kilometer walk was just what they needed – a day’s journey to process all that had happened and try to make sense of it all. But these two disciples fully expected that Jesus was now just a memory. Even reports of his resurrection wouldn’t have fully changed their expectations. They would remember Jesus, lovingly, gratefully, but memories were all they now had of Jesus. No more teaching on the hillside. No more boat rides across the Sea of Galilee. No more late night discussions around the fire. No more feeding thousands of people with 5 loaves and 2 fish. It was amazing while it lasted, but now it was a memory. Jesus was a memory. That’s what they were thinking when a stranger joined them on the road. It was always better to travel in groups along this stretch of road known for robbers and bandits (think the story of the Good Samaritan). So the two disciples gladly welcomed this traveller to journey with them as they continued on to Emmaus.

Passage: Luke 7:24-35    

  Description: So what is Jesus offering when he speaks of complete joy….Relationship is at the heart of what Jesus is offering – that is why he was accused of being a drunkard and glutton. He was spending so much time sitting down at the table with everyone and anyone that it was held against him. But it really wasn’t about drinking too much and eating too much – though I’m sure Jesus enjoyed the meal. Eating at someone’s table was (and still is) the key way of forming relationship in Middle Eastern Jewish culture. Jesus wasn’t there to eat and drink. He was there to form a relationship, a deep connection, with the people with whom he sat at table. He was there to let God’s love and compassion flow through him – to the tax-collectors & sinners – that’s everyone! When Jesus invites us into his complete joy, he is inviting us into relationship – a deepening relationship with God, a deepening relationship with the Way that Jesus taught us to live, a deepening relationship within this church community, a deepening relationship with family and friends, with strangers and enemies. It is in our relationships with God, with Jesus, with each other, and with unexpected people along the way that we will find the joy of which Jesus spoke. Now every relationship doesn’t bring happiness, and eating and drinking too much and other addictions get in the way of good and healthy relationships with ourselves and with others. That’s why Jesus invites us into something that is more than pursuing happiness. He invites us into a relationship with God and with each other in which we share in each others joys and sorrows, in which we dance together in celebration, and weep together in grief. Such relationships take time – we need time together with God in daily prayer and reading scripture and worshipping together. We need time with each other. The ironic thing is that our culture’s focus on the pursuit of happiness & success takes us away from each other. The pursuit of happiness breaks down relationship. We have less time than ever for having meals together, just sitting at table together in conversation & getting to know each other’s joys & sorrows. We are an exhausted culture, a weary culture – always pursuing, never finding that elusive “happiness.”

Passage: Luke 14:1-24    

  Description: There are no Hollywood stars or Disney princesses or NHL all-stars at the head of Jesus’ table. There are no place cards making sure that those with the most money, the most talent or the most influence are sitting in the choice spots. There is no head table for the guests of honour. As the apostle Paul writes to the Galatians, there is no Jew nor Greek, male nor female, slave nor free, for we are all one in Christ. That’s the point that Jesus made in the story he told at the home of Pharisee, where he had been invited to eat the Sabbath meal. Jesus had just healed a man with dropsy (or swelling of the soft tissues of the body). Great, we might think. Jesus healed the man and the man could now go and enjoy life more. But technically healing would be work, and one didn’t work on the sabbath – so as Jesus enters the Pharisee’s home there is already a debate going on around him about whether he has broken the law. But that doesn’t stop Jesus. He wasn’t one to refrain from causing chaos and dispute. So when he sees that people are jockeying to get the best seats at the table – the seats where they will be most noticed, be closest to the host, and get served first, Jesus dives right in with another challenge to conventional thinking. As people are trying to inch their way toward the good seats, he loudly pronounces, “When you are invited to a banquet, do not sit down in the place of honour or try to distinguish yourself. Take the lowest place – and let the host move you to the best place if the host so chooses.”

Passage: Luke 10:25-37 & James 4:1-2    

  Description: Guess who’s coming to dinner? That’s going to be our theme for worship this spring and, yes, I borrowed it from the 1967 movie. When Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner was released on December 11, 1967 it caused shock waves. A white woman brings home her fiancé to introduce to her parents. As open and accepting as they thought they were, the parents struggle when the fiancé walks through the door. He is African-American (played by Sidney Poitier) – and in the 60’s (even 70’s) it was still hard for people to get their minds around the idea of marriage between blacks and whites, Protestants and Catholics, Jewish and Christian. While we, in 2017, might chuckle at how that was possible, at how that was shocking, the reality is that we have our own versions of the same dividing lines that we find hard to cross. And, it seems that that is an age-old struggle because Jesus told one of his parables just about this kind of situation, the parable of the good Samaritan. We’ve used this parable several times this year, because I think it really speaks to what we need to be about as followers of Jesus in our time and context. This was a hard-hitting parable for those who first heard it from Jesus. They would have been as shocked by his words as were people in 1967 when the movie “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner?” was released showing a successful inter-racial marriage and the first inter-racial kiss on screen (even though it was seen only through a rear-view mirror image). Why was the parable of the Good Samaritan shocking? We’ve lost the cultural sense of this parable. It’s been made into a nice parable about a good neighbour and used to remind us that we should not be like those bad, bad people who crossed the road and ignored the injured fellow. We have “Good Samaritan” legislation in most provinces of Canada that protects passers-by who stop to help. It is all very nice and good when we talk about the Good Samaritan. But, those listening to Jesus tell this parable would have been very uncomfortable by the time he finished, squirming in their seats, not totally sure about how to take his words. The young lawyer (a student of Jewish law) got more than he bargained for in the answer Jesus gave. He and Jesus had agreed that the greatest commandment was “Love God, and love your neighbour as you love yourself.” Then, in good Jewish scholarly debate fashion, the young lawyer asked Jesus the question that would bring nuance and understanding. “Who is my neighbour?” Good question. If I am to love my neighbour, then I need to know who my neighbour is. If I have the definition clear in my mind, then I can judge which people I have to love and which ones I can disregard. But Jesus turns the tables on the young lawyer by telling this parable, and concluding with the words, “Go be the neighbour.” Be the neighbour.