September 2, 2001
Sermon preached by Rev. Donald Ng at 2001 Family Camp sponsored by the First Chinese Baptist Church of San Francisco.
One of the newest attractions at Happy Valley is the play area. “Look at me, Mommy. See how high I can swing.” We hear this from most of our kids. But in these words are a whole view of life shared by most of us—children and adults. Look at me. See how high I can go!
When we are really hungry after playing all day, we want to be first in line to eat. Sometimes we cut in. We get the drumstick before anyone else can.
Did you know that at the White House, there’s a guy named the Chief of Protocol? The only job this guy has is to worry about just where people are to sit for state dinners. Oh, how we love to be seated at the head table!
Jesus is Counter-Cultural
In today’s gospel, Jesus makes a point for us to think in a different direction. Our world is going one direction, but Jesus is going in another. Jesus is counter-cultural.
Jesus said that if you are invited to a banquet, don’t just assume that you are the most important guy there and take a seat at the head table. Who knows? There may be someone else who is coming and is even more important than you are. Ouch! Jesus has a way in saying it the way it is.
Now if you come to the banquet and sit down at the lowest seat, the host may say to you, “My friend, why don’t you come over here and sit down with me.”
The point Jesus is making is that those who think that they are the greatest usually end down being the lowest and those who think that they are regular, ordinary people will end up being the most recognized.
Fancy Tables
We all like to eat! That’s one of the reasons why we come to Happy Valley year after year. The food here is wonderful especially the breads and cinnamon buns that are coming tomorrow morning.
When we eat here at camp, we all eat together. But when we are back in our communities, there are social divisions at the table. There is food for the poor, food for the rich. There are “high class” restaurants and then there is Uncle’s where they shove the food in your face and take your dollar.
Most of the time, poor people never get the chance to eat at a fancy restaurant. And when less-privileged people want to eat healthier or better, they can’t because they don’t know how to eat healthier or that they can’t get that type of food in their neighborhoods or that they can’t afford it.
Eat Like Jesus
Jesus urges us to behave differently at the table. We are to be counter-cultural. If we want to be his followers, we must eat and drink as he ate and drank.
Our guest list needs to include the poor, the maimed, the blind, and the lame (vs. 13). Sometimes these people don’t even know how to cut in line to be first because they are just too tired. But Jesus ate and drank with them. So we should too.
Now Jesus didn’t merely send these people some food. There’s a big difference between inviting someone to your table and simply sending them some food. We do that very well because we do it all the time. We would rather send food to the poor. But are we ready to invite the poor, the maimed, the blind, the lame, all the people who don’t eat at fancy restaurants to come to our home for dinner?
When we invite someone to our table, we admit to the fact that this person is a full, equal human being, just like you and me. Something happens when people sit next to another at a table. A bond is formed, community, communion.
When we sit next to each other at Camp, we discover new things about each other that we can’t easily do when we come to worship on Sunday morning. Other good things happen at worship but not necessarily recognizing that you and I are full and equal human beings.
So if you don’t want to risk that some unholy mixing might happen, better not sit too close to someone at the table!
Empty Hands
For me as a pastor, one of the great joys is the Lord’s Supper. The highlight for me is when you come with nothing in your hands, empty hands, as if you were seeking a gift. When I place a piece of bread in your empty, outstretched hands, for me, that’s a holy moment.
I say that because many of you are able, accomplished people. You have your achievements, your attainments, all the things you have earned and now cling to. But at the Lord’s Supper, your hands are empty. We loosen your grip upon all of the things you have accumulated and teach you to hold out toward the church your empty hands.
I think that is holy, an example of how life ought to be lived, under God. Jesus is the only one who can fill our empty hands to satisfy our hunger and thirst. He is the one who teaches us that getting ahead is not as important as knowing that God loves everyone.
Table Manners
The questions for us are “Where am I seated at the Lord’s table? Am I guilty of wanting to go up higher and desiring to put others down lower? Who is present when our congregational family gathers at the table? Who is absent? What can our church do to embody in our meals together—the Lord’s Supper or any other supper here—some of the inclusive, gracious invitation of Jesus?”
Most of us believe that we are filled with all of the materialistic stuff that satisfies our hunger. We grasp a great mass of possessions. But we are more empty, hungry, and needy than we want to admit.
Yet here is the great gospel promise of good news: Christ comes to us. He puts bread in our empty hands. He fills us with food for the abundant life. Then he urges us to go out and invite others to his great banquet, his great feast is called life everlasting.
While we are here at camp, maybe we can try practicing the table manners of eating like Jesus. Sit down with someone you don’t know well and build a relationship. Better yet, invite someone to have a meal together.
As family groups, think about ways that you might invite people home for dinner and not just send money or food to feed the hunger. Try what you might think is unholy mixing and you will discover how holy it really is because you are “eating like Jesus.”
And finally as a church, pray for new ways that we may embody in our meals together—the Lord’s Supper or whenever we fellowship together that same kind of inclusive, gracious invitation of Jesus.
Let us pray.
Lord Jesus, we spend so much energy in our lives, scrambling for the best seats at the best table. We want to be number one, at least very close to the one who is number one.
Lord, turn us from our self-seeking ways. Set us on another path than the one encouraged by our culture. Help us to humble ourselves, to find our place among the lowest and the least. Give us grace to live our lives under your lordship rather than our own. In this, we know, is our true peace. Amen.
The Lord’s Supper
In Proverbs 30:8, it reads, “Remove far from me falsehood and lying; give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me the food that I need.”