Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost August 31, 2025

Prayer of the Day
O God, you resist those who are proud and give grace to those who are humble. Give us the humility of your Son, that we may embody the generosity of Jesus Christ, our Saviour and Lord. Amen.

Luke 14:1, 7-14 1
On one occasion when Jesus was going to the house of a leader of the Pharisees to eat a meal on the Sabbath, they were watching him closely.
7 When he noticed how the guests chose the places of honour, he told them a parable. 8 “When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet, do not sit down at the place of honour, in case someone more distinguished than you has been invited by your host, 9 and the host who invited both of you may come and say to you, ‘Give this person your place,’ and then in disgrace you would start to take the lowest place. 10 But when you are invited, go and sit down at the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he may say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher’; then you will be honoured in the presence of all who sit at the table with you. 11 For all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”
12 He said also to the one who had invited him, “When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers and sisters or your relatives or rich neighbours, in case they may invite you in return, and you would be repaid. 13 But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. 14 And you will be blessed because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”

REFLECTIONS: Long ago in a high school far away, “jock rock” established, reflected and enforced the school’s social hierarchy. Varsity athletes, cheerleaders, and social scene “A” listers with their respective plus-ones, sat on the rock nearest the nexus of several hallways that formed a central court. Jock rock was actually a brick bench that extended the length of one hallway and demonstrated social mobility as new kids and JV athletes proved themselves worthy of moving farther up the rock. Suburban legends about transgressors of Jock Rock protocol receiving lengthy tours of the inside of a student locker dictated far more than any student handbook or Mr. D’s annual beginning of the year harangue about proper conduct. As an aside, it is tragic that fifty years later kids at West High School routinely rehearse active shooter drills and evacuation procedures when a bomb threat is phoned in. Alas, there is nothing new under the sun. Long ago at a Passover supper, guests side eye Jesus to size him up. He can’t help but to notice, and then point out the jockeying for position at the head table.

Far beyond Jesus going ‘Emily postal’ about seating charts, He seeks to subvert a social order that is shaped like a pyramid. He critiques our tendency toward building hierarchies and using ‘quid pro quo’ in hopes of improving our spot.

Alas, pyramids are old news…Pastor Daniel Erlander’s illustrations of pyramid shaped —slave holding societies— like ancient Egypt—depict those he calls the “big deals” perched on top of the pyramid, weight bearing down and squashing the poorest underneath….Now as then, the poorest suffer the most in natural disasters, climate change and economic crises. Pretty. Much. Every. Time.

God’s good news embeds itself in old news and in pyramid schemes. Slaves are liberated from Egypt. —Jesus’ mother sings of the poor being cared for and tyrants being toppled. And Jesus lives a life dedicated to God’s shalom displacing pyramids and oppressive empires.

Good News even as recent as last month came as Lutherans and Anglicans held a zoom service for their first combined celebration of Emancipation Sunday. Bishop Ali Tote from Alberta spoke at that service about all people gaining a place at the table not as wait staff or even as the ‘main course’ but as equals.

In the most recent edition of Canada Lutheran, Bishop Susan Johnson reflects on her 18 year ministry—she says ours has become a more outward looking church….inviting people to the table.

Biblical Commentator E Trey Clark, at Fuller Seminary in the US puts it thus: “Jesus invites us to live in an entirely different world within this world—a world called the kingdom of God. “ (Working Preacher).

For in God’s rule, pyramid schemes are defeated and transformed into a life where everyone has a place at the table and where they are wrapped in God’s embrace. Amen.