congregation of the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm sure many of us have had the very painful experience of being at an awkward dinner party before, or some sort of social engagement where there's some sort of tension or awkwardness and you just feel uncomfortable. You wish you could be elsewhere, that you could snap your fingers and be back at home. You know, it's a painful experience often. You know, there's many movies and TV shows that really kind of grab on to, you know, what a visceral experience that is and really highlight the awkwardness. Maybe you might recall the film from the 60s, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, where a young woman brings her new fiancé, who happens to be black, to her parents' house, who are white. They're very uncomfortable with this mixed-race couple, and that produces a lot of tension, a lot of drama in the story. Or maybe a little bit newer film, but the same kind of premise, Meet the Parents, where Ben Stiller's character has this very awkward conversation at the dinner table with his soon-to-be father-in-law, and it's meant to be hilarious, but it makes me, as I remember as a kid watching that movie, just feel so uncomfortable inside. Or perhaps what I would say is the gold standard of awkward dinner parties is the episode of The Office called Dinner Party, where the boss invites several of his employees to his house. And I mean, it's just rife with anything you can imagine would make things uncomfortable for guests. There's an all-out fight between the host and his girlfriend. There's unexpected tensions that are happening between some of the guests. Unexpected visitors arise and just cause drama. The list goes on, but even as I recall that episode, my palms get a little bit sweaty. It's so uncomfortable to watch. As we think about these times in our lives, as we think about the way it can make us feel, well, Jesus, as we see in our text, but of course throughout the Gospels, Jesus is no stranger to awkward encounters with other people. I mean, in fact, he, in this text this morning, he's the one who really makes things uncomfortable. He's the one who pushes things in a certain direction, making the guests, making the host feel things that they were hoping not to feel at this polite Sabbath luncheon. after their worship time. And yet, Jesus, he is doing that. He's pushing things. He's calling them out. He's bringing certain things to light. He's being, we might even say, inconsiderate or rude when you think about the etiquette or the manners that we might hold ourselves to at a dinner party. Yet, of course, he's not just trying to rock the boat. He's not just causing conflict for He's highlighting something. He wants to demonstrate something through what he's communicating, pushing against certain expectations that the people had. And so I want us to see this morning, we actually not only get one parable, we actually have three parables that the Lord gives us. And as he gives us these parables, we want to see that Jesus is not just, again, making drama, but he is really showing us through these parables what life in the kingdom of God looks like. We see that this morning in three ways. First, in this first parable, we see a parable that is for the guests, a parable given to the guests. So Jesus, even as our story begins, we're not really focusing on it this morning, but as he comes in the first few verses, there's seemingly this test put before him as this man is brought to the party with dropsy, which, I looked it up, it seems to be related to some sort of bodily swelling that a person would have. Their limbs or their belly would be swollen, and they typically would not be someone that you would invite to a dinner party. They would be considered, you know, unclean or not suitable to be at a gathering like this, but he's invited solely so that he might be a test for Jesus. So he comes, and Jesus, as he so often does in the Gospels, he heals him, and he rebukes the Pharisees and the lawyers who are trying to test him. And then immediately he goes into this parable and he addresses the guests at the party and he gives them this parable. And he says, when you go to a party, don't take the place of honor, but rather take the lowest place. And we don't quite understand maybe what that is getting at, what Jesus is referring to as he talks about the high places and the low places of the gathering. But in this context, you might know that in the ancient Near East, this is what you would consider an honor-shame culture, that there were very visible, very evident markers of your standing in society. And one of those markers was where you sat at the dinner table, that to be highly honored to have a higher place in society meant that you would sit closer to whoever was hosting the party. I mean, we don't really experience this in our own day. We're in a much more egalitarian state where we just kind of pick our seats. We sit whoever we want to. Maybe there might be a little bit of seating arrangements. I think the only place we really do experience this actually is at weddings. If you've been to a wedding, you know, there are assigned seats at the wedding. And depending on how large it is, you can become very aware of where you stand with the bride and the groom, right? Table is right next to their table. You know, you're probably a family member or a close relative or friend But you know as I have experienced a couple times with if you're out in the boonies of the wedding feasts You know, you know, maybe you're still grateful that they invited you but you're aware Okay, I'm not as close to them as some of these other people here. That's somewhat what's going on at this or in this parable And as Jesus gives this illustration, as he gives this parable, maybe we have experienced something like this at a dinner party. Maybe you have been seated somewhere, maybe you've kind of got the last seat at the table and you're thinking, well, this group that I am a part of, this conversation is so dull, I wish I was over at that side of the table. I wish I was listening to what they were talking about. You know, Jesus is kind of highlighting that. There's certain times in our life where we don't want to be at this station, we want to be at another place, at another area of the gathering with other people, you know, maybe enjoying ourselves more, but of course we all know, you know, it's not polite to just take someone's seat. It's not polite to just, you know, grab someone's card with their name on it and move it so that you can sit there. It's not what... Really though, what Jesus is getting at, he's not really giving us a lesson on manners or on etiquette. He's not giving us a mis-manners column on what you should do at a formal event. Jesus here, through this parable, is not just talking about dinner party etiquette, but life. He's talking about in whatever situation you find yourself, what you are to do, how you are to conduct yourself in your affairs. With others, again, this is just a saying, implicitly, this is what it looks like, this is how you should act in the kingdom of God. Jesus presents this instruction, you know, don't sit at the high place, sit at the low place. He's not just saying either. He's not just giving etiquette advice. He's also not just telling us to kind of walk around humbly or to put on this persona, yeah, I'm gonna act more humbly than I ought because I'm hoping that maybe there will be this elevation for me. Maybe if I act this way, there will be some sort of gain from it. He's saying, in a sense, forget that way of thinking altogether. Don't think about honor and shame at all. Which, as we hear that, is certainly easier said than done. I mean, even though we don't deal with dinner party arrangements or very visible honor and shame markings as they did during this time, we so often, day after day, we do think in this way. We do think in terms of status, in terms of where we rank on the social hierarchy. I mean, how much of our time, how much of our energy on a given day and in a given week is really focused on these things? Where we stand, where we line up against others. how much of our energy is spent jockeying, fighting for a position to reach a little bit higher status, whether in our job, whether in social standings. We're always, or the temptation is to always be thinking, to try to get ahead. We even have, there's a phrase, keeping up with the Joneses, that we think about, that marks our society. That is the common drive of our culture, to keep up with the status quo of, those around us, especially if we are lacking in some ways, we might be tempted to think, if I only had a little bit more, if I only had a few more square footage in my house, if I had a little bit more up-to-date car, or whatever it is, we are tempted to think about those things. Or maybe even at a dinner party, you are sharply reminded of where you stand. You are maybe in a cocktail party with other people. One person is asked, as so often are asked, what do you do? That's the opening question. Someone says, well, I'm a doctor. Or, well, I'm a lawyer. Or you name it, whatever our society privilege is. And then what do you say? Well, I'm just this. Or I just do that. want to lower the bar or just say, well, it's not a big deal, I just do this. Or on the opposite, or well, actually, I'm this, or I just got this new position, right? We are constantly ranking ourselves in these terms. Of course, we know the Pharisees, of course, they sometimes get a bad rap, but here they are acting in this egregious manner. But the Pharisees, who Jesus is eating with, they loved this very thing. They loved honor. They loved getting a little bit higher in the rankings of those around those. That's what they seemingly lived for, at least the ones that Jesus so often interacted with. They wanted to be in the high places. Jesus even rebukes them for taking the high seats at the meals. Jesus says, listen to what they say, but don't do what they do. And yet, it's not just to Pharisees that Jesus is speaking. Of course, we all, each and every one of us, have what we can call an inner Pharisee, that little Pharisee that lives inside of us that's, again, always striving, always seeking to reach a little bit of a higher place. I mean, How often do we find ourselves seeing something that we don't have, and what's our initial impulse so often? It's to feel like we deserve that thing. Why don't I have that thing, right? I should be there. It shouldn't be that person. I should be getting that, whatever it is, that position, that raise. Or if it's not something we think we deserve, we just say, well, I want it. Why shouldn't I have it? It's a good thing. I really want it. Why don't I have that thing? As Jesus presents us with this parable, as Jesus tells us, stop thinking in that way. I mean, the reality, or one of the realities that underlies what Jesus is saying here is that as we do that, as we live in that way, the reality is, that we've all experienced, is that someone will always be better than you. You will never be at the highest seat at the table. There will always come a point where you reach a status level, or you reach something you were trying to get, and you realize, oh, there's actually someone who's superior. There's someone who has more than me. As we go that route, the problem is we can never reach the highest place. We're always going to be striving for the next level. And so Jesus, he's really saying, just get out of the game altogether. Stop thinking in that way. And in doing so, the irony is as you stop doing that, as you seek the lowest place, as you stop thinking about yourself, what does he say? The proud, the prideful ones, they're the ones who will be humbled. But the humble, he says, they will truly be Exalted, that's the payoff of this story. As you get out of the game, as you realize I am actually not as maybe great as I thought I was, that is the only route to true exaltation. So Jesus here, he's really just calling out the people at the table. He's calling them out for the way they have even been acting, even at this dinner party. He's pushing against them, he's making them, again, he's making them feel uncomfortable probably. Yet now, as Jesus has already offended the dinner guests, now he turns his attention on the host of the dinner. He's essentially saying, you know, now you, sir, whoever you are, I have a bone to pick with you as well. And again, he does so, he acknowledges him and confronts him using another parable. So secondly, this morning, we see not only a parable given for the guests of the party, but now a parable for the host. Again, he calls out the host. Looking at him directly, he's speaking to him, and the first person, you, when you throw a banquet, this is what you need to do. He says, stop inviting your friends, stop inviting your coworkers, those who are near to you, those who you think you can benefit from. And you can hear, really, this is a scolding, really, of what this man has been doing. Jesus is saying, next time I come here, next time you invite me, I better see things differently. I better see a different list in the party, a different seating arrangement. And note what he says, don't invite these types of people, but he gives a list. These are the types of people who you are supposed to have invited. He says, invite the poor, invite the blind, invite the crippled, and invite the lame. Now as we hear this, maybe even as the dinner host heard this, I think our temptation, my temptation even as I was preparing this week is to somehow spiritualize the language of what Jesus is saying here, to qualify it in some way that Jesus isn't really talking about these types of people, that he's making some bigger point or some spiritual point, but I think we should be taking Jesus at his word here. I mean, certainly we don't think in these ways. I'm grateful that we live in a day and age where these categories don't have the same weight that they did in Jesus' days. So we do have to do some work in understanding, okay, what does this mean for our own day and age? But we do want to think, what would the people at that table, what would the host of the party, what would they have heard when they heard poor, blind, crippled, lame? Well, they would have heard Thinking religiously, they would have heard unclean. Those who are not purified, they can't be at the dinner party. They would have heard, thinking socially, they would have heard outsider. Those who don't belong, those who are outside the realm of who we would consider culturally or socially appropriate to be at a dinner party. Or regarding their status, again, that honor-shame thinking. These are those who are strictly undeserving. They don't deserve to have a seat, literally, at the table. as we think about our own day and age, how this might bear out in our own lives. I was wrestling with maybe a definition or a category to think in terms of, but the one that I found most helpful is really, Jesus is saying, Think of people who it has become virtuous to become prejudiced against. I think that's the way we ought to think about it. That it has actually become a virtue, it's become a good thing, a thing that you might crack jokes about, a thing that might lift you up in society to put those people down. Those are the types of people that Jesus is listing off. Those are the people Jesus is saying you need to invite them. If you want to make it even more concrete, just close your eyes, think of a person who you really, really can't stand, a person who makes you really uncomfortable, that you would be aghast to have a dinner party with, and maybe that would be a good place to start, or at least a direction to work towards. Think of those relationships that won't benefit you at all, that in fact, Jesus seems to imply, might actually cost you something to invest into those relationships. sorts of relationships. Those are the types of people that Jesus is speaking of here. Perhaps you are familiar with a dear Christian sister. She's another Reformed Christian. You've probably heard her name, but Rosaria Butterfield, I think, and she has shared her testimony. She would probably fit, at least culturally, in the broader church culture, she would fit into one of those categories that Jesus is listing here. She was a liberal university professor. She was an outspoken feminist. She was an outspoken lesbian. And she started to, for research purposes, seek out what Christianity was all about and do some studying on it. And in that process, she got connected with a pastor and some people at a church. And she said that she experienced what she calls radically ordinary Christian hospitality. And it was in part through that radically ordinary Christian hospitality that she came to faith, that she turned from those ways, that she turned from her sin and she became a Christian. And she speaks of this in many blogs and articles and in her book, The Gospel Comes with a House Key, which I would commend to you. But in an interview on this topic, she says, as she's talking about being hospitable to those who we might not be inclined to, she says, if we're going to be agents of grace, then we need to get close enough to the stranger to put a hand, or to put the hand of the stranger into the hand of the Savior. And you know what? Someone's going to get hurt. But I think as we hear these words from her, as we hear Jesus' own words, we want to take this charge seriously. I mean, to ask the question, do we live in close enough proximity to people that we actually are agents of grace, as Rosaria speaks of? And again, as we think about the seriousness, note the language Jesus uses about what happens when we do that, this language of blessing, right? Blessed are those who do these things. And this language really is conditional. There's two categories in the Bible. There's the blessed and there's the cursed. And so he's saying the blessed ones are those who do this. Those who do this, they will be repaid, but note here the repayment is not what we might expect. I mean, the point here, Jesus isn't saying, do this so that you will have salvation by your works, by your good deeds, do this so that you will get something in return. He says, you'll be blessed because you'll be repaid at the resurrection of the just. The point being here, it's not that at the resurrection you get some extra reward, the reward itself is that you will be at the resurrection of the just. In other words, the just, the righteous, those who walk according to God's ways, they are the ones who show this type of love, this type of hospitality to the stranger. These are the only types of people who will be rewarded with the resurrection, those who have been transformed in this type of way to show this type of love, and again, this ought to challenge us, and as I say that, I'm thinking right now of myself, but of a particular category, and that is the category that we like to use often of introvert and extrovert. And I think for many of us, even as we hear this call to have dinner parties, to invite people, to interact, for some of us, that is already starting to make you sweat a little bit, to make you a little bit uncomfortable. And I have a somewhat conflicted relationship with personality types and those types of things. I think they can be helpful, but I think they can often be a shield, frankly, for or against sanctification, that we can say, well, I'm this way, therefore I don't have to do that. Or even we can use spiritual gifts as a shield. Those are for the really hospitable people. That's the one who is called to do this type of activity. Again, what does Jesus say? This is for all the just, all the righteous, they are called to live this way. Again, to show that radically ordinary Christian hospitality. So we too are called to show love, to show hospitality to those who we might not find it comfortable to do. So now Jesus, he's really done it now. Jesus has really shaken the proverbial hornet's nest and he's called out the host, he's implicated the guests, he's saying you're also doing the wrong thing, you should be acting in a different way. Maybe you've been in that situation where it's so awkward that no one really knows what to say. You're just praying that someone would break the silence. And it seems like someone has that same impulse that someone needs to say something to break the tension. And so someone at the party, they say, yes, Lord, blessed is everyone who will eat bread on that day. He's essentially kind of saying, well, Jesus, I think you maybe went a little bit too far. We're all gonna be there, right? We're all gonna be at the resurrection of the just. We're all gonna eat bread at the Lord's table, right, Jesus? Kind of subduing or quieting the thrust of what Jesus just said. So now Jesus, in response to this, he goes even further. He gives this final parable. to again highlight what it looks like to be in the kingdom of God. And so thirdly this morning, our third point, I want us to see the true guest and the true host. And here Jesus gives us this final parable of this great banquet. And as the parable begins, the host, he sends out invitations, and all the people who were expected to come, all the ones who had messengers sent to them, all, we are told, they all give excuses to the messenger. They all can't make it for various reasons. So we look at the reasons, they seem like legitimate excuses. One person's getting married, one person has a business transaction he has to take care of. So they say, sorry master, or sorry friend, we can't come to your party. We wanna ask, frankly, why wouldn't anyone want to come to a party? If you were given a free invitation to a party, why would you turn that invitation down? And yet again, thinking in terms of the context, in terms of how they dealt with interpersonal interactions, the point here is these people turned down the invitation because they didn't see any sort of return on their investment, that they didn't see that this person who was inviting them had anything to offer them in return, that whatever they were dealing with, that was more important, that would give them more benefit, more reward than whatever this master of the party had to give them. And so they say, no, it's just really not worth my time. It's not worth my energy. Thank you for the invite, but no thank you. Essentially, we could say it's those who were self-sufficient, those who did not see any need outside of themselves, those who had other matters that were more important that they needed. to attend to, and of course this is meant to contrast with the very next list of people that Jesus mentions in this parable. Those who are invited and note, who? Note that list, note that we've already seen it as he lists the poor, the blind, the lame, and the crippled. The very same people Jesus has just said you need to invite to your parties. The master of the party in the parable, he goes out and he invites those very people. So we consider these categories. Can you consider Jesus's charge to us as his disciples to live in this way, to not elevate ourselves, to seek out the stranger? I mean, note what he says. Those who come to the party are the poor, the blind, the crippled, and the lame. And again, the stress here is Jesus gives these parables. It's not just about teaching us humility, to be humble for humility's sake, to be just a polite person, to have manners and to have etiquette. That's not what Jesus is going for here. He is giving these parables to tell us, to show us rightly who we are in the sight of God. These are, in other words, these are the only people who come to the feast, those who are poor, crippled, lame, and blind. In a very real way, as we think about the kingdom, as we think about what it looks like to be in the kingdom of God, what is the church, what is the kingdom, it is, according to this parable, it is a bunch of poor, crippled, blind, lame people partying with their master, partying with the Lord of the feast. And if that description of us sounds maybe a little bit too harsh, listen to what Jesus himself says in the letters of Revelation. Jesus confronts one of the churches and he says, for you say, I am rich, I have prospered, I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. That is what we are outside of Christ. Those are the types of people Jesus invites to his party Again, those who, in contrast to the first group of invitees, don't see themselves as self-sufficient. They know their estate, they know their need, and they come to the party willingly, eagerly, to feast with their master. Yet, not only do we see the guests of the party, but we see Christ himself. This is, as all the parables do, they're meant to not only show the kingdom, but the king of the kingdom, Christ, and how he, fits into this picture. Jesus isn't just telling these parables to, again, shake things up, to knock us down a peg. He certainly is knocking us down a peg if we're willing to listen, but again, he wants us to see ourselves rightly so that we might also see Christ rightly, we might see our Savior rightly. I mean, Jesus, in other words, is willing to make a dinner party very uncomfortable so that the gospel itself might shine forth. not just giving us instructions, but revealing who he is, what he has done for us. We see this as he reveals himself as the true host of this parable, this one who shows hospitality to needy, undeserving people, this one who goes even to the highways and the hedges, who goes wherever he can as the gospel goes forth throughout the world, seeking whoever will come to the party. This one who stoops to sit down next to the poor, to those who are socially outcast, the ones who are wretched, those deserving of nothing but getting everything by his grace. Of course, we see Jesus himself not only as the host, but as the true guest. As Jesus, as he entered into history, as he took on flesh, he entered into our dinner party, the dinner party of this world. And what are we told? What did he do? He took on the lowest place at the table. We're told in Philippians that even though he was at the highest place, he did not account equality with God a thing to be grasped, but he emptied himself, he humbled himself. He took on the form of a servant in the image and the likeness of man, and he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross, we are told, for our sake, for the sake of poor, lame sinners. And this is my hope, not only for this parable, but as we continue through these parables, that we would see this is truly, these parables reveal to us that the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, that God is truly, even now, sending that same message out that he sent out to those in the parable, saying, come, eat at my table. Feast with me, dine with me. All of you who don't deserve it, those who can't afford it, Those who could never think about being able to pay him back, he says, come, eat with me, join my party. It wasn't planned this way, but it's wonderful that we get to experience in a few moments this very thing that Jesus is speaking about here as we come to the table of our Lord, that we will see in just a moment that Jesus has called each and every one of us, that he will invite us to share a very personal meal with him. And as we come to that meal, we don't come pushing past each other, trying to get the best spot at the table. We come as forgiven sinners, as brothers and sisters in Christ, around the table of our Lord, knowing that our status hasn't been earned, but it has been given to us by our Lord. And even as in our own denominations, words regarding the supper, are encouraged to say this, that we come in a worthy manner if we recognize that we are unworthy sinners who need a Savior. That's how we come worthily to our Heavenly Father. So brothers and sisters, Jesus does, He calls us to Himself. He calls us to come up, to rise up at the table, to sit with Him. So let us do that. Let us receive God's gifts once anew by faith. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, amen. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you, Lord, for the grace that we see in these parables. Lord, we thank you that you have set us free, that you have healed all of our diseases, that you have reached out to us in our need. And Lord, we ask that you would help us to be generous to those around us, to truly be your hands and feet to this world, to rightly and openly proclaim your gospel so that all might heed the call that you have proclaimed in your gospel. We do pray in Jesus' name, amen.