Lessons at the Table

Luke 14:1 & 7-14

Pentecost 11, August 31, 2025

Holy Trinity Cathedral

“Lessons at the Table”

Jesus is fond of giving table talks.  At the evening meal, he finds opportunities to reinforce what he is teaching with his followers.  Sometimes it is to the embarrassment and the learning of the one who had invited him in.  On one occasion, one of the Pharisees brings him home for the sabbath supper.  Jesus observes how people select their seats around the table.  Then he tells a story about a wedding banquet where guests assume their places.  His story is not about manners or etiquette, however.  It’s about the table of the Kingdom.  By the grace of God, we may eat in intimacy with all whom God invites.

Firstly, we are to understand ourselves as guests.  Each of us has been invited to come to a celebration that includes us and many others.  We are on the list, but we don’t get to choose who else will be in attendance.  Even in the Church, we have struggled with this concept because it goes against societal norms.  Every Sunday the faith community gathers for a sacramental meal.  The Eucharist, or Holy Communion, is our outward expression of what is and will be the banquet of the Kingdom.  We are at table together.  We come for the blessing of being in the presence of Christ.  But that means we have to be in the presence of each other too!  As disciples, we are to practice the humility of embracing each other as brother and sister although we live in a world where distinctions are maintained that separate human beings.

In earlier times when everyone was expected to attend the Sunday service, there was a hierarchy of status maintained even inside the worship space.  The nobility and wealthy citizens paid to have the best seats up at the front.  Sometimes these were boxed in to give them privacy during the service.  The middle class had the middle pews, maybe with a nice brass plaque to show they had donated funds to the parish.  And the servants and poorer sorts were relegated to the back where the heating and the preaching didn’t reach so well.  Ironically, isn’t that where more of you sit now?  Once people adopted what they considered was their place, they tended to keep it down through generations.  There is resistance to change.

At meals too, there is a hierarchy of seating that reflects who is the honoured guest.  Often, the seats at the side of the host indicate favoured individuals.  Those farther away from the head, or at tables towards the walls, are less distinguished.  How many fights have occurred with planning the seating at a wedding reception over where somebody’s step-mother or second cousin is to sit?  Name cards at seats can attempt to forestall arguments, but I have been to banquets where table seating has still resulted in wrangling over who sits next to whom!  Jesus is probably not imagining a scenario where guests are switching the cards to rearrange the assignments, but he is calling us out on our assumptions.  Humility is recognizing that others are equal and as beloved in the eyes of the host.  They may even have more claim to a place of honour, so judging their worth in relation to my own is a me-problem.  Our intimacy with the host, who loves all those invited, pushes us to respect everyone at the table.

Secondly, Jesus invites us to consider our role as hosts.  Beyond the humility that the world seldom values, here is a further disruption to the social order.  Most of society interacts with an underlying assumption of reciprocation.  That is, if you do something for me, then I will do something for you in return.  If I show you love, it is because I expect love.  If I invite you into my company, it is because I want something from you as well: your support, your donation, your patronage.  And yet, the Kingdom of God is about unconditional love.  This is hard for even Jesus’ disciples to accept.  Although our response to grace is to live in faith by action, nothing we can do will ever pay God back or make us right through our works.  Now God wants us to practice this when we come together at table.  We are not only to invite our family or friends or those who can reciprocate with a dinner invitation.  We are to be in fellowship with those who cannot repay us by providing a meal in turn. 

Every Sunday we have an example of how to make this a reality.  At the Eucharist, we are enjoined to see Christ in the faces of each person who joins us at the table.  And we are to look for the presence of God in the bread of heaven and the wine of salvation.  We even call the blessed sacrament “the Host” in recognition that Jesus is with us in this meal.  We come to the altar together, not keeping apart in our little social groups.  We wait for each other to come forward, to receive and eat and be blessed.  How different from the rest of our week.  And yet, we can take this further into our lives.  Every time we invite a newcomer to sit beside us and share a meal and a story, we help the kingdom come. 

Next Sunday, September 7, there will be no worship service here at Holy Trinity Cathedral.  This is not the opportunity to take the day off being Church, however.  You are invited to a kingdom meal- to a veritable banquet!  It will not be in this building.  You will not be able to sit in your favoured pew.  God is calling you to a new place.  At 10 am, we will be gathering at Lower Hume Park for worship and feasting with the congregations of St. Mary Sapperton and St. Barnabas.  Because it is not on our home turf, we have to make more of an effort.  The reward is that we will enjoy company and food as tokens of Christ’s love for us as guests.  Last year, about twenty people from Holy Trinity showed up, with about four times that many from St. Mary’s.  We brought our picnic lunches with us with a bit to share.  And we were met with an overwhelming abundance of both welcome and a banquet table.  Anyone who has been at a Christian Filopino gathering knows that food is an essential expression of the Lord’s love and community.  The hospitality is extended to all, and everyone who comes finds that they are an honoured guest.

Some of our brothers and sisters from St. Mary’s have recently been helping in serving the community meal on Saturdays here at Holy Trinity Cathedral.  Together we have been strengthened to minister with the poor and the crippled, the lame, and the blind, the lonely and the sick who are the beloved guests of God.  What a wonderful opportunity to be at table with other disciples who practice hospitality and welcome.  Some of the people of St. Barnabas will be present next Sunday with us as well.  Our nearby Anglican congregation has also been active in feeding hungry souls with a Wednesday food bank ministry.  Each of our communities are partners in God’s mission of humble hospitality. We have much to learn from each other through Christ.  Do we have the humility to attend to the lesson at the table?  Amen.