Foolishly Arrogant – sermon on August 28, 2016
Jeremiah 2: 4-13 Listen to the word of the Lord, people of Jacob—all you families of Israel! This is what the Lord says: “What did your ancestors find wrong with me that led them to stray so far from me? They worshiped worthless idols, only to become worthless themselves.
They did not ask, ‘Where is the Lord who brought us safely out of Egypt and led us through the barren wilderness – a land of deserts and pits, a land of drought and death, where no one lives or even travels?’ And when I brought you into a fruitful land to enjoy its bounty and goodness, you defiled my land and corrupted the possession I had promised you.
The priests did not ask, ‘Where is the Lord?’ Those who taught my word ignored me, the rulers turned against me, and the prophets spoke in the name of Baal, wasting their time on worthless idols. Therefore, I will bring my case against you,” says the Lord. “I will even bring charges against your children’s children in the years to come.
“Go west and look in the land of Cyprus; go east and search through the land of Kedar. Has anyone ever heard of anything as strange as this? Has any nation ever traded its gods for new ones, even though they are not gods at all? Yet my people have exchanged their glorious God for worthless idols! The heavens are shocked at such a thing and shrink back in horror and dismay,” says the Lord. “For my people have done two evil things: They have abandoned me – the fountain of living water. And they have dug for themselves cracked cisterns that can hold no water at all!”
Luke 14: 1, 7-14 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. When he noticed how the guests chose the places of honor, he told them a parable. “When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet, do not sit down at the place of honor, in case someone more distinguished than you has been invited by your host; 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. 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 honored in the presence of all who sit at the table with you. For all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”
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 or your relatives or rich neighbors, in case they may invite you in return, and you would be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”
Sermon: Foolishly Arrogant by Rev. Doreen Oughton
Don’t you just love the imagery of the reading from Jeremiah – the heavens shocked and dismayed by the way God’s own people have traded God in for worthless items. Now the word translated as “worthless” is a tricky one. It is not about having no value, it is more about something insubstantive, like grabbing at air. You waste too much time grabbing at the air, at this nothingness, and you become insubstantive yourself – nothing solid or weighty or meaningful. If you worship things that are empty, you become hollowed out yourself. God wonders what offense was committed that would turn the people away from God, would send them grabbing at the air instead of calling on the God who brought the people out of Egypt, through the barren desert and into a fruitful and bounteous land of freedom. And God wonders why the people, once they reach the bountiful land, would defile and corrupt this gift. And God says a case will be brought against the people, even against their children’s children. What do you think that means? Is God so dismayed about this evil that even generations to come won’t be let off the hook? Is God looking to punish people for the sins of their ancestors? Or is it that the consequences of the people’s choices – the defilement and corruption of God’s gifts, are so deeply entrenched that the generations will continue to turn their backs on God. Rather than drink from the living water, they will continue to try to control the acquisition and containment of water, and they will continue to fail.
Jeremiah was written about 600 years before Jesus’ time, and God’s people weren’t doing much better than their foolish ancestors. They were still grasping at air – seeking honor and recognition in the wrong way from the wrong people. A lot of the commentary for this passage focused on what a big role honor and shame played in this culture, and the great humiliation that would follow if one took the wrong place at a wedding banquet. It would cost you big time in prestige and social capital. It wouldn’t just be bad to sit in a place of higher prestige, but neither is it honorable to go too low. It would be like Lady Mary of Downton Abbey hanging out in the kitchen chatting up the servants. It just makes everyone uncomfortable, and, in its own way, dishonors the servants. I keep wanting Jesus to disrupt this honor-shame culture, but I’m not so sure how much he does with this teaching. He doesn’t tell people, at least in the first half of the reading, to forget about honor. He just seems to tell them to be more savvy about how they go after it. Wait for someone to invite you to the prestigious table – don’t embarrass yourself by being sent away from it. But in the second half of the teaching he does seem to challenge it. And, as with so many teachings in Luke’s gospel, it is all about reversals. He challenges the back and forth among what are considered equals – you invite them; they pay you back by inviting you. He tells them here to purposely host those who would be unable to reciprocate, at least in the same way.
I found myself troubled by this part also, as Jesus seems to be saying that people should invite the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame to banquets so that they can be rewarded in heaven. I was troubled by his assertion that those seemingly categorized as “lesser” cannot pay one back for hospitality. Again, this is so not what I want Jesus to be saying. I want him to say the reward will be in seeing that indeed none are “lesser.” I want him to be saying that the blessing is in building relationships with people who are different, but maybe not so different as we thought. But he doesn’t, and I’m not sure what to make of that. He does seem to be challenging the pecking order – asserting that these things are not of God. And if we’ve been on the low end of the pecking order, that is indeed good news. But we usually don’t see ourselves there. We can usually find people lower than us on the pecking order, so it might be hard to accept that. Are we really no better in God’s eyes than a homeless person, a terrorist, a greedy Wall St. tycoon? Could it be true that there is nothing we can do to establish ourselves before God? What if we really can’t stand on our accomplishments or wealth or intelligence or good looks, or even our patience and kindness and other lovely qualities? What if we truly are dependent on God’s grace alone, on God’s desire to be in relationship with us just as we are? Would that shake you up?
Perhaps Jesus, in this story, is just trying to use language and metaphors that people understand to try to change things. Perhaps he wanted to rant in God’s name as Jeremiah did, asking why they are trading in the kindom of heaven for some nonsense about prestige at a banquet. Instead of sitting and feasting around God’s bounteous table, they have decided to take over the hosting, for now, so that they can exact repayment from others. Grasping at air! Perhaps he is wondering why the people are looking at each other, looking to see whose looking at them, instead of asking “where is God, the God who led the people out of bondage and into a bountiful land?”
For me, the question from today’s readings is, what have we traded our God for? Where have we decided to take over, only to find ourselves grasping for air, or building cracked cisterns when God offers us living water? It can be hard to see when we are worshiping idols. It usually seems to us that we are pursuing good ends, ends approved of by our true God. It seems we are doing things necessary for our survival – protecting ourselves and our families, even if it feels empty and dry, even if it is draining us of life and soul. And, for me, the assurance from today’s readings is that there is living water available, that we can trust in God’s goodness and desire to be in relationship with us. We need only start to ask, “where is God?” and we will be led to that fountain of life. Our taking over, trying to do things for ourselves? That doesn’t give us any claim, certainly not a claim on God. And it keeps us from seeing that God has claimed us, and we are simply invited to come to the table, to help serve if we wish, in gratitude for all the ways we have been served. Grasp for something substantial and meaningful and your life will be substantial and meaningful. Where is God, where is God, where is God?
