A Strange Invitation
Sermon
Come Dine With Jesus
Ten Sermons And Litanies For Lent And Easter
Worship Focus
A toy animal and a doll. One of the fake sheep made for yard decorations would be ideal; the doll should be of comparable size.
Or a challah, the large braided loaf of white bread that is often part of a Jewish Sabbath meal.
A Litany For The Sixth Meal
Leader: O God, we thank you for your matchless love, by which you sent Christ to be our savior.
People: In love you call us to yourself and hold us in your hands.
Leader: We confess that too often our hearts are cold and without gratitude.
People: Too often our hands are passive, and we fail to do your acts of mercy.
Leader: Too often our lips are sealed tightly, unwilling to speak words of love.
People: Too often we are separated from you and alienated from others.
Leader: Yet you have promised never to forsake us.
People: Assure us, we pray, that you have not abandoned us.
Leader: You are the great physician; heal us now, we pray.
People: May your table be to us a place of hope.
Leader: Warm us with your grace,
People: And make us agents of your love, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
A Strange Invitation
Luke 14:1-6
Jesus received a strange invitation.
The main Sabbath meal took place about noon,
after worship,
and it was a normal custom
to invite visiting teachers to dine.
Yet one Sabbath Jesus received an invitation
that was far from normal.
Why was Jesus invited,
and why did he go?
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. Just then, in front of him, there was a man who had dropsy.
Why did the Pharisee invite Jesus?
It was a trap.
Jesus had already upset the Pharisees
by breaking their Sabbath regulations.
Luke had previously told
of three marvelous healings on the Sabbath,
including two right in the synagogue
in front of the Pharisees:
a man with a withered hand
and a woman with a crippled back.
Healing was considered work,
and all work was unlawful on the Sabbath.
The Pharisees were shocked and angry
that Jesus had defiled the holy day
by such Sabbath-breaking.
When Jesus came to dinner,
the Pharisees were watching.
The word for ''watching'' is the same word
that is used for espionage.
Jesus was under surveillance.
A sick man, all swollen with dropsy or edema,
had been planted there
to see what Jesus would do.
If Jesus broke the Sabbath again,
there would be official witnesses.
We know why the invitation was given,
but why did Jesus go?
This is the third time Luke shows Jesus
at dinner with a Pharisee.
The first time, Jesus was criticized
because a harlot came in
and washed his feet with her tears.
He responded by declaring her sins forgiven.
The second time, Jesus was criticized
for not washing his hands in the ritual way.
He replied that the true gift to God
is a life cleansed from within.
This third time, Jesus knew at once it was a trap.
Why would he go?
He went because he would not abandon any person.
By going,
he could offer the sick man healing for his body;
by going,
he could offer the Pharisees healing
for their souls.
People might be hostile,
they might be indifferent;
Jesus still went to them,
appealed to them,
longed for them,
hoped for them,
gave them a chance to respond to God.
And Jesus asked the lawyers and Pharisees, ''Is it lawful to cure people on the sabbath, or not?'' But they were silent. So Jesus took him and healed him, and sent him away.
Everyone knew the answer.
The law allowed emergency care on the Sabbath
if there was immediate danger of death,
but a long-term illness must wait
for a workday.
The Pharisees weren't there to find answers;
they were there to find an accusation.
Jesus gave them what they were looking for.
Then he said to them, ''If one of you has a child or an ox that has fallen into a well, will you not immediately pull it out on a sabbath day?'' And they could not reply to this.
He challenged them with their own rules.
Palestine had many open wells and pits;
it was not uncommon for an animal to fall in,
and the rules permitted a man
to care for a poor animal in such a case.
Jesus' words were unanswerable.
If it is right to help an animal on the Sabbath day,
how can it be wrong to help a man?
What is worth more:
a person or an ox?
At the Pharisee's table,
Jesus declared the importance of people:
both the sick man and the Pharisee.
He did not give up on the Pharisees;
only they themselves could remove them
from the grace of God.
And likewise, God does not give up on us;
only we can resist God's love.
Whatever and wherever we are,
God's mercy and God's concern
will reach out to us.
The table of Jesus Christ
is a table of healing and of hope.
It was a place of healing for the man
swollen with dropsy;
it was a place of hope -- God's hope --
for the Pharisee.
The table of Jesus Christ is still,
for you and for me,
a place of healing and a place of hope.
Let us so come
that we may find healing for our souls
and hope for each new day.
A toy animal and a doll. One of the fake sheep made for yard decorations would be ideal; the doll should be of comparable size.
Or a challah, the large braided loaf of white bread that is often part of a Jewish Sabbath meal.
A Litany For The Sixth Meal
Leader: O God, we thank you for your matchless love, by which you sent Christ to be our savior.
People: In love you call us to yourself and hold us in your hands.
Leader: We confess that too often our hearts are cold and without gratitude.
People: Too often our hands are passive, and we fail to do your acts of mercy.
Leader: Too often our lips are sealed tightly, unwilling to speak words of love.
People: Too often we are separated from you and alienated from others.
Leader: Yet you have promised never to forsake us.
People: Assure us, we pray, that you have not abandoned us.
Leader: You are the great physician; heal us now, we pray.
People: May your table be to us a place of hope.
Leader: Warm us with your grace,
People: And make us agents of your love, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
A Strange Invitation
Luke 14:1-6
Jesus received a strange invitation.
The main Sabbath meal took place about noon,
after worship,
and it was a normal custom
to invite visiting teachers to dine.
Yet one Sabbath Jesus received an invitation
that was far from normal.
Why was Jesus invited,
and why did he go?
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. Just then, in front of him, there was a man who had dropsy.
Why did the Pharisee invite Jesus?
It was a trap.
Jesus had already upset the Pharisees
by breaking their Sabbath regulations.
Luke had previously told
of three marvelous healings on the Sabbath,
including two right in the synagogue
in front of the Pharisees:
a man with a withered hand
and a woman with a crippled back.
Healing was considered work,
and all work was unlawful on the Sabbath.
The Pharisees were shocked and angry
that Jesus had defiled the holy day
by such Sabbath-breaking.
When Jesus came to dinner,
the Pharisees were watching.
The word for ''watching'' is the same word
that is used for espionage.
Jesus was under surveillance.
A sick man, all swollen with dropsy or edema,
had been planted there
to see what Jesus would do.
If Jesus broke the Sabbath again,
there would be official witnesses.
We know why the invitation was given,
but why did Jesus go?
This is the third time Luke shows Jesus
at dinner with a Pharisee.
The first time, Jesus was criticized
because a harlot came in
and washed his feet with her tears.
He responded by declaring her sins forgiven.
The second time, Jesus was criticized
for not washing his hands in the ritual way.
He replied that the true gift to God
is a life cleansed from within.
This third time, Jesus knew at once it was a trap.
Why would he go?
He went because he would not abandon any person.
By going,
he could offer the sick man healing for his body;
by going,
he could offer the Pharisees healing
for their souls.
People might be hostile,
they might be indifferent;
Jesus still went to them,
appealed to them,
longed for them,
hoped for them,
gave them a chance to respond to God.
And Jesus asked the lawyers and Pharisees, ''Is it lawful to cure people on the sabbath, or not?'' But they were silent. So Jesus took him and healed him, and sent him away.
Everyone knew the answer.
The law allowed emergency care on the Sabbath
if there was immediate danger of death,
but a long-term illness must wait
for a workday.
The Pharisees weren't there to find answers;
they were there to find an accusation.
Jesus gave them what they were looking for.
Then he said to them, ''If one of you has a child or an ox that has fallen into a well, will you not immediately pull it out on a sabbath day?'' And they could not reply to this.
He challenged them with their own rules.
Palestine had many open wells and pits;
it was not uncommon for an animal to fall in,
and the rules permitted a man
to care for a poor animal in such a case.
Jesus' words were unanswerable.
If it is right to help an animal on the Sabbath day,
how can it be wrong to help a man?
What is worth more:
a person or an ox?
At the Pharisee's table,
Jesus declared the importance of people:
both the sick man and the Pharisee.
He did not give up on the Pharisees;
only they themselves could remove them
from the grace of God.
And likewise, God does not give up on us;
only we can resist God's love.
Whatever and wherever we are,
God's mercy and God's concern
will reach out to us.
The table of Jesus Christ
is a table of healing and of hope.
It was a place of healing for the man
swollen with dropsy;
it was a place of hope -- God's hope --
for the Pharisee.
The table of Jesus Christ is still,
for you and for me,
a place of healing and a place of hope.
Let us so come
that we may find healing for our souls
and hope for each new day.
