They had good reason to observe Jesus closely when he went to dinner. He had already gained a reputation for ignoring dinner rules. “Miss Manners” would not have been happy with Jesus' actions. Two previous meals, at Jesus had shocked the dinner guests, remained fresh in the minds of the Pharisees. During one meal, he had allowed the sinful woman to wash his feet with her tears, dry them with her hair, and then perfume them. At another meal, he began eating without going through the ritual washing of his hands. You would never go to the table with dirty hands. 

            Now, once again, Jesus dines at the house of a leading Pharisee. However, this is no ordinary meal; it is the Sabbath dinner. Everyone watches him very closely, wondering what new act of bad manners the rabbi from Nazareth would commit at this sacred meal.  And they look for something more serious than eating with the wrong utensil. 

            But Jesus has a way of  cleverly turning the tables on people, and he was also observing them closely. What he saw baffled him. These religious leaders were acting like kids, who try to get the best seat in the house, so they can feel high and mighty.  Jesus has this way of reversing the order that people expect. Instead of the leaders taking the best seats, he says, "let the poor have those seats, and you take the lowest seat."

            Luke’s Gospel is often referred to as "the gospel of the great reversal."  We think one way, while Jesus thinks in just the opposite.

            Imagine the discomfort I felt a few years ago while on a missionary trip to Haiti. The father of one of the boys in the mission, where we were staying, had died. Because there do not embalm, they bury their dead within a day’s time. Then, on the following Sunday, they have a huge party at the family house to celebrate their loved one, and everyone knows to come.

            On Sunday, we loaded up the truck with several of the boys from the mission, and we drove deep into the jungle. When we arrived at the house, people were already eating and drinking and celebrating. 

The house was simple -- a hut with a thatched roof that clung to the side of hill. No electricity, no running water, a dirt floor. The boy introduced us. When the family found out that two of us were from the States, and that I am a priest, they quickly cleared the table and reset it, telling those who were seated there to get up. They brought out clean plates and humble dishes filled with rice and beans. Then they led us to the table and set us down to eat.

            It was a great reversal, and humbling to sit there and be served by the poor in this way.  It was so uncomfortable; we should have been serving them.  I thought, I won’t eat much, so there will be plenty of food for them. But they continued to refill our plates, and I will admit it was such good food.

             Jesus has a way of turning the tables in our lives to help us to see that the real message of his love. Gospel discipleship, is about finding the presence of God in those we serve.  It is about humbling and giving ourselves to others. In serving the poor, we may think that we have shared a great gift with them. But for Jesus, it's the reverse; we are gifted ones because we come into contact with God’s least ones.  

sdrose@bellsouth.net
9-24-2007