LUKE 14:1, 7-14

14:1 One Sabbath, when he went to dine at the house of a ruler of the Pharisees, they were watching him carefully.

7 Now he told a parable to those who were invited, when he noticed how they chose the places of honor, saying to them,

8 “When you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, do not sit down in a place of honor, lest someone more distinguished than you be invited by him,

9 and he who invited you both will come and say to you, ‘Give your place to this person,’ and then you will begin with shame to take the lowest place.

10 But when you are invited, go and sit in 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 table with you.

11 For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

12 He said also to the man who had invited him, “When you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return and you be repaid.

13 But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind,

14 and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just.”

As most of you know I love chocolate.  To paraphrase Will Rogers, “I never met a piece of chocolate I didn’t like.”  I’m also convinced that there isn’t a problem in the world that chocolate can’t solve.   Although I will admit that sometimes chocolate can make life difficult. That was certainly true for the man who found a bottle while walking along the beach one day.  When he opened the bottle out popped a very grateful genie.  The genie told the man that he would grant the man three wishes.  The man immediately knew what he wanted.  His first wish was for $1,000,000.  “Very well,” the genie said.  Suddenly there was a poof followed by a cloud of smoke and the man had his $1,000,000.  The man’s second wish was for a beautiful home on the beach.  “Very well,” the genie said.  Suddenly there was another poof followed by another cloud of smoke and the man had his beautiful home on the beach.  The man’s third wish was to be irresistible to women.   “Very well,” the genie said. Suddenly there was another poof followed by another cloud of smoke and the genie turned the man into a box of chocolates.

When someone says “I love chocolate” that’s a give me kind of love; an “I want” kind of love. Unfortunately, for some people that’s what life is all about. It’s all about getting what you want.  If you’re serious about following Jesus though you’re not going to build your life around that kind of love.  You’re going to build your life around a different kind of love.  You’re going to build your life around better kind of love.  You’re going to build your life around the love that Jesus talked about in the Parable of the Wedding Banquet.   The parable is all about humility but Jesus also added some other words of wisdom at the end of the parable.  Jesus said, that when you give a banquet, “invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you.”

As far as Jesus is concerned that’s the best kind of love.  The best kind of love is when you do something for someone who can’t pay you back.  Now that kind of love can be challenging; especially in a society where it’s all about making connections and what those connections can do for you. 

That’s the way it works in the business world.  Sometimes that’s the way it works when it comes to making friends.  Sometimes you even see it when people get married.  When I meet with a couple that’s going to get married there’s a question that I always ask them.  The question that I always ask is, “What do you like about the other person?”  Sometimes the answer is, “I like him because he makes me happy.”  Or “I like her because she makes me happy.”  When I hear someone say that I always get a little nervous.  It makes me wonder, “Is it really his job to make you happy?  Is it really her job to make you happy?”  The answer to that question is no.  It isn’t anyone else’s job to make you happy.  Others can contribute to your happiness but ultimately being happy is your own responsibility.

Marriages don’t last when you expect the other person to make you happy.  Sometime ago I saw a story in the newspaper about a woman who apparently never learned that lesson.  The woman lives in Malaysia. Her name is Wok Kundor and believe it or not she’s been married 22 times!  When the story appeared in the newspaper she already had her eye on a potential 23^rd husband.  Now Wok Kundor is 107 years old.  So she undoubtedly outlived a few of her husbands. However, a lot of her marriages undoubtedly ended in divorce.

Marriages don’t last when you expect the other person to make you happy.  Friendships don’t last when the most important thing is what that person can give you or do for you. That kind of love will just leave you feeling lonely and miserable and maybe even a little cynical. You might end up feeling the same way the owner of a clothing store felt one day.  You could tell that the owner of the store wasn’t in a very good mood when he put a sign up in the window of his store over in Nottingham, England..  The sign read as follows:

“We have been established for over 100 years and have been pleasing and displeasing customers ever since. We have made money and lost money, suffered the effects of government control and bad payers. We have been cussed and discussed, messed about,

lied to, held up, robbed and swindled. The only reason we stay in business is to see what happens next.”

Life doesn’t have to be like that. If you want a little more joy in your life you’ll find it by loving those who can’t pay you back.  Jesus said that when you give a banquet, “invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you.”

Do you remember Haley Joel Osment?  He’s the actor who played the little boy in the movie “The Sixth Sense.”  If you saw the movie then you know that he’s the one who uttered the now famous line, “I see dead people.”

Well, shortly after he made that movie he appeared in another movie called, “Pay It Forward.”  It wasn’t a huge hit and I don’t know if Siskel and Ebert liked the movie.  I am convinced however that Jesus would have given the movie two thumbs up. The movie is about a school teacher who challenges his class to come up with ideas that can help change the world. 

Haley Joel Osment is one of the students in the class and he comes up with the idea of paying it forward.  The idea is simple.  When you do a good deed for someone don’t expect the person to pay you back.  Ask the person instead to do two good deeds for two other people.  If enough people do that you’ll eventually flood the world with deeds of loving kindness The idea of paying it forward is a lot more in line with the love that Jesus talked about at the end of the Parable of the Wedding Banquet.

Recently there was a story in USA Today about couples who are paying it forward when it comes to their wedding.  One couple, as part of their wedding weekend, held a bone marrow drive.  They did it to celebrate the groom’s nephew’s successful transplant.  Another couple asked guests to work at an organic farm that feeds low income families and a third couple asked guests to support two of their favorite charities.  I’m guessing they did that in lieu of gifts. Did you know that there’s actually a website that exists to help couples use their weddings to spread the love around.  The website is www.Idofoundation.org.

You don’t have to get married however to do what Jesus wants you to do. There’s a story about a banquet that Yogi Berra went to many years ago.  The banquet was in his honor and it was attended by lots of kids and their fathers.  The boys who attended the banquet were all given baseballs bats or balls or gloves; except for a table of boys who were there from a local orphanage.  When Yogi asked why they had no gifts he was told that the promoters of the banquet felt that the boys from the orphanage were blessed to just be invited to the banquet.  So, Yogi walked over to their table and asked the boys if he could sit with them.  When the banquet was ready to start Yogi was reminded that there was a place for him at the head table.  He thanked the promoters for the reminder but said that he was going to stay with his new friends from the orphanage.

Jesus doesn’t want you to pay him back for all the love that he gives you. He doesn’t want you to pay him back for his sacrifices on the Cross that brings us forgiveness of sins and fullness of grace and eternal life in his kingdom which has no end.” What he really wants is for you to pay it forward. Amen.

Rev. Dr. Richard A. Hughes

August 29, 2010