Luke 14:7-14

August 29, 2010
Josh Broward

Luke 14:7-14

I have found this passage really difficult this week. Sometimes, understanding a text is really easy. Sometimes, I have to dig and dig in the commentaries and on the internet and in prayer before I really get a feeling what the text says for us and to our world. Other times, like this week, after all of my research and prayer, I’m still scratching my head, standing outside the text asking questions.
Instead of forcing a message based sermon here, today I want to invite you into the questions I’ve been asking. I am honestly not sure about all of the answers, but maybe just asking the questions will give God space to work among us. Sometimes questions are better than answers - especially when I don’t have the answers to give!
What I’d like to do here is talk about a few of the things I’ve learned as I’ve studied this text. Then, as we work through the text, I’ll share some of the questions I’ve been asking.

The first thing we need to understand is what is going on with the guests. In ancient Hebrew culture, where people sit at a dinner is “a public advertisement of one’s status.”1 So, when each person enters the room, they start mentally calculating their public value compared with the other guests: “Well, I’m more important than him. Her farm is twice as big as mine. His father is a Rabbi, but I’m the host’s cousin.” There is the sub-verbal or even open measurement of each person’s status and “value” to the community. Then, people are seated like a ladder of importance, with the most important, most connected people sitting closest to the host.
That phrase “a public advertisement of status” really struck me, and it got me asking some questions. What are the “public advertisements” of our status? How do we try to show other people how important we are? Do we “advertise” ourselves through our cars, our apartments, our furniture, our clothes, our phones? How do we try to show other people how cool we are? How important is it to us to watch the right movies, to listen to the right music, to download the “cool” podcasts, and to wear the right brands?

So Jesus advises people to step out of the status advertising business. He says we don’t need to be self-promoters. Instead, we should intentionally choose the lower, humbler seats. It’s almost as if Jesus tells us to advertise our humility.
And that’s all too easy, right? “Look at me. Look how humble I am. I’m willing to clean the dishes or get the water when no one else was. Look at me. You’ll never see a name brand label on my clothes because I don’t care about labels. In fact, I don’t care so much that you should think I’m cool for not caring. I’m not going to buy the best and latest of everything because I don’t care about technology like you other sell-outs.”
I saw this posted at a site criticizing the emergent church. “I’m not so arrogant as to think I’ve arrived at the truth about anything, but I’m pretty sure everything you say is not only dead wrong but really, really stupid, too.” I have been far too close to this, far too many times. We can get really prideful about our humility.

So that raise a series of more complicated questions. If self-advertising is an ever-present danger for us, then how do we avoid it? What is the line between trying to look decent and using our clothes to show our importance? Should we never pay attention to what we wear? What about fashion? Should we care what is in style or out of style? Wouldn’t we all end up looking like dorks? Should we care if we look like dorks?
What about money and possessions? What is the difference between making sure we have reliable transportation and buying a car that’s a little nicer than we really need? Is it OK to choose a job because it pays more money? How much we consider money when making our decisions about where to work and how much to work?
For apartments, how big is too big? How do we decide? Is too big for you the same as too big for me? Is there a certain number of Pyeong or square feet that are acceptable for each humble Christian in the family?

In the second half of our text, in a step of boldness and maybe rudeness, Jesus tells the host that he has invited all the wrong people to the party. In the social system of Jesus time, dinners and banquets were hugely important. They were the central venue for the establishment of social status. Powerful people gathered took turns throwing lavish banquets so that they could impress each other with their wealth and style. If you wanted to be upwardly mobile, then you wanted to invite people at your level and up to a few social levels above you. After enjoying your banquet, those people higher up would be obligated to invite you to their next banquet, thus raising your social status. The ancient Middle East was like a non-stop gossip column about who was eating with who and where.
Jesus tells people to step out side of that status based favor system. Jesus says we should be completely countercultural and invite people lower than us, all the way down to the lowest economic levels: the poor, the blind, and the lame. Jesus says, “Don’t give out favors just so you can get favors. Give to those who can’t give anything back.”
At first, we are all nodding our heads and agreeing. This is obviously good and true. The poor most need our help, but the poor are also the least likely to get help with the normal social rules. It is obviously better to be generous and giving than selfish and self-serving. Nobody likes a “good old boys club.”
However, things get a little more uncomfortable when we start asking questions. What kind of favors do we give out? Who do we talk to after the worship service? Is it the people we want something from, the people who make us feel good? How generous are we with our smiles? Do we smile often at our family, at our bosses, at the bus driver, at the lady checking us out in Lotte Mart? Who will do you usually eat lunch with? Do you eat with the poor in spirit, those who are blind to their own pride, or the socially lame?

I’ve really struggled with this passage this week. Here are a few examples.
As a pastor here, part of my responsibility is to help our church have a good relationship with KNU. Recently, something really good happened. Nazarene Publishing House does this little devotional book that goes along with the adult Sunday School curriculum, and NPH has been having different Nazarene universities around the world write a few weeks worth of devotionals in each quarter’s booklet. NPH asked me to be the coordinator for KNU’s two weeks of devotionals. This is great for KNU and great for our church, but it raises lots of questions in relation to our text.
There are 14 days worth of devotionals, so 14 people will each write one. Which 14 people should I ask to write? Should I ask the most powerful people in KNU or the least powerful? Do I have an obligation as a pastor to use this opportunity to advance our church’s social status within KNU and to earn some favors for us in the future? Should I ask some people because I owe them a favor, and this would be a good chance for them to get something published? Like I said at the beginning, I don’t have a lot of answers here.

Here’s another example. When we went to Bangladesh, I bought all kinds of little gifts. Some were “Thank you’s” for people who helped us go to Bangladesh, but others were specifically designed to gain favor with the staff of KNU. I told one of our team members the subtext of the gifts: “Here’s a little gift from Bangladesh. Please sign the form or help us out the next time we need it.” That plan worked OK until I got home and realized that I hadn’t bought enough gifts. Then, I had to start thinking about who really needed to get the gifts. Who do we really need to keep good with? Who do I really want to like us so that they will be a little more likely to help us out next time? Is this person more important than that person?
I didn’t really think much about this ... until I read this week’s text. Suddenly, I was on the wrong side of Jesus’ story.
So back to the questions. Is it OK to give gifts to court favor, or is this pandering and exactly the kind of stuff Jesus was talking about? What’s the difference between being a wise player in a large system, and “exalting myself” or our church? What do you think? Was it right or wrong for me to give out gifts to build favor? Would Jesus have done it if he were pastor here? I know, I know ... Jesus would be healing people and raising the dead, so he wouldn’t need favors ... but if Jesus were me, would he give favor gifts? Or would he ... um ... get crucified?

And let’s not just ask questions about me. What about you? What do you do to earn favors from others? How do you try to build your public image? Do you ever give gifts or compliments simply because you want something from that person? And are we giving up a reward from God, in exchange for these little favors from people? What is that reward from God anyway?

Things get a little more uncomfortable when we realize that Jesus is actually doing something really radical with this story. He isn’t just telling us to give to the poor and the outcast. He is telling us to eat with the poor. When we give to the poor, we are giving from a position above (those who have helping those who don’t). When we eat with the poor, the blind, the lame, the awkward, the different ones, then we are inviting them into our social circle. We are experiencing them as equals. We are becoming friends with them.
More of those nagging questions: What does this mean for us? It’s pretty easy for us to give some money or some old clothes. It’s easy for us to talk about establishing some church programs to welcome new people. It’s easy for us to say “Hi. How are you?” to that awkward person at our workplace. It’s much harder to open our homes and lunch tables to people who are different from us.
What does it mean for us to follow Jesus with this text? Should we be less guarding about our private times? Should we change the way we think about our homes - less of a refuge from the world and more of an open space where others feel welcomed and loved? What about our needs for boundaries? What is the limit? How much do we care for others, and how much do we care for ourselves? If we’re always inviting the poor, the blind, and the lame, when do we spend time with our families? Do they become our new families? Are we missing out on Jesus and Jesus’ life because Jesus is actually present in the poor, the blind, and the lame who are NOT present at our tables?
And what does this text have to say about our church? We do a pretty decent job of giving to the poor. We give out kimbap to homeless me. Some of us volunteer at an orphanage or a single mom’s home. We occasionally help people in our community who have a financial crisis. But what would it mean for us to eat with the poor? Our church is remarkably upper-middle class. How much of that is because of language? And how much of that is because we haven’t been all that welcoming? How could we spend more time eating with migrant workers? How could more of us eat with the widows and orphans in Bangladesh? How can we welcome more people from more diverse backgrounds into our social circle as a church?

Here’s the last thing I learned about this text. This text isn’t really about seating charts and invitation lists. This text isn’t even really about humility and hospitality. Fundamentally, this text is about value. Jesus is aiming at the roots of our personal value.
What is the source of our personal value? Do we find our value as a person in the opinions of others? What makes us feel like a good person? What makes us feel worthwhile in the world? Is it our social status? Is it our business success? Is it our education? Is it our clothes? Is it our cool-factor? Is it our popularity? Is it our money?
The subtext of Jesus’ little parable is that God loves us all equally. Nothing can change God’s love for us. Whether other people like us or don’t like us, God still loves us. Whether our social status goes up or down, God still loves us. Whether people owe us favors or whether people give us headaches, God still loves us. Whether we succeed or fail, God still loves us. Whether we write 100 books or doodle in our journals, God still loves us. Whether we get rich or go broke, God still loves us. Whether we lose weight or gain wait, God still loves us. Whether we get married or stay single or get divorced, God still loves us. Whether we make the right decision on this issue or screw it up, God still loves us.
God still loves us, no matter what. God’s love for us will never change. He loves us completely, utterly, 1000%. It is impossible for God to love us more, and it is impossible for God to ever love us less. God’s love for us will never change. That is the core of who we are. That is the source of our value. No matter what, God still loves us.
And God loves everyone else just as much as he loves us. That is the core of our actions and attitudes in the world. She is not just another competitor for the approval of others. She is a child of God. He is not a failure or a waste of time or a loser. He is a person deeply loved by our Father. She is not just someone who might be able to help us some day. He is not just a big man in a position of power. They, too, are children for whom God’s love will never change.
What does it mean for us to live like God’s love for us will never change? How would that free us?
What does it mean for us to live like every person we meet is a person loved by God? How would that free us?

Stuck in the System (Luke 12:22-38)

Josh Broward
August 8, 2010


One of the hardest jobs in the world is trying to help a prostitute stop being a prostitute. A prostitute is part of a huge web of power and money and lies and relationships. Just like a spider’s web, the web of the sex trade is incredibly sticky. Once you get in, it’s hard to get out.
But how do you get in? Most prostitutes started in the business by age 14 or younger. Most often, they are from a troubled or abusive family. Frequently, they have run away from home and living on the streets. These young girls, find themselves broke and alone, without job skills or any hope of supporting themselves. They report feeling like they don’t have any other choice.
Another surprising phenomena of prostitution is that the women often “fall in love” with their pimps (the men who “sell” them to customers). These pimps shower the girls with affection and compliments and gifts, so girls who felt no love at home suddenly feel respected and cared for and valuable. Eventually, they will do anything for these men, no matter the personal cost.
Pimps have a wide variety of ways of keeping prostitutes under their control. First of all, they cut them off from other relationships. The pimp is their sole meaningful connection to the world. Without the pimp, they would feel lost and powerless.
Second, they frequently introduce the girls to drugs. Once she is addicted, the pimp becomes the supplier of the girls’ most needed substance: crack, cocaine, heroine, etc. Now, they can’t leave prostitution because they can’t give up the drugs. Lastly, and most notoriously, pimps get violent when their girls don’t obey. Pimps will use all forms of abuse to keep the girls in their control.
Not surprisingly, prostitution is very damaging to the people involved. Within five years, most girls have a serious disease. Prostitutes have almost a 70% chance of experiencing post traumatic stress disorder. Those are the same chances as a soldier in Afghanistan. Experiencing prostitution has deep and sustained physical and emotional consequences.
So in most large cities there are a few Christian groups trying to help girls leave the life of prostitution. However, this is not as easy as it may sound. First of all, most of the girls won’t even talk to the Christian workers. They have been hurt and burned so many times that they don’t trust anyone. The first step toward reaching them is establishing a trusting relationship.
Second, the girls have to want to get out. Some rescue agencies report that most girls won’t leave the trade until they’ve been in it for at least 4-5 years. It takes that long for the pain to get stronger than the lies. For many of them, a huge step is simply believing that they are worth saving. Many girls are simply amazed that God loves them just as they are - no matter what they’ve done or who they are.
Third, they have to believe that they can get out. Hopelessness is deep among prostitutes. Even if they trust you, even if they want to get out, most of them don’t actually believe there are any other options for them. They don’t believe they can do anything else. They don’t believe they can give up their drugs or ever be able to find another job. However, the beauty of the gospel is that there is always hope. God can give anyone a fresh start.
Next, to leave prostitution, many girls enter a half-way house. This is a house on the streets that will help the girls transition to a new way of life. They have to reintegrate into healthy society. They develop healthy patterns and set limits in their relationships. Slowly, slowly, slowly, with two steps forward and one step backward, and a lot of community support, they are able to break free from the destructive system of prostitution and live the life God intended for them.
This is what the Church is all about - helping people break free from the destructive systems that use and abuse them. These systems lure people in with promises of adventure and pleasure and security, but in the end they become deadly spider webs, wrapping around us, trapping us in their nest of problems. Slowly, slowly, slowly, they suck the life out of us. The Church is a rescue ministry, a half-way house, a support community to help us live free.

OK, let’s transition here. The webs of prostitution are not the only dangerous systems that threaten our world. There are other more common, more subtle systems which threaten us.
Our epistle lesson today from Revelation 17 and 18 draws an amazing parallel between prostitution and the financial system. “Babylon the Great” was a code-word for Rome - the wealthiest and most powerful city in their world. The text calls Rome “the great prostitute,” and it says that the kings and merchants of the world “committed adultery with her.” But when the text describes their “passionate immorality,” the language is all economic. “Because of her desires for extravagant luxury, the merchants of the world have grown rich” (18:3).
The book of Revelation describes the world’s systems of power and money as this great system of deceit and trickery. It lures people in with promises of a beautiful, satisfying life, but in the end, the financial systems are just as deceitful and dangerous as the systems of prostitution.
Just like prostitution, the financial system gets people when they are young. From childhood, we all want to be rich and famous. Companies around the world try to establish their brands with us as soon as we can walk and talk and see logos. Dave Ramsey, a Christian financial counselor, was furious when Visa reached a deal with a toy maker to add tiny plastic visa cards to doll sets. Visa’s plan was to teach toddlers that building up debt is the normal way of life.
Also like prostitution, most of us feel like we don’t have any other options. The world’s dominant story is all about making money and spending money. Most of us never seriously consider that there is another way to live.
But like prostitution, most of us have no hope that we could live outside the world’s financial system. We need money to live. Unless we are going to go live in the wilderness or roam the streets, we have to have money for basic life.
But the real issue is not that we need to have some money to survive. The real issue is that we are addicted to our nice stuff. Just like the crack-addict prostitutes, we are addicted to our computers and cars and clothes and bank accounts. We can’t imagine living without our luxuries. We don’t WANT to live without our luxuries.
So we stay in the system and live by the system and for the system. When our “pimps” (also known as bosses) tell us to work harder and longer, we agree - even though it means less sleep, less prayer, less time with family, less relationships, less life. When our other “pimps” (also known as advertisers) tell us we really, really need this or that, we lay down the credit card - even though we know it will mean more work, less freedom, less giving, more stress, and less life.
The whole system is really driven by fear. We are a deeply anxious people. We are desperately afraid that we will fall behind. We don’t necessarily have to be #1. We are realistic enough to know that not very many people can be elite, but we definitely don’t want to be below average. We want to keep up. We want to be “good enough,” and we are desperately afraid that our job or our apartment or our clothes or our kids will not be “good enough.” And this fear drives almost everything we do. It eats at our souls like a cancer.
Work, stress, and anxiety are some of the leading causes of physical illness in the developed world. But even if work and stress and the desire for more don’t make us sick, they can still ruin our lives. They rob us of real life. Real life is rooted in God and his kingdom. Everything real flows out of that. Listen to what Jesus says about the financial system in our Gospel Lesson: Luke 12:22-38.


If the financial system is a trap just like prostitution, how do we get out? The Church is our half-way house. The Gospel is our cure. The process for us to become free from the financial system is very similar to the process for a prostitute to break free from the chains of prostitution.

First, we have to develop trusting relationships. Our financial system is pervasive (everywhere, in ever part of our culture and lives). And our addiction is deep - down to the core of who we are. Just like an addict who joins a 12-step group, we need the support of others to persevere on the difficult path to freedom. Surround yourself with friends who also want to live free lives. Don’t just hang out with people on the upward track: more, more, more. Make sure you have some genuine friends who are committed to simplicity, and talk about your journey together with them. The odds are against us anyway. Living free is almost impossible without friends.

Second, we have to want to be free and believe that we can be free. In Jesus’ words, we have to “seek the Kingdom of God above all else.” Our deepest desire needs to be for God’s way of life. Basically, we need to believe the gospel. Most of us don’t actually believe the gospel. Most of us, most of the time, don’t actually believe that God’s way of life is the best way or even possible for us.
We need to take a step of faith - believing Jesus when he says, “If God cares so wonderfully for the flowers ... he will certainly care for you.” We need to take a step of faith, and believe that living God’s way of life - living free from possessions and giving to those in need - will store up treasure for us that is outside the financial system, treasure that cannot be measured with numbers or figures, treasure that can never be taken from us. We need to take a step of faith - believing that when Jesus says, “Your Father already knows all your needs ... and he will give you everything you need,” he means it. If we are going to live without fear, we will have to really believe that it gives our Father great happiness to give us the Kingdom. We need to take a step of faith and believe that God’s way IS the best way and that we CAN actually live it.

Third, we have to understand where our value comes from. Our value comes from God’s love. We are God’s treasure, his special possession, his pride and joy. God values us so much that Jesus died on the cross so that we could be adopted back into his family. We are special, valued, treasured children of God, and that is the root of our worth.
Most of us know this here (in our heads), but we don’t know it here (in our hearts). Or we forget it. We know it; we sing about it; we talk about it in church. But then we go out and live like our value comes from our stuff, our jobs, our money. We know our value really comes from God, but we teach our kids that their value comes from their grades and their success in life.
We are forgetful people. We need to remind ourselves again and again - every day, several times a day - that God loves us. God loves us just as we are. No amount of money or stuff or power or success or failure will change that. So as we go about our days in and around the financial system, we are rooted to a different power source. Our identity does not depend on whether our boss likes us. Our value will not be enhanced by that beautiful shirt. Our personal future is not threatened by an economic downturn. Accepting our value in God’s love is like an anchor in the financial storm.

Fourth, if we want to be free, we will have to learn some different life habits. Just like the prostitutes who have to learn how to function in the “real world” without their pimps, we will have to learn how to live in and around the financial system without being stuck in its traps.
Jesus gives us a basic financial habit that will help to make us free. Put your money where you want your heart to be. Jesus said, “Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be” (Luke 12:34). I’ve heard preachers preach on this for most of my life, and their usual explanation goes like this. “Look at how you spend your money, and that shows what you care about. Wherever your money is, that’s what you care about. Therefore, we need to change our hearts to care about God’s ways more.”
That’s true. It is definitely true that our hearts drive our spending, saving, and giving. How we spend our money says a lot about what we value.
But I’m not sure that’s what this passage is saying. I think this passage is saying, where your money goes, your heart goes. Where you put your money is what you will end up caring for most. Your spending determines your caring.
If you spend lots of money on a new apartment, you’re going to treasure that apartment. If you buy a new computer or a new IPhone, that will become your treasure or your focus for a while. The more you have, the harder and harder it is to give it up.
Similarly, if you hear a story about a poor child in India, you may feel sad or concerned for a few minutes, but if you are giving your money each month to pay for the education and health care for a child in India, your concern for that child in India is now much higher.
Also, if you occasionally drink a Pepsi, your concern in the Pepsi Corporation is pretty much: “Does it taste good?” and “Can I get one when I want it?” However, if you purchase stock in Pepsi, suddenly your concern level goes up. Now you are interested in their distribution system, their marketing, their strategy for competing against Coca-cola.
Our hearts, our concern, follows our money. So, then, Jesus’ teaching starts to make more sense. If you want to “seek the Kingdom of God above all else,” then “sell your possessions and give to those in need” because “wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.” If you want to care more about the poor, give more to the poor. If you want to care more about the church, give more to the church. If you want to care more about God and your relationship with God, give more to the things God cares about. Your money follows your heart, but your heart also follows your money. Put your money where you want your heart to be.

Our financial system is a great trap that can steal our lives, but God can make us free. Close your eyes and listen to Jesus’ call to be free.
“I am the good shepherd. ... Yes, I am the gate. Those who come in through me will be saved. They will come and go freely and will find good pastures. The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life” (John 10:9-14).
“If you cling to your life, you will lose it; but if you give up your life for me, you will find it” (Matthew 10:39).
“And don’t be concerned about what to eat and what to drink. Don’t worry about such things. These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers all over the world, but your Father already knows your needs. Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and he will give you everything you need. So don’t be afraid, little flock. For it gives your Father great happiness to give you the Kingdom” (Luke 12:29-32).