Pentecost 14
Year C
August 29, 2010
Proverbs 25:6-7
Hebrews 13:1-8, 15-16
Luke 14:1, 7-14
When one of our members first suggested the Really, Really Free Market to me, my first reaction was..
“Well, that’s a really crazy idea.” And I told her so.
You know what the Really, Really Free Market is, right? Well, maybe some of you don’t.
It’s kind of like a garage sale, but no money is exchanged, and nothing is bartered.
People are invited to bring things they would like to part with, and others are invited to come and look for the things they need. Simple as that.
So, for example, if you have a lot of children’s clothes sitting around you don’t need any more… bring them! Some parent may come by looking for clothes for their kids.
And if you have a talent or skill you can share, come and do it! You never know who might come by and need a haircut, or their blood pressure checked or their computer cleaned up.
Some people just share music, or dance, or cookies.
It’s a day of giving and receiving and welcoming one another. And… it’s a lot of fun!
Anyway, after I thought about it for a while, the more I realized that, while it was a completely crazy idea, the Really, Really Free Market was truly a Gospel idea.
So, I said what I usually say when someone brings me a great idea: “Find a couple of people to work with, and we’ll see what happens.”
That member did…
And this October we will be hosting our third “Really, Really Free Market.” And, you know, each one gets a little bigger than the last.
It’s a gospel idea… perfectly in line with the advice Jesus gives to the Pharisee in today’s Gospel lesson.
Perfectly in line with Jesus’ advice that his host invite the needy when he throws a party.
In the passage right after this one, Jesus tells a parable about a rich man who has a wedding banquet. And when the invited guests are all too busy to attend, the rich man sends his servants out to the roads and lanes, the streets and alleyways to bring in the poor, the crippled, the lame and the blind.
And that, Jesus tells us, is a picture of the Kingdom of God.
That, Jesus tells us, is what the Reign of God is like.
In the Kingdom, there will be a place at the table for everyone. Even for the poor, the crippled, the lame and the blind.
There will be a place for tax collectors and sinners.
There will be a place for the forgotten and the marginalized.
There will even be a place for you and for me.
Even if we don’t deserve it.
Even if we haven’t earned it.
God’s love is so great, there is room in God’s Kingdom for everyone… even those we might leave out if we were in charge of the guest list.
And that may make us feel a bit uneasy. It does me.
It’s so much easier to just reject needy people because we think they’re lazy or weak or dangerous. To avoid them simply because they’re different than we are.
But the scriptural call to care for the poor, the crippled, the lame and the blind cannot be denied.
In both the Old and the New Testaments we are continually reminded that we have a responsibility to care for one another – and especially for those who are most vulnerable in our world.
And that is exactly what the Really, Really, Free Market is about.
It is evangelism, pure and simple. That is, the speaking of the Good News of the Kingdom into people’s lives.
It is inviting people to come and experience the Kingdom for a few hours on a Saturday. It is inviting people – all people -- to the banquet; to taste a bit of the abundant life which is theirs in Jesus Christ.
And, in my experience, a funny thing happens when we sit together at the Banquet of the Needy. It isn’t long before we discover that we are all needy.
All in need of the very love, grace and mercy embodied for us in Jesus Christ. All in need of the mutual love that our Lord bids us to share. To share, not just with “our kind of people” but with everyone.
Everyone.
At the beginning of the service, I shared with you the sad news of the death of Luka, our friend and co-worker in the Gospel in Tanzania.
Luka, I think, understood, better than most, the invitation to the Banquet of the Needy.
As a youth, he experienced that invitation through the ministry of Pastor Herb Hafermann and the witness of the fledgling Christian churches in the Mission District.
What attracted him, and literally thousands after him was not a slick marketing campaign, but the simple, Christ-like love those communities were practicing as they cared for the needy, welcomed everyone, and reached out to the poor, the crippled, the lame and the blind… Just like Jesus did.
And that became Luka’s life.
But Luka did more than just build church buildings, though he did that amazingly well.
Luka built communities. Communities of faith and mutual love. He built places of hospitality and welcome where people could gather together to celebrate and learn and grow in that love. He built places where people’s needs could be met and where clean water flowed.
That’s what the Church of Jesus Christ is called to be.
That’s what it means to participate in Jesus’ ministry of the Kingdom.
That’s what it means to be a disciple.
Here, at University Lutheran, we are invited to participate in the
church of the Really, Really Free…
Gospel.
A Gospel of grace that comes in the form of a loving hospitality which extends from this place of celebration and worship outward to Norman and to the whole world.
In Jesus’ name,
Amen.