Thoughts on Today’s Lessons for Oct. 30, 2016

Zacchaeus and Jesus. Orthodox icon.

Does Habakkuk’s name sound familiar? If not, that may be because this year marks its only appearance in the three-year Lectionary cycle of Sunday readings. Only three chapters long, this book is both unusual and fascinating. Unlike most of the prophets who hear God’s word and pass it on to humanity, Habakkuk shouts out his own warnings, then turns to God with frustration because he feels that God doesn’t seem to be listening, leaving Habakkuk alone to make prophetic warning to the people without God’s assistance. God then responds, directing Habakkuk to write his vision down so clearly that a runner can read it while racing past.

First Reading (Track Two): Isaiah 1:1, 10-18

Isaiah’s great book of prophecy gets off to a fiery start, beginning with five chapters filled with God’s angry wrath before we even get to God’s call to the prophet. First we must clearly hear God’s anger over the people’s failure to keep the covenant that their ancestors made through Moses at Mount Sinai. We hear that wrath in today’s reading, as God likens Israel to Sodom and Gomorrah, a people so vile that God hates them and their works. But, as always, there is a way to restore God’s love: “Cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, and plead for the widow.”

Psalm 119:137-144

Psalm 119 turns up fairly often in the weekly Lectionary. The longest of all the Psalms, fully 176 verses long, we hear portions of it a dozen times through the three-year lectionary cycle. While it offers different poetry in every section, it remains true to its course as a long, loving celebration of God’s law. Today’s verses may have come as good advice to the people who heard Habakkuk’s prophecy: When trouble and distress come on God’s people, God’s law and teaching are our delight.

Psalm (Track Two): Psalm 32:1-8

Rebounding from the horrific notion of a God too angry to hear the people’s prayers or sacrifices, too outdone to give them even the least attention, our Psalm sings the joy that comes when the separation from God that results from sin is ended, replaced with the utter joy of knowing God’s forgiveness. No longer groaning with pain that feels like withered bones, the repentant sinner is now guarded against trouble and surrounded with shouts of deliverance.

Second Reading: 2 Thessalonians 1:1-4, 11-12

Today we begin a short visit with the second letter to the church of Thessalonika in Northern Greece. This letter probably came a generation after the first letter to the Thessalonians, perhaps around 100 CE, and it was probably written in Paul’s name by a follower long after his death. These early Christians were facing severe Roman persecution, and the letter opens with hearty thanks and gratitude for their steadfast faith despite all that they have had to endure.

Gospel: Luke 19:1-10

What’s this? Another tax collector? Last week we saw Jesus praising a tax collector for his humble prayer; and Jesus even called a tax collector, Matthew, as one of his apostles. The Pharisees often criticized Jesus for hanging around with prostitutes and tax-collectors – the most insulting occupations they could think of – because they traitorously sold their services to the hated Roman occupiers, and often used this position to enrich themselves. and now today we find Jesus shouting out to another tax collector, the diminutive Zacchaeus, who had climbed a tree the better to see him. Then Jesus invites himself to dinner at Zacchaeus’ house! Like the praying tax collector in last week’s Gospel, Zacchaeus earns salvation by following Jesus. The message, perhaps, is that if the worst person we can think of can earn redemption by walking in Jesus’ way, surely we all can.

Thoughts on Today’s Lessons for Oct. 23, 2016

The Pharisee and the Publican, baroque fresco in the 18th century Rococo Basilica at Ottobeuren, Bavaria.

We hear a consistent message of hope in our readings today. We hear it in the words of the Prophet Joel, whose short by poetic prophecy probably came after the people returned home from exile. His words of beauty offer comfort and hope: God is with us. Feast will follow famine. God loves us and the spirit will pour out on us. Even his scary prophecy of blood and fire and columns of smoke, darkened sun and bloody moon – apocalyptic images that New Testament writers would adopt to describe the last days – hold no fear for those who call on the name of the Lord.

First Reading (Track Two): Jeremiah 14:7-10,19-22

From Moses to Jonah, Job and beyond, the prophets are not loath to argue with God. The idea of mere mortals pushing back against the Divine might seem strange or even disturbing, but it is a powerful way to emphasize the importance of the prophet’s argument. Ultimately we hear a consistent message of hope in our readings today: Jeremiah acknowledges that the people have done wrong, but mounts a powerful argument that the God who made permanent covenant with the people should bring them back home even after they wandered and sinned.

Psalm 65

This Psalm of thanksgiving for earth’s bounty serves us doubly in this autumn season: It echoes Joel’s assurances that God will provide us life-giving rain and bountiful harvests even after times of trouble and sin. It musters beautiful images of nature and the harvest to depict God’s great bounty. These are words to hold in our hearts as autumn, Thanksgiving and the holiday seasons draw near.

Psalm (Track Two): Psalm 84:1-6

In poetic metaphors of birds finding safety in their nests, the Psalmist writes a hymn of trust and praise in a loving God who will protect the people and lead them home. God will watch over, favor and honor those who trust in God. As God provides nests for the small birds, so will God provide for us. As God makes pools of water available for thirsty travelers, so will God hear our prayers.

Second Reading: 2 Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18

The author of Timothy writes Paul’s last testament in beautiful, poetic words that ring through the ages. Knowing that Paul fought the good fight, finished the race, and kept the faith through trials and imprisonment would have been a source of strength to the people of a young church facing Roman persecution. Even when some believers were deserting the cause, this letter called the first Christians to stand strong, proclaim the good news to all the nations, and count on God’s strength and God’s protection.

Gospel: Luke 18:9-14

To clearly hear the message in today’s Gospel, remember that it follows immediately after last Sunday’s narrative about the corrupt judge and the persistent widow who would not leave him along until justice was served. It is good to read the two parables together to get a clear picture of what Jesus wants us to know about prayer. Like the powerful but corrupt judge who fails to prevail against the honest widow, the Pharisee in today’s Gospel fails to exalt himself, while the sinful tax collector went home justified … because his prayer was sincere. Pray without ceasing, but pray honestly, from the heart, and we follow in Jesus’ way.

Thoughts on Today’s Lessons for Oct. 16, 2016

The Judge and the Persistent Widow, Jan Luyken, 17th century woodcut.

Hear this call through Sunday’s readings: Place your hope in God, and even in the face of challenges, be persistent. Jeremiah again reassures Israel and Judah in exile: Yes, they fully deserved the hard times – the “sour grapes” that have befallen them. But, the prophet foretells, God will forgive the people, make with them a new covenant, and return them home, just as God led their ancestors out of slavery in Egypt.

First Reading (Track Two): Genesis 32:22-31

Hear this call through Sunday’s readings: Place your hope in God, and even in the face of challenges, be persistent. In today’s strange narrative from Genesis, Jacob fights to a draw in a night-long battle with an angel who doesn’t fight quite fairly, yet turns out to be God. This was shocking, because the mere sight of God’s face was believed to be fatal to humans. Not even Moses was allowed to see God face-to-face, but Jacob, now Israel, did.

Psalm 119:97-104

The longest of all the Psalms, Psalm 119 devotes all of its 176 verses to a long, loving celebration of the Torah, the first five books of the Bible. The ancients understood Torah as God’s “teaching,” but in translation it is usually rendered God’s “Law.” These verses speak of the people’s persistent efforts to study and learn until God’s teachings are written on their hearts in words as sweet as honey.

Psalm (Track Two): Psalm 121

This is one of the many Psalms that we love to hear when we or a loved one or friend is in trouble, afraid, looking for help, uncertain where to turn, seeking protection. The Psalmist, not afraid to call on God, cries out, “From where is my help to come?” We look upward, up to the hills, and find comfort in the sure protection of the Creator, who stands on constant watch, never sleeping, protecting us by night and day.

Second Reading: 2 Timothy 3:14 – 4:5

Written decades after the life of Jesus, this late New Testament letter offers hope and firm advice to a Christian community faced with persecution. It calls the people of the young church to “be persistent” about proclaiming the kingdom of God. In good times and hard times alike, they are to “convince, rebuke, and encourage” in the name of Jesus. Does this remind us of the persistent widow we meet in today’s Gospel?

Gospel: Luke 18:1-8

Luke often shows us Jesus slamming the rich and powerful with parables that burn: The dishonest steward! The rich man who died too soon to enjoy his barns full of treasure! The rich young man who couldn’t give away his property, even to save his soul! The rich man who burned in hell while the poor man he wouldn’t help in life now reposes in heavenly comfort! And now we see a corrupt and scheming judge confronted by a persistent widow who will not stop demanding until he finally caves in. What does this mean to us? Jesus tells us at the beginning and the end of today’s Gospel: Pray always and do not lose heart. God will grant justice to the chosen ones who pray by day and night.

Thoughts on Today’s Lessons for Oct. 9, 2016

“Jesus Healing the Leper,” Jean-Marie Melchior Doze, 1864

Whether our lives are going well or whether things are going badly, trust in God. Trust, and be thankful for God’s blessings. This is the theme that runs through all our readings today. We hear it in Jeremiah, as the prophet turns from anguish over Jerusalem’s destruction to quiet acceptance now that the worst has come. Don’t give up hope, he tells Judah in exile. Confront your new reality and try to flourish; bear children and multiply, and pray for your new home, because its welfare is now your welfare.

First Reading (Track Two): 2 Kings 5:1-14

Whether our lives are going well or whether things are going badly, trust in God. Trust, and be thankful for God’s blessings. This is the theme that runs through all our readings today. Naaman, a proud commander of the Aramean army, risks going to Israel, now an enemy nation, to visit a prophet who might cure his disfiguring disease. The Prophet Elisha wouldn’t even see Naaman. He sent a servant with advice that sounded too simple to be true. But when Naaman’s servants urged him give it a try, Naaman was cured; and through his cure he finds faith in Israel’s God.

Psalm 66:1-12

This resounding hymn of praise for God’s power and glory recalls God’s mighty deeds: God led the people out of Egypt, through the Red Sea and onward to the Promised Land. But then it takes a turn: God tests us, too, just as a jeweler tests silver with fire to prove its purity. As Judah learned through exile, God’s people may be conquered, but God will eventually restore and refresh us.

Psalm (Track Two): Psalm 111

The 150 Psalms, the hymnal of the ancient Temple, consist of many genres, from lament to complaint to petition to thanksgiving and praise. Today we hear a powerful song of praise and thanksgiving, applauding God’s many acts of power and majesty, God’s righteousness and justice, and, at the end, our praise and gratitude for God’s gifts to us.

Second Reading: 2 Timothy 2:8-15

The young, growing Christian movement faced frightening persecution by the Romans at the time of this letter. It was written in the names of Paul and Timothy as a call to faith. Recalling Paul’s suffering in chains in prison and facing death, the writer reminds us that God’s word cannot be held in chains. Remembering the death and resurrection of Jesus, we know that through dying with Jesus, we live in Christ.

Gospel: Luke 17:5-10

The Gospels give us a sense that Samaritans are bad, yet Jesus keeps showing us good Samaritans: In addition to the memorable parable of the Samaritan who stops to help the injured stranger, we have Jesus talking with the Samaritan woman at the well; and today we read about the single leper out of ten – a Samaritan, again – who returns to thank Jesus for his healing, and whose faith saved him not only from his affliction but opened for him the doors to the kingdom. There are fascinating parallels with the story of Namaan here: Jesus cures the lepers at a distance, without touching them, and his actions bring a despised foreigner to faith in God.

Thoughts on Today’s Lessons for Sept. 25, 2016

Illustration of Lazarus at the rich man’s gate by Fyodor Bronnikov, 1886.

Imagine yourself in a terrible situation of war and destruction, with enemies rounding you up with your family and friends. They’re destroying your city and your temple and preparing to transport you all to a distant city where you must live in exile among people who do not even worship as you do. Wouldn’t going down to the real estate agent to buy an agricultural field be just about the last thing you would do? Who would plow it, plant it, guard it, harvest it? But Jeremiah uses just this image as the people face exile, a powerful and visible sign that they will return home some day. Look up the rest of this chapter, and you’ll find beautiful Scriptural assurance that God remains faithful even in the worst of times.

First Reading (Track Two): Amos 6:1a, 4-7

Today’s readings hammer home a powerful message: The bible does not go easily on the rich! The Old Testament prophets consistently preached against those who “trample on the needy and bring to ruin the poor of the land.” As we heard from Amos last week, those who broke their covenant with God through failing to be just and righteous would not fare well. Today Amos warns that the idle rich – with emphasis on the “idle” – will be the first to go into exile when their greed comes home to roost. Amos is outraged because the rich don’t care about “the ruin of Joseph,” the ordinary people of Israel. As Jesus will teach in the parable of Lazarus and the rich man, we are commanded to love and take care of our neighbors.

Psalm 91:1-6, 14-16

Today’s Psalm seems perfectly suited to today’s Jeremiah reading. It is also a favorite for reading in chaplaincy, eucharistic visits, and any time we pray with a sick or suffering family member or friend. It assures us of God’s protection and mercy. God is our refuge and our stronghold, our shield and buckler and protective wings, guarding us by day and by night, delivering us because we are bound to God in love.

Psalm (Track Two): Psalm 146

Today’s Psalm shouts out praise for God’s desire for justice for the oppressed, just as Amos had scorned Israel’s rich for failing to be just. Don’t trust rulers – the wealthy – who cannot help us and thus do not earn eternal life. Rather, we are called to follow the example of a God who feeds the hungry, sets prisoners free, heals the blind, and loves the righteous who offer justice to their neighbors. We hear all this again in the words of Jesus, who shows us the image of God in human form.

Second Reading: 1 Timothy 6:6-19

The rich are commanded to care for their neighbors, as the prophets preached and Jesus calls us to do. “You can’t take it with you,” the author of Timothy reminds us, setting out this ancient wisdom: “The love of money is the root of all evil.” It’s appropriate for all to want food and clothing, but we get in trouble when we’re tempted by more luxurious pleasures. Don’t count on your riches but on God, the author urges. Do good, be rich in good works, and share, and new life in God’s Kingdom awaits.

Gospel: Luke 16:19-31

This Gospel appears at first to be a simple story with a clear point: The selfish rich man would do nothing to help his neighbor Lazarus; not even offer him table scraps or shoo the dogs who licked at his sores. He ignores Torah’s command and the prophets’ warnings to be just. When he dies, he burns in fiery torment in Hades, while Lazarus enjoys an afterlife of comfort in Abraham’s arms. But as so often happens in the parables, Jesus leaves us questions to ponder. Considering how the rich man treated Lazarus in life, why would he expect Lazarus to help him now? More mysteriously, why can’t the rich man’s brothers be warned of his fate so they can avoid similar punishment? Do today’s readings shed any light on this?

Thoughts on Today’s Lessons for Sept. 18, 2016

The Unjust Steward, etching by Jan Luyken in the Bowyer Bible (1791-1795), Bolton, England.

The prophet Jeremiah grieves, because the people are breaking God’s covenants: They’re not being righteous; they’re not caring for the poor, widows, orphans, or strangers in their land. And Jeremiah knows this will lead them to destruction and exile. In beautifully poetic words of sadness, the prophet mourns deeply, imagining God’s own mourning. “Is there no balm in Gilead?”

First Reading (Track Two): Amos 8:4-7

If any one message resounds loud, clear and consistently through all the prophets, it is this: The people made covenant with God to deal fairly with the hungry, the thirsty, the sick, aliens and and all in need. If we try to cheat on this agreement, trample the needy and ruin the poor in pursuit of profit, Amos warns, God will grow righteously angry, and the people will not like the consequences.

Psalm 79:1-9

Today’s Psalm mourns for desolate and shattered Jerusalem after the Exile, echoing Jeremiah’s weeping prophesy of the destruction that he saw coming. Jerusalem is rubble. The unburied bodies of martyred faithful are food for birds and beasts; their blood runs like water around the city. The people are the objects of scorn, and they feel only God’s fury blazing like fire. The Psalm ends with prayers for God’s mercy and forgiveness, but we don’t hear God’s answer here.

Psalm (Track Two): Psalm 113

Today’s Psalm of praise for God’s glory seems to answer the question that Amos raised in the First Reading: The Lord looks down from a seat high above the nations, sees humanity and gently reaches down to lift up the needy, the poor and the disappointed. Take care, however, not to read this as reason to leave the weak and the oppressed to God’s efforts. Amos has already told us what God thinks of that!

Second Reading: 1 Timothy 2:1-7

These verses tell us that there are four different ways to pray: Supplications (specific requests of God through Jesus as mediator between God and humankind); prayers (simple conversation with God); intercessions (calls for God’s help in urgent need); and finally, thanksgiving (expressing our gratitude for favors received). We should pray for everyone, family, friends and neighbors, and kings and leaders too, for high and low alike need God’s help, and God desires to bring everyone to the truth and salvation.

Gospel: Luke 16:1-13

Jesus’ parables often seem confusing, and that may be their point: Jesus does not spoon-feed us but rather makes us think; so when we finally get the point, we’ve learned something. In today’s Gospel, it might seem that Jesus is telling us that the dishonest steward’s trickery is a good thing. After all, the rich man rewards him! But remember that Jesus does not admire the rich. He usually holds them up as bad examples. Indeed, he hammers home his simple point: If you’re dishonest about wealth, you can’t be trusted with truly valuable things. We must choose between God and wealth. In Jesus’ mind, we can’t have both.

Thoughts on Today’s Lessons for Sept. 11, 2016

Parable of the Lost Coin, oil painting by James J. Tissot (French painter and illustrator, 1836-1902)

Last week’s reading from Jeremiah showed us a cosmic potter breaking an unsatisfactory vessel and starting it over, an image of God’s anguish over a chosen people gone badly wrong. Now we page back in the prophet’s book to find a righteously angry God who might remind us of a loving parent brought to rope’s end by misbehaving children. “My people are foolish … they are stupid children … they have no understanding.” God’s anger, the prophet warns the people, can have deadly consequences.

First Reading (Track Two): Exodus 32:7-14

When Moses was high up on the cloudy top of Mount Sinai, the people below were afraid, so they created and worshiped an idol, a golden calf. As today’s reading begins, we see a righteously angry God, who is prepared to kill all the people and start over again, making a new nation not from the descendants of Abraham but those who will descend from Moses. But when Moses pushes back, recalling God’s covenant with Abraham’s family and their long journey out of Egypt, God shows mercy and relents.

Psalm 14

Today’s Psalm clearly echoes Jeremiah’s vision of God’s impatient anger with a troublesome people. Jeremiah’s angry words about stupidity and foolishness are repeated in the Psalmist’s scorn for fools, corrupt people and doers of abominable deeds. Yet at the end, the Psalm gives hope: God will ultimately restore their fortunes amid gladness and rejoicing.

Psalm (Track Two): Psalm 51: 1-10

Today’s Psalm imagines the guilt and shame of King David, who had sent his loyal soldier Uriah to certain death in battle in order to cover up David’s adulterous affair with Uriah’s wife, Bathsheba. This Psalm imagines David’s repentant cry after the prophet Nathan shocked the king into recognizing his great sin.

Second Reading: 1 Timothy 1:12-17

The two short letters to Timothy near the end of the New Testament are understood as letters of pastoral advice. Scholars nowadays recognize them as having been written in Paul’s name generations later, in a second-century time when the early church was becoming more institutionalized and conservative. Nevertheless, today’s reading seems fully consistent with the original Paul’s love of Jesus as our savior who offers us eternal life.

Gospel: Luke 15:1-10

Luke’s gospel makes us think, with two short parables that liken God’s care for “sinners” to people who lose important things – a sheep from a flock, and a silver coin. The search for each lost item is intent and fierce. When the objects are found, the abundant joy of thanksgiving seems almost over the top considering the size of the loss … until we measure it in love. Turn the page at the end of this reading and we find yet another familiar story of loss, recovery and celebration: The Prodigal Son.

Thoughts on Today’s Lessons for Sept. 4, 2016

Orthodox icon of St. Onesimus, the subject of Paul’s letter to Philemon. Onesimus is recognized as a saint in the Roman Catholic and many Orthodox traditions.

Our first reading and Gospel today might seem to turn our ideas of a protective God and a peaceful Jesus upside down. Here, God shows Jeremiah an artisan, a creator, who fashions pots from clay and who is not reluctant to smash and re-make an unsatisfactory creation. If the people of Judah and the residents of Jerusalem do not turn back from their evil ways, God, like a cosmic potter, will shape evil against the people and bring disaster upon them.

First Reading (Track Two): Deuteronomy 30:15-20

The chosen people, looking back on 40 years wandering in the wilderness, have finally reached the banks of the Jordan. Before they make their fateful crossing into the promised land, Moses gathers them all and reminds them of the covenant they made with God when they received the Ten Commandments at Sinai: If you love God, walk in God’s ways, and follow God’s laws, you will prosper. But turn away from God and you will lose the land and God’s blessings.

Psalm 139:1-5, 12-17

God knows us as intimately as the potter knows his clay. God knows our every thought, whatever we are doing, wherever we are, the Psalmist sings; God knows every word that we speak and every idea that we imagine. Even before we were born, God knew us. This Psalm neither gives explicit thanks for God’s deep knowledge of our every moment nor imagines how this knowledge affects our daily lives. No, the mere fact of God’s knowing us is sufficient in itself.

Psalm (Track Two): Psalm 1

The first of the 150 ancient hymns that make up the glorious book of Psalms sets forth a premise that will continue throughout: Those who choose to follow God’s laws, God’s teaching, will be as strong and prosperous as trees growing by rivers, fruitful and long-lived. Those who follow wicked ways will perish, blown away like dead leaves and the chaff of wheat. This is a simple restatement of the covenant of Sinai that the people heard on the banks of Jordan in our first reading.

Second Reading: Philemon 1-21

Today we hear almost all of Paul’s brief letter to Philemon. This may be the shortest epistle in the New Testament, but it has borne heavy historic weight, as it was sadly misunderstood for centuries as giving biblical approval to slavery. We might wish that Paul had given a more powerful argument against slavery; but he does what he can in the cultural context of his times, gently guiding the slave holder Philemon to a deeper truth as his runaway slave Onesimus, Paul’s friend, returns to his master: Among Christians, even slaves are more than slaves; they are beloved brothers and sisters in the flesh and in the Lord, and should be greeted with love.

Gospel: Luke 14:25-33

Tension is rising as Jesus continues his journey toward Jerusalem and the cross. The crowds that have been following him since he set his face toward Jerusalem are growing larger and more excited, and we’ll soon learn that the Romans and Temple leaders are nervous about this uproar headed toward the capital at Passover. Jesus wants the crowd to know that it will not be easy to follow him on this journey. Do we really have to “hate” our families and give up everything we have to follow Jesus? Don’t start a job that we can’t finish, Jesus warns. We have to follow him with our whole hearts, not just halfway.

Thoughts on Today’s Lessons for Aug. 28, 2016

Roman Fresco of a dinner, excavated from Pompeii.

Young Jeremiah has now put on the prophet’s cloak. He stands up to announce God’s words in an anguished reverie that we might imagine from a loving but disappointed parent of a child gone terribly wrong. What did God do wrong, that these once chosen people have become worthless? Did they forget that God led them from slavery through the wilderness to a fruitful land that they now have spoiled? They have forsaken God’s living water and built cracked cisterns that can no longer slake their spiritual thirst.

First Reading (Track Two): Proverbs 25:6-7

Pick up your bible some time and skim through the book of Proverbs. You’ll be amazed at the sometimes very modern nuggets of wisdom that emerge. Tradition attributes Proverbs to King Solomon, but modern theologians understand it as a broad collection of some 500 small gems of ancient wisdom about life, love and morals. Today’s very brief reading foreshadows Jesus’ parable in today’s Gospel from Luke: “… all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

Psalm 81:1,10-16

This resounding hymn of praise seems to reflect Jeremiah’s words: We sing with joy to God who is our strength, and we remember God bringing the people out of slavery and feeding them abundantly. But the people were stubborn, did not listen, and God allowed them to go their own way. Now we hear a grieving God, who would feed and nurture the people again, if only they would return.

Psalm (Track Two): Psalm 112

Today’s Psalm harmonizes with our First Reading and Gospel in its reflection on God’s covenants with Abraham and Moses. We are called to follow God’s commandments to be just, to serve our neighbors, share our wealth and provide for the poor. By living generously in this way, with right hearts and trust in God, we can be secure and live without fear.

Second Reading: Hebrews 13:1-8, 15-16

Our four-week visit with Hebrews concludes with beautiful, poetic words describing the generosity of a Christian life rooted in the hospitality that the patriarch Abraham showed his angelic visitors in the desert: Love one another as God loves us, and remember to do good, to share with one another, to live simply and shun riches, and to hold hospitality as a virtue.

Gospel: Luke 14:1, 7-14

Like so many of Jesus’ parables, this one seems to have an obvious, simple, message … and then a sudden turn challenges us. Its simple message makes common sense: Don’t assume that the host is saving the seat of honor for you, or you might face public humiliation when you are told to move down. Choose a humble place, and be honored if the host encourages you to take a better seat. And then we hear the rest of the story: Jesus would have us invite not the wealthy but the “least of these.” Poor, disabled and oppressed guests might not be able to repay us with wealth and trinkets, but we’ll earn a greater reward at the end.