Welcoming the Unwelcome-able: Transformation 101
A sermon preached by Thomas J. Boone, PhD
Central Presbyterian Church, Mobile, September 2, 2007
Luke 14:1, 7-14

“All who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.” On the surface, Jesus’ words are unequivocal and harsh. Jesus isn’t interested in a bunch of followers who stick to their comfort zones, or who do their best to avoid the world. Jesus wants followers who stay connected to the world, because how else will people know that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life? How else will a world darkened by sin know what the light of Christ is unless we walk in the midst of darkness and bear His light to it?

On the surface, it’s not a terribly difficult thing to apply this parable once we overcome the discomfort. There’s a church that has taken this parable to heart in its literal sense. It’s a church that from the outside you wouldn’t be able to know that on the inside is a daily ministry to meeting physical needs of homeless or people estranged from family. At first it looks like just one of the several other larger churches in the area. But, you’d not realize from the outside that on the inside is a paid staff member to tend to the needs of those humbled by life. You’d not know that on Sunday there’s a service designed to bring light to those who live in darkness, and don’t speak the language of other Christians, unless you saw the modest sign “No perfect people allowed.”

You’ve probably guessed by now that I’m talking about you. There’s a lot going on here that you can feel great about. Sure, maybe not everything’s finished or pretty, but if you step back a bit you’d see that you’re adhering to the challenge of this parable. Are there things to improve? Absolutely, but at least I’m not here challenging you to open the door to the needy. At last I’m not reading this parable to challenge you to step up to the challenges of front lines ministry to the impoverished. You’re on the front lines and have embraced it with your budget. Each of you has taken steps beyond your comfort zones to do what Jesus is challenging us to do here. On the surface level of this parable, you’ve done much as a church to fulfill what Jesus is talking about, and that’s a great thing.

Yet, it’s important to remember that Jesus’ parables often spoke on two different levels: one obvious, or literal, and the other not so obvious. The literal challenge of the parable is to be humble enough to include in your midst those people who can’t repay you, further your career, and who will push you beyond your comfort zones. But there’s another sense to what Jesus is saying here, and its on this level that Jesus’ words strike deep in our hearts where transformation means surrendering much more than some food or money to a group of strangers.

Mother Teresa, whom I think we can respect as an authority on ministry among the people Luke’s describing, said, “Being unwanted, unloved, uncared for, forgotten by everybody is a much greater hunger, a much greater poverty than the person who has nothing to eat.” Being an underdog isn’t just about being impoverished physically. “There is more hunger for love and appreciation in this world than for bread” (Mother Teresa). Being deprived of love and appreciation is a far greater misery than poverty. So, the other question that Jesus asks us to ponder is this: Who is the person whom God uses to challenge you to keep a God-perspective about life rather than to accept the topsy-turvy one that the world touts?

To focus on the social justice aspect of this parable is to miss its depth. Jesus didn’t try to raise the poor up from their physical condition or use them to launch political campaigns. Rather, Jesus wanted to restore hearts to God, and it’s to this ministry that we’ve been called. Jesus’ passion was that each person’s spiritual condition be transformed, whether they were impoverished physically or not, because everyone faces spiritual impoverishment without the Lord. This is the true challenge this parable offers to us. Jesus wants us to look at the state of impoverishment that exists in everyone, and then humbly minister to it.

It’s like the mother who was faced with an awkward situation created by her daughter’s marriage. The daughter’s father wanted to be part of the wedding even though for years he hadn’t offered any support. He didn’t even know the guy she was marrying, but out of obligation the daughter felt she needed to let her father know about the wedding. When she told him by email, he called and insisted on being part of it all by giving her away. Totally inappropriate, because the daughter wanted the mother to give her away. The daughter and mother agreed not to create a scene, so the father walked his daughter whom he had not supported down the aisle. I wish I could say that act generated a series of reconciliatory words and acts, but it didn’t. The father got drunk at the wedding party and left like a stammering fool. Jesus’ parable doesn’t promise us that we’ll get anything in return in this life if we invite to the table those who won’t repay us with kindness.

Why would Jesus challenge us to a ministry directed not to our friends and colleagues, but to those who won’t or maybe can’t appreciate it? I guess the question could be put another way and maybe help us get the point a bit more clearly. How many of us truly appreciate what Jesus’ ministry to us has done ultimately? If we believe Paul’s statement that “all have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory,” then there’s not a one of us that deserves to be in the Lord’s company come Judgment Day. Jesus’ parable is simply a way of keeping us honest, because none of us really “deserves” what the Lord has given us. So who are we to deny love, compassion, justice, or encouragement to others based on our earthly sense of what makes someone worthy or not?

At the start of any transformation is the moment that someone realizes his or her perspective may be deficient. An alcoholic will never change until she realizes that she’s an alcoholic. An abuser will never stop abusing until he realizes that he is the one with the problem. When we accept the unacceptable, when we reach out to the unreachable, that’s the moment of our transformation. It’s really not about them; it’s about the condition of our own hearts.

So what are some ways we can take this parable to heart beyond it’s obvious application to social justice? I know I’ve gone to the Mother Theresa bank a couple of times already, but here’s another thing she said. “Everybody today seems to be in such a terrible rush, anxious for greater developments and greater riches and so on, so that children have very little time for their parents. Parents have very little time for each other, and in the home begins the disruption of peace of the world.”

In many ways, Jesus’ parable in Luke brings us back to what I was talking about last week: courageous love. Husbands, have you taken care lately to make sure that your wife is the top dog in your own home? Wives, does your attentiveness to the daily routine include that man you said ‘I do’ to before God at the altar? Parents, is there a child in your home who has become an underdog due to a lack of attention on your part? If we have underdogs in our homes then it’s time to make a change, and changing things at home is as hard as it gets.

Another application to consider is the scope of the challenge. Jesus doesn’t expect us to extinguish all poverty or oppression because it’s not in our power to do so, it’s only in His power that all things will be made right. Likewise, if you struggle with the concept that God wants to transform an undeserving heart every bit as much as He wants to transform yours, then consider yourself initiated into the everyday life of a Jesus-follower. When I was in seminary, I did an internship with a Scottish pastor who told me, “Tom, if you’re finding the way to be easy that’s a sure sign you’re going the wrong way.” If we’re doing things from God’s point of view then we’re going to be going against the grain on earth. I didn’t realize how true this was until my daughter’s move to Mobile. But the spiritual lesson I learned from that and what one vital point of this parable brings to light is that without God nothing is possible, and with God everything’s in play.

If anger, bitterness, bad memories, fear, or any sort of pain is too thick for us to see through then we need to surrender it to God over and over again until He’s removed it in His good time. Jesus’ challenge to us is not to let the mal-effects of sin destroy us. Instead, we are to let peace, love, justice, and compassion rule our hearts out of a deep sense of thanksgiving to a God without Whom we would be completely lost as well. We invite the unwelcome to our table not because they deserve it, but because we’ve dined unmerited with the King of Glory.

John Piper wrote a poem for his wife, Noel, that brings Jesus’ challenge to us out in another way. He wrote:

I am a Christian hedonist

Because I know that if I kissed

My wife simply because it’s right

And not because it’s my delight

It would not honor her so well.

With pleasures I will praise Noel

And I will magnify my wife

By making her my joy in life (Desiring God, 29)

Is Christianity your pleasure, or your duty? While we may agree with the world that it’s our duty to give every person some degree of respect simply because she or he is human, that’s not what makes us different as Christ-followers. Jesus’ challenge to us is to turn the world’s topsy-turvy understanding of philanthropy on its head. As hard as it is to admit, Christ loves our bitterest enemies as much as He loves us. He died for them every bit as much as He died for us. In that knowledge we stand greatly humbled, and pray that one day we’ll be able to invite that person to the table, for then we’ll know we’ve been transformed from the inside out. And the promise of Scripture is that heaven waits for those who’ve been transformed. Hallelujah. Amen.