Claimed, gathered and sent

This is the sermon I preached on Sunday, 8/28/22 at St. Timothy Lutheran Church . The gospel text was Luke 14:1, 7-14 .  Jesus continues his journey to Jerusalem to the cross. Along the way, he has altercations with the religious leaders, hence, “they were watching him closely.” “They” were those religious leaders of the day who were waiting for Jesus to make a misstep.  Jesus was not simply invited to eat at the home of a friend. This was no simple meal. The Greek shows us that it was a lavish affair—hence the jockeying for position at the table. The closer you sat to the host, the greater your importance. There were no place cards. You just can’t take Jesus anywhere without there being a scene. As Jesus arrives at this lavish dinner party, Luke describes the scene as if we were seeing it through Jesus’ eyes. Can you imagine Jesus walking in and slowly taking in the setting—the extravagance, the opulence, the rich and famous, and a few poorer folks? There was likely plenty of...

This is the sermon I preached on 8/28 at St. Timothy and St. Mark Lutheran churches. The text was Luke 14:1, 7-14 . Are we all familiar with Tupperware? We all know how Tupperware is sold. Someone has a party and invites friends to come to the party and buy stuff. Have you ever been to a Tupperware party? What are your two biggest fears about going to a Tupperware party? The first is that you’re going to be asked to hold your own party and the second is that you know everyone who is at the party is going to have their own Tupperware party later on and you’re going to be invited. Although Jesus is not talking about Tupperware in today’s gospel, he does talk about parties and whom to invite and whom not to invite. And where do we find Jesus in today’s gospel? We find him attending a meal.  Much of the action in Luke’s gospel takes place around meals. Jesus is either going to a meal, at a meal, or coming from a meal. Jesus always appears to be eating. He’d fit right...