Orthodox
“One Sabbath, when Jesus was going to the house of a leader of the Pharisees to eat a meal, the guests were watching closely.” — Luke 14:1
Many of you, perhaps most of you, know Bonnie and I moved here from the State of Maine and were welcomed by the people of Chenango county fourteen years ago. When we moved here Bonnie decided she wanted to reacquaint herself with the game of golf.
You see, she had learned how to golf when she was a teen, played a lot in her twenties and early thirties and is, therefore, very good at it. If she does not break 100, it’s not just that she’s disappointed; for her 100 or over is an abnormal score. She will sometimes even break 90. (And, for those of you unfamiliar with the game, that is good.)
But she made a basic mistake when she married me. She did not first ask if I was a golfer. I was not. So, having married me, that was one way we were not able to share time together. As a consequence, her game started to become neglected.
But she did want to play, so once we moved to Norwich she made golfing more of a project. And I was a part of that project. I was going to learn how to play. All of which is to say, about 13 years ago, I took up the game.
Now, to be clear. Even now, these 13 years after taking up the game, I am an awful golfer. I am just terrible, despite Bonnie’s sound tutelage and encouragement.
In fact, I have never outplayed Bonnie. She always plays better than I do. But why would I want to better her? Can you imagine that headline in the newspaper? “Pastor Beats Wife.” That wouldn’t look good, would it?
Now, as poorly as I play the game, I really, really like it. And I like to play it right. What you may or may not know, is there is a lot to learn about the game of golf besides just hitting the ball. One of the prime aspects of the game, something Bonnie taught me, is called golf etiquette, the manners one maintains on the course.
Among these customs are: the player with the lowest score on the previous hole in a round tees off on the next hole first. In the fairway or on the green, the player closest to the hole shoots last. Finally, on the green, one does not step into or onto the imaginary line between the ball of another player and the hole.
You see, when someone walks on a green with spikes, standard footwear when golfing, small holes are left in the grass, in the turf. So, the surface on the grass is made a little more rough when players walk on it.
Now, this last one about not stepping in between the ball and the hole is meant to allow the ball a smoother path to the hole after it is hit than it would have had if these little holes not were left in the grass. Of course, if you’re playing at five in the afternoon, it’s likely dozens of people have walked in that line between the hole and the ball. Still, it is simply common courtesy to not walk in the line of another player. (Slight pause.)
And these words are from the Gospel known as Luke: “One Sabbath, when Jesus was going to the house of a leader of the Pharisees to eat a meal, the guests were watching closely.” (Slight pause.)
I give titles to all my sermons even when, like this morning here in North Guilford, the title is not published. While doing field work at Bangor Seminary, giving a sermon a title is something I was encouraged to do by one of the pastors with whom I studied. It does help me, I think, focus on what I want to say. The title of this one is Orthodox.
And, indeed, I want to raise the question: ‘what is orthodox?’ And I want to raise that question in the context of the people watching Jesus and watching Jesus in this particular setting, that of a meal.
Eating is essential for life. But a dinner with guests is of social importance and in this era it was an occasion to which people of one’s own class were invited. So, there is an sharing of values and ideas, a settled and agreed upon etiquette, rules being illustrated, just in having a meal, a little like there is a settled etiquette, a set of rules, on the golf course.
In the settled rules of guests at the meal we hear about in this story, the status and rank of individuals are legitimatized by their inclusion in the guest list and their location on the seating chart. Since meals had important social implications for this era and place, for those who first heard or read the words of this narrative— this story which contained a meal— those who first read or heard the words of this narrative would also have taken the meal as a symbol for the in-breaking of God, the anticipated rule of God.
Now, we will celebrate the Sacrament of the table today. Hence, we need to see this celebration in the same way those in New Testament times saw it: as a foretaste of the eternal time when we are in the presence of God.
So, as to that term orthodox: what does orthodox mean? According to the dictionary, it means adhering to the accepted or traditional and established faith, especially in religion.
So, indeed, some might take orthodox to simply mean following the rules, a little like not stepping in the line of a ball on the green. But does it really mean following the rules? And, if so, what was Jesus doing?
After all, Jesus does a number of things that don’t follow the established rules of the game. With everyone watching, Jesus heals on the Sabbath. That’s against the rules.
Then, with everyone watching, Jesus tells the parable about who sits where at the table. Since the rules of this era state that the status and rank of individuals are legitimatized by their inclusion in the guest list and by their location on the seating chart, this kind of social occasion is the power lunch of the era.
But Jesus says the table and, by extension, the Dominion of God, is not about who has power. Jesus suggests the rules they go by are wrong since they are about power.
Jesus then proposes inviting a different group to the next “power lunch”— those who are poor, those who have physical infirmities, those who cannot see. These are not only beyond the categories of family, friends and rich neighbors usually invited to the table. These are, by Jewish law, the unclean. Hence, what Jesus proposes is a social system without reciprocity, without payback. (Slight pause.)
So, what are the rules? What does it mean to be orthodox? I think, in the eyes of Jesus, to be orthodox means loving God and loving neighbor. Those are the rules, the etiquette, which need to be followed. Does what Jesus says make those who heard it uncomfortable? Yes.
That having been said, as we gather at the table, let us remember not just those who are here. Let us remember all those who might feel excluded in our midst.
Please notice, I did not say let us remember all those whom we might exclude. I am not saying we might exclude anyone.
I am saying let us remember all those who might, for whatever reason, feel excluded. What I am saying is their feeling is not their problem. Their feeling is our problem. And does that make us feel uncomfortable?
We do need to remember, we are brothers and sisters of everyone in the remembrance we call the Sacrament of the Table. Hence we need to follow the etiquette of love Jesus espouses. And that etiquette says we need to not just welcome the outcast. We need to stand in solidarity with the outcast. Amen.
North Guilford, New York (A Summer Church)
08/29/2010
ENDPIECE: It is the practice of the Pastor to speak after the Closing Hymn, but before the Benediction. This, then, is an précis of what the pastor said before the blessing: “Organized religion often stresses ritual at the expense of justice. But Jesus took as radical a stand as anyone ever did and found the essence of the ancestral religion he practiced known as Judaism in morality. Jesus denounced the fusion of attention simply rites or rules while being indifference to justice as an abomination. Jesus also suggested that rites, unlike justice, were dispensable.”
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