the kingdom rules
During my vacation this summer, I had the chance to visit the Hearst Castle for the first time. Any of you been there? It’s extraordinary isn’t It?! Mr. Hearst, as it was explained to us on the tour, loved to play host. He loved to invite all sorts of famous and glamorous figures spend time with him on “the ranch” as he called it. And so whenever he was in residence, he would send open invitations to important figures around the country, asking them to spend time with him at the ranch. On the tour, we got to see the grand dining room where Mr. Hearst would dine with all of his guests. So picture this: a large, rectangular room with truly cathedral ceilings decorated in a medieval English style – dark wood paneling, flags containing various crests hanging from the walls, a balcony overlooking the dining room where the musicians would serenade the guests from above. And of course there was a very long, slender table in the middle of Mr. Hearst’s dining room. For those of you who have seen the Harry Potter movie, the refectory in the movie is modeled after the Hearst dining room. Now as legend has it, there was a whole hierarchy to this dinner table. Mr. Hearst would sit in the center of the table. Next to him would sit the guests that had arrived that day at the ranch. After that, your skills as an interesting conversationalist determined how close you would side to the host. Those people who turned out to be boring at the dinner table were pushed to outer edges. Those who had overstayed their welcome at the ranch would also find themselves at the extremes of the table.
It strikes me that Mr. Hearst’s idea of hospitality is quite opposite of what we read about it today’s Gospel. Meals in the Gospel of Luke, were considered sacred moments – they were as much about feeding the soul as they were about feeding the body. In this Gospel passage, Jesus finds himself once again in the presence of the Pharisees, for whom he often has some harsh words. The Pharisees, of course, know this and so they were “watching him closely” as the text says – waiting for Jesus to violate a rule so that they could call him on it. The dinner table and seating arrangements, as we learn, are as much laden with politics then as they are today. Just think today of how we love to position ourselves to get the best seats in the house – whether it’s at a sporting event, a concert or a dinner party. But Jesus has another rationale in mind and urges his guests (and us) to adopt a new set of rules – “kingdom rules” we might call them.
The first goes something like this: be humble, don’t claw your way to sit in the places of honor, choose a place instead of modesty. This Kingdom rule is perhaps more radical than it seems from the outset. When people choose modesty, what happens? The power dynamic of the whole system is reordered. What would have happened if Mr. Hearst’s dinner guests adopted this stance??? His well-orchestrated hierarchy at the dinner table would have collapsed.
A friend of mine will be giving a children’s sermon on Leona Hemsley (and her dog) and DJ Lemieux, a kid from Calvary Church, Danvers (MA), who raised $2,289.65 to help orphans with AIDS this morning. She’ll be showing the kids pictures of the folks and then pointing out that the according to the world’s standards, Hemsley is exaulted, because the world shows more respect to the rich person first than the poor person, or especially a kid. But in God’s Kingdom, it’s the person whom the world deems humble who is exaulted – someone like the kid who raised money for AIDS orphans.
The second Kingdom rule that Jesus gives to us this morning is about blessing --the idea that a person will be blessed – a person receives blessings from God when he or she is a gracious host, welcoming in someone with whom he or she may not normal dine and someone who cannot possibly repay the dept.
This kingdom rule calls to mind the New Sanctuary Movement. You many have heard news about the New Sanctuary Movement in the press lately. Yes – no? The New Sanctuary Movement draws on the biblical texts of Leviticus that say that when someone is being unjustly treated, he or she may run to the temple and seek refuge in the sanctuary. In the 1970s, when survivors of political torture and persecution in Central America came to the United States to seek refuge and our immigration systems was not equipped to give them asylum, faith communities dedicated themselves to housing some of these immigrants who risked being deported back to a place where they lives were at risk. The New Sanctuary Movement draws attention to our broken immigration system. A new network of churches and synagogues are providing sanctuary to people who have lived and worked in the United States for years, people whose children are American citizens and whose only family, in some cases, reside in this country. St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Long Beach is one such church in our diocese that offered sanctuary to a young women named Liliana for three months this summer. Liliana is from Mexico. Her husband and three children are American citizens. Here family is here in the United States. Several months ago, ICE came to Liliana’s home in Santa Paula to deport her. She was breastfeeding her 6 month old Pablito at the time and begged them to return the next day so that she could make arrangements for her deportation and say good bye to her children. The following day, Liliana sought sanctuary, first in the home of a Catholic deacon, and next at St. Luke’s in Long Beach. This past week as you may have heard in the local news, Liliana moved to the UCC Church of Simi Valley where she will seek sanctuary for the next several months and where her family will be able to visit her more frequently. Liliana is not alone in her story – her witness has been lifted up in a very public way -- her story is a window into the reality of many families who live in this country. And for the faith communities who will grant sanctuary to the Lilianas of our country, their act of public hospitality is exactly what Jesus talks about when he says to the Pharisees and to us --- that we are to seek out those people who will never be able to repay our hospitality. The faith communities supporting Liliana provide her shelter, meals, visitors come and talk to her and help her with English during the day. That sort of generosity and hospitality cannot be repaid – nor does it need to be repaid, because it is about humanity reaching out the humanity so that families can stay together and American children can be given a chance at a better life. “And you will be blessed,” Jesus says, “for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”
The second lesson from Hebrews details the ways in which we can come to live by the Kingdom rules: Let mutual love continue, don’t forget to show hospitality to strangers, remember those in prison, honor your marriage and intimate relationship for God will judge those who engage in sleazy elicit relations and those who are not honest in a relationship, keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what your have. It’s an eerily contemporary message – some timeless words. As is God’s assurance that follows: “I will never leave you or forsake you.”
I wonder some nights how it must feel for the handful of individuals seeking sanctuary around the country as evening approaches and another day come to an end. They are living away from their families, unless they are like Liliana whose American born infant son lives with her so that she may nurse him. Every night these people go to bed knowing full well that ICE could come in the night and taken them away. Every time their families do come to visit, they can’t for sure know that they will still be there for the next scheduled visit. They know not how long they will be in sanctuary. Most likely it will be a long time before they immigration system is reformed. They do know that were they to leave sanctuary, it would be nearly impossible to live in anonymity. They now not how long they will continue to rely on generosity that is beyond repayment.
We do not know much about our lives and our futures. But we do know what is asked of us today by Jesus. So let’s remember those heroes who loved God and their neighbor. Let’s imitate those who exercise their humility through their love of God and the love of others. And let us also remember that no matter what happens, we do know that God will never leave or forsake us and that we can say with confidence “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can anyone do to me?”
Amen.
The Rev. Nicole S. Janelle
St. Michael’s, Isla Vista
