Domes - Our Monthly Newsletter
Dunbar UCC
September 2, 2007
Luke 14:1, 7-14
Good Manners
- I was at Price Rite the other day. A man was putting lettuce up and talking to someone in Spanish. Another man stopped and said to him, “This is America -- speak English!” The worker said his was sorry, and continued putting up lettuce.
- Jesus didn’t speak the official language of his country either. He was a Jew who lived in Israel, but he spoke Aramaic, the language of northern Syria. Maybe Jesus had Jews come to him and say: “You’re in Israel -- speak Hebrew!”
- But if they did, I don’t think Jesus would have cared. He wasn’t interested in language or customs or laws. On just about every page of the gospels he’s breaking a law. In our reading today, where Jesus was a dinner guest at the home of a leader of the Pharisees -- he broke a law, right there at the home of the law-maker! He healed a man, and it was the Sabbath. And usually he didn’t wash his hands before he ate. So here he was at the home of a man who helped to make the laws -- and Jesus was breaking them. Then he insulted the host by telling him that he invited the wrong guests. Told him he should have invited the poor, the blind and the lame -- beggars -- people who couldn’t repay the favor.
- No wonder Jesus was usually seen eating with prostitutes, thieves and sick people. The respectable citizens didn’t invite him because he had such bad manners. Why?
- Because he didn’t care about the language a person spoke, or the style of their clothing, or whether they were using the right fork at the dinner table. I’m still not sure -- do you begin your eating with the fork closest to the plate, or farthest? And did you know that you’re not supposed to open your napkin until the host opens theirs? And how many of you put your elbows on the table when you eat -- or talk when you have food in your mouth? That’s not good manners! But I’ll tell you -- I don’t think Jesus cares what we’re doing with our elbows when we eat -- or whether we’re using our napkin to politely dab our mouths or blowing our nose with it. He doesn’t care. He doesn’t care if you eat your salad with your spoon! Go ahead!
- But does it bother you when you see a person who doesn’t have enough to eat? Does your heart ache when you see a family living in a shelter? Are you kind to people who are not kind to you? Do you love your enemies? Do you support peace, and not war? Do you hate torture, especially when your own country is using it?
- Jesus didn’t care about good manners, but he wants us to cultivate a good heart. There is nothing better, in this life, than to have a good heart.