Jeremiah 2:4-13, Hebrews 13:1-8 and Luke 14:7-14
You may note the reference to the long running TV series in the sermon title. Although, that show on the “rich and famous” is long gone, there is no lack of current programming to remind us that some are rich and famous and most of the world is not!
The first century church was not so much a movement of poor and marginalized Jews but an awakening to God’s call upon ALL people to see what was happening in the life of the carpenter rabbi from Nazareth. He ate with sinners but also dined in the homes of the moneyed religious. He could be found “mixing” with everyone under the sun!
In the passage from Luke, Jesus makes it clear that a change in the ways “social classes” should relate was to be a mark of being a disciple of Jesus! The social walls were to come tumbling down. Again there are echoes of the prophets such as Jeremiah in this new announcement of the very present Kingdom of God.
Social, ethnic, religious, and economic barriers still separate people, but the church is always aspiring to overcome that which divides us because of human failures in loving and sharing as God would have us to love and share.
Jesus is the real “standard” for measuring who is “rich” and “famous.” Hebrews celebrates what has happened in Jesus Christ and sets out to remind us of the incredible change now brought forth in our relating to God and neighbor, and even how we see ourselves in light of the New Creation, a New Covenant, and a New “Me and You!”
Pull up a chair at the table and make welcome everyone and without partiality! And think about where you will sit!
Pastor Barry