A look at the gaps in the lectionary.
This week: the gap between Proper 16C and Proper 17C.
The text: Luke 13:18-14:6
Jesus’s trip to the synagogue last week introduces an interesting power dynamic. Jesus heals a woman, knowing he’s not supposed to. Today, if Jesus were a priest in The Episcopal Church, he’d be subject to disciplinary proceedings.
And the leader of the synagogue appeals directly to the people. It’s a pretty astounding moment if you can imagine it. I can see a man leaping up to tell the people don’t do this!
And the this in question is healing on the Sabbath.
It’s important to remember that Jesus says that healing on the Sabbath fulfills the Sabbath’s nature. Because the people erupt in support of Jesus. Today we might say that they are “voting with their feet” because the crowd loves what Jesus is preaching.
Then he turns and says something akin to let me tell ya about the kingdom.
What is the Kin-dom?
Jesus uses two similes to describe the kingdom of God. It is like a mustard seed and it is like yeast. These aren’t parables, but comparisons. This is what the kingdom is like: something that grows improbably.
He has literally just healed a woman in the middle of the synagogue and said this is what the Sabbath is. Then suddenly he’s comparing the kingdom to a mustard seed. But it’s not like he’s been preaching about the kingdom for 25 minutes already.
He showed them the kingdom and then told them what it is like. But in this sequence he’s never actually said what the kingdom is.
The Narrow Door
Now Jesus moves on, “through one town and village after another, teaching as he made his way to Jerusalem.” (v. 22)
And it is along this way that he teaches about “the narrow door.”
The Narrow Door is a fascinating, counter-intuitive teaching.
Jesus is asked if only some people get in. And Jesus’s response at first sounds like a “yes.” But then ends with a widening vision of everybody in the world getting in. So which is it?
I think the two essential words in the story (vv. 22-30) are “strive” and “come”. They tie this narrow door to action, rather than a metaphysical certainty. What appears to be a “yes” is more like a redirect to what is the more pertinent question. Much like he said in an earlier teaching (12:22-40) the focus isn’t a permanent metaphysical rule determining who gets in and who is left out because of some grand design—the focus is urgent and in the present.
Each of these statements from Jesus feel more and more like Jesus responding to the question “does everybody get in?” by saying, Knowing the answer to that question is meaningless if you don’t have an answer to this question. Do you want in? If the answer is “yes” then hop to it!
The Lament
This section is a pretty rich moment for those following along. Several times now Jesus has been confronted by Pharisees. And now many are actively arranging to kill him. The fact that some come to warn him is really quite interesting. Is their concern genuine or not?
Well, I think Jesus leads us to believe not. Or, more importantly, he warned us not to trust them either way. He said as much to the disciples earlier (12:1-3).
As a writer and a reader, I love this moment because it gives the reader at home the chance to apply something to the text that Jesus warned us about back in chapter 12. The question for the reader isn’t primarily whether or not we can deduce their true motive. It is whether or not we trust what Jesus told us earlier. If we do, then the Pharisees’ motive here is irrelevant: their hypocrisy makes them untrustworthy.
While Jesus’s lamenting about Jerusalem and his response alluding to the passion are far more evocative, I’m fascinated by something else. Jesus speaks his mind to people he doesn’t trust.
And for the reader, this helps us see something about trust and predictability. These leaders are hypocrites in what they say and do, which means we shouldn’t take their words as honest. But that doesn’t mean they are unpredictable in action. We can be quite confident they will go back to Jerusalem and tell them Jesus is on his way. We can take that to the Temple bank.
Jesus Heals the Man with Dropsy
With chapter 14, the compilers of the lectionary have a tough decision to make. The chapter begins with Jesus going to another religious leader’s house. Remember that he already made a scene at one back in chapter 11 (vv. 37-54).
The problem for us is that this story is 24 verses long and involves three parts.
What the lectionary gives us is only the middle part. This is unfortunate because it is one story. And more importantly, the first part (vv. 2-6) shows the hypocrisy of the leaders. So when Jesus gets around to insulting the leaders at their dinner, we miss the part in which Jesus has just moments ago proven their hypocrisy.
This sequence brings a bunch of themes together: the expanding neighborliness, overturning of the social order as the definition of justice, and the Sabbath as the bringing of equality and redemption.
But it also reminds me of the real world application of this. Jesus is preaching about the kingdom of God and when given the chance, he makes the kingdom real for this man, right on the doorstep of a big religious leader. Here it is. Here’s what we’re praying for every week happening in our midst.
He’s extending the healing in the synagogue to their doorsteps!
And yet, all these dinner guests stepped right over this man to get to this dinner.
The Real Question
So the real question going into Sunday is how many people will we step over to get to church this week? And, even more to the point. How will we react when we see Jesus redeeming those very people?
Will we feel ungrateful or angry or jealous? Will we despise Jesus, not knowing that it is truly God’s work in our midst?
And let’s put a little more paint on that brush. Because it’s not quite done yet.
When we’re asking ourselves these questions, know that we are very likely to be in the role of the people looking to condemn Jesus. We probably think he’s being too political. Or rude. He’s violating norms to point out the norms violations we are tolerating.
In all likelihood, the shoes we will be filling are the Pharisees.
This reminds me a bit of the problem of “toxic charity”. The problem of need and injustice in our world isn’t birthed by the people trying to solve it. Nor will it be eradicated by the people offering charity. But what drives me crazy about this phrase is that it puts too much emphasis on the charity itself when the problems are systemic. We are blaming the charity for people’s oppression: not the laws and economic systems which actually do the work.
The problem isn’t whether or not I give $5 to someone begging. The real problem is we pretend that a systemic problem is solved by doing anything but changing the system.
In confronting these leaders in their own homes, Jesus is proving that what stands in the way of the kin-dom isn’t the impossible situation. It is people. People who want a particular way of being that isn’t what Jesus wants.
And for many of us, that’s the message we’re most afraid to hear.