Life in the first century—much like life today—was largely transactional. What that means is that anytime someone gives you something… they’re expecting something in return.
You don’t get something for nothing.
In the first century, Caesar gave the people security. He used his army to prevent any rebellion or invasion from disturbing the peace of the land. Caesar also gave to the people by distributing bread, and hosting sporting events: gladiator contests; the famous “bread and circuses” of the Roman Empire.
Caesar didn’t do this out of the kindness of his heart. He didn’t do it because he loved his people.
He did it, so that he could get something in return.
Caesar made it clear that the people were expected to work hard, and pay hard. In exchange for the peace, the bread and the entertainment they received, they were expected to give back.
The people owed Caesar a literal debt of gratitude, which they paid through the high taxes they were charged.
They received and now they must give.
It was a transactional relationship. The whole Roman society was governed by transactional relationships.
And if you were to give a shape to all this, it would be a pyramid. Caesar is at the top, and all the poor people who must work to support Caesar’s wealth and power are at the bottom. It was very hard to move up, because the higher up you go, the less space there is. But you still were expected to support those at the top through your labor and the taxes you paid.
***** When Jesus saw how guests arriving at a banquet chose their seats, he realized they were stuck in a transactional mindset. They all agreed to come, because they expected to receive something. And they all wanted that place at the top.
The host wanted to impress his guests, because then they would be in his debt… they would owe him… and he could use that to his advantage.
The guests wanted to impress their host… and each other… because the more impressive one was, the more that person could demand from others. The guest who made the best impression would be able to attract the most distinguished guests to his own banquet, when it was his turn to host.
So the impression one made was important. The better the impression, the higher your status, and the more favors you could expect to come your way. The better the impression, the more others would owe you a debt of gratitude.
I imagine there were many things that went into making a good impression: The clothing you wore. The greetings you offered…
And, the seat you sat in. The closer you sat to the host, the greater the impression you made. The most honored guests sat right next to the host; the less-honored guests sat farther away. …
Apparently, at this particular banquet, there was some confusion about where the guests should sit. The host should have told them exactly where to sit; but, for whatever reason, he didn’t.
So the guests kind of jostled for their seats. They all chose the highest seat they dared. They all wanted to be as close to the host as possible. They all wanted to be seen as more important, so that they would be able to demand greater favors from those who found them more impressive, more powerful.
As I said, things are much the same today. Our president likes to reward those who flatter him, and punish (or fire) those who don’t. Whatever you think of that, there’s no doubt that that is how things work in this world, especially among those with wealth and power.
***** Well, as you might expect, in the kingdom of God, things are different. In the kingdom of God, relationships are not transactional. In the kingdom of God, one doesn’t give in order to receive, and one doesn’t give in order to repay a debt.
In fact, in the kingdom of God, all debts are forgiven. No one owes anyone anything…
Except to love.
***** The apostle Paul says as much in his letter to the Romans. In Romans 13:8, he writes: “Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.”
The currency of God’s kingdom is love. Every transaction in God’s kingdom is a transaction of love.
If you were to give a shape to all this, it wouldn’t be a pyramid. The shape of the currency in God’s kingdom would be a circle.
So if love had been the motivation behind how the guests chose their seats, how do you think they would have chosen?
They probably would not have pushed each other out of the way in order to get the best seats for themselves.
Instead, they would have humbled themselves, and sought to honor each other. The kindness they showed to one another would have been grounded in love.
And the hospitality of the host would have been grounded in love as well. He would have offered his food and his hospitality to his guests not because he expected something in return; he would have done it as a gift of love.
And no one would have been impressed by the seat one was given, or the clothes one wore, or the food that was served. Instead, the only thing that would have impressed them was the love that was shown.
Jesus breaks the pattern of transactional relationships.
The life that Jesus gives to us, and the love we receive from God, are gifts freely given out of love.
And the gifts we give back to God, we give out of gratitude. We do not give out of compulsion. We do not give in exchange for anything God has given to us or that we hope to get from God. We give out of gratitude. We give out of love.
There is no debt of gratitude that we must repay. God will not punish us or withhold love from us if we do not return the favor. God’s love is given freely.
And the love we give must be given freely as well.
If love is not given freely, then it really isn’t love at all, is it? If someone captures you and locks you in a cell and tells you “You must love me or else!” Well, you might pretend to love them, in order to escape punishment, but that’s not really love.
Love is always given freely. Love can only be given freely.
Jesus obviously can’t make these guests treat each other with love. He can’t make them take the lower seats, because love doesn’t work that way.
Love never tries to exert control over another.
***** As Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13: “love is patient, love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way.”
This is a familiar passage to many. But I think we’ve oversentimentalized it.
And I think we should spend more time meditating on it, and pondering what it means, and how our own love can be like the love Paul talks about; the love of Christ.
Because (I’ll say it again) love is the currency of God’s kingdom.
***** Let’s talk about another Bible story you may be familiar with.
Zacchaeus.
Zacchaeus was a wee little man, a wee little man was he… he climbed right up a sycamore tree, for the Lord he wanted to see…
(Who knows how the rest goes?)
The story of Zacchaeus appears in Luke 19. As the song explains, Zacchaeus climbed up a sycamore tree to see Jesus, who was passing through town.
What the song doesn’t explain is that Zacchaeus had spent his whole life trying to climb to the top of the social pyramid. In fact, I think him climbing that sycamore tree might be symbolic of how he tried to climb to the top of the social pyramid.
Zacchaeus even turned his back on his own people by becoming a tax collector, one who took wealth from the people, kept some for himself, and sent the rest of it on up that pyramid to Caesar, hoping it would pull him up as it went.
But at some point Zacchaeus became dissatisfied with the transactional nature of life. It didn’t bring him the happiness he longed for. So when Jesus came along, saw him in that tree, and said: “Zacchaeus! Come down from that tree!”
…what Zacchaeus heard was: “Stop trying to climb to the top. You won’t find what you are looking for there.”
So Zacchaeus came down out of the tree; and he and Jesus went to Zacchaeus’ house. And Zacchaeus was so impressed by the idea that love is the currency that matters, that he decided then and there to give half his possessions to the poor, and that if he had defrauded anyone of anything (which, surely, he had, because that’s what first century tax collectors did), that he would pay it back four times.
He was done with the transactional economy. He was done with trying to move up the pyramid. He embraced the kingdom where the only currency that matters is love. He embraced the kingdom that is shaped like a circle, not a pyramid.
***** At that banquet, Jesus said to the host: “instead of inviting those who you expect to pay you back—those from whom you can demand favors, those who might be able to help you move up the pyramid—what you should do is invite those who cannot repay you: the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind.
Then Jesus told the host and the guests a story. The story he tells is the next chapter in our devotional, and since I’m preaching on the scriptures from our devotional, I should save it for next week… but I realized that I’m going to be one week short if I don’t combine two of the chapters. So I’m doing it today.
Which means if your small group is using the devotional book, I might now be a week ahead of you, starting next week. But this way I’ll end on Easter Sunday.
So Jesus tells a story to all these banquet guests, and in that story, someone is hosting a great dinner, and he invites people who he thinks will be good guests to have; friends, relatives, rich neighbors, and those from whom he might be able to demand a favor. Because that’s just how it was done.
But all those would-be guests made excuses. Apparently, they didn’t see what was in it for them. Maybe they didn’t see how attending that banquet could improve their own status or help them move up the social pyramid.
So they all made excuses as to why they couldn’t attend.
So then the invitations were sent out to the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame; those who could not repay the host for his hospitality.
And that is what banquets in God’s kingdom are like.
God invites us into worship, and invites us to take our place at the table. At the table, we receive the gifts of God: life and love in abundance.
We are poor, in that nothing we have could ever repay God for what God has given to us. Which is OK, because what God gives, God gives freely. There are no strings attached to God’s love.
And yet, as we come to the Lord’s Table, we do make an offering: of ourselves, our lives, and our resources. We bring what we can.
We do not do this out of guilt or obligation. We do not owe any sort of debt that must be repaid.
But we offer up to God what we have out of gratitude and love.
Because love is the currency of the kingdom of God. Radical, self-giving, affirming, welcoming love. Love that lifts others up.
The only debt we owe is the love we show one another.
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