Sept. 2: Julene Tegerstrand

Redirection Honor: Luke 14: 1-15

Julene Tegerstrand

KNU International English Church

September 2, 2007

In the last few weeks as we’ve been walking through the latter passages of Luke’s gospel we’ve been confronted over and over with this idea of “Kingdom of God”. I sometimes wish Jesus had said to the disciples, OK everyone; the definition of the Kingdom of God is this……. He never gives the type of definition we find in today’s dictionaries. But he talks a lot about it. When Jesus talks about the Kingdom of God he often gives parable. We’ve heard some of these parables in the last few weeks. In the Parables Jesus aims to give pictures which portray the Kingdom of God living among us. And to day in our passage Jesus is again explaining what the Kingdom of God looks like when it is living among us.

I’m no authority. I’m humbled to even have a space of time to talk about Jesus and his word in a public way. I’m more like you than some of you might think. I have questions and concerns like you. On a daily basis I’m confronted with how I’m more unlike Jesus than like him. I’m trying to figure out what it means and what it looks like to follow Jesus. And for me it is the journey, the questioning, the trying new things and new ways that expose me to the Kingdom at hand. I’m finding on this journey a God who is challenging my notions of reality. He doesn’t just want to change my individual heart, he just doesn’t want to save my soul, even more he wants to redirect my life and the lives of people I come into contact with.

The problem is often times we live in ways that disable our senses towards Kingdom living. We are so busy. We are listening to too many voices. We hare pursuing to many of our own dreams. We are buying into too much junk. If we could only have ears to hear Jesus and his Kingdom! If we could only have eyes to see Jesus and his Kingdom! If we could only have desires to feel and know Jesus and his Kingdom.

That is exactly what Jesus wanted for his disciples in Luke. That is exactly what Jesus wanted for poor and needy in Luke. That is even what Jesus wanted for the Pharisees in Luke’s gospel. Jesus even wanted the “villains” to have sight, to see, to know and to taste the Kingdom.

Do we know what the word, “Redirecting” means? It means to direct to a new place or a different purpose. When I moved to Korea from the US I had to have my mail redirected from my old house to my parents house. My parents now receive my US mail. My mail was redirected to a new place.

Now for a kind of a personal example.... Some time ago I was in a dating relationship. I bet you won’t be surprised, but when I was dating, I redirected my time, my thoughts, and even dreams to include this other person. I had only thought of myself previous to this relationship but now I had to think about myself in relation to this other person. My life was being redirected to include this other both in the present time and for the future.

In order for the Pharisees to understand and see the Kingdom of God Jesus calls for some radical redirection-ing of life.

Let’s read together…. Luke 14: 1-15

The Pharisees are always betting a bad “rap”. When we read about them in the gospels and look at how Jesus treats them and how Jesus talks to them, we automatically look down on them. They were the ones holding the traditional religion. They were in charge of preserving holiness. They gave their entire lives to carrying on the message of their forefathers. But they were not just the keepers of the religious traditions.

In our modern world we have learned how to separate religion from culture. We know how to have a “family life”, a “work life”, a “church life” and a “personal life”. What we do in work and after work is somehow different from what we do in Church. What we do together in our personal life is separated from what we do in our religious life. How we treat our family members is different from how we treat our church family members.

But in the time of Jesus there wasn’t the distinct separation made between religion and culture. If you were a Jew then your religion was your culture. If you were not a Jew then your “not being a Jew” was your culture too. So the Pharisees were the preservers of a unique culture. The preserved the Jewish customs, the Jewish achievements, and most importantly for our passage they preserved the Jewish social institution. The Pharisees job wasn’t only to preserve their beliefs. Their job was to preserve a way of LIFE together!

In the time of Jesus the categories of honor and shame were central to the social rules that created the way of doing LIFE together. It is the issue of honor that Jesus deals with in our passage today. Rules of honor and shame dictated how people related with people inside the community. The also dictated how Jews would associate with “others” people unlike themselves and outsiders to the community. Rules of honor and shame dictated how one acted as both guest and host. 1

In order to see this Kingdom Jesus wants us to see I think we have to ask three questions of today’s text. The first is, “What honor were the Pharisees protecting or preserving?” Second, “How does Jesus call them and us to redirect our honor?” Third, “What does the Kingdom look like when that honor is redirected?”

Luke 14: 1-6

In the days of the Old and New Testament there was a social “game” played in which honor would be won or lost. This social game was called “challenge and response”. It wasn’t a real game but more of a social challenge. The goal of this social game was to “attempt to gain honor at someone else’s expense”. You would gain this honor “by publicly posing a challenge that cannot be answered.” After the challenge was given, the person being challenged had to make a reply (response)”. A non-response was a shameful response. The people watching this social challenge were in charge of calling the winner. The winner would win honor. The loser would lose honor.2

Remember what the passage from last week about he “daughter of Abraham” who was set free from bondage. The exchange which took place between the Pharisees and Jesus that day was this honor/ shame gamed called “challenge and response”. The Pharisees Leader initiated the challenge in front of the synagogue community. Jesus quick response leads to their shame. Ch 13 and Ch 14 address the same issue; it is the issue of healing/working on the Sabbath. In Ch 13 it is the leader of the Pharisees who initiates the honor/shame challenge to Jesus. In Ch. 14 it is Jesus who inmates the honor/shame challenge to the Pharisees and including their leader.

So in Luke 14 Jesus is invited to the Pharisee Leader’s home for dinner. I cannot know for sure, however, I’m thinking that the Pharisees invited Jesus into their home to regain the honor they lost in his presence the last time. Little did they know, Jesus would use the opportunity to not only gain honor in their midst but also to teach them about honor and shame (relationships) in the Kingdom of God.

The Pharisees, preservers of a their way of LIFE, are protecting their honor. The Pharisees saw this man with dropsy as all together “other”. Dropsy is an old way of saying what we call today, “Edema”. Edema is a condition where fluids collect and fill tissues or cavities of the body. This man was unclean. To heal him on the Sabbath would mean becoming dirty on the Lord’s Day. A priest had to maintain cleanliness on the Sabbath day or risk dishonoring him and bringing shame on the community. Also to heal this man would mean working on the Sabbath. Working on the Sabbath would bring dishonor not only to the self but also to the whole community.

Jesus slaps the Pharisees in the face. In their own home and at dinner he puts forth a challenge in which the Pharisees must respond. He asks, “Should I heal this man or not?” They are quite. In silence now the Pharisee risk being dishonored. The very thing they do by not healing this man with dropsy. Then Jesus says, “If one of you has an ox who has fallen into a well on the Sabbath will you not pull it out?” This is the challenge! The Pharisees again do not reply. So, these ones who go to great lengths to preserve their way of life, fail to preserve their honor and in their minds the honor of their community.

Jesus, the redirector of Life, challenges the Pharisees to redirect honor in their relationships with each other. Instead of finding honor in obeying rules and staying ritually clean, Jesus is calling the Pharisees to get dirty! He is calling them to give themselves in relationship to this “other”. Even if it looks shameful to onlookers! Who are the ones who need healing? Who are the ones they can help in their community? Who are the ones in need? Instead of preserving their own honor Jesus is calling for them redirect honor upon those who have not typically had honor.


If one’s own honor was risked and redirected onto an “other” the Pharisees would experience the Kingdom of God. Jesus asks, wouldn't you save an animal from death on the Sabbath? Of course they would! The real issue isn’t work or no work. The real issue is treating humans with at least as much dignity as you would an animal! And in some translations it is to treat this crippled man with as much dignity as you would your child! When honor is redirected the Kingdom of God looks like giving value, dignity, and even honor to people who are all together “other” than you. It is honoring people who might even bring shame on you.

Next Jesus moves to the Guests. Look to Luke 14: 7-12

Jesus noticed that the Guests were choosing highest seats of honor. He tells a parable about a wedding Banquet. Jesus is telling them not to choose seats of honor. He challenges them to choose seats with the least honor. That way the host can invite them to places of greater honor. By doing this they also protect against being shamed for taking a seat that is too high.

The Pharisees, preservers of a their way of LIFE, are protecting their honor.

In this society, one’s social status in relation to the host determined the possibility of sitting nearest to the host. Culturally speaking the Pharisees were doing nothing wrong in their choosing seats of honor. This choosing of honor endowed seats were a part of the “honor shame game”. It was expected that the guests would play for the highest seats of honor. One would risk taking greater honor from someone else in order to gain honor for him or herself.

Jesus, the redirector of Life, challenges the Pharisees to redirect honor in their social relationships. In the Wedding Banquet parable Jesus is calling the Pharisees to do something that goes against all that the Pharisees know. They knew that if you were to humble yourself and take the lowest seat, then you may guarantee the lowering of your own social status for the gain of someone else. “I might take a shamefully lower place!!” Jesus redirects their game! He reverses the nature of honor and shame. He suggests that one should humble themselves and take the lowest seat. “For all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted”.

If honor is redirected from pursuing honor to pursuing humility, then the Pharisees could experience the Kingdom of God.

In the Kingdom Honor moves from being “entitlement or “my right” to being a “blessing” or a “gift”. There is a big difference between “honor” and “blessing”. Honor is something given out of right or entitlement. However a blessing is pure gift. If the Pharisees took the lower seat they would create room for the host to bless them with the place of honor. Or they would create space for someone else to receive the place of honor as a blessing. The Kingdom is about making space to bless others with honor. It is about risking our own position so that someone else might find favor.

As if this wasn’t enough. Jesus now moves directly to the Leader of the Pharisees. He addresses the Leader of the Pharisees in front of everyone! Jesus tells the Leader, “when you give a lunch don’t invite your friends, families, or those who can repay you. Instead invite the poor.” Then Jesus tells the Leader that if he does this he will be blessed because they CAN NOT repay.

The Pharisee Leader, preserver of a their way of LIFE, is protecting his honor by

Only inviting peers.

In the Jewish culture you only invited people for a meal who were your social equal. TO do otherwise was to create room for dishonor. When an honor of invitation was given there was an expectation that it would be repaid. If you invited people into your home who had no means of repayment, then you would bring shame on yourself. If the Pharisee Leader invited the poor, the lame, and the blind to Lunch, then he’d almost certainly invite shame upon himself. The poor could not repay honor. And everyone knew there was no such thing as “free honor”. It always came with strings attached. Only in the family situation were honors given and gifts given without expectation of pay back. Yet even then, there were strings attached. The Pharisee could not welcome in the lame, the blind, and the sick as if they were like family. Shameful!

Jesus, the redirector of Life, challenges the Pharisees to redirect honor in their social relationships.

Jesus is again redefining honor. Instead of giving honor with strings attached, Jesus calls the Pharisees to give honor freely. Give with no expectations. Give without strings attached. Also, Jesus calls the Leader to redirect his giving of honor away from those who are socially equal to those who are socially less than or other! It is like Jesus is saying, “Hey, you know that man who was in your home to trip me up that I healed? You know the one, the man with Edema? Yeah, well next time you have a party, I want you to invite him to sit at your table!” Jesus challenges the Pharisee Leader to give invitations to dirty and shameful people. And likewise to extend invitations without strings attached.

If invitations of honor are redirected from only people who can repay the Pharisees to people who cannot repay them, then the Pharisees could experience the Kingdome of God.

The Kingdom looks like a place where the door is open to anyone and everyone. In the Kingdom of God there is NO FEAR! No fear for the host and no fear for the guest. People of all kinds can dine together freely. There is no question of giving too much or too little because you want your guest to be able to match your invitation. In the Kingdom when you give, you give freely. People who are different in social, ethnic, age group, and religious background can share life together without fear of shame. There is no shame to be gained in life together, only a Kingdom of God style of honor. The honor paid back for Kingdom giving comes eventually—at least it comes at the resurrection of righteousness.



Maybe there is a reason why Jesus never gives us the dictionary type of definition of the Kingdom of God that we so badly want. If we had a dictionary definition we’d think we’d mastered it like we think we’ve mastered other difficult concepts. Or like the Pharisees we’d create a whole bunch of rules. But the Kingdom of God isn’t something to be mastered. It is to master us. The Kingdom of God isn’t to be defined by a bunch of rules, rather the Kingdom rules us. And maybe the reason why Jesus never offers us a “proper” definition is because he knew we had to experience Kingdom in order to know it. The Kingdom of God is a way. It is a LIFE. How do we define LIFE? Don’t you have to live LIFE in order to know life? No “proper” definition could ever do justice to our experiencing of LIFE.

There are ways of redirecting LIFE which help us to make space for seeing the Kingdom and experiencing it. The Kingdom of God is at hand whether or not we see it or create space for it. God is already at work. Jesus is living in our midst and living in the places where we do all of our life. He is already at work in our work places, our play places, our church places, our home places, and our other places. We, however, have to develop the ability to see him. If you are like me and have trouble seeing the Kingdom of God at hand, then together we must do what Jesus is telling the Pharisees in Luke 14.

We too need to risk redirecting “honor” in our lives. And if “honor” is an unfamiliar concept then ask this question, “What governs your social relationships with others?” Maybe instead of honor we need to look at values such as “privilege” or “esteem” or “pride”. No mater what culture we come from, there are forces which shape our relationship God, ourselves and others. If Jesus were dining with us today, what areas of our lives, culture, and our relationships would he call us to redirect?

Redirecting our lives isn’t easy. It involves difficult risks on our parts. For one thing we risk being shamed or dishonored by our peers. Redirecting our lives would mean might risk ourselves in relationships with new people.

Don’t we want to see the Kingdom that is at hand? If we do, Jesus might be calling us to risk giving people value and human dignity--even people who don’t deserve it. How often when we see someone do you make judgment on people even before you know them? Or even after you know something of them. What would happen if we became a people who gifted each other and others who are altogether different than us with human dignity and value? We might experience and know the Kingdom of God.

Don’t we want to experience the Kingdom that is at hand? If so, Jesus might be calling us to risk our entitlements and rights to honor for the sake of others. He might be calling us to pursue humility rather than honor. Jesus might call us to take the lower seat in our work settings, our social settings and even our family settings. If we became a people who pursued humility, then others would be blessed by us. What would happen if we were a people who pursued humility? What if we were a people who made space for blessing others? We might experience the Kingdom.

Don’t we want to know the Kingdom that is at hand? If this is true, Jesus might be calling us to FEAR NOT as we engage in social relationships with those who are not like us—even those “lower” than us. He might also call us to look at why we socialize with this crowd or that crowd. What are we expecting to gain from the people we spend time with? Jesus might call us to move beyond what is comfortable and begin welcoming people who cannot repay us in ways we typically expect. What if we were a people who sought after relationships with people with no strings attached and no expectations? We might experience the Kingdom.

The Kingdom of God is at hand. It isn’t some future reality but one which is in our midst. When Jesus had finished speaking to the Leader of the Pharisees a man spoke up and said something that has great irony. He said, “Blessed is anyone who will eat bread in the Kingdom of God.” Don’t we want to be a people who will eat bread in the Kingdom? If we will be a people who will share bread/life together in Kingdom ways, we will be a people who are blessed!