In Home Worship – Sunday, August 31, 2025 – Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost

Image Credit: A section of lunch counter from the Greensboro, North Carolina Woolworth where the Greensboro sit-ins began, Smithsonian Institution National Museum of American History.

Luke 14:1, 7-14, Eating Together

You are invited to dinner! Where should you sit at the table? To understand the excitement this question evoked in ancient Roman society, think about the tempers that flared up when a couple of fearless black people sat down at the white-people-only Woolworth lunch counter in 1960 in the Jim Crow south.

What to eat; with whom to eat; and where to sit at the table is as volatile a topic in Jesus’ time as the question who can use which restroom is today. It gives rise to strong emotional responses and even stronger opinions.

Jesus’ lack of table manners and his clear lack of discernment with whom a good 1^st century Jew keeps table fellowship is ammunition for his enemies to discredit him.

“Look at him,” they say. “He is a bad Jew because he eats with sinners and tax collectors. How can you believe anything he says if he does that?”

Come and learn more on Sunday, 10 AM at Our Savior Lutheran Church, 745 Front St. S., in Issaquah, WA and on YouTube.

– Pr. Olaf