Join the Party

Don't be a party-pooper. Let goodness abound.

Honestly, it can be quite frustrating. Confounding, even.

Jesus heals someone who can’t walk. He eats with someone who has thrown a party for everyone to enjoy. And the leaders are off in a corner whining about it all. Making it more difficult. Asking questions that need no asking.

Why can’t they just enjoy the moment? Why can’t they appreciate the freedom (let alone join in its propagation)?

It seems that the truth is, whenever God’s mercy shows up in disruptive ways, somebody is bound to grumble. Healing that doesn’t follow the rules. Joy that feels too inclusive. Grace that ignores the gatekeepers.

Jesus is showing us that the heart of God is not rule-keeping for its own sake, but the restoration of lives. That’s always going to feel like a threat to systems that prize order over mercy.

It’s a squelching of creativity by old systems, a board meeting or committee discussion that kills the idea before it can even get going.

But the kingdom will go on. The kingdom looks less like a tribunal and more like a table. Less like suspicion and more like singing, eating, and enjoyment. We can stay outside with arms folded and pencil over the ear, or we can pull up our chair and join the feast.

Luke 5:17-39

One day when Jesus was teaching, Pharisees and legal experts were sitting nearby. They had come from every village in Galilee and Judea, and from Jerusalem. Now the power of the Lord was with Jesus to heal. Some men were bringing a man who was paralyzed, lying on a cot. They wanted to carry him in and place him before Jesus, but they couldn’t reach him because of the crowd. So they took him up on the roof and lowered him—cot and all—through the roof tiles into the crowded room in front of Jesus. When Jesus saw their faith, he said, “Friend, your sins are forgiven.”

The legal experts and Pharisees began to mutter among themselves, “Who is this who insults God? Only God can forgive sins!”

Jesus recognized what they were discussing and responded, “Why do you fill your minds with these questions? Which is easier—to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? But so that you will know that the Human One has authority on the earth to forgive sins” —Jesus now spoke to the man who was paralyzed, “I say to you, get up, take your cot, and go home.” Right away, the man stood before them, picked up his cot, and went home, praising God.

All the people were beside themselves with wonder. Filled with awe, they glorified God, saying, “We’ve seen unimaginable things today.”

Afterward, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at a kiosk for collecting taxes. Jesus said to him, “Follow me.”

Levi got up, left everything behind, and followed him. Then Levi threw a great banquet for Jesus in his home. A large number of tax collectors and others sat down to eat with them. The Pharisees and their legal experts grumbled against his disciples. They said, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?”

Jesus answered, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor, but sick people do. I didn’t come to call righteous people but sinners to change their hearts and lives.”

Some people said to Jesus, “The disciples of John fast often and pray frequently. The disciples of the Pharisees do the same, but your disciples are always eating and drinking.”

Jesus replied, “You can’t make the wedding guests fast while the groom is with them, can you? The days will come when the groom will be taken from them, and then they will fast.”

Then he told them a parable. “No one tears a patch from a new garment to patch an old garment. Otherwise, the new garment would be ruined, and the new patch wouldn’t match the old garment. Nobody pours new wine into old wineskins. If they did, the new wine would burst the wineskins, the wine would spill, and the wineskins would be ruined. Instead, new wine must be put into new wineskins. No one who drinks a well-aged wine wants new wine, but says, ‘The well-aged wine is better.’”

Psalm 126:1-3

When the Lord changed Zion’s circumstances for the better,
it was like we had been dreaming.
Our mouths were suddenly filled with laughter;
our tongues were filled with joyful shouts.
It was even said, at that time, among the nations,
“The Lord has done great things for them!”
Yes, the Lord has done great things for us,
and we are overjoyed.

Prayer

God,

Slow to anger and rich in mercy, that’s who you are. Make me, too.

Forgive me for the times I’ve folded our arms when you were welcoming. Forgive me for frowning when you were healing, for hesitating when you were feasting. Soften my heart to rejoice at restoration rather than scrutinize it. Teach me to celebrate when mercy wins, even when it disrupts my sense of order.

And make me not only a witness but a conspirator in such grace. Use me to bring freedom, to dispel the things that prevent justice.

Even today. Use me today.

By your Spirit & in Christ,
Amen.