Luke wrote around 85 AD, fifty years after the Jesus event. Was Luke wasting ink and papyrus on the table manners in 30 AD?
First, those who cut and paste the readings do a disservice. Their cuts can change the meaning intended by the inspired evangelist. Verses 2-6 are cut out of the flow of this week’s Gospel. They record the healing of a man with dropsy, today called edema. Recall that healing was forbidden work on a sabbath. Jesus questions the scholars of the law. At their silence, Jesus cures the man and sends him on his way.
With the whole passage in mind, we can get to St. Luke’s message. Jesus healed a man at dinner on the sabbath. That summary should ring a bell; it sounds like Eucharist. The rest of the passage is not specifically eucharistic—no breaking of bread or consecration of wine. But what if our ritual and sacraments are more than churchy or spiritual stuff? What if the ritual and sacraments prepare us for a Christian way to be in this world? What if Luke wishes to send us on our way transformed after dinner at the Lord’s table?
Look carefully at the Lord’s criticism of the dinner. The seating arrangements show that people were valued from best to worst. Lost is the perception that God makes all people in his image and likeness. When a person is compelled to take a lower seat, he is shamed. Lost is the inherent dignity of each person. Class barriers are at work; the poor and sick are excluded.
Now, we may see the importance of healing. Luke may be speaking to today’s guardians of our assembly (our scholars of the law) and to all of us. By receiving the Lord Jesus, we endorse the means of our salvation as a way of life. Self-giving love—the love of the cross; the love re-presented at Mass—should not allow prejudicial valuations of others, or the abuse of others, or the exclusion of others. Eucharist should heal us of such thoughts and behaviors. Last week’s Gospel ends with a vision of an inclusive dinner in God’s Kingdom (see Luke 13: 2930). Should not Eucharist heal us of behaviors that exclude and degrade, preparing us for that inclusive feast?
The Eucharist is the best formation tool—if we let it be so. The Lord asked us to take up the cross, which is re-presented on the altar each weekend. The transubstantiation of bread and wine into the Body and Blood of the Lord should cause a chain raction in us. Natural self-interest should yield to supernatural self-giving. Luke is critiquing more than table manners; he is telling us how life-changing a dinner on a sabbath with the Lord can be.