“Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner” is a 1967 American romantic comedy-drama film produced and directed by Stanley Kramer, and written by William Rose. It stars Spencer Tracy (in his final role), Sidney Poitier, and Katharine Hepburn, and features Hepburn’s niece Katharine Houghton.  Does anyone remember this film?

The film was one of the few films of the time to depict an interracial marriage in a positive light, as interracial marriage historically had been illegal in many states of the United States. It was still illegal in 17 states, until June 12, 1967, six months before the film was released, and scenes were filmed just before anti-miscegenation laws were struck down by the Supreme Court in Loving v. Virginia.  The film was controversial but tastefully done in a world that needed to change.

The Plot:  In 1967, Joanna Drayton, a 23-year-old white woman, returns from her Hawaiian vacation to her parents’ home in San Francisco with Dr. John Prentice, a 37-year-old black widower. The couple became engaged after a 10-day whirlwind romance. Joanna’s parents are Matt Drayton, a successful newspaper editor, and his wife, Christina, who owns an art gallery. Though both of the Draytons are liberal-minded, they are initially shocked their daughter is engaged to a man of a different race. Christina gradually accepts the situation, but Matt objects because of the likely unhappiness and seemingly insurmountable problems the couple will face in American culture.

John’s parents, the Prentices, arrive. They, too, are shocked when discovering Joanna is white. At the Drayton home, various private conversations occur among the two families. All agree more time is needed to absorb the situation. The two mothers meet and agree this was an unexpected event, but support their children. The two fathers meet, both expressing disapproval at this unhappy occasion. The Monsignor advises John not to withdraw, despite Matt’s objections. John’s mother tells him she and Christina both approve. John and his father discuss their generational differences. 

He says although the pair face enormous problems ahead due to their racial differences, they must find a way to overcome them, and he will approve the marriage, knowing all along he had no right to stop it. The families and the Monsignor then adjourn to the dining room for dinner.

It has been suggested that a pair of contemporary cases of interracial marriage influenced Rose when he was writing the film’s script.  In 2017, on its 50th anniversary, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant”.

I would like to say times have changed since this portrayal of prejudice 1967.  However, we humans are still judgmental, presumptuous, and truly arrogant as we consider who we will honor with an invitation to our table for dinner.  We choose people who are look and dress like us.  We invite those who go to the same places as we do.  We enjoy the company of those who think and behave exactly like us.  Even these statements are prejudicial assumptions based on mere presumptions of who we think others are in our limited estimation.  We simply size people up and put them in ranking order.  Sigh.

We can legislate many laws to correct the situation—and we have.  But until our hearts are transformed, our attitudes changed, and our behaviors toward each other are loving, merciful and gracious; nothing of significance is different in the way we treat each other.

This has been a problem longer than our lifetimes.  Over 2000 years ago, the ranking of people was an issue then as well.  The religious leaders who knew The Laws of God as well as the back of their hands—did not actually live out what God had intended.  Jesus came to earth to seek and to save the lost.  His mission was to reconcile (reconnect) people to God.  He also made time to reteach God’s people, along with the religious leaders over them, what God said and still says today.  Love God.  Love Others.  Treat each other as we would prefer them to treat you.  The religious leaders invited Jesus merely to debate and test Him by “planting” a human in need in front of Him on the Sabbath then preceded to climb all over each other to get to the Head of Table.  Sigh.

Yesterday’s passage began this trilogy by Jesus to teach humility to the arrogant from the perspective of Kingdom of God thinking.  Here is part two.

Luke 14, The Message

Invite the Misfits

^7-9 He went on to tell a story to the guests around the table. Noticing how each had tried to elbow into the place of honor, he said, “When someone invites you to dinner, don’t take the place of honor. Somebody more important than you might have been invited by the host. Then he’ll come and call out in front of everybody, ‘You’re in the wrong place. The place of honor belongs to this man.’ Embarrassed, you’ll have to make your way to the very last table, the only place left.

^10-11 “When you’re invited to dinner, go and sit at the last place. Then when the host comes he may very well say, ‘Friend, come up to the front.’ That will give the dinner guests something to talk about! What I’m saying is, If you walk around all high and mighty, you’re going to end up flat on your face. But if you’re content to be simply yourself, you will become more than yourself.”

^12-14 Then he turned to the host. “The next time you put on a dinner, don’t just invite your friends and family and rich neighbors, the kind of people who will return the favor. Invite some people who never get invited out, the misfits from the wrong side of the tracks. You’ll be—and experience—a blessing. They won’t be able to return the favor, but the favor will be returned—oh, how it will be returned!—at the resurrection of God’s people.”

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

Poor, middle class, rich; young, old; black, brown, tan, or all shades of white; dressed up or hardly dressed; known as powerful or hardly known with no power; considered important and influential by the world’s standards or hardly noticed as valuable—ALL are invited to the Table of Love, Mercy, and Grace.  If fact, because of Jesus:  Love sets the Table.  Mercy throws open the Door.  Grace invites everyone to the feast of Life.  What a celebration that will be! 

Imagine Jesus at the Head of the Table!  Jesus invites and welcomes everyone.  We don’t need to elbow our way in or climb a ladder of success to get to a choice place at His Table, says Jesus in this passage.  I am reminded of what God does expect from us as we come to His Table: “He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” Micah 6:8 

Our response is to first come God with humbled hearts and grateful attitudes.  There is no need for posturing because all are equal.  But we still do it!  I don’t know about you, but I look forward to the day when the first thought that comes to mind is love not hate, assuming the best not the worst, devoid of judging because of the colors of our skin while seeking the content of hearts, concentrated listening, then responding with God’s love, mercy and grace.  Sound familiar?  Martin Luther King, Jr.’s famous goal for the human race began: “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.”     

Friends, we still have not achieved it yet, but we press on as believers in Jesus to grow in His character as He cleanses our hearts, renews our minds, transforms our thinking, and restores the joy of His salvation at work in us. This is the only way to obtain what God wants to grow in all of us.

The two most important commandments according to Jesus are in this order:

1. Love God with all our hearts, minds, and souls.  God first. God always.
2. Love your neighbor as yourself.  A behavior of this love is to treat others as you would want them to treat you.

Jesus said all the other commandments “hang” on these first two.  Our first thought should be God and God is love. (See 1 John 4) When the love of God leads us, our lives will look differently to the world of unbelievers. The enemy will be appalled by us and attack us with negative thinking to counter this love of God who lives in us.  “Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.” Romans 8:37

Jesus came to save us from all our sins.  Since “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23) we all need a Savior.   God provided His One and Only Son.  All are invited to accept the gift of salvation as we turn back to God in Jesus Name.  God refuses no one.  Jesus forgives completely and remembers our sins no more.  We are accepted as God’s beloved.   We are His children.  How do I know, the Bible tells me so—over and over again!

Accept the invitation.  Our Host sacrificed His life for our place at The Table.  We must respond willingly, enthusiastically, knowing with confidence that the banquet table will be more than we could ever hope for, imagine, or dream.  We come running to the Father with open arms Who is beyond generous in His provisions and extravagant in His love for each one of His created. 

I’m so glad God invites the misfits of society—of which I am one of them.

Lord,

Thank you for your patience prompted by your relentless love for every one of us.  Cleanse our hearts of all that is not of you. Renew our minds, transform our thinking, refresh our souls with your new mercies for today.  Restore the joy of your salvation within us.  Lead us, dear Jesus, to love like you love us.

In Jesus Name, Amen