Trinity 17 + Luke 14:1-11 + October 8, 2017
Grace
and peace be unto you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
1) “Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and
he who humbles himself will be exalted.” These words are the summary of
what Jesus has just taught the Pharisees. Christ “went into the house of one of the rulers of the Pharisees
to eat bread on the Sabbath.” On this occasion, as they
gather to dine together, they watch Him closely, for the Pharisees are always
looking for an opportunity to entrap Jesus and discredit Him. They want to
catch Him in His words and deeds to prove that He is not the Christ. To that
end, they bring in a man who is terribly afflicted with dropsy, what we call
edema today. The man is in a painful condition, retaining fluid in his body. The
Pharisee had placed the man at his table, not to honor him, but to see what
Jesus would do. They don’t bring this man to Jesus because they love him and
want Jesus to heal him. The Pharisees use this poor afflicted man as a prop. To
them he is an object used to manipulate Jesus. In their hearts they reason that
they can trap Jesus in this moment. The Lord said to the people of Israel in
the Ten Commandments, “the seventh day
is the Sabbath of the LORD your God. In it you shall do no work” (Exodus
20:10). They imagined that if Jesus heals the man with dropsy then He violates
the Law. If He does not heal the man with dropsy then they prove that He is not
merciful. Before they can put the question to Jesus, Jesus puts the question to
them. “Is it lawful
to heal on the Sabbath?” The Pharisees keep silence.
They had set this trap for Jesus. They weren’t about to fall into it
themselves. Jesus answers His own question by healing the man. He removes his
physical affliction and dries up the man’s dropsy. Then Jesus sets the man free
from the Pharisees by letting him go. He was no longer to be used by these men
for their own self-righteousness and self-exaltation.
2) Of
course it is lawful to heal on the Sabbath. The Lord also said in Leviticus
19:18, “You shall love your neighbor as
yourself.” If you have the ability to do good to your neighbor, even on the
Sabbath, you should take the opportunity to them good. It’s not sinful or
unlawful to give help and aid even on the rest day. Jesus knew that the
Pharisees themselves believed this to some extent so He asks, “Which of you, having a donkey or
an ox that has fallen into a pit, will not immediately pull him out on the
Sabbath day?” If an ox or donkey falls into a pit, even on the
Sabbath, of course they would work with all their might to help their animal!
These men gladly show mercy to their animals, which are no more than farm
implements, and they do so on the Sabbath! Yet they deny Jesus permission to
show mercy to an afflicted man on the Sabbath. It is as if He had said, “You quickly
and vigorously come to the aid of your animal when it is need on the Sabbath.
Why shouldn’t I be allowed to come to the aid of people in need on the Sabbath?
Are not people of far greater value than animals?” The Pharisees exalted
themselves using the poor man with dropsy. In response, Jesus humbles them with
their hypocrisy. They tried to out-maneuver Jesus but their own practice with
their animals shows them for what they truly are. “Whoever exalts himself will be humbled.”
3) The meal goes on though. That’s not the end of the
matter. As the guests begin to gather at the table, Jesus notices how they pick
their seats. He notices specifically “how
they chose the best places.” The Pharisees were not only self-righteous but
they were also self-important. They imagined themselves to be important and
honorable. Around this table were seats of honor, probably closer to the host,
who was a ruler among the Pharisees. There were also seats that were less
honorable, which were probably further away from the host and not in his line
of sight. The Pharisees jostle around, jockeying for the best position based on
their credentials. To do so they would have to remind the others of their
accomplishments, reputation, and piety. There is nothing wrong with
accomplishment, a good name, and piety. But it’s sinful to wear one’s
reputation on the sleeve and “toot one’s own horn.” They are exalting
themselves over their fellowman once again as they fight for the most honorable
seats. So Jesus speaks to them about going to a wedding. “When you are invited by anyone to a wedding feast, do not sit down in
the best place, lest one more honorable than you be invited by him; and he who
invited you and him come and say to you, 'Give place to this man,' and then you
begin with shame to take the lowest place.” When someone is invited to a
wedding, it would be idiotic for a guest to seat himself at the table of the
wedding party, let alone of the tables closest to the wedding party that are
reserve for family. Everyone knows that exalting oneself in that setting will
only end in humiliation.
4) What is true for a wedding is true for each day of life.
If you pick a seat of honor, thinking of yourself more highly than you ought,
and someone more honorable than you is invited, then you’ll be asked to move to
a humbler position. Being evicted from the honorable seat you chose to the
lower one will be even more humiliating for you than if you had taken a humble
seat from the beginning. Instead, Jesus says, “Go and sit down in the lowest place, so that when he who invited you
comes he may say to you, 'Friend, go up higher.' Then you will have glory in
the presence of those who sit at the table with you.” It is as Solomon
writes in Proverbs 29:23, “A man's pride will bring him low, but the humble in spirit will retain
honor.” These Pharisees, who are convinced of their own importance and
honor, are easily convicted by their farm animals and their table manners,
proving Solomon’s
words in Proverbs 18:12 true: “Before
destruction the heart of a man is haughty, and before honor is humility.” “Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and
he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
5) Our
problem with the Pharisees is that we are often them. The Pharisees were the
pinnacle of human righteousness. Outwardly they were good and pious folks, yet
they were proud, self-important men. They were concerned with preserving their
honor and promulgating their reputation. They thought themselves to be
something when in reality they were nothing. While it’s always tempting to
exalt ourselves over the Pharisees, that is precisely what Jesus is teaching us
not to do. Christ wants all men and women to humble themselves. He does not
want us to give in the sinful desire to exalt ourselves and despise others, no matter
their condition. St. Paul writes in Romans 12:3, “For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you,
not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think
soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith.” Christ teaches
us to renounce the works of the flesh that lead to self-exaltation: “hatred, contentions, jealousies,
outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, and dissensions” (Galatians 5:20). If we exalt
ourselves above our neighbors and fellowman, thinking that we are the most
important person in the room, then the words of Jesus condemn us: “Whoever exalts himself will be
humbled.” So we are to strive against the sinful flesh with its
temptation to self-aggrandizing and self-importance. But how do we suppress
those sinful desires?
6) St.
Paul offers the remedy in today’s appointed Epistle reading. He writes, “I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk
worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness and
gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring
to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Ephesians 4:1-3). We are to walk
in a way that is worthy of our calling. The calling Paul speaks of is the call
of the gospel, the call of Christ, which is a call to humbly repent of all our
sins and humbly seek mercy from Him on account of His innocent, bitter
sufferings and death for our sakes. The Gospel calls us to humility before God,
but it is also done in humility. Christ, both in His earthly ministry and His
ministry through the Word and Sacraments, in which He graciously calls sinners
to Himself, says: “Come to me,
all you who labor and are heavy
laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from me, for I
am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls” (Matthew 11:28-29). Daily Christ gently calls
you to renounce your sins and repent of them. Daily Christ humbly offers you
rest from the labor and heavy burden of your sin through the forgiveness of
every sin. He calls you humbly in the Holy Gospel, inviting you to place your
confidence in His merits, for only by trusting the promise of the Gospel is
there release from sin’s burdens. Christ calls you by the Gospel in humility
and it causes us to walk in the same humility toward God and our neighbor, so
that we walk “with all lowliness
and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love,
7) “Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and
he who humbles himself will be exalted.” So be on guard against the sinful
flesh’s desire for self-importance. Be vigilant against the Pharisee which
dwells in your heart who tells you to think more highly of yourself than you
ought and to despise your neighbor. That will only lead the Lord to humble you
as He did the Pharisees around the dinner table, for they thought they were
something when really they were nothing. Rather, by the Spirit who dwells in
your hearts by faith, humble yourself before God so that you daily confess your
sins. Humble yourself before God so that you daily give thanks for the
undeserved mercy He gently offers to us poor sinners for Christ’s sake. Bear in
mind that the One who calls you daily calls you to repentance and faith, your
Lord Jesus Christ, is “gentle and lowly
in heart,” and let this thought invigorate your soul to be gentle and lowly
in heart to those around you, bearing their burdens and their burdensome
behaviors. For you have Christ’s humble call and His promise that “he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
Amen.
May
the peace of God, which surpasses all human understanding, guard your hearts
and minds through faith in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.