Trinity 17
Lk 14:1-11
10/1/23
“Keep
your friends close, and your enemies closer.”
This expression describes how the Pharisees treated Jesus. They certainly considered Jesus to be an
enemy. Yet because they did, they tried
to be around Jesus. They wanted to hear what Jesus said. They wanted to see what Jesus did.
It
is for this reason that we encounter the surprising fact that the Pharisees ate
with Jesus on a number of occasions. Meals
had great significance in the ancient world.
Normally, the people with whom you ate demonstrated the people that you
accepted. Jesus’ choice of meal
companions was a source of offense to the Pharisees. They asked, “Why does this man eat with tax
collectors and sinners?”
Nevertheless,
the Pharisees did eat with Jesus. Not
surprisingly, these meals were often the setting of controversy. On one occasion a sinful woman came and
anointed Jesus’ feet. The Pharisee who invited Jesus thought, “If this man
were a prophet, he would have known who and what sort of woman this
is who is touching him, for she is a sinner.”
Yet Jesus contrasted the woman’s repentant behavior with that of the
Pharisee, and then forgave the woman’s sins.
On another occasion the Pharisees’ evaluation of Jesus prompted him to
pronounce woes on the Pharisees as he condemned their practice.
If
the setting of meals was one of controversy, so also was the time of the
Sabbath. This was the case because the
Pharisees were constantly watching Jesus to see if he would heal on the
Sabbath. They wanted to accuse Jesus of
breaking the Sabbath by doing work on that day – the work of healing. But Jesus repeatedly silenced them as he
showed the hypocrisy of their position.
Our
text for today begins with words, “One Sabbath, when he went to dine at
the house of a ruler of the Pharisees, they were watching him carefully.” Jesus eats on the Sabbath at the house of a
ruler of the Pharisees. Based on what
has happened thus far in the Gospel we can expect there is going to be conflict.
Sure enough, we are told that the Pharisees were watching Jesus carefully.
First
we learn there was a man present who had dropsy – what today we call
edema. He had swelling in his legs and
feet caused by excess fluid trapped in the body. Jesus took the initiative and asked the
lawyers and the Pharisees, “Is it lawful to
heal on the Sabbath, or not?” They
remained silent. So Jesus healed the man and sent him away.
Jesus said to them, “Which of you, having a son or an
ox that has fallen into a well on a Sabbath day, will not immediately pull him
out?” Our Lord knew that the Pharisees
were willing to perform these acts of mercy on the Sabbath. If these were permitted, how much more was
the act rescuing a person from physical suffering?
Jesus’ miracle shows us that he had entered into the world
to provide rescue. He had come to
provide release from all that sin has done in this world. Our Lord’s saving work does not only deal
with the spiritual. It extends to the
whole person and creation itself. Jesus’
healing ministry points forward to his resurrection. This is the means by which
our Lord has redeemed the human body.
When he raises us up on the Last Day he will transform our bodies so
that they never suffer or die again. In
each healing miracle, we see the promise that Christ will heal completely our
bodies when he returns in glory.
The Pharisees were watching Jesus carefully. However, Jesus was watching them as
well. He noticed how they were all
trying to choose the places of honor – the position at the table closest to the
host. The first century world was
extremely aware about status. This
status was publicly displayed by the position where a person ate at a
meal. Meals showed who was accepted.
They also showed where a person ranked in the social pecking order. Our Lord observed this process as each person
at the meal tried to get the best position possible.
So Jesus told what our text calls a “parable.” We are used to hearing parables that are
stories. However, the word parable has a
broader meaning. It includes not just
stories, but also other statements that bear a meaning that extends beyond the
surface level. The fact that this is identified as a parable alerts us that
Jesus’ words carry a meaning that goes beyond the basic and obvious truth
conveyed.
Jesus said, “When you are
invited by someone to a wedding feast, do not sit down in a place of honor,
lest someone more distinguished than you be invited by him, and he who invited
you both will come and say to you, ‘Give your place to this person,’ and then
you will begin with shame to take the lowest place.”
Our Lord warned
against seeking the highest place. After
all, there was always the possibility that someone with more status had been
invited. If this happened, then a person
would be told to give up their place and move lower in table seating. Such an occurrence would be a cause for great
shame. Rather than honor, grasping for
the highest place would bring humiliation.
In order to avoid this, Jesus said, “But when you are invited, go and sit in the lowest place, so that when your host comes he may say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher.’ Then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at table with you. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
Jesus said the people should choose the lowest place. Then, if the occasion called for it, a person
would be invited to move up higher. Rather than shame, such an event would
bring honor to a person. As Jesus
explained, “For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who
humbles himself will be exalted.”
Jesus’ words contain a common sense
wisdom. It is the same thing that our
Old Testament lesson from Proverbs expresses when it says, “Do not put yourself forward in the king's
presence or stand in the place of the great, for it is better to be told, ‘Come
up here,’ than to be put lower in the presence of a noble.”
Now it is understandable if we wonder whether our Lord’s
words are relevant to us. After all, for
the most part we don’t live in a world where the seating arrangement provides
an indication of our social status. More
often we are interested in being seated with people we know so that we can
engage them in conversation.
However, when our text uses the word “parable” to describe
Jesus’ statement it signals to us that there is more here than simple advice
about meal etiquette. Our Lord’s words
contain a much deeper spiritual meaning which teach us about what our Lord had
done for us; about how we approach God; and about how we deal with others.
Jesus says, “For everyone who exalts himself will be
humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” First and foremost these words are a
description of Jesus himself. Christ is
the One who humbled himself. In the
incarnation, the Son of God – the Creator of the universe – took on the role of
a servant. He willingly laid aside the
use of his divine power for his own benefit and instead used it to serve
others. He submitted himself to the
hardships of living in this world – a world of hunger, thirst, and fatigue.
More importantly, he submitted himself to the role of being
the Servant of the Lord – the One sent to bear the sins of all. He humbled himself as he submitted to
suffering and death on the cross in our place.
St Paul tells us that “though
he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to
be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of
a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself
by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”
Jesus took our sin and was condemned
by God in death. But then on the third
day God raised Jesus from the dead. He
vindicated Jesus as he began the resurrection of the Last Day in him. And then Gpd exalted Jesus as he ascended
into heaven and was seated at God’s right hand.
St. Paul went on to say, “Therefore God has highly exalted him
and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name
of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the
earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the
glory of God the Father.”
This is what Jesus has done for
us. Now as sinners, the way of humility
leads to exaltation for us. In the
parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector, the tax collector was repentant.
He humbled himself as he beat his breast and said, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!” He humbled himself in repentance, and so
received the exaltation of forgiveness.
Jesus said that the tax collector went home justified and then added, “For everyone
who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be
exalted.” We approach God in humble
repentance. We believe in Jesus the
crucified and risen Lord. And because of
Jesus God exalts us as his forgiven people.
Jesus humbled
himself for us and was then exalted.
This now provides the model and pattern for our life. Life in the kingdom of God brought by Christ
means humble service given to others. We
act in love toward those around us as we serve them. We carry ourselves in
humility as we put the needs of others before our own. We serve and help our family, friends, and
co-workers.
The world
doesn’t value humility. It doesn’t want
to serve. Instead, it is selfish and
gives attention to those who are prideful and boastful. They are the ones who get all the publicity –
they are the ones the media covers.
But as those who have been baptized into Christ, we now walk in our Lord’s footsteps. When we do so, we become the means by which Christ shares his love and care for others. We follow in his way of humble service, because in his resurrection he has shown us where this leads. It leads to exaltation and glory on the Last Day.
In our text today Jesus gives advice about how to conduct
oneself at a meal. His words provide
common sense instruction for the first century world. Yet as a parable his words share far more
than this. They convey the manner in he
has acted to save us as he humbled himself in death for us and was exalted in
the resurrection and ascension. They teach us that the way of humble repentance
leads to the exaltation of forgiveness.
And they show us the way we are to live as we humble ourselves in service
to others, in the assurance that the Lord will exalt us on the Last Day. As Jesus says, “For everyone who exalts
himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
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