In today’s Gospel lesson, Luke 14:1-14, Jesus tells us: “...all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.” (Luke 14:11) Jesus here teaches us an important truth: The Gospel given to us in the crucified and risen Jesus Christ, achieves what God’s Law cannot. And humility receives what pride cannot. Jesus is going to tell us this three times over in our lesson. Let’s pay attention to His words.
The lesson begins: “One Sabbath, when Jesus went to eat in the house of a prominent Pharisee, he was being carefully watched.” (Luke 14:1) It’s important to note that the wedding feast is happening on a Sabbath day. Our translation says that it takes place at the house of a “prominent” Pharisee. The Greek in which Luke, like the other New Testament writers composed his Gospel, says that the owner of the house was an ἀρχόντων (archonton), a ruler of the Jews. This guy was a leading Pharisee. Pharisaism, you’ll recall, was a sect of Judaism that effectively taught people they could be right with God if they obeyed God’s Law. Jesus had already had run-ins with the Pharisees over the Sabbath. Now, every Pharisee in the room is watching Jesus closely, looking for Him to violate God’s Law, giving them a reason to seek Jesus’ execution.
Luke tells us that in front of Jesus was a man suffering from dropsy, an “abnormal swelling of his body.” Jesus asks the Pharisees and the teachers of religious law (the Scribes), “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath or not?” (Luke 14:3) We could rephrase Jesus’ question as, “Will God damn a person to hell for showing kindness to someone, praying for them, sharing the Gospel with them, feeding them a meal, on the Sabbath?” The answer should be obvious. Both the Old Testament and Jesus Himself summarized God’s Law as loving God completely and loving our neighbor as we love ourselves. This is the point of the Ten Commandments, God’s basic moral law. It shows you how completely sinful we are at birth that God has to command us to love. And even when He does, we can’t in our own power love God completely or love others with the same commitment with which we love ourselves. With the apostle Paul, we’re bound to say, “...I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.” (Romans 7:18)
The Pharisees thought otherwise. They were sure they kept God’s Law scrupulously and just to be sure, had created more than 600 additional laws by which they were certain they proved themselves righteous and worthy of life with God. In the process, they pitted God’s Law (or their version of God’s Law) against God’s love. There are times in their previous confrontations with Jesus that they condemn Jesus for acting lovingly on the Sabbath. After Jesus poses His question today, the Pharisees and Scribes, “remained silent.” (Luke 14:4) So, Jesus heals the man of his dropsy, then confronts the Pharisees and Scribes again, asking them: “If one of you has a child or an ox that falls into a well on the Sabbath day, will you not immediately pull it out?” Now, only a monstrous parent or a stupid owner of livestock would wait until after the Sabbath to rescue their child or their ox. But now, Luke says, the Pharisees “...had nothing to say.” (Luke 14:4)
Jesus, as God the Son, is the Lord of the Sabbath. He created the Sabbath not to provide an excuse the self-righteous can use for not loving God or neighbor one day a week. God gives us the Sabbath so that we can hear and learn His Word. You and I are born with a debt to God that we, in our own goodness, cannot repay. Jesus offered His sinless life on the cross to cancel the debt we owe to God for our sin and to give us everlasting life with God. He gives all this to us as a free gift we cannot earn. So, it’s OK to be compassionate on the Sabbath…or on any other day of the week. We don’t have to love God or neighbor to be saved from sin and death. Jesus has destroyed the power of sin to condemn us and separate us from God. In the Gospel, Jesus has set us free from sin and death–that’s the Gospel. With this gift then, He sets us free to live lives of love. Proud people, certain of their own goodness, can never be right with God or have life with Him. The humble, on the other hand, realize their salvation is entirely the work of God in Christ and, their pride broken, receive life from Him!
Now, the Pharisees and the Scribes aren’t the only ones who are watching in our lesson. Verse 7 tells us that Jesus is observing how everyone is seeking places of honor at the feast. Jesus tells His host and fellow guests not to push themselves forward like this. If someone higher on the ladder shows up, Jesus says, your host will be forced to tell you to take a seat at a lower spot. Instead, Jesus says, take a seat in the lowest place. Then the host may approach you and say, “Come on up to a higher place, a place of honor.”
Now, don’t misunderstand Jesus here. He isn’t establishing a new law. Jesus isn’t saying that we’ll earn better places at the heavenly banquet to which all His saints will go when they’ve been raised from the dead. Instead, Jesus is telling us to face facts, like the sinful tax collector in one of His parables. Remember, Jesus said, the tax collector entered the temple and didn’t dare come close to God, aware that he didn’t merit even being in the presence of God. Instead, from a place of lowliness, he cried out, “God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” (Luke 18:13) The humble know that, sinners though we are, it’s only through Jesus that we have a place in His kingdom. I don’t know about you, but knowing that I don’t deserve the forgiveness of my sins or everlasting life with God, I’m not going to be particular about the seating arrangements in heaven. Wherever Jesus puts me in His Kingdom, I won’t deserve it. I’ll just be grateful that He died and rose for someone like me! The psalmist writes, “I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked.” (Psalm 84:10)
Lastly, Jesus tells the Pharisees and Scribes that when they host a dinner, they shouldn’t invite people who can repay them. Instead, Jesus says, “...invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.” (Luke 14:14) Now, again, Jesus isn’t giving us some new law. He isn’t saying, “If you’ll invite the riff raff, the drug dealers, the thugs to your house, I’ll invite you into My kingdom.” Jesus is saying that because by God’s grace through faith in Jesus, we already have a place in the Kingdom of God, we don’t need to play the world’s games. The proud want to have an in with powerful, important people. The humble know that even the powerful and important of this world are mortals and sinners in need of God’s grace. This is why God’s Word tells us, “Do not put your trust in princes, in human beings, who cannot save…Blessed are those whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord their God.” (Psalm 146:3, 5) When you know you have the favor of God, you needn’t seek the favor of the world’s kings, queens, bosses, big shots, or pop stars. Jesus gives us the confidence to love others without thinking of repayment because we know He has already loved us and given us an eternal place with Him!
The Gospel gives us what God’s Law cannot. And humility receives what pride cannot. A place in God’s kingdom doesn’t belong to those who self-consciously perform good religious works, who, in their heart of hearts, harbor the belief that their goodness and achievement make them worthy for life with God. A place in God’s kingdom belongs only to those who know with Saint Paul that, “...it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9) Friends, our only boast is in Jesus. He is the One Who calls us to life with Him in His kingdom, the highest and best place anyone could be, no matter what the world may think of us. Jesus calls out to you again today, “Friend, move up to a better place,” the place where Jesus is our saving King and we are His people forever. Amen
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