Sermon - Luke 14:1-14 - 12th Sunday after Pentecost

Luke 14:1–14

“Humbled and Exalted”

Much of today’s reading revolves around the polarity of humiliation and exaltation, being brought low or made low, and being raised up.  It’s a common enough experience in human life, on either end of the scale.  But with Jesus there’s always more to learn – especially as our earthly experiences shed light on spiritual realities.

As he often does, Jesus shows mercy to a man before him suffering from disease, in this case dropsy, an abnormal swelling with fluid – we’d call it today “edema”.  He heals the man, even though it’s a Sabbath day, and even in the midst of the Pharisees at whose home he is dining.

Jesus is often about the business of humbling the self-righteous.  So when the Pharisees get all judgey about Jesus breaking their precious Sabbath laws and healing a man on the Sabbath – he rhetorically humiliates them.  Which of you wouldn’t do the same if you had a son, or even an ox stuck in a ditch on the Sabbath?  Wouldn’t you pull it out of the well?  Wouldn’t you save the poor animal?  And how much more valuable is the man than the beast? And how much less “work” is it for Jesus to say a word of healing than for a farmer to strain and stress to pull a huge animal from a ditch? 

As on so many occasions, Jesus verbally kicks out the pedestal of self-righteousness from under them.  And they are left speechless.  Or the Greek actually says, “They had no strength to answer”.  Well, the law leaves us speechless, too.  Every mouth is stopped, after all.

Then we have the Parable of the Wedding Feast.  Jesus doesn’t stray too far from the occasion for this earthly story with a heavenly meaning.  He was attending this dinner party at the home of a Pharisee.  And he observed the jockeying for position, as the Pharisees sought the best and most honorable places.  The sight must have been almost laughable.  But it’s not too hard to imagine.

We sinners are all too often selfishly concerned about our own place.  We seek the approval and accolades of man.  We want the highest place, if not at the table, then at the office, or in the family, or amongst our friends, etc.  We want to be regarded and respected, and woe unto you if you don’t treat me as I deserve!  Oh the games we play, seeking after our own status in small and big ways.  But what it boils down to is this:  Loving ourselves more than our neighbors.  Even humiliating others in order to exalt ourselves.

And so Jesus warns us – with a parable of both practical and spiritual advice.  Seek the lower place, and be invited upward.  Don’t seek the higher place, and be humbled, brought low.  You can see how it plays out in practical, worldly terms.  But consider also the spiritual meaning:

Humble yourself.  Take the lowest seat.  It’s not Jesus as miss-manners.  This is a spiritual truth we do well to follow.  We need to compare ourselves, our lives, our works - not against others but against the standard of God’s holy law.  Do I love the Lord with all my heart, soul and strength?  Do I love my neighbor as I should?  Do I keep the 10 commandments?  Do I honor God, his name, his word?  Do I care for my neighbor’s possessions and life and good name?  Am I chaste in everything I say and do?  If the law of God doesn’t humble you, sinner, you’re not listening too carefully.  If the commandments of God don’t show you your lowly, sorry, state, then your ears are plugged with rationalizations and lies.

Far better to confess your sins and bring them, humbly, to the foot of the cross, and be raised up by the restoration of his forgiveness.  Far better than to confess your own righteousness and be exposed at the judgment seat of Christ, after all, for the sinner you are.  Exalting oneself in the sight of the Lord is always a bad idea.  But humble yourself in the sight of the Lord, and he will lift you up.

And all of this has to do with how we treat our neighbor, as well.  Take the other parable, of the Great Banquet.  Here Jesus instructs us to regard the poor, the lowly, the humble.  And what could be more Christ-like?  Rather than seeking rewards by all our interactions with others, rather than playing quid-pro-quo, I’ll only scratch your back if you scratch mine…. The Christian ethic is one of selfless service.  The Christian humbles himself not only before God, but before others, regards others more highly than himself.

Martin Luther commented on the issue this way:

“be careful and arm yourself against this saying: “Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled.” For God will not and cannot tolerate such pride and arrogance. What do you have that you should be so proud? What do you have of yourself? And is not another just as much God’s creature as you are, no matter who he is? He will not have him despised; for he who despises his creature also mocks his Creator, says Solomon [Prov. 14:31; 17:5], and he who scoffs at a station scoffs at the Lord himself.”

For his part, our Lord Jesus knows what it means to humble himself.  Did anyone ever endure such humiliation as Jesus?  So much of his work involved making himself low, we even speak of his work for us – the first part – as his “state of humiliation”.  It begins with him humbling himself to become man, to take on flesh, to be conceived and born into this polluted world.  He knew humility in his life, having no special place like kings and emperors, but a lowly carpenter, a Galilean commoner.  He had no place to even lay his head. Humbled in his suffering, humiliated in his death.  Even his burial didn’t afford him proper honor – a hasty burial in a borrowed tomb. 

And all this humiliation for you, of course.  Brought low in your place.  Enduring the punishments, suffering the condemnation you deserve.  Taking the worst seat, the lowest place, what should have been yours and mine, the place of the cross.

But then… the exaltation would follow.  Christ is exalted, but not for himself, yet also for you.  He was raised from death for you!  To bring you with him from death into life.  He trounced the forces of hell for you – and declared his victory there on the devil’s own home turf, personally.  He ascended into heaven and takes back his throne – for you!  To rule the world, the church, and all things for you and for all his people.  And he will come again in glory, not for himself, but for you – to call your resting bones to life again, to gather you with the sheep into your rest, and to give you the crown of righteousness and a share in his reign.  

His humiliation spares you ultimate humiliation.  And his exaltation brings your exaltation.  Brought low in Christ, lifted up in Christ, he brings you to the highest seat, even a place at his heavenly feast.  Inviting you, the lowly, the outcast, to his Great Banquet.

Ah, but we don’t have to wait until that day, to take our place at his table, his banquet.  He invites you, even now, to his table.  When we gather around the altar, kneel at the rail, and receive the lavish feast of Christ’s body and blood – he has truly invited the lowly, the lame, the outsider, the shameful, the poor, the sinful dregs.  But he also brings us, by himself, from that low place, the highest.  Sins forgiven, we depart in peace – knowing Christ’s righteousness covers us.  Forgiveness, life and salvation are ours.  We are, spiritually, exalted in Christ.  Does it get any better?

So, friends, live a life of humility – in service to God and neighbor. Do not exalt yourselves before others, but humbly serve.  Do not exalt yourself before God, but be honest about your low estate.  Humbly bear your sins to Christ, who takes your low place, and lifts you up.  And live in the hope of the great banquet to come, when the foretaste gives way to the feast in all its fulfillment.