Humble and Exalted
Luke 14:1-11
September 22, 2024 anno Domini
I wonder where Jesus sat. Since the Pharisees were out to get Him, they probably wanted Him to sit at or near the head table. I think Jesus took the lowest place, because that’s why He came. That’s what He taught in the parable.
When you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, do not sit down in a place of honor, … but when you are invited, go and sit in the lowest place. And the lowest place had to be next to the dropsy guy. Let’s call him Bruce, even though that’s not a Biblical name, it won’t hurt anyone’s feelings, not that I’m usually concerned about that.
So, there’s Bruce, suffering dropsy. We call it edema, retaining fluid, congestive heart failure. His hands and feet are swollen. He can hardly carry on a conversation and eat at the same time. He is uncomfortable, unhappy, and cranky. Just the guy you would want to sit next to at a wedding reception.
But it gets worse. In Biblical times it was believed you got dropsy from being sexually promiscuous. It makes you wonder why Bruce ever got invited to the Pharisees’ feast.
We know why. Bruce got invited because of Jesus. Jesus was showing mercy to sinners. Jesus healed on the Sabbath. Jesus by His humble service was winning followers and that frustrated the Pharisees. They boasted of themselves and bullied people with laws to show how great they were. Jesus claimed to be a God who was not too great to sit with sinners.
That’s why Bruce was there. It was a set up as St. Luke tells us. They were watching [Jesus] closely. And although they never said anything Jesus knew their thoughts. That is why Luke tells us, “Jesus responded to the lawyers and pharisees, saying, ‘Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath, or not?’”
The Pharisees had no answer. There is no law against helping someone on the Sabbath. Besides no one could heal like Jesus heals. It would be like asking, “Is it lawful to raise the dead at a funeral?” No one can raise the dead, so why worry about whether it is lawful or not?
The Pharisees are not the only silent ones. Bruce is silent. Oddly he doesn’t ask to be healed. If Jesus sat down beside you, what would you say, “Hey, Jesus can you check out my eye? I have glaucoma.” Whatever it was, if Jesus was next to you, you’d ask like so many people asked, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on me. Can you get rid of this cancer, get me off dialysis, ease my arthritis, heal my granddaughter?
Bruce is silent because he is the setup guy. He is there for all the wrong reasons. Yet, Jesus took him and healed him and sent him away.
That’s the prelude for Jesus teaching you about humility. The opposite of humility is pride. A proud God wouldn’t sit next to a Bruce. A proud God would have sat with the Pharisees in perfect fellowship.
Why is pride so pleasing and humility so hard? Why is it that you want people to notice that your son is the best on the team? Your granddaughter got into a prestigious school? Why do you tell the stories where you come out on top? Why is it so easy to point out your neighbor’s failures and misfortunes but you do your best to cover your own?
Why are you proud? Because you are afraid you’re nobody. You are afraid for yourself, just like Bruce. He went along with the Pharisee’s scheme because they needed him. They asked him. He was the perfect setup guy. He thought finally I’m somebody. The guys actually need me. Then Jesus ruined everything by healing him and stumping the Pharisees. I bet that was the last time Bruce was invited to a Pharisee Pride festival.
Jesus addresses our pride, not just by commanding us to be humble, but by being humility incarnate. Our faith is in the God who humbled Himself, who took on the form of a servant. The Son of God, the Word through whom all of creation was made, confines Himself to be the unborn child in the womb of the Virgin Mary. The only Son of God wears a diaper and depends on his mother for life. Yet that is not the lowest place He takes. He doesn’t merely become a man. He becomes a Bruce. He becomes you.
At His baptism He soaks up the sin of the world. He soaks up your fornication, your pride, your perversions, your complaining, your boasting, your fear. Then at the cross, your sins are consumed in by the Father’s fiery wrath. Rejoice, because God’s wrath is not aimed at you, but at Jesus of Nazareth, God’s own son.
This is the Christian faith. This is your faith. You don’t deserve a place at the table. You shouldn’t be invited. You’re not worthy of entrance. But God in His folly, in His love, wants you in. So, He sends Jesus into the world. He sends Him to the last place on earth you would expect to find God. He sends Him to hell with your sins. The Son of Man did not come to be served (at the head table), but to serve you and give His life as a ransom for you.
Pride has no place in the Christian. Humility is not only the starting point of Christianity, humility is how Christians live and move and have their being. Your Savior has humbled Himself so that you can be exalted. The filthy rags of your righteousness are washed away by His blood and now you are clothed in His righteousness. By taking away your sins, Jesus has turned your death into victory. You don’t need to get ahead of your neighbor, you are already by virtue of your baptism seated with Christ in the heavenly places.
It was interesting to read how the early church fathers encouraged the practice of humility. They said things like walk with purpose. Don’t shuffle along like all is lost and don’t run around like you’re short of time. Don’t dress like a slob as if you are nothing and don’t wear bright colors to draw attention to yourself. Humility is not thinking little of yourself. It is believing the high place you have been given in Christ and then acting like it. Humility is listening to God’s Word before you listen to your heart or your feelings or your family. It is taking whatever God gives you with confidence that at the last you will be exalted.
Did you hear Psalm 2 this morning? It has become my favorite Psalm during elections. He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them (that is the Kings and rulers of earth) in derision. Fear is the world’s sermon during an election season. Pride and fear go hand in hand. You put your hope in a man or woman who will exalt you and do what you want. Put your hope in the Lord, and vote for a candidate who will do the most for your unsung neighbor. Vote pro-life for the unborn, after all God loves children because they give us a picture of faith – they are humble and good at receiving. Vote for those who support marriage where one man and one woman raise the children God has given them – that’s God’s picture of Christ and His church. Vote for candidates who know the difference between right and wrong – and remember that distinction can only be found in God’s Word. Vote for a candidate who is humble – who is in office not to be served, but to serve. Whatever you do, don’t despair, but instead rejoice. No matter how the election turns out, Jesus of Nazareth, your brother, your Savior, your Lord sits in heaven and laughs. He’s laughing because all the plotting of Kings and raging of nations will save neither, will exalt neither. Only He can do that, and He did. He humbled Himself to save the world, to save you and now He is exalted. Humble yourselves and receive first the gifts of Jesus, His forgiveness, His death, He reign over your life. Then humbly take whatever else He gives you, suffering or pleasure, sickness or health, success or failure, Republicans or Democrats, because soon you will be exalted, seated with Him in glory. In the name of Jesus. Amen.