September 23, 2018, Trinity 17, WH Luke 14:1-11

In the name of the Lord who humbled Himself to exalt us,

Dear Fellow Redeemed:       

Jesus spoke often about pride and humility.  His parable today, one among many, encourages Christian humility.  Those who afflicted Him were religious leaders.  They were characterized by pride, great pride and self-satisfaction.

Now it happened, as He went into the house of one of the rulers of the Pharisees to eat bread on the Sabbath, that they watched Him closely.

They watched Him not because they were curious or interested.  They were suspicious.  They didn’t trust the Savior.  They watched with evil intent.  Later, St. Luke explained their motives. S

o they watched Him, and sent spies who pretended to be righteous, that they might seize on His words, in order to deliver Him to the power and the authority of the governor.  Luke 20:20

Looking for an excuse to rid themselves of Jesus they set a trap.  They watched intently hoping Jesus be snared.        The trap was set but who was caught?  Our theme:

Did Jesus break God’s law?

Today, God will help us understand His law and we will learn what Jesus does with God’s law and how pride affects all this.       

Hatred of Jesus is centered in pride.  Pharisees had become very satisfied with themselves.  In pride, they changed God’s word to fit their thinking.  Instead of hearing the law do its proper duty, instead of hearing its condemnation, they heard approval.  They considered God’s law as the summary of what they believed.  They worked very hard and kept it…outwardly.  Consequently, they began to believe they were pretty good people. They tried hard than others.  They had more respect than others.  They were better than others.  They were proud.       

They suspected the One who came to save them from sin.  Jesus supported God’s condemning law.  He taught God’s law in all its fury.  He preached to open their eyes and ours.  We are not better than others.  We are as sinful as the worst.  God’s law condemns us.  Only arrogance blinds us to law and the Savior.  

       God’s law demands perfection in all people.  Looking good is not enough.  Being totally good is God’s command.  Jesus taught Pharisees and us that we do not begin to keep the law.

But woe to you Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and all manner of herbs, and pass by justice and the love of God. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone.  Luke 11:42

No one wants to hear this.  We get angry should someone tell us differently.  We would like to prove Him wrong. Pride is behind our gossip.  Pride is behind our attitude toward others, our animosity toward anyone who would dare correct us in our behavior and tell us we are wrong. Humility before God is not natural.  God’s law creates it.  He works so we can know we have nothing for which to be proud before Him.  We begin to join the Saint in prayer:

We have sinned and committed iniquity, we have done wickedly and rebelled, even by departing from Your precepts and Your judgments.  Daniel 9:5

        The humble are anxious to learn.  We become anxious for guidance.  We become anxious for help and relief.  The sick fellow in the text simply stood before Jesus and waited.  He didn’t even ask.  He waited for Jesus to act. We stand before Jesus.  We wait.  We listen.  Under the law, we may not even dare ask.  We stand in humility.  He is God.       

God wants to help all people.  It is His will, I Tim. 2:4:

God desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. God makes His will available to all.  J

esus, His Son, came into this world to save sinners, all sinners, even proud sinners.  The Bible uses phrases like these about Jesus: 

He takes away the sin of the world.  He reconciles the world unto Himself.  He loves the world.  Not for our sins only but for the sins of the world. No one is excluded.  All are welcome.  Jesus proclaimed: For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."       

Humility doesn’t make us worthy.  The sick fellow before Jesus did nothing.  He had empty beggar hands.  Humility points us to the One who helps.  Jesus always helps.  We read:

And behold, there was a certain man before Him who had dropsy.  And Jesus, answering, spoke to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?"  But they kept silent. And He took him and healed him, and let him go.  Then He answered them, saying, "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?"  And they could not answer Him regarding these things.       

This is the trap of the law but it backfired like a gun, the muzzle of which is plugged solid.       

Love fulfills the law.  Jesus is love.  Jesus fulfilled the law included the Sabbath Law to the letter.  Jesus fulfilled God’s law of love beyond the letter.  What He is He gives to us. If ever there were a man who could be proud it would be Jesus.  To save all people, Jesus humbled Himself.  He came to us to serve rather than to be served.  He came to us to die in degradation.  St. Paul wrote it, Phil. 2:

Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men.  Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obed-ient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.

God became man and the result is the man with dropsy was blessed in every way.  God died on a cross for you and the result:  He exalted you to eternity.       

Jesus fulfilled God’s law on your behalf as if you had fulfilled it perfectly.  He was the holy man.  He was the man who dared and deserved to stand proud before God.  He was all this for the man with dropsy.  He was all this for you.  A beggar, you stand before Jesus and receive His gifts.  And you are whole.        Wearing His holiness, having His mercy, rejoicing in His love, God exalts you with the gift of eternal life.  With empty hands, a beggar, God fills you to the brim with every good gift of His love.       

Humility opens our hands to God’s gift.  Jesus spoke:

So He told a parable to those who were invited, when He noted how they chose the best places, saying to them:  "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.  But when you are invited, 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.

Jesus blesses the humble with great honor.  The result of His love for us, is the creation of love in our hearts.  Jesus blesses the humble with a heart full of love.  Listen to this verse from first John:  He wrote:

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.  He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.  In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him.  In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.  Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.  No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us.       

Humility is love.  Christians learn to think first about others before ourselves.  Believers rejoice in Jesus.  We do not think it a burden to serve Him.  In humility and faith, nothing is more important to us than to serve God who first served us.  He is love and we are love in Him.

Amen.  Soli Deo Gloria!