Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! Amen! Dear brothers and sisters in Christ:
[Intro]
In his book Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis once wrote: “If anyone would like to acquire humility, I can, I think, tell him the first step. The first step is to realize that one is proud. And a biggish step, too. At least, nothing whatever can be done before it. If you think you are not conceited, it means you are very conceited indeed.”
Today, on this 12th Sunday after Pentecost, Jesus teaches us about humility.
So, how can anyone become humble? Well, if we try to become humble, then we aren’t really being humble at all.
[The Situation]
In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus is in a place that we may not expect. He is dining at the house of a ruler of the Pharisees — and on the Sabbath. Now, something we would expect to happen happens: conflict.
Now, we do not know all the details on why Jesus was dining with a Pharisee, but He was there. He was there not with just one Pharisee it appears, since Luke informs us that “they were watching him carefully” (Luke 14:1b). These Pharisees and lawyers were likely hoping to catch Jesus violating the Jewish Law.
We also do not know the exact details on why a man with dropsy — a swelling disorder — was also there. Could the Pharisees have invited this man in order to trap Jesus? Possibly, but we don’t know.
It was the Sabbath and according to Jewish Law, Jews were not to do any work on the Sabbath.
While at the meal, Jesus sees this man with dropsy and He asks those at the dinner table: “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath, or not?” (Luke 14:3b). But there remained an uneasy silence among the Pharisees. In their silence, Jesus healed the man and said, “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?” (Luke 14:5).
Now, among the Pharisees, there was a disagreement as to the proper answer. Some Pharisees say that no work at all could be done on the Sabbath, including saving people or animals from certain death. Other Pharisees, however, thought that some assistance could be given to those in need on the Sabbath. But these Pharisees did not want to argue amongst each other. They only wanted to see what Jesus would do. Again, only silence from the Pharisees. This follow-up question asked by Jesus implies that actions speak louder than words. But Jesus only receives silence from His critics.
[Pride and the Places of Honor]
Now, prior to the dinner, Jesus noticed something else. He noticed how each man carefully chose where he sat. They each scrambled for places of honor. So, at a dinner like this, what would be the places of honor?
Now, instead of chairs like today, Jews then reclined on couches at the table that would hold three or more people. These choice places were those at the left end of each couch, since the guests in those places had the best view of the host and the other guests.
So, prior to the meal, these men were scrambling to get the best seat at the table. For me, that would have been quite a sight seeing grown men rush for the best seat.
So, Jesus took this opportunity to teach them — and us — about humility as He tells a parable about guests at a wedding feast. 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” (Luke 14:8-9).
Here, Jesus purposely chose a wedding feast because so many guests would be present. At such a feast, the place of honor would be the left of the couch, which is nearest to the groom. So, if a guest chose the place of honor before so many other guests arrived, he would be seen as “self-important” or “pushy.”
And, if this person were asked to change seats, he would have to take the least desirable place — that is, one on the couch farthest away from the groom and also face deep humiliation in the eyes of the many guests.
Now, Jesus isn’t only talking about proper table manners. He is really teaching about pride and humility.
For decades, many of us have been taught that pride is a good thing. We say things like: “I take pride in my accomplishments,” “I take pride in my school.” But do we know what we are actually saying when we use the word pride? Pride is actually a synonym for conceit, distain, and ego. Do those words actually sound positive?
In reality, pride is the greatest sin. Pride is not fearing, loving, and trusting in God above all things. Pride is breaking the First Commandment. Pride is looking to human accomplishment instead of looking to God. And when we break the First Commandment, we end up breaking all of the other commandments as well.
Now, you may be thinking, “What can I say in the place of ‘pride’?” “How can I break this cycle?” Well, one way to start is to begin using words like: pleased, glad, happy, or delighted.
Now remember, instead of immediately taking the best seat as was the custom of the Pharisees, Jesus says, “Go and sit in the lowest place, so that when your host comes he may say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher’” (Luke 14:10).
You see, the Pharisees’ habit of claiming places of honor at a feast was only a symptom of a serious spiritual sickness: the right relationship with God.
The point of the parable is this: “For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted” (Luke 14:11). Some people “will be humbled,” while others “will be exalted.” Now, what does this mean?
Well, first, who does the humbling? God, of course. Now, these Pharisees were puffed up with conceit over their imagined holiness. You see, they were very proud men. They believed they had the God-given right to judge others using their pride, but in fact, it is God who judges.
Jesus told them this parable in order to save them from their unholy pride. Likewise, Jesus is reminding us, as well, since we are just as likely to fall into sinful pride.
I have often heard a radio host say, “ I am humbled to be one of the top radio shows in America.” Each time I hear this — and I hear people say things like this all the time — I always think, this person does not know the meaning of humble. This person is confusing humility with pride.
As Americans, we don’t like the idea of being humble. We argue who is the best at this and the greatest at that. We live in the greatest country, after all. We are obsessed with pride. We say or hear people say, “I’m the best!” “I was born this way!” “How dare you say that about me?”
[Humility]
So, in a world that obsesses about pride, how can we truly be humble? How can we be truly modest, meek, and low? Well, we can’t on our own. On our own, we only focus inward. As I said earlier, once we think about being humble, we are actually filling ourselves with sinful pride. Our sinful human nature always desires to look inward by only thinking about ourselves. So we must look outside ourselves.
Today, Jesus is teaching us to be humble. But how could we ever become humble?
We can only become humble by clinging to Jesus and His Word. You see, Christ “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” (Philippians 2:6-8).
Jesus humbled Himself for you and for me. Jesus is truly God and He lowered Himself to become man, so that in His lowly state, He would lift us up. In this lowly state, “The stone that the builders rejected, has become the cornerstone” (Luke 20:17).
On our own, we could never become humble, because we are drenched in our sin. We are naturally inclined to look inward. We think, “I can do it on my own.” But, we could never inherit salvation without faith and trust in Jesus.
In our sinful estate, which makes us spiritually poor, crippled, lame, and blind (Luke 14:13), Jesus invites us to His table. Jesus welcomes us. Jesus hears our confession of sins and we receive His forgiveness. Jesus strengthens us as we hear His Word and receive His Sacrament.
We could never repay Jesus for all that He has done for us. To everyone, He gives daily bread — food, clothing, and shelter. He gives all our bodily needs. But through His atoning death and glorious resurrection, He gives all who cling to Him even more! He gives all who trust in Him forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation!
You see, Jesus regards you and me as more important than Himself. This is true humility. He suffered in order to sanctify us through His own blood. Through His death, He is now exalted. Through His resurrection, all who trust in Jesus are likewise exalted!
We can only become humble through Jesus. We can do nothing to inherit salvation on our own. All we can do is fear, love, and trust in God above all things. When we do this, we receive salvation and all by grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone. Amen.
The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen!
+ SOLI DEO GLORIA +
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