"Humble at the Feast"
Luke 14:1-14
Trinity 17
Pastor Aaron A. Koch
Mt. Zion Lutheran Church
Greenfield, WI

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit

In today's Gospel Jesus directs us to invite the poor, the maimed, the lame, and the blind when we have a special meal. As I was pondering that this past week, I was reminded of a stranger who came to the parsonage door a while back asking for help. He was hitchhiking his way to Minneapolis. He had what looked like hospital bands around both of his wrists. He had on red fingernail polish. He didn't smell very good. After a couple of glasses of milk and a peanut butter sandwich and a brief rest on the front porch, he was on his way.

That experience reminded me again of how hard Jesus' words are. We like the idea of what He says. But in reality it doesn't come naturally to us sinners at all, certainly not to me. The poor and lame and homeless bring with them a whole set of problems that we'd rather not deal with. We'd much rather have people over from whom we might get some benefit-friends or family or business associates. Maybe they'll invite us back. Or maybe we can impress them and be built up in their eyes enough that we can gain some other advantage out of it in the future.

It's that sort of self-promoting, subtly self-exalting behavior we so often engage in that Jesus is dealing with in the Gospel. He noticed how everyone was jockeying for the best and highest spots at the table at this Sabbath feast. He knew that they were watching Him closely, scrutinizing Him, looking for some flaw to exploit or for some advantage that they could gain from Him.

One of the men at this feast had a condition called dropsy, or edema, a disfiguring condition that caused painful swelling in the joints and severe retention of fluid in the body, especially in the extremities. He was almost certainly in one of the lower positions at the table. In fact, he may even have walked in off the street during their meal. But Jesus doesn't keep His distance from this lowly man in need. Instead He says, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?" Is it OK for Me to help this man and make him glad?

Some there didn't think so. Healing was work, and there was to be no work done on the Sabbath. You see, the Pharisees had jacked up the requirements of what it meant truly to keep the Sabbath. The day of rest, which God appointed for rejoicing in all of His good gifts, they had made into a strict performance. By keeping their more demanding Sabbath standards, they could then compare themselves to others and find themselves superior-which was really nothing different than their jockeying for the better position at the tables.

Jesus heals the man anyway. And then He gives them an illustration, "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?" "That's work. And yet you'd do that. How much more should I heal this human being who is in the pit of a bodily ailment and pain." In the supposedly "higher" exercise of their religion, they were actually treating this man worse than they would treat an animal! How could it be contrary to the Sabbath to follow God's Word and love your neighbor?

The fact of the matter is that what Jesus was doing was actually in perfect keeping with the Sabbath. For the whole purpose of this day of rest is for people to stop their work to focus on God's work. The Pharisees failed to see that in Christ God was the one doing the work here. And that's exactly what the Sabbath is all about. We stop our endless, futile efforts and striving so that we might receive good gifts from the Lord of the Sabbath-and not because we've got the top spot at the table or because we've earned some sort of reward for ourselves by our holier life, but simply because Jesus is good and merciful and revels in giving Himself to us, even to those at the bottom of the table, even to us whose bodies and souls are deformed by sin. He has come to release us from that bondage.

Colossians 2 says, "Sabbaths are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ." The Old Testament day of rest points us forward to Him who is Himself our rest and our peace, namely, Jesus. So it's not about following regulations, it's about receiving the Gospel Word of the Savior who said, "Come to me all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest." To keep the Sabbath is to keep and hold on to Jesus and to hear and believe His Word.

That's why the meaning to the third commandment in the catechism doesn't mention anything about a day of the week, but rather states, "We should fear and love God so that we do not despise preaching and His Word, but hold it sacred and gladly hear and learn it." Remember, the Sabbath day is about you stopping your work and God doing His work on you and for you. And God's work is to preach His words of repentance and forgiveness, to lead you to see your sin and to rely on Christ ever more deeply who died to make full payment for your sin. Coming to church is not your occasion to do something for God; it's God's occasion to do something for you.

For the fact of the matter is that when it comes to spiritual and eternal things, you cannot do anything for God anyway. You are like that donkey or that ox that has fallen into the pit and cannot get out. You are in bondage to sin and death, and there's not a thing you can do to get up over the edge and free. But Christ comes along on the Sabbath and by the power of His descent into the pit of death, He pulls you out through His resurrection, freeing you through the preaching of His Word of forgiveness and the supper of His living body and blood.

This weekly Sabbath, then, is not a Pharasaical burden but a divine gift. For Jesus is still exercising His authority to heal and restore you. It's no wonder that so many people have such a hard time finding rest and peace when they cut themselves off from the source by staying away from divine service. They don't yet know the peace which passes all understanding and which transcends all the daily troubles of this life. There is no greater calm that one's conscience can have than in hearing and believing, "Your sins are forgiven through the shedding of Christ's blood, you are reconciled to God in Jesus. He is on your side. He is with you every day that you must yet live in this fallen world, and He will surely bring you to Himself to share in the fullness of His life." That's the sure word of Christ to you today. That is your Sabbath rest.

Only that work of Jesus can create true humility in us, that lowliness and gentleness toward one another that the Epistle speaks of. We can't work it up in ourselves. In fact, even if we would make it our goal to become humble and work at it hard every day, we'd never ever be humble, because then we'd be paying attention to ourselves and our own improvement like the Pharisees, and comparing ourselves to others, which is the opposite of humility. Anyone who thinks they're really making progress at being humble is by definition failing in that task.

Only Jesus, God the Son is truly humble, gentle and lowly in heart. He gives freely and abundantly to us without calculating what's in it for Him. And so humility is to be found only by living outside of yourself in Him. Only in Christ are you freed from the petty rivalries and the manipulating of people to instead show them real love, to do them good and to be a happiness for them without any calculation of their worthiness or whether or not you'll get anything in return. That's what Jesus is talking about when He says to invite the poor, the maimed, the lame, and the blind to your feasts. Be free from considering what you're going to get out of the deal, and simply pass on the good gifts of God for the benefit of others. By faith you receive the bounty of what God gives, no strings attached. By love you get to share His gifts with your neighbor, no strings attached. It's all grace, undeserved love.

Our Lord Jesus is the one who took the lowest place, who humbled Himself even to the point of death on a cross to rescue you and restore your honor. And now, having been raised from the dead, Jesus is exalted to the highest place at the table by His heavenly Father. And He has raised you up with Himself. By your baptismal faith you are united with Him in such a way that you share in His exaltation as members of His body. Remember, this is a wedding feast that Jesus speaks of, the celebration of His holy union with the Church, His bride. And if He is honored, then she also is honored with Him. If He goes up higher, then so does she. "He who humbles himself (with Christ in this world) will be exalted (with Christ in the world to come)."

Brothers and sisters in Christ, even now Jesus is here among us at the head of the table. Take the lowest place, that is, come in all humility before God as a repentant sinner. Come empty-handed as the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind, knowing that there's no way you'll ever be able to pay Jesus back, and you will be blessed. For to every penitent heart He says, "Friend, go up higher." "Come, share in My honor by receiving My own body and blood. Be filled with My forgiveness and My life." Here is your Sabbath rest and healing. Here is the foretaste of that Last Day when you will go up higher forever in the resurrection.

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit