Grace, Mercy, and Peace to you from God our Father, and from Our Lord
and Savior, Jesus the Christ. Amen.
The event that occurs in Luke chapter fourteen seems, at first glance, to be about
mercy, humility, or maybe etiquette at a dinner party. But Jesus is aiming for a
much deeper meaning. This isn’t just a lesson in social behavior or Sabbath
observance. Luke tells us this is a parable, which is an earthly event with a
heavenly meaning. And, as always, Jesus’ actions and words point us beyond the
moment, to the heart of God.
At this Sabbath dinner hosted by a ruler of the Pharisees. Our text says that Jesus is
being watched closely. So the host makes an attempt to trap Jesus. He has placed a
man with dropsy, which was a visible, painful illness, right in front of Him, hoping
to trap Jesus into healing on the Sabbath, which they considered to be unlawful
work.
Jesus sees through this. He asks, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath or not?”
They remain silent. Jesus knew that works of love were permitted on the Sabbath.
Deuteronomy 6:5, says, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart
and with all your soul and with all your might.” Which is emphasized later in the
Gospel accounts of St. Matthew and Mark, and then “You shall love your neighbor
as yourself” is added.So Jesus heals the man in front of the Pharisees and for many
other witnesses to see, laying His hands on him to make it unmistakable that He is
"working."
Why provoke them you may ask? Because Jesus is revealing something they don’t
understand: God’s law, especially concerning the Sabbath. The Sabbath itself is not
about control or restriction, but about compassion and mercy. The Pharisees had
the wrong idea about God. They saw God as a stern taskmaster who demanded
strict obedience. Jesus shows that God’s commands are not burdens, but rather gifts
meant to bless and restore us. The Sabbath wasn’t made to test our loyalty to God,
rather, it was given to allow us to rest in Him.
And this misunderstanding still exists today. Many see church attendance, Bible
study, or communion as duties performed to earn favor with God—or to avoid His
anger.
The truth is, these aren’t things we do for God. They are the ways God serves us.
That is why we call our church services: Divine Services. They are from God, and
God serves us by giving us His Word and Sacraments so that we may be
strengthened in faith, reminded of His love, and comforted with the assurance of
forgiveness. Coming to worship isn’t a test, but rather it’s a refueling of the soul.
It’s grace for you.
That’s why Jesus tells the parable about guests at a banquet choosing places of
honor. He’s not giving us advice about where to sit at weddings. If we think this
parable is just about social humility, “sit low so you can be invited higher”, then
we’ve misunderstood it entirely. That would be false humility, or worse, a legalistic
way of earning heavenly reward through earthly modesty.
The parable isn’t about what we do, rather it’s about how God operates. Our text
says, “Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles
himself will be exalted.”
Whenever we exalt ourselves, we are placing ourselves above our neighbors
(remember the 4th through 10th commandments, deal with loving our neighbors;
honoring your parents and other authorities, physical bodies of your neighbor,
honoring marriage, honoring the possession of people’s stuff, honoring people’s
reputations, protecting/reducing thoughts of other people’s stuff)
Also whenever we exalt ourselves, we are boasting on our merit and worthiness
before God. People who do that will be humbled, humbled by being excluded from
the Kingdom of God. But whoever humbles himself, shows that he cares for his
neighbor, will be exalted, and receive honor in the Kingdom of God.
That is because in God’s kingdom, status is not achieved, rather it’s given. Not to
the deserving, but to the undeserving. To simply put it, us. Your status was given
whenever you were baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the
Holy Spirit. That status is given, and will never be forsaken by God.
Jesus models the humility of loving His neighbor perfectly. At the dinner party, He
sits next to the man whom no one else would sit next to, a man with a disease
considered a judgment from God (often thought to be someone who sinned in a
sexually immoral way. And Jesus not only sits with him, He heals him. He lifts him
up. That’s the way grace works: it exalts the shamed, welcomes the outcast,
forgives the unworthy.
Why you may ask? Because Jesus Himself took the lowest place. Though He
deserved the seat of honor, He humbled Himself, coming down from His heavenly
throne, took on all our sins in the Jordan River, He took on our shame and guilt,
and then took our punishment upon Himself on the cross. And because He did,
God exalted Him, raising Him from death and giving Him the name above every
name. Now, in Christ, God invites sinners like us to move up, not because we’ve
earned it, but because Jesus has earned it for us, with His holy precious blood.
God exalts not the proud, but the penitent (the one who is actually sorry for his
sins). Not the religious elite, but the one who walks into church burdened by guilt
and shame, and throws themselves on His mercy. And the good news? That’s
exactly the kind of person God loves to welcome.
Jesus ends the dinner with one more powerful teaching: don’t invite people who
can repay you but invite those who can’t. Again, this isn’t a law about party
invitations. It’s a revelation of God’s heart. God does not want us to pay Him back.
But grace, by definition, cannot be repaid. And God doesn’t want it to be. He
simply wants us to receive His gifts of forgiveness of sins, eternal life, and
salvation while also being in His Word, and partake in the Sacraments.
So don’t come to worship thinking you owe God something. Don’t believe the lie
that unless you give more, serve harder, or do better, God won’t bless you. Come
like someone running on empty, barely making it into the station because that’s
exactly where God wants to meet you. And that’s what He promises to do.
In the end, we don’t fully understand God. His thoughts aren’t ours. He values
grace over effort, humility over honor, giving over receiving. We think of Law,
God gives the Gospel. We think of our own merit and worthiness, but He offers
grace, mercy, and peace. So no, we may never fully understand God. But we can
trust this: He is better than we ever imagined.
In the Name of Jesus. Amen.