September
1, 2013 at Calvary Evangelical Lutheran Church – Mechanicsburg, PA
[Jesus said]: “But when you are
invited, go and sit in the lowest place, so that when your host comes he may
say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher.’ Then you will be honored in the presence
of all who sit at table with you. For everyone who exalts himself will be
humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
Luke’s
gospel is full of people watching. He records numerous events where Jesus is
present in public—in a synagogue, in a city center, in the Temple, at a
banquet. Each time, Jesus is observed and observant. The people watch Him, and
He watches the people. The Gospel Reading for this Sunday is one of those events:
“One Sabbath, when [Jesus] went to dine
at the house of a ruler of the Pharisees, they were watching Him carefully.”
But Jesus is just as observant at that dinner. What Jesus sees leads Him to
comment about what was taking place, to speak about the people and about
Himself.
The
house of this chief Pharisee provides a forum for Jesus to teach: “Now He told a parable to those who were
invited, when He noticed how they chose the places of honor….” Jesus
observes the jockeying for position that was happening in the Pharisee’s house.
All of the guests were attempting to place themselves in seats of honor. They
desired to be located in spots where they would be identified as important and
worthy of being recognized by the other guests. There was fame to be gained and
pride to be boosted.
But
when we hear this description of the dinner guests, we should not be surprised.
This type of jockeying is not unknown to us. We know how banquet seating can be
used to flatter and to pump up people. Think of the business dinners, wedding
receptions, civic galas, or other events that you have attended. Whether as
host or guest, determining where to have individuals sit is a task that
requires great thinking: “What will people think if such a person is seated up
front? Can we actually have these two individuals sit together? The high table
only has 10 places, who makes the cut?” In the Pharisee’s house, the situation
seemed even more cutthroat, since the guests were choosing the places
themselves, not being seated.
So
what does Jesus say about this? What is His response to what He sees? He tells
a parable: “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. But when you are invited, go and sit in
the lowest place, so that when your host comes he may say to you, ‘Friend, move
up higher.’ Then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at table
with you. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles
himself will be exalted.”
Jesus’
statement reveals the folly of those who were jockeying for positions. He
points out what their pride will gain for them. There is a gamble in feeding
their sense of self-importance. A guest takes the place of honor, thinking that
he deserves it. But when the host comes with the truly-honored guest and makes
the other person moves, all that seemed to be gained is lost. The shameful path
from the place of honor to a lesser place will be traveled.
This
statement of Jesus echoes the proverb of Solomon spoken nearly a millennia
before the dinner in the Pharisee’s house. You heard similar wisdom from the
king of Israel: “Do not put yourself
forward in the king’s presence or stand in the place of the great, for it is
better to be told, ‘Come up here,’ than to be put lower in the presence of a
noble.” The basic premise of this proverb is the same as Jesus’ statement:
the shame of being degraded in the sight of important people can be avoided by
not being prideful.
But Jesus’
parable in the Pharisee’s house is more than commentary on the social behavior
and etiquette. He is telling a parable that reveals something about Himself and
the kingdom of God that He is bringing into the world. Jesus speaks a parable
that discloses the problem of those who were missing the truth about His
identity and not welcoming Him. The wedding feast that Jesus speaks of is more
than a reception in Palestine. It is a way for Him to talk about the kingdom of
God that was present in His hearers’ midst.
In the
religious community, the Pharisees were top of the class. The Pharisees were
honored by the people as the religious elite, the ones who displayed the best
piety, the best practices of faith. This was not disputed by them. Just the
opposite, the Pharisees appeared to revel in it. But despite their position and
status, the Pharisees were merely guests to the wedding feast that the Lord was holding. In that light, they
were no different than all the other faithful people of Israel. But someone
else had come into their presence. The host of the wedding banquet had come
invited someone more distinguished, even His own Son.
But the
behavior of the Pharisees showed that they did not recognize Jesus’ true
status. Even worse, the behavior of some demonstrated that they had begun to
think of themselves as the host of the banquet instead of guests. This delusion
is why Jesus speaks this parable to them. It is a way of correcting them, so
that they would be able to participate in the wedding banquet that the Father
would hold for His Son.
So
Jesus tells His parable with the closing statement that involves much more than
what to do at a dinner party: “For
everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be
exalted.” That statement describes what the Lord
desires to see among people here on earth. He wants people to be humble, to
know that they are not deserving of anything good that He gives them. But at
the same time that people are humble, the Lord
shows grace and mercy to them. What is not deserved is given. Physical life and
the support of it, a place in His kingdom and the salvation that comes with it—these
are both given by the Lord to
individuals. It is not a matter of receiving deserved wages. No, it is a show
of divine generosity.
What
the Lord desires to see among
people here on earth is what Jesus shows in His life. He is the great example
of humility. Even though Jesus is the most distinguished person invited to the
wedding banquet, what does He do in His life? He humbles Himself. He doesn’t
have a place of great honor in the world. Instead, He becomes a servant. Jesus
acts for other people’s benefit. He puts their concerns ahead of His. He even
suffers abuse and mistreatment for doing so. But this is what Jesus bears to
bring salvation, just as the Epistle Writer states: “So Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the
people through His own blood. Therefore let us go to Him outside the camp and
bear the reproach He endured.”
But after all this is
completed, Jesus is exalted. That forms the content of the great statement of
faith that we make: ”And
the
third
day
He
rose
again
according
to
the
Scriptures
and
ascended
into
heaven
and
sits
at
the
right
hand
of
the
Father.
And
He
will
come
again
with
glory
to
judge
both
the
living
and
the
dead,
whose
kingdom
will
have
no
end.” This is exaltation
beyond all measure. The Father gives it to Jesus after He undergoes His great
humiliation. But that exaltation will never end and will never be taken away
from Him. What Jesus says stands eternally true: “He who humbles himself will be exalted.”
So Jesus observes you and
speaks His parable to you. The issue of seating people at a banquet still
remains a point of emphasis now in the present day. Likewise, the issue of
having a place in the wedding feast—the kingdom of God—that Jesus brings also
remains relevant today. Who has a place at the feast? Those whom the Father has
invited. That makes it a point of privilege, not right. You did not earn your
spot at the table; it was given. You were invited to it. But like the guests
mentioned in Jesus’ comments about invitations—“When you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the
blind, and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you.”—you cannot
repay the Father for being called as a guest. Because Jesus humbled Himself for
you and made it possible for you to enter, you were invited to participate in
the wedding banquet.
Jesus’ parable calls you
away from the thinking that dominated the Pharisees of His day. Being prideful
before God is dangerous. Believing that you have nothing wrong with you and
need no help, that you and God are basically peers, will lead to a great
humiliation. Beginning with shame to take the lowest place could even become
not having a place in the kingdom of God. Instead, you are to remember that you
are unworthy of anything good, but that the Father has bestowed all that is
beneficial to you because of the word that His Son has done. That type of
thinking leads to the actions described in the Epistle Reading: “Through [Jesus] then let us continually
offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that
acknowledge His name. Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for
such sacrifices are pleasing to God.”
There also is the issue
of being prideful before others. That also is dangerous. The jockeying for
positions at the dinner parties showed that the Pharisees coveted the honor of
men. They desired and craved it. And if they could “one-up” anyone, they would
do so to accumulate more honor and glory. That is not how it should be within
the Church, a community of individuals who are all guests at the divine wedding
banquet. Where the stepping on individuals has arisen, it must stop; the Church
is not a place for an upward ladder of mobility. Any comparing of how good one
is compared to others must come to an end. In its place should be actions that
reflect Jesus’ humility, the actions that the Epistle Writer also mentioned: “Let brotherly love continue. Do not neglect
to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels
unawares. Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and
those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body.”
That is what this
incident at the Pharisee’s house is meant to teach us. Jesus’ statement is just
as cutting now as it was then: “Everyone
who exalts himself will be humbled.” Where it has pricked the conscience,
that is His message to humble yourselves—to admit fault, to plead guilty, to
confess sin. But the promise given by Jesus is just as comforting now as it was
then: “He who humbles himself will be
exalted.” That is what will happen for you who are saved by Jesus’ humbling
Himself to die and rise again for you. The forgiveness that Jesus bestows puts
you right with the Father, and so you will be raised and seated at the eternal
wedding banquet in the place that He has determined for you.
+ In the Name of the
Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
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