Last week we heard Jesus teach us that there is a narrow door that leads to heaven and only those who have faith in him will enter in and take their place at the eternal feast in God’s kingdom. We also heard him warn us that-- as wide open as that door is today, there is coming a day when it will be closed-- and those who are left outside--will never enter in. They will claim a familiarity with Jesus—that they ate and drank in his presence—but because they never had faith in him—he will not claim them as his own.
In our Gospel lesson this week we see these people take on flesh and bone. Jesus was invited to the home of one of the rulers of the Pharisees for dinner with other local dignitaries. They eat and drink in his presence. They heard his teaching. They were familiar with him—but faith in him was absent.
And what we are going to see this week is that the faith in Jesus by which we enter the narrow door of salvation-- is MUCH MORE than just a cold, sterile recitation of the facts of his life—it is much more than just intellectual assent to certain religious dogmas—instead, the true and living faith by which we enter into God’s kingdom has the living Christ as its content—and baptized into his death and resurrection--believing in him—filled with his Spirit--his life of mercy, humility, and hospitality is to be lived out in our own life. Luke writes that:
One Sabbath, when Jesus went to dine at the house of a ruler of the Pharisees, they were watching him carefully. And behold, there was a man before him who had dropsy. And Jesus responded to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath, or not?” But they remained silent. Then he took him and healed him and sent him away. And he said to them, “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?” And they could not reply to these things.
Surely it was no accident that on that Sabbath day, in the presence of the Pharisees and other experts in the Law, that there was also a man present who was ill. Luke tells us that the Pharisees and scribes were watching Jesus carefully. There had already been conflict between them and Jesus over his healing people on the Sabbath—a work of mercy that many of them regarded as breaking God’s Law since it was done of the Sabbath --and now there was a whole room full of witnesses. What would Jesus do?
As in so many other instances in Jesus’ ministry, the person who was put forward by the Pharisees, was not fully human in their eyes—but a handy object in their plan to try and trip up Jesus. The same thing happened with the woman caught in the act of adultery—there was no mercy for her—she was just a prop to try and get to Jesus.
But Jesus didn’t see people who were in need of forgiveness and healing as props or tools or case studies for applied ethics—they were people who needed his mercy.
Luke tells us that the man had “dropsy” which is the accumulation of fluids in the body—perhaps as the result of congestive heart failure—but whatever the cause, he was desperately ill. And put forward by the Pharisees to “trip-up” Jesus, Jesus turned it back to them: What does the Law say, is it permissible to heal on the Sabbath?
To that they had no answer because the Mosaic Law gave no specific answer. There were various rabbinic interpretations and opinions that differed with one another—but no clear command in the Law of God. But they all knew the summary of the Law—the fulfillment of the law—what the law was really all about: to love our neighbor as ourselves. And that’s what Jesus did—he healed him --and sent him on his way.
But Jesus wasn’t through with those who opposed him—he still loved them and wanted them to be a part of his kingdom too—and for that to happen they needed to see the truth about themselves. And so he asked them another question, what about you, what if you had a loved one—would you help them? Luke tells us that they had no reply. But I would hazard a guess that they all had an answer in their minds—of course I would! If my son were drowning I would come to his aid whether it was the Sabbath or not! They just couldn’t bring themselves to be merciful to all who needed their mercy!
And so, even without their having said a word, the judgment of Almighty God that they wanted to render against Jesus --came to rest upon them. The Law of God and their own conscience CRIED OUT for mercy to those in need—but they refused.
We will get this scene wrong if we say that it is just another example of those bad Pharisees. They stand in the place of all people—and on one side is the mercy of Jesus who reaches out and helps—and there on the other side is the lack of the same in us.
All of us have the power to act mercifully—to reach out and help those around us: a kind word—a loving gesture—a financial gift. And the Lord provides us with plenty of opportunities to act with mercy. But much too often we look like the Pharisees trying to figure some reason why we shouldn’t act—some reason why mercy isn’t required of us.
Our Lord wasn’t that way—he reached out to help those who needed his help whenever he came across them. “Mercy” is why he took on flesh and came to earth in the first place—to do for us what we could not do for ourselves—to do what was in his power alone to do—and that is to reconcile us to God.
As those who are the recipients of his mercy, we are called act with mercy towards others—and that relationship between Jesus and us—of us standing in need of the help that only he can give—informs how we see ourselves and how we view those around us—and it works humility in us. Luke says that:
Jesus told a parable to those who were invited, when he noticed how they chose the places of honor, saying to them, “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.”
All of us have done this, haven’t we—what Jesus was doing at the dinner party—a little “people- watching”—it’s one of my favorite things to do There has never been anything on TV as interesting and compelling as living, breathing human beings interacting with one another. Of course, when Jesus is the one doing the “people-watching” it’s something else altogether. It’s a reminder that how we act towards one another is not hidden from God—not even what’s in our hearts.
And so what did Jesus see at that dinner party? He saw plenty of people seeking out the most prominent places for themselves—each of them trying to get a seat at the head table. But he also saw their hearts--the exalted view that they had of themselves over against their fellow guests for whom they had little regard.
Lest we think that this is only a problem with the prominent and the powerful, on the night when Jesus was betrayed, as he and the disciples gathered in the upper room, not one of those fishermen was willing to do a servant’s work and wash the other’s feet. They may have just been fishermen—but they were certainly not servants—they had their pride after all. And so Jesus humbly served them—just as he had come to do.
No doubt the ruler of the Pharisees who was the host-- and all his prominent guests-- thought that Jesus was the one who should have been honored just to have been invited. But the truth is that he was the only one there deserving of exaltation-- and he had a very definite opinion about what he was seeing as they jockeyed for honor.
He said that what they ought to do—rather than risk the public humiliation of having to move from a higher to a lower spot, was choose the lowest place first. That they ought to consider, just for the sake of argument, that just maybe they might not be the most important person there in the room—that others might come before them.
This was a practical and prudent piece of advice if they would only accept it-- but of course Jesus was talking about much, much more than how to conduct oneself in polite society—he was talking about life in his kingdom—a life that begins with God’s Son setting aside divine honor and glory to serve us. Paul says that:
Christ Jesus, 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...and he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name…
Jesus’ own humble life is the key to unlocking the meaning behind his words when he says that those who humble themselves will be exalted. With these words, he is not giving us the means or mechanism to get ahead in our careers or climb the corporate ladder by affecting come kind of false humility so that we can rise above others.
Instead, he is telling us how life in his kingdom works—that those who are humble are lifted up—and his own holy life is the example of that. And Paul says: Let this mind be in you. Let this mind that is merciful and humble and welcoming to others be in you. In other words—baptized into his life, his Spirit living within us--we are to think the same way and live the same way as Jesus did.
Who we are and what we are is by God’s grace alone. There is nothing that we have, that we have not received. Our high status as children of God is only true of us because God’s only begotten Son set aside divine honor and glory to humble himself upon the cross. And this humility of our Lord that is our salvation- changes not only how we view ourselves, but how we view others—no longer keeping others at arm’s length—but reaching out to them—and inviting them to have a place in God’s kingdom with us.
Jesus said to the man who had invited him, “When you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return and you be repaid. But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just.”
Throughout Jesus’ ministry we see him eating with the oddest people: Pharisees and scribes who were his enemies and opposed him every step of the way. Tax collectors and prostitutes and other kinds of notorious sinners. Disciples who had betrayed him and failed him in his time of need. He never kept anyone at arm’s length-- but embraced all people in love.
It’s in those meals that we can clearly see how the mercy and humility of Jesus came together in a hospitality that welcomed all people to have a part in his life. No one was kept away by Jesus because they were sinners. No one was kept away by Jesus because of their social status. All people were—and still are—welcomed by Jesus.
On every altar where Jesus gives his body and blood under bread and wine in the Lord’s Supper, he humbly condescends to make himself present in a meal for sinners and he does this in mercy—knowing that we need the forgiveness and fellowship he gives there. Welcomed and embraced by the open arms of Jesus, we leave the altar rail with our arms and hearts open wide to the world—welcoming others to have a part in Christ’s life too.
We live in a time and place where even in the midst of great crowds, people can feel isolated and alone—where families are fragmented—where television and the Internet offer only an illusion of community. There is an entire world full of broken, needy people just waiting for our invitation to join us in God’s kingdom and partake of the Lord’s never-ending feast of forgiveness. Amen.
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