Christ Exalts You
Luke 14:1-11
In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.
St. Luke 14:11 “Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
Dear fellow redeemed in Christ our Lord… When Jesus said, “Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted,” it is a summary of what He had just taught the Pharisees. Christ “went into the house of one of the rulers of the Pharisees to eat bread on the Sabbath.” On this occasion, as they gathered to dine together, they watched Him closely, because the Pharisees are always looking for an opportunity to entrap and discredit Jesus; they want to catch Him in His words and deeds and prove that He is not the Christ.
To that end, they bring in a man who is terribly afflicted with dropsy, what we call edema today. This man’s painful condition causes his body to retain fluid. The Pharisee had placed the man at his table not to honor him, but to use him. This man wasn’t brought to Jesus by the Pharisees because he loved him and wanted Jesus to heal him. The Pharisees use this poor afflicted man as a prop. To them he is nothing more than an object to be used to manipulate Jesus. In their hearts the Pharisees reason that they can trap Jesus in this moment. So much for caring for the sick.
Yahweh had said to the people of Israel in the Ten Commandments, “the seventh day is the Sabbath of Yahweh your God. In it you shall do no work” (Exodus 20:10). They Pharisees therefore imagined that if Jesus heals the man with dropsy, He would be violating the Law by “working” on the Sabbath. If He does not heal the man with dropsy, then they prove that He is not merciful.
But before they can put the question to Jesus, Jesus beats them to the punch and puts the question to them. “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?” and they are silent. They had set this trap for Jesus, but they weren’t about to fall into it themselves. Jesus answered His own question by healing the man. He removed his physical affliction and dried up the man’s dropsy. Then Jesus set the man free from the Pharisees by letting him go. He was no longer to be used by these men for their own self-righteousness and self-exaltation.
Of course, it is lawful to heal on the Sabbath. Yahweh had said in Leviticus 19:18, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” If you have the ability to do good to your neighbor, even on the Sabbath, you should take the opportunity to do good. It is not sinful or unlawful to give help and aid even on the day of rest.
And Jesus knew that the Pharisees believed this to some extent, so He asked, “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?” If an ox or donkey falls into a pit, even on the Sabbath, of course they would work with all their might to help their animal! These men would gladly show mercy to their animals, which are no more than farm implements, and they would do so on the Sabbath! Yet they deny Jesus permission to show mercy to an afflicted man on the Sabbath. It is as if He had said, “You quickly and vigorously come to the aid of your animal when it is need on the Sabbath. Why shouldn’t I be allowed to come to the aid of people in need on the Sabbath? Are not people of far greater value than animals?”
The Pharisees exalted themselves using the poor man with dropsy. In response, Jesus humbled them with their hypocrisy; He shoved it right back into their faces. They tried to out-maneuver Jesus, but their own practice with their animals showed them for what they truly were…and they were humbled.
But that was not the end of the matter. As the guests began to gather at the table, Jesus noticed how they picked their seats. He noticed specifically “how they chose the best places.” The Pharisees were self-righteous, self-important, and quite full of themselves. They imagined themselves to be important and honorable.
Around this table were seats of honor, seats closer to the host, who was a ruler among the Pharisees. There were also seats that were less honorable, which were further away from the host and not in his line of sight. The Pharisees jockeyed for the best positions based on their credentials. To do so they would have to remind the others of their accomplishments, reputation, and piety.
There is nothing wrong with accomplishments, or a good name, or piety. But it is sinful to wear one’s reputation on one’s sleeve and “toot one’s own horn.” They were exalting themselves over their fellowman once again as they fought for the most honorable seats. Therefore, Jesus spoke to them about going to a wedding. “When you are invited by anyone to a wedding feast, do not sit down in the best place, lest one more honorable than you be invited by him; and he who invited you and him come and say to you, ‘Give place to this man,’ and then you begin with shame to take the lowest place.”
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When someone is invited to a wedding, it would be idiotic for that guest to seat himself at the table of the wedding party, let alone at one of the tables closest to the wedding party that are reserve for family. Everyone knows that exalting oneself in that setting will only end in humiliation.
What is true for a wedding is true for each day of life. If you pick a seat of honor, thinking of yourself more highly than you ought, and someone more honorable than you is invited, then you’ll be asked to move to a humbler position. Being moved from the honorable seat that you chose to the lower one will be even more humiliating for you than if you had taken a humble seat from the beginning. Instead, Jesus says, “Go and sit down in the lowest place, so that when he who invited you comes he may say to you, ‘Friend, go up higher.’ Then you will have glory in the presence of those who sit at the table with you.” It is as Solomon writes in Proverbs 29:23, “A man’s pride will bring him low, but the humble in spirit will retain honor.”
These Pharisees who are convinced of their own importance and honor were easily convicted by their farm animals and their table manners, proving Solomon’s words in Proverbs 18:12 true: “Before destruction the heart of a man is haughty, and before honor is humility.” “Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
Our problem with the Pharisees is that all too often, we are they. The Pharisees were the pinnacle of human righteousness. Outwardly they were good and pious folks, yet they were proud, self-important men. They were concerned with preserving their own honor and promulgating their own reputation. They thought themselves to be something when in reality they were nothing.
While it is always tempting to exalt ourselves over the Pharisees, that is precisely what Jesus is teaching us not to do. Christ wants us to humble ourselves. He does not want us to give in to the sinful desire to exalt ourselves and despise others, no matter their condition. St. Paul writes in Romans 12:3, “For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith.” Christ teaches us to renounce the works of the flesh that lead to self-exaltation, which are: “hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, and dissensions” (Galatians 5:20).
If we exalt ourselves above others, thinking that we are the most important person in the room, then the words of Jesus condemn us: “Whoever exalts himself will be humbled.” We are to strive against the sinful flesh with its temptation to self-aggrandizing and self-importance. But how do we suppress those sinful desires?
St. Paul offers the remedy in today’s appointed Epistle reading. He writes, “I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Ephesians 4:1-3). We are to walk in a way that is worthy of our calling.
The calling Paul speaks of is the call of the Gospel, the call of Christ, which is a call humbly to repent of our sins and humbly seek mercy from Him on account of His innocent, bitter sufferings and death for our sakes. The Gospel calls us to humility before God, but it is also done in humility. Christ, both in His earthly ministry and His ministry through the Word and Sacraments, in which He graciously calls sinners to Himself, says: “Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls” (Matthew 11:28-29).
Daily Christ gently calls us to renounce our sins and repent of them. Daily Christ humbly offers us rest from the labor and heavy burden of our sin through the forgiveness of every sin. He calls us humbly in the Holy Gospel, inviting us to place our confidence in His merits, for only by trusting the promise of the Gospel is there release from sin’s burdens. Christ calls us by the Gospel in humility and it causes us to walk in the same humility toward God and our neighbor, so that we walk “with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love.”
“Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” Be on guard against the sinful flesh’s desire for self-importance. Be vigilant against the Pharisee dwelling in your heart who tells you to think more highly of yourself than you ought and to despise your neighbor. That will only lead the Lord to humble you as He did the Pharisees around the dinner table. Or worse.
The best way and the best place to humble ourselves is right here in the Divine Service. Here is where we by faith, humble ourselves in the Confession of Sins. Here is where we are brought before the very mercy seat of God in Holy Communion where our dear Lord and Savior humbly gives Himself to us in His body and blood. Our Savior humbled Himself in that horrid death on the cross for you. He suffered and died for you. He rose again for you. And He graciously comes into you through the humble means of bread and wine, which are His very body and blood, to forgive and strengthen you.
And when Christ comes to you in these ways, He exalts you to His very place in heaven which He has been preparing for you. You reign with Christ because He has brought you to Himself. No Pharisees in heaven; just Christ’s humbled, redeemed, and exalted children. That’s you.
In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.
