St Luke 14:1-11/Proverbs 25:6-14/Ephesians 4:1-6
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
It was a set up from the beginning. The Pharisee invited Jesus to trap Him. He wasn’t interested in hearing the Word of the Lord preached from Jesus’ mouth. He wanted to publicly humiliate Him.
In order to do so, however, the Pharisee needed to be acquainted with the basics of Jesus’ teaching. He knew Jesus to be a Man of mercy. No doubt he was familiar with the healing of a man with a demon, or the miracle of the woman with the hemorrhage, or the raising of Jairus’ daughter, or the exorcism of the boy with an unclean spirit. Perhaps he even heard the parable of the good Samaritan and the final admonition to be merciful, even as our Father in heaven is merciful.
Everywhere Jesus went, works of mercy accompanied His preaching and teaching. This model is continued today in the Church. The proclamation of the Gospel and faith in Christ are always accompanied by good works. Wherever the Church is, that is, wherever the Word of Christ is preached and His gifts given, there is mercy.
These two go together. They will be evaluated by outsiders. “Does what they preach, square with what they do?” Or as St Paul writes, I urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love. Elsewhere our Lord says, In the same way, let your light shine before others so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven (Mt 5:16).
So it is that this ruler, together with the rest of the Pharisees, strategically places a miserable man before Jesus. Our Lord would see him. But would He heal him? His misery would be plain to all. He has dropsy; we call it edema. His joints are extremely swollen by the retention of water. Perhaps it is in his brain or his lungs. Maybe its in lymph nodes or his spine. Whichever the case, he would have been in excruciating pain and severely disabled. The Pharisee saw it. He knew it. And he used it to trap Jesus. Would our Lord heal him?
This is the trap: if Jesus failed to show mercy and did not heal the man, the Pharisees would accuse Him of hypocrisy and damage His reputation, making him a fraud. If Jesus showed mercy and healed the man the Pharisees would accuse Him of transgressing the Sabbath; for by their reckoning He would be “working.”
The trap is set. What would Jesus do?
God indeed works on the Sabbath. He works on your behalf. Jesus takes the man and healed him and sent him away. He has mercy on him and serves and heals him on the Sabbath. For the Sabbath was created for man, not man for the Sabbath. For 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? But they could not reply to these things. Jesus walks directly into the trap set for Him, draws the Pharisees in with Him, and walks out the other side, leaving them caught in their own schemes.
Our Lord does not shy away from engaging with those who believe differently than He. He converses with them, challenges them, and exposes the false piety of their beliefs. Their hypocrisy is obvious.
And so is ours. How often do we pit Christ against His Word and seek to use His mercy as an excuse for our sin? “Since Christ is all merciful,” we think, “there’s not real harm in lusting after women on the internet or TV.” “Since Christ will forgive me, there’s no real problem in neglecting His Word.” “Going to church isn’t a good work that earns my salvation, so why worry about making every Sunday?”
Repent. Do not put yourself forward in the king’s presence or stand in the place of the great.
For the Christ who works on the Sabbath to heal a man with dropsy, is the same who came down into the pit to save you. Only the Son does not merely lift you out of your misery, out of your sin and death, out of the pit. He enters the pit. He stoops down, lowers Himself into the pit of your despair, He puts Himself in your misery, He makes Himself your sin, He enters your death for you.
He walks into the trap of the Cross. He draws your sin and death in with Himself, and then springs the trap in order to set you free. He lays down His life with He wants, and He goes free when He wants. On Golgotha Christ laid down His life to save yours. At this Pharisaic dinner party, He walks straight into their trap and right out the other side. At the Cross, He walked into the devil’s trap and let Him with, but He came out on the other side that first Easter morn. Your sin and death, hell itself, has been left in the tomb.
But there is more. Jesus turned the occasion of this Sabbath sedar into a parable acted out in real life; a parable about etiquette and humility. The chief rule of etiquette is to consider yourself the most insignificant person in the room. Put others first and yourself last. Even if there were no spiritual meaning, this is still sound advice. Some incorrectly use the Proverbs in manner; a Christian fortune-cookie of sorts.
Of course Jesus’ is not merely speaking about good manners. This is not simply humility for the sake of humility, but humility for the sake of the Father and the wedding feast of His Son, Jesus Christ. In this way the parable is an extension of the miracle of healing the man with dropsy.
When it comes to your salvation, Jesus did not insist on His own rights. He catches the lawyers and Pharisees in their own pride; even doing what they in their arrogance would prevent. So too does He humiliate Himself by being born of a Virgin. He did not spurn her womb, but humbled Himself to be a faithful messenger of His Father who sent Him. Hence St Paul’s admonition in this morning’s epistle; or elsewhere to the Philippians, Let each of you look not only to your own interested, but also to the interests of others. Have this ming among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though He was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, by taking on the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, He humbled himself by becoming obedient unto 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, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (Phil 2:4-11).
This is the calling to which you have been called. For Christ who came not to be served, but to serve, has given you Sabbath rest in Himself. He does not call you servants, but friends. He has come to you and said, Friend, move up higher. He has elevated you to the Father in His own death and resurrection. And He seats you with Himself, in the place of honor, at the wedding feast, of His Holy Eucharist.
In this way are you able to live with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. For these good works ought to follow faith. They accompany the preaching of the Gospel. You need not get caught up in your own importance; for God Himself has created you. He has redeemed you. He has raised you to Himself in Christ. Any self-assertion makes the work of Christ redundant and ultimately obsolete.
Thus are you given to live free in Christ for the good of your neighbor. For whatever you owed to God, Christ paid for. He invites us to His banquet with no preconditions nor because He expects something in return. Since God has no uncollected debts with us, we can have no uncollected debts with others. We do good to people who are incapable of repaying us, because in Christ, God has paid it all.
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
It was a set up from the beginning. The Pharisee invited Jesus to trap Him. He wasn’t interested in hearing the Word of the Lord preached from Jesus’ mouth. He wanted to publicly humiliate Him.
In order to do so, however, the Pharisee needed to be acquainted with the basics of Jesus’ teaching. He knew Jesus to be a Man of mercy. No doubt he was familiar with the healing of a man with a demon, or the miracle of the woman with the hemorrhage, or the raising of Jairus’ daughter, or the exorcism of the boy with an unclean spirit. Perhaps he even heard the parable of the good Samaritan and the final admonition to be merciful, even as our Father in heaven is merciful.
Everywhere Jesus went, works of mercy accompanied His preaching and teaching. This model is continued today in the Church. The proclamation of the Gospel and faith in Christ are always accompanied by good works. Wherever the Church is, that is, wherever the Word of Christ is preached and His gifts given, there is mercy.
These two go together. They will be evaluated by outsiders. “Does what they preach, square with what they do?” Or as St Paul writes, I urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love. Elsewhere our Lord says, In the same way, let your light shine before others so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven (Mt 5:16).
So it is that this ruler, together with the rest of the Pharisees, strategically places a miserable man before Jesus. Our Lord would see him. But would He heal him? His misery would be plain to all. He has dropsy; we call it edema. His joints are extremely swollen by the retention of water. Perhaps it is in his brain or his lungs. Maybe its in lymph nodes or his spine. Whichever the case, he would have been in excruciating pain and severely disabled. The Pharisee saw it. He knew it. And he used it to trap Jesus. Would our Lord heal him?
This is the trap: if Jesus failed to show mercy and did not heal the man, the Pharisees would accuse Him of hypocrisy and damage His reputation, making him a fraud. If Jesus showed mercy and healed the man the Pharisees would accuse Him of transgressing the Sabbath; for by their reckoning He would be “working.”
The trap is set. What would Jesus do?
God indeed works on the Sabbath. He works on your behalf. Jesus takes the man and healed him and sent him away. He has mercy on him and serves and heals him on the Sabbath. For the Sabbath was created for man, not man for the Sabbath. For 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? But they could not reply to these things. Jesus walks directly into the trap set for Him, draws the Pharisees in with Him, and walks out the other side, leaving them caught in their own schemes.
Our Lord does not shy away from engaging with those who believe differently than He. He converses with them, challenges them, and exposes the false piety of their beliefs. Their hypocrisy is obvious.
And so is ours. How often do we pit Christ against His Word and seek to use His mercy as an excuse for our sin? “Since Christ is all merciful,” we think, “there’s not real harm in lusting after women on the internet or TV.” “Since Christ will forgive me, there’s no real problem in neglecting His Word.” “Going to church isn’t a good work that earns my salvation, so why worry about making every Sunday?”
Repent. Do not put yourself forward in the king’s presence or stand in the place of the great.
For the Christ who works on the Sabbath to heal a man with dropsy, is the same who came down into the pit to save you. Only the Son does not merely lift you out of your misery, out of your sin and death, out of the pit. He enters the pit. He stoops down, lowers Himself into the pit of your despair, He puts Himself in your misery, He makes Himself your sin, He enters your death for you.
He walks into the trap of the Cross. He draws your sin and death in with Himself, and then springs the trap in order to set you free. He lays down His life with He wants, and He goes free when He wants. On Golgotha Christ laid down His life to save yours. At this Pharisaic dinner party, He walks straight into their trap and right out the other side. At the Cross, He walked into the devil’s trap and let Him with, but He came out on the other side that first Easter morn. Your sin and death, hell itself, has been left in the tomb.
But there is more. Jesus turned the occasion of this Sabbath sedar into a parable acted out in real life; a parable about etiquette and humility. The chief rule of etiquette is to consider yourself the most insignificant person in the room. Put others first and yourself last. Even if there were no spiritual meaning, this is still sound advice. Some incorrectly use the Proverbs in manner; a Christian fortune-cookie of sorts.
Of course Jesus’ is not merely speaking about good manners. This is not simply humility for the sake of humility, but humility for the sake of the Father and the wedding feast of His Son, Jesus Christ. In this way the parable is an extension of the miracle of healing the man with dropsy.
When it comes to your salvation, Jesus did not insist on His own rights. He catches the lawyers and Pharisees in their own pride; even doing what they in their arrogance would prevent. So too does He humiliate Himself by being born of a Virgin. He did not spurn her womb, but humbled Himself to be a faithful messenger of His Father who sent Him. Hence St Paul’s admonition in this morning’s epistle; or elsewhere to the Philippians, Let each of you look not only to your own interested, but also to the interests of others. Have this ming among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though He was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, by taking on the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, He humbled himself by becoming obedient unto 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, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (Phil 2:4-11).
This is the calling to which you have been called. For Christ who came not to be served, but to serve, has given you Sabbath rest in Himself. He does not call you servants, but friends. He has come to you and said, Friend, move up higher. He has elevated you to the Father in His own death and resurrection. And He seats you with Himself, in the place of honor, at the wedding feast, of His Holy Eucharist.
In this way are you able to live with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. For these good works ought to follow faith. They accompany the preaching of the Gospel. You need not get caught up in your own importance; for God Himself has created you. He has redeemed you. He has raised you to Himself in Christ. Any self-assertion makes the work of Christ redundant and ultimately obsolete.
Thus are you given to live free in Christ for the good of your neighbor. For whatever you owed to God, Christ paid for. He invites us to His banquet with no preconditions nor because He expects something in return. Since God has no uncollected debts with us, we can have no uncollected debts with others. We do good to people who are incapable of repaying us, because in Christ, God has paid it all.
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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