Bible Passage: Luke 14:1, 7-14
Pastor: Joel Jenswold
Sermon Date: August 28, 2022

Bulletin August 28, 2022

In the name of, and to the eternal glory of, Jesus,

I suspect all the “A-listers” were on the guest list.  Anybody who was anybody was likely invited.  After all, this was dinner at the home of ranking Pharisees.  We know from the verses that are not included in our text that there were legal experts in attendance and also other Pharisees.  That’s why one of the guests who was invited strikes us as a bit of an outsider.  We are speaking, of course, about Jesus.  From the time Jesus arrives, we are told they were watching him closely (v. 1)  Not unlike the way hyenas closely watch the animal they intend to attack and devour.

But they were being watched, too.  Jesus was watching them.  And something stood out to Jesus at this dinner party.  When it came time to eat, all these Pharisees and experts in the Torah hustled to get the spots of honor at the table.  Human insecurity and pride were on full display in front of the Lord!  Jesus uses the backdrop of this sad, silly display to teach a needed lesson on humility.  The lesson is simply this:  Lower Self, Exalt Others.

To address what he has observed, Jesus tells a parable.  A little earthly story with a heavenly meaning.  Jesus says, “When you are invited to a wedding dinner, don’t rush for the head table and sit down.  Someone more honorable than you may have been invited.  Then the host will have to come and ask you to move.  And now, all the seats will be taken.  The only one open will be the lowest one (because no one will have taken that one.)  You will slink back to that seat and sit down, humiliated.  Rather, start out in the lowest spot.  Then the host will come by and invite you to a better spot and all the other guests will see how you are being honored by the host.”  Jesus wasn’t just talking about wedding dinners.  This was a parable…it was meant to have broader application.  The application is this:  be humble!  Lower yourself!

Jesus’ little parable strikes at the heart and core of our biggest problem as human beings.  Our pride!  Our insatiable desire to be first, to be considered better than others.  It isn’t just a matter of choosing a seat at a wedding dinner, is it?  The desire to elevate self touches every part of our lives.  It begins early.  Six children are invited to a birthday party and it comes time to play the first game.  Six children all shout, “Me first!”  We begin to play sports.  We gripe because so-and-so gets more playing time and everybody knows that “I am way better.”  Work becomes a grind.  It’s hard to find contentment when you are convinced nobody in the joint knows what a wonderful worker you are.

The “me first” thing strangles the relationships we want to have.  You can’t seem to find “the one” you want to marry.  No one seems to fully appreciate the wonderful catch YOU are!  You certainly know what a catch you are!  You’ve even ended relationships by saying, “This isn’t working FOR ME.”  Or “I am not getting what I need out of this.”  Shall we even begin to talk about what pride does to our marriages?  Let’s just say this, if you believe you deserve the “seat of honor” in your relationship, I will pray for your spouse.  Because they are going to be miserable.  The simple lesson of Jesus’ parable – lower yourself – cuts us to the quick.

Jesus is not done.  He now turns from talking to those invited to a dinner to the one who does the inviting.  He says to his host, “When you put together the guest list for your dinner parties, don’t go with all the usual suspects – friends, relatives, rich neighbors.  If you do, they might pay you back by inviting you to a party.”  Jesus’ words make us think about how that motivates us sometimes.  Haven’t you ever said, “Oh, we have to have them over sometime because they had us over!”  It’s just payback!  Jesus says, “Rather, invite those who can never pay you back!  The beggarly poor, the crippled, lame, blind.  Don’t think about payback!”

The simple lesson?  Elevate others.  Don’t think about, “What’s in it for ME?  How does this come back around to benefit ME?”  Lift another up.  Cheer another up.  Raise another up.  Build another up.  Don’t enter every situation wondering, “How is this about ME?”  Rather, say, “How can I make this about YOU?”  Others do not orbit around you; orbit around others.

Do we really think this is all it takes?  This is all it takes to break pride in our lives?  Jesus in the dining room of a Pharisee telling a little parable with the lesson, “Lower self, elevate others” and that will break pride’s grip on us?  Not exactly. Jesus brings a little more to the party.

Jesus has done the very thing he talks about.  The Son of God, by virtue of his divine nature, has the highest seat of honor conceivable!  He is on the throne in heaven!  But to save us from our damnable pride, he left that position and took a far lower place.  The womb of Mary.  Imagine!  God’s Son gestating for 9 months in a uterus.  How low would he go?  He is born and placed in a manger.  How low would he go?  He grows up in “Hicksville,” Nazareth in Galilee.  How low would he go?  We finally get the answer.  A cross.  He would take his place on a cross!  The Romans devised the cross to be the ultimate in shame and humiliation.  They would strip a person naked and then pin them to the cross and then lift them high.  The torture was both physical and psychological.  That’s the place Jesus took.  It gets lower than Roman humiliation.  He was hanging there covered in sin and shame, facing God to pay the debt. To pay your debt.  That’s how low he would go.

And he did it all to exalt, to lift up others.  You see, God is throwing a banquet in heaven.  It is the most wonderful, extravagant, never-ending feast ever.  And God has set a place for you.  Through the good news of Jesus’ death and resurrection, he has invited you.  You know, we get a little foretaste of this heavenly feast each time we commune.  There we are at the Lord’s table.  No guilt.  No shame.  Just Jesus giving us his body and blood for forgiveness.  What honor is ours to be Jesus’ guests at such a feast!

It is this humble love of Jesus that breaks pride’s hold on us.  It frees us from the guilt of our prideful ways.  It changes us on the inside so that humble – genuinely humble – movements and impulses begin.  Jesus’ lowering of himself and exalting us makes us people willing to do the same.   In our schools, in our homes, in our jobs, in our families, in our marriages.

I heard a news report this week that at the Packers’ training camp, Aaron Rodgers will sit with the rookies at mealtime.  The angle of the story was what a wonderful, humble, uplifting thing this was for this Pro-Bowl, Super Bowl Champ, 4-time MVP quarterback to do!  I suppose.  But we know a greater story.  We know how the Son of God lowered himself not only to eat with sinners, but to save them.  Now there’s a story!  Indeed, it’s life-changing!

Amen.