Luke 14:1-14—One Sabbath, when he went to dine at the house of a ruler of the Pharisees, they were watching him carefully. ² And behold, there was a man before him who had dropsy. ³ And Jesus responded to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath, or not?” ⁴ But they remained silent. Then he took him and healed him and sent him away. ⁵ 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?” ⁶ And they could not reply to these things.

⁷ Now he told a parable to those who were invited, when he noticed how they chose the places of honor, saying to them, ⁸ “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, ⁹ 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. ¹⁰ 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. ¹¹ For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

¹² He said also 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. ¹³ But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, ¹⁴ and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just.”

In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  Amen.

God does not love you for who you are.  Yes, you heard me right.  God does not love you for who you are.  The sooner you get that through your skull made thick by your own self-righteousness, the better.

Three times in this text, Jesus tries to get that single point across to you and the Pharisees.

Some dinner party this must have been.  Jesus intentionally and repeatedly offends everyone at the table – even, and especially, the man who had invited Him.  Jesus takes the hammer of the Law and strikes again and again, in an effort to crush and pulverize self-righteousness.

Notice how the Pharisees were “watching Jesus carefully” (v. 1).   The Pharisees were like tigers prowling in the tall grass waiting for an opportunity to pounce on Jesus.  They wanted an opportunity to accuse sinless Jesus.  But Jesus is wise to their game.  He simply won’t be hunted.  Rather, He becomes the hunter of false piety and self-righteousness.

Enter this man with dropsy (now, it’s called edema), an accumulation of fluid in one or more parts of the body which causes painful swelling.  One glance at this man and you know something is wrong with him.  Jesus asks, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath, or not?”  He lets the uncomfortable silence hang in the air for a while, but not one of the Pharisees know what to say.  The Pharisees won’t even give Jesus an honest answer.  No one is willing to say, “Sure, Jesus.  It’s alright to heal on the Sabbath.”  But neither does anyone say, “Absolutely not; no healing on the Sabbath.”  But Jesus doesn’t wait for them to answer.  He heals the man and sends him on his merry little way.

Jesus calls them hypocrites.  It is as if Jesus were saying, “I am the Maker and Redeemer of this swollen man.  Here we are on the Sabbath, a day when you are to rejoice in and receive everything God gives you, a day when you remember that God will give you an eternal rest from sin and death, and you won’t let that same Sabbath rest come to this man.  Seriously, look at him!  But if your son or even your animal fell into a pit, you would help him.  You all make me sick.”

The Pharisees are silent.  The Law has hit them square in the face, but they do not and will not repent.  None say, “Yes, you are right Jesus.  I, at least, am not consistent in how I apply the law.  I was just judging You when you healed that guy.  But I excuse myself for doing the exact same thing when it is beneficial to me.”  But none of them have the guts to stand on their self-righteousness either.  “Hey, Jesus.  Who are you to judge us?”

But they cannot challenge Jesus’ authority to judge them because Jesus has plainly revealed that He is God.  They prefer to stand on their works, their self-righteousness, and their efforts.  They chose to deny the plain reality that God is standing before them, eating with them rather than repenting of their own works and deeds.

So Jesus decides, “They think I’ll accept them for who they are.  Ok. I’ll hit ‘em with the Law again.”  He notices how the people around Him like to sit in the places of honor.

He tells this little parable (probably here the word parable would be better understood as proverb) which, basically, repeats Prov. 25:6-7.  Remember now, this is a Sabbath.  This day was given to the people to remember that God is preparing an eternal feast for His people.  Let’s put this parable in today’s setting:

When you go to a wedding reception and you are waiting for the wedding party to come in, don’t go sit at the head table.  You will not be there for long.  The wedding party will come in and you will be told to go and sit somewhere else – somewhere in the back near the bathroom and garbage cans.  But there is always the possibility that if you sit in the back willingly, when the bride and groom come in, they will raise you to sit at a good table.

These guests all thought they were important, just like you think you are more important.  You just reveal it in different ways.  You make yourself the center of conversation.  You gossip and speak about others excusing it as concern.

The host isn’t free from the Law either.  Jesus says, “You are inviting people who agree that God loves you for who you are.  Rather than receiving your commendation from God, you receive it from men.  Then when they invite you, you will pat them on the back too.  Try this instead: invite the people who aren’t impressed with your good works and piety.  Invite the last, lost, least, and little. Stop surrounding yourself with ‘good people.’  Instead, eat with the scoundrels and sinners like I do.”

In each section of this Gospel lesson, Jesus is striking at the heart of the Pharisees’ piety.  But you need to hear all this too.  You think God accepts you for who you are.  He doesn’t.  The next section of Luke v. 15-24 which occur at this same Sabbath party reveal that you and every human being in all history think God is just waiting for a person like you to come along – He isn’t.

In v. 15-24, Jesus tells a parable about God.  Jesus depicts God as a rich man who prepared a great banquet.  He invited many, but when the party was supposed to begin, no one showed up.  So God sent out a servant to tell the invitees, “Come, for everything is now ready.”  But everyone makes an excuse.  “I have to go see a field I just bought.”  And, “I have to look at the oxen I have just bought.”  And, “I have just gotten married, so I can’t come.”

So God tells His servant, “Go out to the streets and bring in the poor, the cripple, the blind, and the lame.”  The servant replies, “I’ve already done that, and there is still room in the party.”  God tells him, “Go to the highways and hedges and compel people to come in so that this party is full.  For not one of those men who were invited shall taste my banquet.”

My beloved fellow sinners. That parable is your call to quit trying to stand before God on your own.  God’s banquet isn’t filled with important people.  God’s banquet is filled with losers.  Losers who are found by the servant, by Jesus, and compelled to go to the party.

Jesus, the Son of God, came and chose the last seat.  He chose to sit upon a cross with outstretched arms with pierced hands and feet.  Jesus then noticed a seat further from the head of the table.  He went and sat down in death’s cold grip.  God saw Him there, and exalted Him.  Jesus has been exalted above every name that is named in heaven or on earth or under the earth.

This Jesus is the one who rescued you from your pit so you could experience the rest of God’s eternal Sabbath.  Jesus is the one who sees you in your sins and says, “Hey come sit up here closer to Me.  Come taste My banquet.  I am inviting all the poor, cripple, lame, blind, and dead.  You’ll fit right in.  The food might not look like much, but it’ll feed you for your journey.  This food fills your soul with the forgives sins.  It quenches your hunger and thirst for righteousness.  It can do that because this food is My own body and blood – given for you and shed for the forgiveness of your sins.  Come to My feast, for all is now ready.”  Amen.

May the peace of God which surpasses all understanding guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, now and forever.  Amen.