Sermon for the Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost
FRIEND, MOVE UP HIGHER
Theme: Confession is your act of taking “the lowest place.”
Absolution (forgiveness) is Jesus saying to you, “Friend, move up higher.”
Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ!
Amen. In today’s Gospel, Jesus “told a PARABLE to those who were invited [to
the feast].” Hang on to that important word: Jesus was speaking a PARABLE when
He said, “When you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, do not sit down
in a place of honor, etc.” Hang on to that one word—PARABLE—because that one
word will help you immensely.
Dear Christian friends,
One of the most dangerous things you can do when planning a wedding
reception—aside from irritating the bride’s mother—is to give assigned seats to
your guests. Some people will be flattered and appreciative for the places of
honor you give to them. Inevitably, others will be insulted. Here is a
universal rule that governs wedding days: years after the fact, most of your
guests will never remember what flowers you chose or what hymns were sung; the
only things they will remember about your wedding are the things that made them
feel uncomfortable or angry.
The problem with not assigning seats at your wedding reception is that some
people simply do not seem to comprehend their rank or place in the family. If
you don’t assign seats, you run the risk of having your weird Uncle Max and his
obnoxious children sitting disruptively close to the head table. If you don’t
assign seats, the people who arrive earliest to the reception—that is, the
people who were not delayed by the photographer—will get the best places. That
means your new mother-in-law might end up sitting near the kitchen door or at
one of the tables in the back. Good luck with that.
In today’s Gospel, Jesus speaks Words that even unbelievers might find
practical and wise:
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.
HERE IS THE LAW
At their face value, Jesus’ Words give you a good rule for daily living. You
know it is hard to get along with people who think too highly of themselves. If
you have in your life a co-worker or a family member or a pastor who comes off
as being proud and arrogant, you probably do not enjoy spending very much time
with that person. You can tolerate that person in small doses, but very soon,
enough is enough and it is time to escape.
Why is it difficult to get along with people who are especially proud? It is
not merely because such people are stubborn or demanding. It is difficult to
get along with the proud because the work of God’s law has been written into
our hearts (Romans 2:15). That is to say, we each were born knowing that “God
opposes the proud” (James 4:6, 1 Peter 5:5). Proud people are natural outcasts.
The best they can hope for is toleration, not appreciation. That is why many
parents, Christian and non-Christian alike, work hard to raise their children
with good manners and courtesy toward others.
I have a second reason why proud people are so difficult to be around—maybe you
have this second reason, too: Proud people tend to step on my pride. While the
proud are hogging the limelight for themselves, they cast a shadow over me.
Stated another way, I don’t like proud people because I am one. You personally
might not want to admit that you also are proud, but pride is the root and
cause of all sin. If you have sin, you have pride, plain and simple.
Because pride is both universal and universally detestable, Jesus’ Words in
today’s Gospel strike a chord with everyone, even unbelievers. We all know
Jesus is right: If all people could mind their manners and “not sit down in the
place of honor,” what a wonderful world this would be.
If you read today’s Gospel at its surface, taking Jesus’ Words at face value,
all you get is a useful suggestion for everyday life. As vitally important as
it is for you to resist your pride and live with humility and respect toward
one another, you would miss the point if that were all Jesus is saying to you.
Recall that one, all-important word St. Luke so carefully recorded in today’s
Gospel: Jesus “told a PARABLE to those who were invited [to the feast].” Jesus
was speaking a PARABLE when He said, “When you are invited by someone to a
wedding feast, do not sit down in a place of honor, etc.”
· Parables use common, everyday language to explain divine and miraculous
things to you.
· Parables are not intended to be read or heard only on the surface value
of the words, but parables need to be read and heard at a deeper level.
· Jesus wants you to know that, if you understand a parable only in terms
of what is explicitly stated on the surface, “you will keep on hearing, but
will not understand; you will keep on seeing, but will not perceive” (Matthew
13:14, Isaiah 6:9-10, NASB)
· A parable is like an onion. No one simply grabs an onion and eats it.
First, the rough skin and outer layer of the onion must be cut away so that
more tender portions underneath may be enjoyed. In the same way, the “surface”
words of a parable are like the skin of the onion: you need to get beyond them,
down into the inner parts of the parable, to the sweet promises and tender
comforts God speaks to you there.
HERE IS THE GOSPEL
In other places in His Bible, Jesus repeatedly speaks about your eternal life
by comparing it to a wedding feast (Matthew 22:1-14, 25:1-10; Luke 12:35-36,
22:30). But Jesus does not want you to think that your place at His table or
your inclusion at His wedding feast is only something that will happen in the
future. Jesus wants your to think of yourself as already in the presence of the
bridegroom when you gather for worship (Luke 5:34-35). For example, Jesus wants
you to know that, in Holy Communion, you already eating the banquet meal of the
resurrection and of the kingdom of God (Luke 22:14-18, 24:28-31).
How is it that we all gather here at the marriage feast of the Lamb in His
kingdom (Kingdom 19:7-9)? We gather by taking “the lowest place,” as it were.
That is to say, we begin every worship service by confessing our sins to God
and to one another. By confessing your sins and by admitting the “temporal and
eternal punishment” of which you are worthy, you are humbling yourself and
taking what Jesus calls “the lowest place” in today’s Gospel. You do not take
the lowest place by packing into the back pews, and you most certainly do not
need to try and think of ways to make yourself humble. God’s Words do that for
you. The Christian liturgy we pray every Sunday—a liturgy that is nothing other
that a faithful speaking of God’s Words—the Christian liturgy we pray every
Sunday does the humbling and the taking of “the lowest place” for you:
O almighty God, merciful Father, I… confess unto you all my sins and iniquities
with which I have ever offended You and justly deserve your temporal and
eternal punishment. But I am heartily sorry for them.”
When we pray these Words—believing the truth of what we pray—you and I have
taken “in the lowest place.” When we pray these Words, we are each admitting to
our Lord and our God, “I certainly do not belong at the head table in this
marriage feast, O Lord. Really, I do not deserve a seat at all, but maybe I can
have a place over here by the kitchen door (Psalm 84:10).”
What does Jesus say to you in your Sunday worship, according to the parable He
spoke to you in today’s Gospel? While you are sitting there in “the lowest
place” of your admitted guilt and acknowledged guilt, Jesus your host comes to
you and says “Friend, move up higher.”
· Did you hear that? Jesus calls you friend, and He wants you to know
that “Greater love has no one than this, that [He] lays down his life for his
friends” (John 15:13).
· Not only does your dear Jesus call you friend, but He also says to you
every Sunday, “move up higher.” Jesus says this to you in the Absolution, or
the forgiveness of your sins, where assurance from God is announced to you: “I
forgive you all your sins.” This Word of forgiveness miraculously raises you up
from “the lowest place” and seats you in the higher place, the honorable place,
even the bride’s place (Revelation 19:7-8). “Then,” as Jesus says to you in
today’s Gospel, “you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at table
with you.” God’s miracle of raising you up will not happen ONLY on the Last
Day, but it begins already here, when your host and bridegroom comes to you.
Not too many verses before today’s Gospel, Jesus declared, “Many will come from
east and west, from north and south, and recline at table in the kingdom of
God” (Luke 13:29). When Jesus uses the Word “many” that verse, He is speaking
about all Christians and He is speaking about you. Do not fret or worry about
whether you truly have a place here in the marriage feast of eternal life,
either here or in the future. Your seat has already been set up for you by the
death and resurrection of your Lord Jesus. Your place has been reserved
especially for you by God’s miracle of your Baptism. You are now His friend and
honored guest.
___________________________________________________________________
'CAT 41 Sermons & Devotions' consists of works that are, unless
otherwise noted, the copyrighted property of the various authors;
posting of such gives members of this list implied consent for
redistribution _with_attribution_ unless otherwise specified by
the author (as long as no charge is made for the work and it is
not made part of a compilation), as well as for quoting or use
in a congregational setting _with_or_without_attribution_.
Note: This list's default reply is to the *poster*, NOT the list.
Do *not* reply to the list with your comments, but to the poster.
Subscribe? Send ANY note to: [email protected]
Unsubscribe? Send ANY note to: [email protected]
Archive? <http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/>
For more information on this or other lists offered by Confess And Teach
For Unity, you can contact the CAT 41 list administrator at:
Rev. Fr. Eric J. Stefanski <MoM [at] lists (dot) cat41 <dot> org>
