Seventeenth Sunday after Trinity

When you read our text, you might ask, “What is Jesus doing once again in a house full of his enemies?” Perhaps that’s the sort of dinner invitation he ought to turn down. You and I might turn that invitation down, but not Jesus. That’s good news for us because at one time we were his enemies. Aren’t you glad Jesus came to your house for dinner anyway? Jesus eats dinner with his enemies because he wants to save them. That’s why he’s there.

With this in mind, it shouldn’t be hard to recognize that what Jesus has to say to his enemies is not about manners. It’s not about how to get a good seat at the supper table. Jesus is talking about salvation. He’s talking about entering heaven. Consider this: “When you are invited to a wedding feast…” (Lk 14:8). What wedding feast is Jesus talking about? Not the dinner he’s attending. This is the marriage feast of the Lamb that has no end. “When you are invited to a wedding feast…” When does that invitation happen? Every moment of every day. God has been sending his messengers to invite all, even his enemies, to his wedding feast since the beginning of time. Jesus isn’t really concerned about who sits where at the next event in town. He’s concerned about whether people get called up to a higher place, or sent to the place of dishonor. In other words, we are talking here about heaven and hell.

Jesus looked around at all the guests at the dinner party who had been invited. He saw how they were choosing for themselves the places of honor. And he said to them, “Let me tell you about getting invited to the real banquet, the marriage supper of the Lamb. First of all, everyone gets invited. God makes no distinctions, not between rich or poor, Jews or Gentiles, men or women, not even between big sinners and little sinners. The gospel is to be preached to all. Come! You are invited.”

But now what? Many people who are invited are squabbling about who gets to sit where. “Hey, you’re in my seat. What are you even doing here? This party isn’t for wicked sinners. It’s for good people, like me.” That, Jesus says, is not how you get into the banquet. In fact, quite the opposite. Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled.

What does this mean? How do people exalt themselves with regard to heaven? How might you try to exalt yourself? The Bible calls it pride. It is chief of the seven deadly sins. The prideful heart says to itself, “I deserve this. I earned this. I have a right to be here, unlike these other people.” Pride might say, “My family built this church. My grandfather was a founding member.” Pride might say, “I’m not a sinner. My behavior in this matter is impeccable. I don’t need to repent for anything, ever.” These statements are example of what it means to take the higher seat.

I’ve never seen Lutherans fight about who gets to sit in the front pew. That would be the day. Does that mean we’re immune to choosing for ourselves the places of honor? Not at all. You could choose that place by saying to yourself, “I’m the one who is right in this situation. She should apologize to me!” “I’m the only one who does any real work around here. If I want it done right, I’ll have to do it myself.” These aren’t particularly deadly ways of thinking, and sometimes you may even be right to think them, but if left unchecked, these seeds of pride can grow up into something monstrous.

How much destruction within the church is caused by well-meaning, self-righteous individuals who have become experts at seeing the sins of everyone else, but are incapable of hearing reproof themselves. Are you this person? You might ask, “When is the last time I have admitted that I was wrong? When have I last allowed myself to be instructed or corrected?” If nothing comes to mind, perhaps you have been sitting in the seat of honor.

Broadly speaking, there are two types of relationships in this world: your relationship with your neighbor, and your relationship with God. The danger with making a habit of exalting yourself with your neighbor is that this can easily carry over in how you act toward God. Pride toward your neighbor might cost you a friendship, but pride toward God has eternal consequences. No one who “deserves” to be at the heavenly banquet will end up at the table. God resists the proud. But he gives grace to the humble.

That’s why Jesus says, “He who humbles himself will be exalted.” Don’t take the higher seat. Instead, go sit in the lowest place. What does this mean? How do people humble themselves with regard to heaven? How do you humble yourself? You can start by admitting the truth about yourself, “I am a sinner, saved only by the grace of God. In fact, I used to be God’s enemy, but he had mercy on me and changed my heart. I didn’t choose him. He choose me. He brought me to the font and washed my sins away. And after that, when I fell back into sin, as I have done many times, he forgave me again and again, as he still continues to do to this day. I don’t deserve mercy. I don’t deserve forgiveness. I don’t deserve heaven, and yet God has promised all these things and more to me simply because he loves me.” This is what it means to humble yourself before God.

And when you are humble toward God, it just might carry over to your relationship with your neighbor. It’s hard to admit you’re wrong if you’re counting on being right to get you into heaven. But when you recognize that heaven is the free gift of God, then it suddenly becomes a lot easier to say to your neighbor, “I’m sorry about what I said. I haven’t behaved in a Christian manner. My words were unkind. My actions were unloving. Please forgive me.” This is a good habit to practice. Why? Because every time you take the lower seat with your brother or sister, you are resisting that sinful pride that would try to take the higher seat with God. God resists the proud, but he gives grace to the humble.

A final point: We can all strive to be less prideful. Some days will be better than others. But aren’t you glad that ultimately your salvation doesn’t depend on how well you do this. The truth is that your sinful nature will sometimes get the better of you. Humbling yourself is hard. Nobody likes to do it. And try as we might, the proud old Adam is always trying to rear his ugly head. If taking the lower seat is how we enter heaven, can anyone truly be sure of getting in? Everyone who exalts himself… That’s pretty much sums up tho whole human race. That’s what every sinful heart is trying to do. But He who humbles himself will be exalted (Lk 14:11). Notice that we go from “everyone” in the first half of the verse to “He” in the second half. Who is that one who humbles himself? There is only one who truly did this—our Lord Jesus. In order to secure your place at the heavenly banquet, he did what no prideful son of Adam could truly do: he humbled himself, even to death upon a cross. There is no lower seat than that, and He took it gladly for you—even while you were his enemy. And now God has exalted Him to the highest place of all. Jesus, who became the lowest of the low, has been raised up to the right hand of God the Father. He is the heavenly bridegroom, and he now invites you to enter his wedding feast. Are you a sinner in need of forgiveness and grace? Have you been humbled by the Holy Spirit? Then Jesus says to you, “Friend, move up higher. Enter into my marriage supper that has no end.” Amen.