The Seventeenth Sunday After Trinity (October 13, 2019)

Social media, while a wonderful tool for connecting with others, tells us the lie that everything revolves around us (when in reality, probably most people don’t care what we’ve had for dinner or what our hot take is on the most recent event).

This reality mediated by the digital world lends itself to a kind of dishonesty too: we use social media to project our image. Rather than being authentic, we are what we think others want us to be.

But our readings today confront us with an important reality: namely that we don’t find what we’re looking for in seeking self-aggrandizement. We find it only in humility.

Jeremiah 13:15-21

When you think about prophecy, what’s the first thing that comes to mind? Maybe something like a fortune teller looking through a crystal ball telling you something about the future like Nostradamus. But that’s not really what biblical prophecy is.

The purpose of the prophets in Scripture was to speak on behalf of God to call the people of Israel to obedience in terms of the covenant God had established with them. If you want a pithy of summarizing the prophetic task, it was about forthtelling not foretelling.

In our reading today, the prophet calls Israel to obedience, conveying a warning about what will happen as a result of continued disobedience.

This judgment brings a reversal, the high are brought low in a day of reckoning. Those who have exploited and who have used power to lead Israel astray will be brought low.

But as I’ve said before, in the scope of Israel’s history, this isn’t really a retributive judgment so much as a restorative one.

This kind of punishment, though severe, though hard, is actually good because it is purgative. In the reversal, things are made as they ought to be.

Luke 14:1

In the Gospels, Jesus brings about the ultimate reversal. We see this in the Magnificant: " For he hath regarded * the lowliness of his handmaiden. For behold, from henceforth * all generations shall call me blessed. For he that is mighty hath magnified me; * and holy is his Name. And his mercy is on them that fear him * throughout all generations. He hath showed strength with his arm; * he hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. He hath put down the mighty from their seat, * and hath exalted the humble and meek. He hath filled the hungry with good things; * and the rich he hath sent empty away."

Today, our Gospel lesson speaks to this in two parts.

In the first part of our reading, Jesus challenges the Pharisees on the topic of the Sabbath.

The Pharisees added to the Law. They did this to “fence” or “protect” the Law. A modern equivalent to this might be in order to respect the 45 miles per hour speed limit, you only drive 40 miles per hour. The Pharisees added to the Law in a similar fashion.

The Pharisees used their extra guidelines to bolster themselves (you can think of the way the Pharisee looks down on the publican).

In so doing, of course the Pharisees really lost sight of what the law is actually for and no clearer is that shown than in the way Jesus challenges them.

Jesus takes the man with dropsy and turns to the Pharisees and asks if it’s lawful to heal the man on the Sabbath (an issue the Pharisees had previously criticized Jesus on). This time, however, the Pharisees don’t answer (probably because they know what will happen to them if they do).

So Christ offers a follow up question: who would leave their ox and or their child in a well if they fell in on the Sabbath? It shows how ridiculous the Pharisees could be: the Sabbath is made for the person, not the person for the Sabbath. In their quest for recognition, the Pharisees actually dehumanized people through the Law.

The second half of the reading is a parable. Christ realizes the Pharisees sought the place of honor and so he gives them some advice.

When you’re invited to a feast, don’t take the place of honor because someone more eminent than you may come and you’ll be embarrassed and have to move.

However, if you sit in the lowest place, the best thing that might happen to you is the host will ask you to move up.

The principle is stated by Jesus: every one who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.

This is seen in the way Christ humbles himself for us in the Incarnation only to be exalted by God in the Resurrection and Ascension.

Ephesians 4:1

This ethic laid out by Christ is the mark of the community he founded, the Church.

Paul, even though an Apostle, didn’t take the exalted title for himself, opening our reading this morning identifying himself as a prisoner of the Lord.

From that position, he urges the Church to share in the common life that we are called too, a common life marked by lowliness, meekness, patience, forbearance with others in love, being unified together in the Holy Spirit.

The basis of our life together isn’t based on our achievements or striving to be great. The basis of our life is provided by Paul in Trinitarian terms: we are one body, with one Spirit, having one common hope for redemption. We have one Lord, we share one faith and one baptism. And we have one Father of all who is over all and through all and in all.

Conclusion/Application

The Christian religion is one of paradox.

In humbling himself to the cross, Christ was exalted.

The first will be last and the last will be first. In our common life, we achieve true unity only when we embrace a cruciform ethic: one marked by the lowliness, meekness, patience and forbearance in love St. Paul talked about.

This is incredibly difficult, especially in our day and age. But I pray that we as St. Paul’s can be characterized by our cruciformity where we follow Christ’s example and in our willingness to put others first.