Sermon - Trinity XVII 2020 - Luke 14:1-11

Jesus said, “Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” St. Paul teaches us something similar: “I … urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness.” Humility, you might say, is somewhat of a Christian virtue. Let us, therefore, humble ourselves beneath the cross of Christ, so that God may raise us from the pit of the grave to the glory of heaven.

Jesus, while having supper with the pharisees, taught them (as He teaches us) about humility by telling a parable: “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.”

In some cultures, it’s common to make the appearance of humility, while inwardly being filled with a glut of pride. Here in America however we don’t even try to give the impression of humility, since in our culture humility is a vice and pride is a virtue. Here in America if you’re humble and honestly think of yourself as a poor, miserable sinner, a sack of worms, we call it a mental illness and send you to therapy and give you medication. Here we act as if there’s something wrong with you if you’re filled with humility instead of pride.

We raise up our children from birth to be proud of themselves and their accomplishments. Even when they don’t do well we give them participation ribbons and stickers just to make them feel good about themselves. We train them through high school and college to compile a resume in which they boast of their accomplishments to get ahead in life. 

All throughout our working lives we work so hard just to make a name for ourselves. Striving for those employee awards, or owning more property, getting bigger equipment, and more expensive houses or cars. Then when we retire, we spend our days simply bragging to one another, one upping each other in our accomplishments or our kids’ and grandkids’ accomplishments.

But that’s not the only way in which we’re accustomed to pride in our culture. More often we simply tear others down so that we make ourselves look and feel better than others. No one likes the know-it-all guy who brags about himself all the time, but we’re attracted to the gossip sessions. 

There are TV stations, magazines, and websites dedicated to gossiping about celebrities. More and more this is what many of our so-called news stations are becoming as well. Local newspapers have long been little more than getting the local gossip, finding out who got a ticket or drank too much. Facebook is so addicting just because it gives you the chance to gossip about others and brag about yourself. 

As time progresses, the necessity of knowing the 8th commandment by heart is becoming more important. So let’s say it now. What is the 8th Commandment? (You shall not give false…) What does this mean? (We should fear and love God so that we do not tell…)

This means that even when something is true about someone else, it doesn’t mean we should share it with everyone else. If what you’re saying is going to slander them and hurt their reputation, you should bite your tongue and not say it. If you have something against another person, go and talk to them personally. Not because you want to hurt them or take out your anger on them, but because you are one in Christ and desire to reconcile your relationship. “Bear with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”

But when we’re talking about pride and humility, there’s more to it than just this carnal pride and humility, this is also a spiritual matter. Christ also calls us to be spiritually humble.

Particularly, as it pertains to our souls, we are often spiritually proud. We believe ourselves to be quite alright just as we are, no need for change, no need for repentance. I know enough about being a Christian. I don’t need to be told what I’m doing wrong or what I should. I don’t need instruction, reproof, correction, training, or consolation. I believe Jesus was real-ish and that’s good enough for me. I’m not a bad person, I’m actually pretty great! God loves me just as I am, I know I’m going to heaven and that’s about all that matters.

All of that kind of proud presumptuous talk is spiritual arrogance. Arrogance is very comfortable. If I’m good just as I am, then I don’t need to be challenged and I don’t need to change, that makes me comfortable. If we’re comfortable, then God’s word is ugly because it challenges us, then the crucifix is ugly because Jesus doesn’t need to die for us, then God is ugly because He claims to be better than us. So if we presumptuously take our comfortable seat at the feast, above the cross, the Host shall come to us on the last day and say “Give your place to this person” and then we shall with shame be sent to the pit of hell. May God save us from this comfortable Christianity with all of its spiritual pride and arrogance! 

The reality is that I’m not good just as I am, in fact it’s just the opposite! We ought to confess with Jacob in Genesis “I am too unworthy of all the mercy and faithfulness you have shown your servant.” Or confess with St. Paul in the letter to Timothy “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief,”  or in Romans he says: “in our flesh nothing good dwells.” Indeed! “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves.”

Christ calls us to be spiritually humble. “Do not put yourself forward in the king’s presence or stand in the place of the great, for it is better to be told ‘come up here,’ than to be put lower in the presence of a noble.” So as soon as the Divine Service begins some of the first words out of our mouths are “I, a poor miserable sinner, confess unto you all my sins and iniquities with which I have ever offended you and justly deserved your temporal and eternal punishment...”

When we make that confession and acknowledge that nothing good dwells within us, we can do nothing other than humble ourselves beneath the cross of Christ and cling to it because only in Jesus can we find salvation from ourselves. We must beg of God’s boundless mercy for poor sinners, which is found in the holy, innocent, bitter sufferings and death of God’s beloved Son, Jesus Christ.

In order to forgive us of our pride and arrogance, Jesus, who is God almighty, humbled Himself to the point of crucifixion. “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”

Christ humbled Himself for us poor miserable pride-filled sinners. Because Jesus thus humbled Himself upon the cross, “Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,  and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

Then, and only then, when we humble ourselves beneath the cross of Christ, may we be exalted with Him. There is nothing worthy of pride in this life. There isn’t a thing you and I can do that’s worth filling ourselves with pride over. “ Far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.”

Thus setting aside all pride and self-exaltation in this world, we are crucified with Christ through baptism, so that just as Christ was raised from the pit of death, we too are lifted up with Him from the grave to heaven. Having been invited to the heavenly wedding feast, we go and sit in the lowest place, beneath the cross, and on the day of resurrection our Host shall greet us, saying: “Friend, move up higher.”