Sermon - Trinity XVII, 2026 - Luke 14:1-11

The Peasant Wedding, Pieter Bruegel the Elder, 1567

Honor in the Kingdom of Heaven

1. The exalted ones are humbled

2. The humbled ones are exalted

“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.” Jesus isn’t just talking about party etiquette.

Sometimes Jesus uses ridiculous parables to teach a heavenly truth, other times He uses ordinary and relatable and uniformly understood parables to teach a heavenly truth. Today Jesus uses a well understood and practiced social custom about seating at wedding feasts. Everyone knows, regardless of your knowledge of scripture, whether or not you should sit at the head table at a wedding reception or not. If you’re in the wedding party you sit at that table, and if you try to sit somewhere else you will be told to move to a seat of honor. If you’re not in the wedding party and you try to sit at the head table, you will be told to sit in one of the ordinary seats. This is just a basic, ordinary concept familiar across cultures and time.

But Jesus says that this is a parable and He said it in response to those choosing places of honor. Then at the end of the parable He explains what it means: “For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” This isn’t about humility and exaltation at worldly parties, it’s about honor in the kingdom of heaven, and the kingdom of heaven does not work the same way as this world works.

In this life, among the worldly, those who exalt themselves are exalted. Those who are filled with pride and ego get ahead and advance themselves. Folks complain that President Trump is prideful and boastful, and of course he is, every politician, especially the ones who win, are absolutely full of themselves. All of the big public personalities, all of the wealthy and successful CEOs and presidents, all of the politicians, all of the famous celebrities are constantly talking about themselves and their accomplishments. They are always bragging. And if you haven’t noticed, it works! Their braggadocious self-exaltation gets them ahead until they’re at the top and exalted by all.

That’s the way this world works. But it’s not the way that the kingdom of heaven works. The exalted ones in this world must be humbled and brought down from their high horses before they can ever enter into God’s kingdom. The Bible is replete with examples of this. The ancient Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar is a great illustration of this. He literally considered himself a divinity worthy of worship, and looked upon the Babylonian kingdom all as for him and his glory. God then sent a madness upon him, driving him into the wilderness to eat grass like an ox, his hair grew long like fur, and his nails were long like bird’s claws. After God gave him his mind back Nebuchadnezzar praised the Lord instead of himself.

Humiliation is difficult to endure but it is far more preferable than the alternative. If the prideful are not humbled in this life, then they will be humbled in the next and for all eternity. How wonderful it is that God humbled the Pharisaic Saul, striking him with blindness, renaming him Paul, giving him a thorn in the flesh, and making him a beloved apostle. Had he remained in his pride, puffing himself up with every worldly reason to boast, he likely would’ve had a much more comfortable and pleasurable life on earth, but he would have been humbled to hell forever.

Now, most of us aren’t quite at the same level as Trump, or Nebuchadnezzar, or the apostle Paul, neither in our worldly accomplishments nor extreme pride. But pride and self-exaltation still often cling to us. We think of ourselves more often than we think of others. We look to our own needs before considering the needs of others. We’re greatly embarrassed over the most minor blunders because we assume everyone is watching us and is thinking about us at all times. We’re easily offended and take things too personally because we think so highly of ourselves. We can’t handle criticism or being told “no” or being corrected because we can’t imagine ourselves being wrong. We behave as if everyone else is a moron. We think everyone is out to get us and take our stuff. Lord, have mercy upon us, forgive our pride, and teach us humility!

That last plea is a dangerous one. Do you know how God teaches us humility? By humiliating us. Sometimes we bring this on ourselves when we do foolish things; sometimes in the ordinary course of life we end up with egg on our face. But I observe this most often when people are suffering and dying, or even simply aging or being sick. Being deathly ill is quite embarrassing, really, and it’s why many who are dying or ill don’t want to be seen by others. Our bodies morph into something nearly unrecognizable and sometimes even grotesque. We lose basic functions, and can’t think or communicate clearly. We soil ourselves and lose the ability to groom and clean ourselves. We can’t be productive, let alone get out of bed. Perhaps at one point we were on top of the world, but in God’s mercy He teaches us humility.

Because graciously, in the kingdom of heaven, it’s not those who are great among mankind who fill the wedding hall, but the humbled. And in this we are in good company. For when the Lord forgives our pride He does so by humbling Himself. “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.” The Lord Jesus Christ, who is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent, in love for us proud and arrogant people, emptied Himself and humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death on a cross. How embarrassing! He was flogged, spit on, beaten, mocked, ridiculed, stripped naked, and hung up for all to jeer at Him. He who must be exalted was humbled, and in being humbled He has rid us of our sinful pride, and thus exalts us.

Because He has thus humbled Himself so horrifically upon the cross and thus so wondrously atoned for all of our sins and leads us out of death to life, His humiliation has become His exaltation and His glory. He who has humbled Himself is exalted! For this reason we triumphantly raise our standard, the crucifix, behind which we rally, because the crucifixion of Christ is our exaltation, since through Jesus’ humiliation we are lifted up from our sins and unto God.

In this way the ordinary way of this world is reversed in God’s kingdom. Our pride becomes our shame and our humiliation becomes our exaltation, because when we are humbled, when we empty ourselves of our vainglory, we are joined to Christ and are therefore exalted with Him. Strength is perfected in weakness, since it is only when we are utterly dependent on Christ’s strength that we are truly strong.

In this way the words of Paul become more relevant than ever. “I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility.” Whatever we do, let it be done in humility, forsaking all pride. The ancient ceremonies of the church often teach us humility so that we might learn to apply this in every facet of our lives. For instance, the sacrament of confession and absolution teaches us how to live in a constant state of repentance and forgiveness, teaching us always to repent of our sins with whomever we have sinned. Ceremonial postures teach us to think of ourselves as less; they physically teach us humility by experiencing it in our bodies. For example, we bow before the Lord during the service; most commonly people bow at the rail, reverencing the truly present body and blood of Christ, before and after communing. We kneel during the service, most commonly when you commune at the Lord’s altar, but we do also have kneelers in the pews during which you may kneel during other parts of the service, and I would strongly encourage you to kneel during those parts if you are able.

These ceremonies are good and salutary, and I mention them now, not because they are meritorious before God, but because they help instruct us in the Christian faith. This matter of pride and humility is in many ways at the very heart of Christianity. Pride is behind every sin we commit which separates us from God, and humility is an integral part of repentance and faith in God. So when the Lord forgives your pride and teaches you humility, He is drawing you nearer to Him who loves you in perfect humility and shall exalt you with Him to ascend unto the heavenly wedding feast.