“The Way of Grace is Different”
Luke 14:1-14
Stephen H. Becker, M.Div.
St. Peter’s Lutheran Church—Elk Grove, Ca.
September 2nd, 2007
In our reading today, Jesus told a parable, and in fact throughout Jesus’ ministry, He often taught using parables. The Apostle Mark in his Gospel tells us that Jesus “did not say anything to [the people] without using a parable” (Mark 4:34). About 700 years before Jesus, the prophet Isaiah once explained that, “You will be ever hearing, but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving. For this people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.” Another time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Why do you speak to the people in parables?” He replied, “The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them.. This is why I speak to them in parables…” Then Jesus quoted the same passage from Isaiah that I just read to you, telling his disciples, “Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand. In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah: (pause) But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears (pause) because they hear.” So what Jesus is saying here is that He teaches with parables in order to help us believers to see what our sin otherwise might keeping us from seeing…helping our eyes to see and our ears to hear the truth and, sometimes that He uses parables to emphasize to those who don’t have faith just how lost and confused they really are. And, as we see here in our passage in Luke, Jesus not only expected, but in some cases intended, that the Pharisees and all the people that opposed him and his message would not understand what he really meant when he used a parable. Certain things that He had to say were only for the ears and hearts of believers, and were just words or stories to non-believers.
At this dinner that Jesus was at, He really had two message that He wanted to get across, that selfishness and self-righteousness were so deadly, and that these Pharisees would rather see a person die on the Sabbath than let go of their self-righteousness, and furthermore, this selfishness was so self-defeating that it was literally blocking all the Goodness and Love God has for His children.
To unbelievers, it probably sounded like Jesus was babbling about dinner etiquette…who to invite and where to sit, and about children and oxen falling into wells. But friends, Jesus wasn’t teaching dinner etiquette. And He really wasn’t concerned about telling dinner guests where they should or (pause) where should not to sit at dinner. No, what Jesus really wanted to get through everyone’s heads — and hearts — was that the way that they were believing, thinking, and acting was not God’s way. It wasn’t — and isn’t — the way truly righteous people behave, because believers are not concerned with self-promotion and self-glorification. You see, Christ’s way is clearly different, and Jesus wanted these Pharisees — and everyone, really — to look to God’s Grace instead of their own interests because God’s way is different; the way of Grace (pause) is different.
Now, to many people, “Grace” isn’t much more than just a word. They’re aware that it has some kind of religious meaning, but they’re not exactly sure what exactly Grace means. They just know that Christians think Grace is amazing — from the song. They know that their Dad would sometimes say “grace” before dinner. The better informed in our society may recognize that Grace has something to do with religion and maybe with salvation — with how or why people get to heaven — (pause) but that’s often about the extent of their knowledge of the word, “Grace.” So since the point of this parable is Grace, and before we go any further in looking at the Grace that Jesus is talking about here, let’s define what Grace is: Grace is God’s free gift of salvation for everyone who believes. Grace is the forgiveness of our sins not because of who we are or what we’ve done but instead Grace is OUR forgiveness that Jesus purchased on the cross with His body and His blood. Grace means that we don’t have to do anything to be saved because Jesus (pause) did it all. We believe that and through our belief—our faith—we receive this wonderful gift of Go called Grace.
So how does this parable take advice about where to sit and whom to invite and teach Grace? What does Grace have to do with how we think and live? Now, a moment ago I said that we don’t have to do anything to be saved because Jesus did it all. In my last sermon about a month I also said that we don’t wait for eternal life because we have eternal life and we have it, right now. So what does Grace have to do with how we think and live here on earth? It’s a good question. And Jesus probably would have been very happy if one of the Pharisees had asked him that. But they didn’t. So Jesus showed them anyway—He showed them the connection between the love of God and Christian humility. He showed the way of God’s Grace. And the way of Grace is different!
You see friends, a believer in Christ has a completely different idea of his own self-worth. Most of the world finds self-worth in what a person does or has done or WHO he is…a doctor, parent, athlete, president, hero, etc.; what one is — race, class, height, beauty, brains, etc.; or they find their worth in how one is honored by other people — salary, money, the kind of car they drive, rank, privilege, awards, influence, etc. But the Christian knows God’s Law, and the Christian realizes that what he has done and keeps on doing (pause) is sin — the Christian knows that he breaks every one of his Creator’s commandments in one way or another, and then he keeps on doing it, because his sinful nature always wants to go the opposite way from what God wants. And the believer knows that he is a sinner just like every other human being on the planet — he understands that he is desperately in need of forgiveness and absolutely unable to save himself because our sin and our rebellion earn us only one thing: death (pause) and hell.
Now friends, understanding and accepting these truths of where we’ve put ourselves in relation to God does do a pretty good job of humbling a person — it’s hard to think too highly of yourself when you know you have disobeyed God — but that’s really not what makes it possible for a believer to think and act the way Jesus encourages us to do here. No, what makes the difference is God’s Grace — we realize that despite our natural unworthiness, God still loves us. He loves us so much that He sacrificed His own Son, sending him to suffer and die on the cross to take away each and every one of our sins. If we matter that much to God — and we do — and all people do — then human ideas of status and honor fade into insignificance. I mean, who cares about the best seat at a wedding reception when you’re already the guest of honor at Christ’s never-ending and glorious feast in heaven? “He who exalts himself will be humbled; he who humbles himself will be exalted. The way of Grace is different…
Grace also teaches believers, who have been given Christ’s perfection as this free gift from God, to put others first, the same way Jesus did. We are not only recipients of God’s love by faith, we are also its distributors, and so we love our neighbors without regard for who or what they are or aren’t. We love our fellow believers, spouses, and siblings the same way — even when your neighbor rubs you the wrong direction, and you’re convinced he did it on purpose, (pause) even then you love him, because that’s how God loves you and how God loves him. God loves us when we are unlovable; God forgave us when we were unforgivable because (pause) you guessed, the Way of Grace is different.
Can you see now how radical a change God’s Grace makes in the way a believer thinks and behaves around others and even how it changes the way he thinks of himself? These Pharisees sure thought a lot of themselves. And even though they were in God’s presence through Christ, I’m not sure they understood the humility Christ was teaching them through his healing of the man, through telling them to take the “least” place, and now telling them about giving. See friends, we become humble in knowing what God, through Jesus Christ, had to do in order to save us. God the Son had to die (pause) in order to save us. And as Jesus teaches through this parable, when you humble yourself, you allow others to lift you up — and they may very well end up lifting you up higher than you would have placed yourself. Because the way of Grace is different.
Jesus also teaches us here that our attitude toward doing for others, and our attitude toward our own humility, is important too. How many times have you seen a group of high school kids doing what is supposedly a “free” car wash? Their signs say “free,” but once they wash your car, you see that they are asking for a “donation”? Now don’t get me wrong…there is nothing at all wrong with a high school group doing fundraising, but it’s a good illustration of what Jesus was speaking against in his second parable here — doing something good for someone with the expectation of getting something good in return. You see, because The way of Grace is different — Jesus encourages us to do good for those who cannot repay, whether it’s feeding the hungry, clothing the poor, or helping the handicapped. And for some, this is not easy. I mean, we live in a society that says, “what’s in it for me?” Society says, “time is money.” Society says, “watch out for number one…” But friends, once again, God’s Grace is what makes the difference (pause) in our hearts. Because that’s exactly the way God’s love works, isn’t it? Think of all the things He has given you, continues to give you, and will give not only to you, but to everyone on the earth. Physically we have sun and rain and food and shelter and clothing and countless things besides; spiritually we have the forgiveness of sins, we have life—eternal life and salvation in Jesus Christ, we have the Word of God, and the Sacraments which we are about to receive. Think about this: Has the Lord given us any of those things expecting to be repaid? Of course not — and that again is God’s Grace at work. Believers have God’s love at work in their lives, and I probably don’t have to tell you how to show it, because the opportunities to do so fill your life and are unique to each one of you. Maybe it’s writing a check to charity. Perhaps it’s finally actually responding to that homeless guy on the corner your near work. Maybe it’s offering a job to single parent without references. You know — and if you pray about it, God will open up more and more opportunities to be just like Him, in giving to those who can’t give back to you.
And here’s the best part of God’s amazing Grace: (pause) you will get something back. Jesus says here that we will be blessed for the love we show and give to others. We “will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.” Our reward and our treasure is in heaven, which of course means that we won’t always see our rewards in the here and now when we do things for others. But that’s OK because we can still be confident that they’re infinitely greater than anything we could gain here on earth. You see friends, when we give without worrying about being repaid, we can’t foresee the rewards of our kindnesses. But Jesus guarantees that they will be repaid in countless blessings at the resurrection of the righteous — at the end of the world, when He comes to take his faithful people home with him to heaven. Because that is where Grace carries us…to heaven. And heaven is where we belong. So even though we’re strangers and aliens in this world, we still live here, but we live here as citizens of heaven. We know our true worth. We know our true home. We know our place and our purpose because of the fact that we are saved by Grace through Christ. And so we live with humility toward ourselves and with love for others. Because we live by what we have been saved by: the Grace of God in Jesus Christ. My friends, the way of Grace is different. (pause) And so are we. Amen. Let’ pray…
Now may the true faith …
