Luke 14:1, 7-14
September 1, 2019
One of the most difficult things to do when planning a large party, like a wedding reception is what? Where are you going to seat everyone! You know certain people have to sit closer to the head table, you just have to do it. Like it or not. Then there are those people who you know don’t really like each other, but you don’t know how to put them in different sections of the hall. Then there are those who talk to each other and will say ‘hey, I’m going to Michael and Debbie’s wedding, are you?’ Um, NO, they didn’t invite me. Oops! So, you need to decide, if I invite this couple, I kind of have to invite that couple, even though I don’t really want to. And, where do I sit them all. Closer to us, or further back. Then there are those you have to invite, but honestly, don’t care where they sit, or if they come!
Yup, admit it, if you’ve planned a wedding or a banquet like that, you’ve had to deal with those issues. Well, today, we’re going to look at a dinner party setting. It’s kind of a ritzy event, Jesus is the guest of honor. And when Jesus shows up, He’s kind of like those guests, you just never know what they’re going to say. So, let’s look at what happens in todays passage from Luke 14, beginning in verse 1, then we’re going to jump to verse 7 –
1 One Sabbath, when Jesus went to dine at the house of a ruler of the Pharisees, they were watching Him carefully.
7 Now He told a parable to those who were invited, when He noticed how they chose the places of honor, saying to them, 8 “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, 9 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. 10 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. 11 For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” – Luke 14:1,7-11
Jesus was invited to an important society party. Those attending were the leading citizens, the Pharisees, the wealthy, the teachers, politicians, the high priest, members of the Sanhedrin, the senate of the day.
Everybody was dressed up, on good behavior, smiling, whether they meant it or not, being clever and making sure no food was hiding on a tooth. They looked like they were having a good time.
Jesus was the guest of honor and everybody who thought they were important, wanted to be seated next to Jesus. That’s where all of the important people are seated.
The last person to sit down would be the guest of honor, Jesus. Everyone wanted to be at the head table, but pretended they didn’t.
Then Jesus spoke. That’s not always a good thing . . . I mean you don’t want to turn Jesus loose at a party, because He may say something which will hit our hearts.
“Why are all of you people trying to be so important? Why are you so anxious to be seated at the head table?” People are kind of shuffling in their seats, looking around, wondering where this is going. Jesus goes on and eventually says,
11 For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
There’s that nervous laughter. Nobody knows how to respond. He’s hitting home, but nobody wants to admit it. They’re thinking Jesus must be talking about someone else, certainly not me.
Let’s stop at this point, because it really gets worse! If that’s all Jesus said, that would be bad enough, but He’s not close to being done.
You see, whether we want to admit it or not, we all want to have a place of honor. We want people to recognize us. We don’t want to be wallflowers. Now, some people don’t want notoriety and prefer to be behind the scenes, but you still want people to notice you. We all need that! That’s really a basic human need. We were created for relationship. We want to be recognized, not even praised, which we need, but we want people to know we have lived!
We see people doing this on their own all the time. Just look at facebook, instagram or twitter and check out all of the posts where people are praising themselves. They’re posting pictures and making comments about themselves because they want recognition. I’m not going to get into the psychology of it all. But what they want is for others to recognize what they’re doing.
Now, I’m not saying posting a birthday or anniversary picture or a milestone event is wrong, that’s about all I post. But, maybe we need to consider what our actions are representing and ultimately showing what our deeper needs are. Then it’s to look at how we can satisfy those needs, not through comments of others, but through God.
When we think about the Christian virtues we need to uphold, we usually think about love first. And I would say love is the predominant virtue for us to demonstrate. But I really think close behind that is humility.
It seems that the disciples were arguing over who was the greatest or going to be the greatest in the kingdom. So, notice how Jesus responds in Matthew 18 - -
1 At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” 2 And calling to Him a child, He put the child in the midst of them 3 and said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. – Matthew 18:1-4
Most of us would say the greatest in the kingdom is the person who has faith like a child. But that is wrong! But in this story and in other stories, what makes a child great is not their faith but their humility. Check out this passage! Jesus said, WHOEVER HUMBLES THEMSELVES LIKE A CHILD.
What makes a child great is the profound awareness and quality of life where there is no need to be better than others. Have you ever noticed that young children aren’t worried about pride and arrogance. They may not share well. But they are not prideful. Most children have humility.
If we are to be a true follower of Jesus Christ, we need to learn - - humility
What does it mean to be a humble person? What is Jesus talking about?
To be humble. Does it mean to feel inferior? Or to put yourself down? Does it mean to have an inferiority complex? Obviously not.
Does humility mean to be timid? To be a mouse in the corner? To be a Melvin Milktoast? To be afraid to say anything to anyone? To be afraid to stand up for yourself? Obviously not.
What is it to be a humble person?
Humility is the opposite of pride or conceit. We often easily identify that in others. Remember, it’s not having a healthy image of yourself. Or even being able to admit you’re good at something. That’s not pride or conceit.
Pride is to take the gifts God has given to us, and use those gifts to compare ourselves with others and elevate ourselves above others around us. We use our God given gifts and talents in such a way as to make ourselves seem better than others.
According to the 7 Deadly Sins, pride is first. Pride often becomes the source of all other evil. It’s the source of greed, envy and covetousness. It is very closely related to selfishness. They tend to think in terms of wanting the world to revolve around them.
Jesus asked, “Who is greatest in the kingdom of God?” “Whoever humbles themselves like a little child.”
At the heart of this quality of humility is an attitude of the heart which realizes that all of my gifts and talents come from God. All of my money, my possessions, my eternity, my clothes, my job, my good looks, my personality . . . all that I have is a gift from God.
Humility is grounded in a deep awareness that everything I am and everything I have is totally a gift from God. Without God, I am nothing. Therefore, how can I boast? How can I use these God-given gifts as a measuring stick to elevate myself above others?
With that in mind, let’s move to the final section of the scripture in Luke 14 –
12 Jesus also said to the man who had invited Him, “When you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return and you be repaid.
13 But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, 14 and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just.” – Luke 14:12-14
This gets us into another dynamic. Really, it’s the Latin phrase QUID PRO QUO! In essence, quid pro quo means “you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours,” OR “tit for tat,” OR “one hand washes the other.” It’s an exchange of one favor for another.
That’s what Jesus is talking about here. You see there’s no humility involved. I’m going to invite all of the elite people of Alexandria to me banquet, because I know they will have to invite me to their banquets. It’s quid pro quo.
It’s as if Jesus now looked at the dinner host, who’s ready to run, and says to them, “Why didn’t you invite my friends to the party? Why didn’t you invite the poor, the sick, the blind and the lame? Why didn’t you invite the lepers? Where’s the prostitutes and the homeless? Why didn’t you invite all these people?”
To be a Christian and to walk the Christian life is to break through the sociological barriers of status. Christ wants us to break through our sociological barriers of status where our friendships, our sociological patterns and our Christian companions are primarily and only with middle class people.
You see, we’re always thinking about what could benefit us in the long run. What relationship can I develop because it will help my business or will help my social network. But that’s not what Jesus is talking about. He’s talking about humbling ourselves, so that we can invite those who have a real need.
Too often our world is stuck on watching every move the Kardashians make and what the Wives of Beverly Hills are doing and more. We are awed, but that’s a different world. It’s not a world of humility, it’s a world of pride, arrogance and conceit.
So, Jesus calls us to stop and take stock of who we are.
Why do we do what we do? Who do we associate with and why?
Finally - - -
And then there’s Jesus, who basically says, “yeah, that whole quid pro quo thing? That’s not going to fly in the Kingdom of God.”
We might ask Jesus “why not?”
Jesus answer us saying - - “Let me tell you why, the problem with a quid pro quo mentality is in the calculation. How do you measure or calculate repayment of love and mercy? And the fact that we think we can becomes a major theological problem. We tend to forget that our beliefs about faith and discipleship are also claims about who we believe God is. If we insist that our faith, our salvation, is dependent upon an equal rate of exchange between God and us, then we need to ask ourselves, in what kind of God do we believe?
Does this not cheapen the grace of God?! How can we quantify the grace and power of God? How can we calculate the cost of our salvation? We can’t! It’s never quid pro quo in God’s economy. Frankly, there is no calculation. WHY? Because it’s the free gift of God’s grace extended into our heart, spirit and mind, because we at one time humbled ourselves, admitting we are sinners in need of redemption.
Friends, as we go about this week, God’s call is to humble yourselves. To count others as better than yourselves so that you can show them the love, grace, courage and power of Jesus Christ.
