Twelfth Sunday
after Pentecost (Proper 17C)
August 28, 2022
Text: Luke 14:1-14
What
is the Sabbath for? Is it for
good, or for evil? For healing, or
abandoning those broken by sickness and death?
Is it for releasing from bondage, or forsaking the captives? Is it for forgiveness of sins, or
condemnation of sinners? Why did
God give us the Sabbath, and even guard it by a holy Commandment, the
Third of ten, “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy?” And how do we keep it holy? By slavishly observing limits on which
activities are permissible on a certain day of the week? Is that what it means to rest? Or by hearing and learning God’s Word, and so
receiving His gifts? What is it
that brings us true Sabbath, the rest that God intends for us?
And
could the Pharisees and lawyers possibly be keeping the Sabbath holy by
their activity at the Sabbath Seder in our text? What are they up to? They are watching Jesus carefully, hoping
to catch Him breaking the Sabbath laws.
And they’ve even set a trap they know He can’t resist. I mean, do you really think a
prestigious ruler of the Pharisees would have a man with dropsy… edema, we call
it today, the swelling of bodily tissues due to excess fluid… do you really
think he would have such a man present at his table? Of course not. The sick man is there as a prop. They planted him there on purpose. Because, if Jesus heals him, they can say,
“It is not lawful to heal on the Sabbath!”
And if on the off chance He does not heal him, they can say, “Look at
His lack of compassion,” or “Look at His inability to relieve the man of
dropsy.” Either way, they’ve got Him!
Well,
we know Jesus is able, and we know His compassion moves Him. But what about the Sabbath? Jesus asks the Pharisees and the lawyers what
the Sabbath is for. And they sit
there, stone silent. Needless to say,
Jesus heals the man. He releases him
from the bondage of his afflictions. He
sends the man away, well. And He
asks the religious and legal experts whether they would not do the same, even
on the Sabbath, for one of their children, or even for an ox that has fallen
into a well. Isn’t the Sabbath precisely
for such freedom? Doesn’t healing
and release from all that binds a person bring relief and rest? In fact, it brings true rest, real Sabbath,
because it directs those so freed to find all their hope and rest, their
healing and salvation, in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and in Him alone.
Jesus
doesn’t break the Sabbath by healing the man.
Jesus is the Sabbath for the man, and for us all. Now that Jesus has arrived on the scene, the
Son of God in human flesh, the Sabbath is no longer a day, but a Man. It is Jesus Himself. What does He do every day of His earthly
ministry, but walk around providing Sabbath to those who bear the great
burden of sin and death? The blind see. The lame walk. Lepers are cleansed. The deaf hear. The dead are raised. And the poor have the Good News preached to
them. Satan is cast out. And tax collectors and sinners, the unclean
and outcast, are brought to the Table to eat and drink with Jesus. He takes all that binds them away from them,
and into Himself. He bears it. He suffers it. Their sin.
Their death. In His death for
them on the cross. He is crucified, dead
and buried. And on the Third Day, He
rises again. Because He is the Lord of
Life. And He has life within Himself,
and He gives it, freely, by grace, to all who believe. It is liberty. It is relief.
It is rest. It is Sabbath.
But
that was there, and then. What about
here, and now? How do you, here,
now, today, receive this Sabbath in Jesus? You receive it in preaching and God’s Word. “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it
holy. What does this mean? We should fear and love God so that we do not
despise preaching and His Word, but hold it sacred and gladly hear and learn
it.”[1] You receive Jesus’ Sabbath… Jesus gives
you healing, release, the forgiveness of sins, true Sabbath rest… by
means of His Word.
And
by means of His Feast! The wedding Feast
of the Lamb in His Kingdom that has no end.
The Feast He provides for His Bride, the Church. The Feast of which we receive a foretaste
right here at this Altar. His body. His blood.
Given and shed for you, for the forgiveness of sins. Just as our Lord brought tax collectors and
sinners, the unclean and the outcast to the Table during His earthly ministry,
so He does now in His Church. He brings
you to the Table. Not by your own merit
or righteousness. But by His. That He may give it to you, feed it to you,
in the eating and drinking of His Supper.
Now,
when you are invited to a Feast like this one, it is important to come with the
proper disposition. Jesus illustrates
this by means of a parable. Here is
earthly wisdom. When you are invited to
a wedding feast, you don’t presume to go and sit at the head table with the
bride and groom, do you? You don’t claim
the place of honor for yourself. If you
do, what will happen? The host will tell
you to get up and give your place to the person for whom that seat of honor is
intended. And then, because all the
other places are now taken, you have to sit over there, in the back, next to
the kitchen. But what happens if,
immediately when you walk in, you go and take that seat over by the kitchen,
the lowest place, not presuming any honor for yourself, but simply thankful to
be at the party? Now the host will come
to you and say to you, “Friend, move up higher” (Luke 14:10; ESV), and
you will be honored in the presence of all.
This
is very good earthly wisdom, but what is Jesus’ point? Certainly, He is not concerned about wedding
party etiquette. He is teaching you, by
means of the parable, how you ought to enter the Church to receive Holy
Communion. That is, you don’t come in
like you have a right to be here, like you have a right to Jesus’
gifts, or as though you’ve earned a place at the Table and in His
Kingdom. You don’t come in, comparing
yourself to others, thinking yourself to be more righteous than they, as though
they may be here by grace, but you are here because you
deserve it. See, this is the endless
quest of self-justification in which we all find ourselves making
excuses for our sins and weaknesses, judging others for theirs,
and pointing out where we think we really have it together as opposed to
everyone else. This is Pharisaism,
that’s what this is. Insisting on one’s own
righteousness. But it is no Sabbath. There is never any rest in the quest
for self-justification. And Jesus
doesn’t fall for it. You may fool
yourself, and perhaps you’ll even fool other people, but you can’t fool
Jesus. He will come to you with His
righteous Law. He will hold His
Commandments before you as a mirror, and you will see yourself in all the
horrifying truth, as a rebel and an idolater, a fake and a fraud. The mirror does not lie, and this will humble
you. You will begin with shame to take
the lowest place. This is what self-justification
gets you every time.
How
much better… how freeing… what a relief to simply rest in Jesus Christ
and in His Word that absolves you, forgives your sins, justifies you for His
own sake. Confess who you are, a
poor miserable sinner, unworthy, unclean, one who by all rights should be
an outcast. Confess the things you’ve
done, your sins of thought, word, and deed, and the things you’ve left
undone. Confess even your penchant for
self-justification. And then gladly take
your place in the back, by the kitchen, just happy to be invited to the party. Do you know what Jesus will say to you? “I forgive you all your sins! I have put them to death in My body! You are healed. You are free.
I relieve you of your burdens.
And more than that… I am risen from the dead, and I give you My very
life. I have washed you clean in
Baptism. (We saw it again today in
Josiah’s Baptism! And, by the way, is
there any better example of how this is all by grace alone than an infant
Baptism? God does it all! It is God’s saving work!) I have clothed you with Myself. I breathe My life and Spirit into you by the
preaching of My Word, and I feed you with the Bread of Life in My Holy Supper. You were right to confess your sins. To be sure, you spoke the truth. But now, My Friend… move up higher! Come to the place of honor I have prepared
for you right here at My Table.”
I
submit to you that this is what Jesus does for you every Sunday, and every time
we gather around His Table for the Divine Service. You come in penitence, humbled by His holy
Law. And He bespeaks you righteous with
His own righteousness, by His death, and His resurrection, for you. And then He invites you to His Feast, and
gives you an honored place. Freely, by
grace. That is what the Sabbath
is for.
And
then, note this, too. The Sabbath is a
gift you can give to your neighbor. The poor, the crippled, the lame, the
blind. Who do you know that needs Sabbath
in Jesus? Invite them here to
receive Him, just as you do. By the way,
Jesus is not against dining with your loved ones and friends. That is a Hebraism (a Hebrew manner of
speaking) when He says, “Don’t invite them… invite the poor and sick
instead!” Jesus dined with His disciples
all the time, and He loved them dearly, so again, the point is not that
you should never invite your friends and family. The point is, rather, don’t evaluate another
precious human being, created by God in His own image, and redeemed by Jesus’
blood, based upon what they can do for you, or whether they can pay
you back. Don’t invite them based on
any worthiness intrinsic within themselves.
Rather, look upon every human being, including your friends and family,
as one who is just like you: In need of Sabbath. In need of Jesus. Poor.
Crippled. Lame. Blind.
Just the kind of person who needs Jesus’ healing, His forgiveness, His
Word, and His sustaining and life-giving Food.
Invite them to come where Jesus is for them, even as He is here for
you. Just as He was there for the
man with dropsy, and even, if they would have it, for a group of Pharisees and
lawyers. For that is what the
Sabbath is for. In the Name of
the Father, and of the Son X, and of the Holy
Spirit. Amen.
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