This sermon was preached at St. John's, Karoonda (9am) and Trinity, Tailem Bend (11 am).
Receiving an award
is pretty nice. But if you went up to receive an award without
having your name called, that would be a big embarrassment. That
award isn't for you, and now everyone is looking at you as you return
to your seat empty handed. It's pretty funny though. But today's
Gospel isn't about embarrassment. It's about Jesus.
The
best seat is the one Jesus gives and the best reward is when Jesus
declares you to be justified.
An even better
situation to help understand what Jesus says in today's Gospel
reading is a wedding banquet. If you didn't understand wedding
receptions, and if things weren't labeled well, you could easily sit
at the head table. “Oh, this looks like a nice seat. I wonder why
nobody is sitting here.” But when the wedding party arrives, it's
the same thing: everyone is looking at you as you have to go and take
the worst seat in the house. And because of your embarrassment,
whatever seat you sit in would be the worst seat.
Just because people
like casual events doesn't mean that this doesn't happen. You can't
sit at the head table unless you've been called there. And you have
to admit that being seated somewhere is just as good as everyone
awkwardly bumping into each other trying to seat themselves: “Um, I
guess I'll maybe sort of sit here.” Some cultures just work where
you don't sit yourself, but it's done communally – everybody works
out where other people sit when the time comes. It's a nice way to
be nice to people.
But you know this
isn't just about sitting down. It's more than that. Even the guy in
14:15 knows this is about God's kingdom. Luke says, “
When one of those who reclined at table with him heard these things,
he said to him, "Blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the
kingdom of God!" ”.
It's about God's reign. And God's reign isn't about what you do, but
it is what Jesus does.
Unfortunately, you
know you would look good in the seat of honor, if you were to sneak
into it. Unfortunately, you want to give God a good reason to save
you. This is the same inclination in you that wants to grab the seat
of honor. When you see someone else get an award and say “well,
they're not so great” or when you say “I knew that person was
doing a good job way before anyone else did” - both of those prove
you want to grab the seat of honor. It's praising yourself.
But the very
inclination to do that is also sin. Remember, who's watching Jesus
at this banquet where he is at? The Pharisees, and they are the best
of the best. They have the best morals, they have the best
traditions, they have the best good works. The only thing they don't
have is humility before God – faith in Christ. That's because no
matter how good you are, you don't work your way to God.
The very
inclination to be repaid for your good works before God is sin (and
what should you be repaid for for your pride?) If it's only fair to
be repaid by God for your good works, but what about your sin? What
about your trust in how good you are?
However, Jesus has
all the reason he needs to save you apart from anything you've done.
If he says “For
everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles
himself will be exalted." ”
and “For
you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just.”
this is about justification before God. Who is doing the verbs in
these verses? God. God exalts. God brings about the resurrection
of the body, the resurrection of the dead. And so as sure as God
brings about the resurrection of the just, he brings about the
justification that declares you to be just. The only reason Jesus
needs is that his Father has sent him, he has taken flesh and
suffered the cross and death in your place, and sends you the Holy
Spirit. The only reason he needs is his love. Some positions can't
be earned, only given. And baptized child of God is one of them.
Christian is one of them. And he loves to give such a gift, and
grieves over your sinful nature which tries and fails to do what he
so freely and lovingly gives. That's why your sinful nature will be
totally put away in eternity, but not on this side of eternity.
Jesus can sit you
in the place where he honors you (he
who humbles himself will be exalted.
– note the verb, for only God exalts and this is by grace).
He does this in the Lord's Supper. The invitation is Holy Baptism.
In Holy Baptism the desire to break into heaven is put to death and
dies daily because in Baptism, daily, heaven is nothing but open
doors and windows for you. That's how strong Jesus' cross and death
are. In the Lord's Supper you have the seat of honor to eat and
drink his body and blood. It's the same table as in heaven, as we
pray during the communion liturgy “Thy will be done on earth as in
heaven.”
Jesus shows that
humility isn't a work but is repentance. This is seen when Jesus
repeats verse 11, about being humbled and exalted, at the end of the
parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector, which is about
repentance and justification. This isn't about being humble like
it's a work, but about knowing who you are before God's wrath: a
sinner who can't justify yourself. But such repentant sinners are
the ones Jesus calls up to his table. He says, “Eat with me, not
because of what you've done, but because of what I've done for you on
the cross, in your Baptism, and the forgiveness I give at my table
(on earth as in heaven).
And the sinner who
is humble is the one who repents. The one who repents serves, not
to earn but to give. That's where it comes back to table etiquette
as in last week's Gospel. The proper way to behave at table is to
politely eat what is put before you. It is good that we receive the
gift of forgiveness from the cross of Jesus Christ. Just like eating
a meal will give us strength for the day's work, we can only serve
others because Jesus loves us and serves us.
The
proper way to behave at the table is to serve others through the
positions that God has given you. Luther applies this Gospel to your
daily vocation, your daily callings from God, very well. Two people
in Jesus' parable have a position—but only one has been given that
position, the other takes it for himself. It is wrong to seek your
own glory rather than to honor God and do your duty. It is not wrong
to be a parent or an elder or to be in charge of many people. That
is how you can serve them, by doing your duty well for their good and
benefit, and not for your own. How hard this is! Young ladies are
not satisfied until they are married, and the same goes for young
men. But once you have found a husband or a wife, then immediately
you think “Oh, I would like to be free again.” You have not
thought about your duties and responsibilities. You are not married
for your own ease and comfort, but for the sake of the one you are
married to. The same goes for any position. But this is what God
has set up for you, in order that he may serve people through your
positions. Only remember that you have nothing that you have not
first received from God—your positions of course, but first and
most important your position as a baptized child of God—who has
been given the washing of forgiveness and eternal life by Jesus
himself.
So where
should you sit in church? Well, where you can see and hear Jesus
justifying you by his clear, true, and saving Word, that's where.
That can be done from the back, the front, and the sides.
Conclusion:
So it's not about where you sit but about who sits you. And Christ
sits you by justifying you, by declaring that he is the one who
places you in the forgiveness of sins to eternal life by his cross,
which is delivered to you by his Word, preached, splashed, and put on
your tongue. That's not embarrassing, it's a joyous feast that has
no end. Amen.
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