Seventeenth Sunday after Trinity

Kelly Smith

Trinity • Sermon • Submitted 7 months ago • Presented 7 months ago

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Luke 14:1-11

My Brothers and Sisters in Christ, this morning in our Gospel Lesson, Jesus has been invited to a Pharisees house on a sabbath day. His words of chastisement might seem out of place to our ears, but they invited him with a mind to trap him, shame him, and denounce him as a teacher. The sin of pride is a vicious one that blinds us to who our neighbor is, and treats them in shameful fashion as we elevate ourselves above what God has accomplished for our sake.

The Danger of Pride

The heart of pride is thinking you are better than others.

Narcissism would be an example of this, someone who looks down on everyone else and thinks that they are above or are better than everyone who is around them. This also can happen when you are part of a group, so this would also address racism, and sexism. Both have their root in prideful arrogance.

This describes the heart of the pharisees.

They are a group in ancient Israel who place great emphasis on the keeping of the law of God, but neglect important matters like mercy, love, compassion, and humility. This is because what drives them is not love for God’s Word, but their station.

It is an undue sense of one’s worth.

This is the case when you have a person who thinks of themselves quite highly when in fact they don’t have much of substance. Think about a child who believes they are entitled to determine when the family eats out and where. When they neither make money nor know the budget, but believe that they should be able to say when they go out to eat.

Consider how they used this man who had dropsy.

Here was a man who was sick and in need of help, and they placed him there and had invited him to the feast, not because they wanted to help him, but because they wanted to use him as bait to trap Jesus on the Sabbath day and see if they could trick him into doing a healing, and thus be guilty of doing work.

Pride Runs Rampant

It’s in children who disobey their parents.

Why should children obey their parents? Well first off there is the command of holy scripture. It is written down as a commandment. You will have to give an account to God. Children might say well that doesn’t seem fair, until they think on everything their parents did for them and how little thanks they offered up, for the meals prepared, the clothes washed, the roof over their heads, the doctor’s visits they take them too, and that without your parents you would have perished long ago.

It’s in adults who think some work is beneath them.

So they refuse to do parts of their job, or work that needs to be done and pass their work off to others by their negligence. Or refusing to take work, because it won’t pay them what they think they are worth. This isn’t to say that you shouldn’t know what you are capable of and what you can and cannot do, but refusing to take up work, because you are too valuable is foolish.

When the focus becomes me in marriage.

This is another place that pride rears its ugly head. The two become one, and they are meant to work together to serve each other, and to serve the family as a whole. It doesn’t matter who forgets that, its wrong and it brings about bitterness and painful divisions.

Everyone should recognize my sacrifices.

We live in an age that glorifies victimhood and encourages us to focus on our struggles. It turns us inward instead of focusing on our neighbor, and it is very easy to focus solely on my struggles, my hardships, and entirely neglect the person who is sitting next to us.

How Did it Come to this?

Sin is at the heart of it.

It has been this way all the way back to the garden of eden, that we thought we could disobey God, and make our rules like wayward children. Then when Cain didn’t get his way, he killed his brother, and the list goes on but pride sits at the heart of it all.

Our culture encourages narcissism.

There is an intense focus on you to the exclusion of your neighbor and all the things that you deserve. There are many memes that go around saying you deserve to have ____________. But the people saying those things don’t know you. The only reason they appeal to us, is because of the sin that sits in our heart that wants to indulge and focus on ourselves.

We confused self-esteem with ability.

We have overinflated the egos of our nation, and the cost is dire, for what really deserves recognition is ability. When we have people love themselves, praise themselves, and think highly of themselves when they lack ability they become fools.

The Scriptures Teach Humility

We are to consider others more significant.

This runs contrary to the ways of the world, but when you look at the world, is it on a course that is good? No! Think about how that would change the world.

It is a life of service.

One that is focused outward instead turned continually to ones own desires. Would it be good if a children saw their chores as a way to help their mom and dad who have given them so much? What would happen at work if people did their labor without complaining? What would happen if husbands and wives focused on the family, and what if instead of focusing on how the world doesn’t recognize my sacrifices, I helped my neighbor in their struggles?

I know that runs against our nature.

We hear that it is a dog eat dog world, that everyone is looking out for themselves, so how can we do that?

What did Jesus do for us?

Children, your parents ask you to clean your room, God the Father asked that Jesus lay down his life. What job is beneath us when Christ humbled himself to carry the sins we are too ashamed to even speak of, Jesus sought the good of his bride the church, when she was covered with sin and washed her clean by his blood, and as Jesus made his sacrifice he was mocked and ridiculed by the two he was hanging with, but when the one who asked to be remember in his kingdom, Jesus promised that he would be with him in paradise.

Obedience Unto Death

Jesus humbled himself for your sake.

Jesus didn’t do it because you were great or deserving or wonderful. He did it because He loves you. Jesus descended from heaven and the one is king of kings and lord of Lords humbled himself and laid aside his crown of glory.

Jesus became a slave.

His name that is above every name, at which every knee shall bow walked amongst us in the filthy, the grime, and the sin of this life. He joined us in our pains, in our sorrows, and in our sufferings.

Jesus went to the cross not for himself, but for you.

Jesus didn’t need to go to the cross, he didn’t need to make any sacrifice, Jesus would still be good and holy and righteous, if He had remained in heaven and never descended from the realms of light, but He laid all that aside to save you. This is because of his great love for you.

Being of the Same Mind

Jesus’ disciples ought not exalt themselves.

For who are we compared with Christ? What do you have to be proud of? When you compare yourself with Christ what can you say? We are dust and to dust we shall return, what can we claim of ourselves?

We are to care for our neighbor.

You will notice that the commandments don’t point us inward, but they point us out, to Love God, and to love our neighbor. Love isn’t meant to be directed inward, but outward in service to others.

So my Brothers and Sisters in Christ, Jesus tells this parable of the wedding and its message is still pertinent today. It is easy for us to just point the finger at the Pharisees, but we must also recognize the same struggle exists inside of our hearts. Thanks be to God, that Jesus humbled himself for our sake, and has washed our hearts clean with water purified by the Word of God. May we too lay down our pride, and remember the great grace that has been shown to us, this will great us strength to serve our neighbors in love, as Christ has loved us.