17th Sunday after Trinity
Ephesians 4.1–6 + Luke 14.1–11
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
St. Paul encourages us to walk in such a way that is worthy of the calling with which we were called. The calling with which we were called is the gospel, for in the gospel God calls us to leave our sins and have them forgiven freely for Jesus’ sake. In the gospel, God the Father calls us to be baptized so that He might make us His children, and if children, then heirs of the inheritance that is incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away—eternal life. In the gospel, God calls us into the church, the body of His Son, and gives us His Holy Spirit. Because there is one body and one Spirit, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God and Father of all who is above all and through all and in you all, we strive to keep this unity in the body of peace. Since God has called us in the gospel to the body of Christ, we walk worthy of this calling by walking with all lowliness and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the body of peace. Paul would have the Ephesians—and all Christians—take an attitude of lowliness and gentleness towards their fellow Christians, so that they esteem others above themselves and look out for what is best for others, and thus the entire body of Christ.
Paul was no hypocrite in this. This is how Paul himself walked. He reminds the Ephesians pastors in Acts 20 [:18-19], “You know, from the first day that I came to Asia, in what manner I always lived among you, serving the Lord with all humility.” Not only did He himself walk in humility and conduct his ministry in humility, but he taught all ministers of the church to walk this way. He wrote to Timothy, “A servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth, and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will” (2 Tim 2:24-26). Paul’s humility didn’t mean there wasn’t a vitriolic reaction to his ministry. His detractors caused an uproar—and almost a riot—in Ephesus. Nor does humility mean that pastors must never correct those who oppose their doctrine. Humility means that ministers are patient with their hearers, bearing with them in love so that they, too, may heed the call of the gospel, walk worthy of the gospel, and esteem others above themselves and look out for what is best for others, and thus the entire body of Christ.
This is what our Lord Jesus Christ teaches us in today’s gospel as well. Although the Pharisees were generally antagonistic towards Him, Jesus bore with them in love and went into the house of one of the rulers of the Pharisees to eat bread on the Sabbath. Being proud men who trusted that they were righteous in God’s sight because they walked according to the letter of the law of Moses, they watched Him closely, looking for reasons to attack His teaching and humble Him. But Jesus is lowly and gentle with them. A man with dropsy, what we call edema today, is present. He’s retaining water so that, most likely, his legs are swollen with fluid and his joints are stiff, so that it’s painful for him to walk. Knowing how closely the proud Pharisees are watching Him, looking for a way to put Him down and puff themselves up, Jesus asks them, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?” The Pharisees’ answer was an emphatic, “No!” In the chapter before this, Luke records how Jesus healed a woman who was bent over and could not stand up straight for eighteen years. He did this in the synagogue on the Sabbath. The ruler of the synagogue was irate that Jesus did this and said, “There are six days on which men ought to work; therefore come and be healed on them, and not on the Sabbath day” (Lk 13:14). This man had puffed himself up with pride so that he looked down on Jesus and the poor woman. Jesus points out his hypocrisy—and legalism—by asking, “Does not each one of you on the Sabbath loose his ox or donkey from the stall and lead it away to water it? So ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has bound — think of it — for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath?” (Lk 13:15-16). If the Pharisees loose their animals and lead them to water on the Sabbath, they should have no qualms about Jesus loosing this woman from her infirmity.
Jesus gives a similar answer to his host and the other guests on this particular Sabbath. He heals the man of the edema and lets him go. Then He asks the onlookers, “Which of you, having a donkey or an ox that has fallen into a pit, will not immediately pull him out on the Sabbath day?” No one could answer Him because the answer was “None of us. Each of us would do precisely that for our animals.” Jesus lets the self-condemnation do its work. In their pride, they loved their animals more than their fellow Israelites. They walked unworthily of the calling with which they had been called, esteeming themselves above others and only looking out for their own interests. For although the Lord had commanded that no work be done on the Sabbath, He had also said in Leviticus 19:18, “You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD.” Not only that, but Sabbath observe would go the way of all the ceremonial law of Moses since the blessings to the Sabbath pointed were arriving in the gospel, while the law of love endures forever.
Jesus then tells His host and fellow guests a parable so that the true teaching of God’s word might be driven deeper into their hearts. He had noticed before the meal each how one chose the best places—the most honorable places at the table—for themselves and tried to put others in their place. This comes as no surprise, for this is the same pride Jesus rebuked by healing the man with dropsy. Jesus sees no lowliness, no gentleness, no bearing with one another in love, no endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the body of peace in their walk. They walked in pride and self-conceit, everyone looking out for their own interests above the interests of others. So He tells them when they’re invited to a wedding feast they shouldn’t seat themselves in the honorable places, because when someone more honorable comes along, they will endure the humiliation of being asked to move to a less honorable seat. Instead, they are to take the lowest place at the wedding feast. Then the host will show them honor by saying, “Friend, go up higher.” Not only will the humble one be raised up to a more honorable seat, but the host will honor him with the title of friend, one whom the host truly loves. If such humility is to be employed at the greatest of feasts, how much more should it be employed for a weekly Sabbath meal?
Jesus’ parable takes us back to where we began. You have been called by the gospel to leave your sins and have them forgiven freely for Jesus’ sake. All who have been baptized have been reborn as children of God, heirs of eternal life, and members of Christ’s body—His Holy Church. Therefore, walk this way: “Worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness and gentleness, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the body of peace.” Christ would have us esteem others above ourselves. This doesn’t mean we behave as doormats, nor does it mean we allow others to sinfully take advantage of us, for neither of these is loving towards ourselves, our neighbor, or the God who has called us by the gospel. Loving our neighbors as ourselves means we must love ourselves as ones whom God loves because we love His Son. He even calls us “friends” and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus (Eph 2:6) by faith in Christ. Only by believing this and growing in this belief may we walk worthy of this calling and esteem others more than we esteem ourselves. Paul explains what this looks like in Philippians 2:3-4, “Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.” Esteem others above ourselves simply means to love others as Christ has loved them—and us—so that we do what is best for them and us. And what is best for our fellow believers is best for us because we belong to the same body. As there is one body and one Spirit, one hope of our calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God and Father of all, to look out for what is best for others is to look out for what is best for ourselves. Being called thus, let us walk this way. Amen.
May the peace of God which surpasses all understanding guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
