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Pentecost 12 2025 Proper 17
Immanuel Lutheran Church, Hamilton, Ohio
Pastor Kevin Jud
August 31, 2025
Proverbs 25:2-10, Hebrews 13:1-17, Luke 14:1-14
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Going back to school is difficult. During the summer, kids can somewhat choose who they spend time with, mostly their own family who loves them unconditionally, even if their siblings don’t always show it, but school can seem like it is filled with people who are just looking for you to make a mistake; to do something stupid or say something stupid or just be different somehow so they can make fun of you for it. There is a lot of pressure to conform to whatever the other kids are doing so you are not left out. School can be rough because it seems like it is filled with people looking to humiliate you and it does not feel good to be humiliated. And this kind of humiliation is not just limited to schools. It can happen at work, on sports teams, at the gym, even in families. There are many out there using humiliation as a weapon against you. Your battle against the possibility of humiliation can lead you to try to exalt yourself to protect your pride and dignity. Exalting yourself is a defense strategy against humiliation. People work hard to achieve higher social status and protect that status.
Social status was especially important in Jewish culture at Jesus’ time. There was a hierarchy of people. Each had a status in relation to others; there were those who were more powerful and important, and lesser people who were not powerful or important. Higher status meant more privileges so people were always vying to move up the ladder.
In our Gospel reading from Luke, the Pharisees have set the scene for Jesus. They are hosting a big, fancy Sabbath dinner for the important people in town and they invited Jesus to speak after the dinner and then they would have a discussion. Reclining couches surround the table with the most important people towards the center and the less important people further away. The couches are ready, the table is ready, wine is being served, you can smell the food in its final preparation.
It all sounds like such a wonderful event, except, the whole thing is a set up so they can trap Jesus in a Sabbath violation. Everything is set for dinner, people are all in their places and now the Pharisees launch their trap. Luke 14:2 (ESV) 2 And behold, there was a man before him who had dropsy.” Dropsy is a buildup of fluid in your body. We also call it an edema. It is not a coincidence that this man with dropsy is there. The Pharisees set this all up. They want to test Jesus to see if He will “do work” on the Sabbath day and break the Pharisee’s enhanced Sabbath rules so then they can discredit Him and destroy Him.
Jesus knows what they are up to and that this is the reason for their whole gathering so He asks them a question. Luke 14:3 (ESV) 3 …“Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath, or not?” Healing someone with a serious ailment is certainly a good, merciful thing to do, but the Pharisees are not looking to do good or to show mercy. They are looking to trap Jesus. Their hatred and anger at Jesus blinds them to the big picture that Jesus heals people just by speaking. Jesus has the power of God. He is able to work incredible miracles. Instead of rejoicing that the Messiah has come, they look to eliminate Jesus. Jesus asks a simple question and they refuse to answer. They just remain silent. This is a very awkward dinner discussion group. So Jesus heals the man and sends him away.
Then Jesus asks, Luke 14:5 (ESV) 5 …“Which of you, having a son or an ox that has fallen into a well on a Sabbath day, will not immediately pull him out?” Ahh…a thought provoking question. How would they handle it if their child or farm animal was in peril on the Sabbath? Maybe this will lead to a lively discussion…but they do not reply. They could not reply to these things because they would have to admit that they would help their child or their animal, but they want to say Jesus should not help those in need on the Sabbath. Jesus has trapped them and so they remain silent.
Since no discussion is forthcoming Jesus continues to teach them. He observed how when arriving at the dinner they chose places of honor trying to put themselves in the most important position, so He tells them a story. Luke 14:8–10 (ESV) 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.”
Jesus is calling out the Pharisees for all their concern about social status as they each try to improve their place and make themselves appear to be better.
Now, taken wrongly, this can be heard as Jesus teaching you to be manipulative and aiming to get a better seat by shrewdly choosing the lower seat, but that is not what Jesus is teaching. He summarizes, Luke 14:11 (ESV) 11 For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
This is a consistent teaching; the humble will be exalted. We see this throughout the Gospel of Luke all the way back to Jesus’ incarnation in the womb of Mary who proclaimed, Luke 1:46–49 (ESV) 46 …“My soul magnifies the Lord, 47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, 48 for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant. For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed; 49 for he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name.”
We see this later in Luke in the parable of the tax collector and the Pharisee. Luke 18:9–14 (ESV) 9 He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt: 10 “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ 13 But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ 14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”
Your value is not from what you have, but who you are in Christ. Your value is not based on your social status. It is not based on what you have done. It is not based on your achievements. Your value is in what Jesus has done for you. Jesus has washed you clean in the waters of baptism and made you His saint. Jesus paid the price for your sins on the cross and has given that to you as an undeserved gift. Worldly glory evaporates at the cross of Christ where we see Jesus’ glory in His horrible suffering and humiliation outside the walls of the city where they would burn the carcasses of sacrificed animals from the temple.
Conditioned by the world we can look for the glory of God in the wrong places. We can look for glory in things that the world values, but that is not where God’s glory is found. God’s glory is found in humble places.
Today we got to see humbleness in action. Today we baptized little Gracelyn Anna into the family of God. As precious as Gracelyn is, she has no status in life. She has not accomplished anything. She has not done anything to earn God’s favor. She just receives. Gracelyn has a place of honor at God’s table without any worldly status or accomplishment. As we watch it does not look like much. Just water, just words, but it is the glory of God claiming Gracelyn as His own. She did not do anything to deserve this great gift so it doesn’t make sense to the world. How can water do such great things?
We are people under the influence of human reason. In Article V of the Apology of the Augsburg Confession in the Book of Concord it is written. “Human reason naturally admires works. Reason sees only works and does not understand or consider faith. Therefore, it dreams that these works merit forgiveness of sins and justify.”
Like the people of Jesus’ time we are programmed to look at who a person is and what they do to determine their value and status. And it was not just the Pharisees doing this. Jesus’ disciples judged people by what they have and what they have done. They let a rich young man come right up to Jesus, but when folks were bringing their children to Jesus the disciples rebuked them. Then Jesus rebuked them.
Conditioned by the world we can look for the glory of God in the wrong places. We can look for glory in things that the world values, but that is not where God’s glory is found. God’s glory is found in humble places.
Mark 10:14–16 (ESV) 14 But when Jesus saw it, he was indignant and said to them, “Let the children come to me; do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. 15 Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.” 16 And he took them in his arms and blessed them, laying his hands on them.”
As people living in this world, we are tempted to judge our standing before God based on social status, but that is not how the kingdom of God works. You do not earn salvation, you do not deserve salvation. It is a gift from God. Here we are all equal. Whether millionaire or beggar it does not matter before God. As the note found in Luther’s pocket after he died said, “We are all beggars, it is true.”
Christian life is not about asserting your power and status and importance; it is about receiving from God the gift of eternal life.
As a Christian you do not exalt yourself and that is why you come here on Sunday. This is not a place of exaltation. You come here and get on your knees and plead guilty to being a sinner deserving present and eternal punishment. You humble yourself before God and He exalts you. Jesus forgives your sins and lifts you up and declares you to be perfect, righteous and holy.
Entrance into the kingdom of God is not about what you have, or what you have done. It is about what Jesus has done for you. The almighty God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has given you the new birth of water and of the Spirit and has forgiven you all your sins, strengthen you with His grace to life everlasting. Amen.