Grace Lutheran Church Sermons

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+ In Nomine Jesu +

The Rev. Evan Gaertner

Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 17C)                                       “Who to invite to the party?”

September 2, 2007                                                                                                                          Luke 14:1-14

Today we are having a party at Grace Lutheran Church. I know that next week is the start of our Sunday School year and the cookout and concert. Next week will seem like a great party. But I also want to tell you that today at Grace Lutheran Church we are having a party.

Throwing a party has to follow certain conventions, protocols, expectations. Next week’s party week party will meet many of the protocols for a public party. We have advertised. We have sold tickets. We have arranged for food and entertainment. We are going to be the host to our community of a wonderful celebration that is part of our 100^th anniversary.

To learn how to host next weeks party we have sought the advice of Chiavetta’s, event organizers, and personal experience. But today we are also having a party.

Today you will find for our party that you are a guest. Who is the host? Whose house are we in? Who invited us?

Today in our Gospel lesson Jesus does not simply give us lessons on how to be the guest or the host at a dinner or banquet. He makes us look at ourselves and asks us to find our seats at the party.

He starts by observing a man suffering the effects of a stroke. He asks, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath or not?” The Sabbath was established by God to give us a time to rest from our labors and meditate upon the work of God. On the Sabbath God is the host and we are the guest at his banquet table. So when Jesus asks, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath or not?” He is asking who is doing the work. Everybody there at that house would know that the Sabbath is to receive from the Lord.

Jesus grabs the man to heal him and then sent him away. Everybody there was a witness to God at work, precisely what the Sabbath was created for. Jesus then asks about the intersection between knowledge of the law and the real world. He does this by asking if you have a son or a daughter that falls into a pit on the Sabbath day, will you not immediately pull him out?”

The Pharisees and experts in the law did not have the strength to answer Jesus. They knew on paper the answer but they could not see how that piece of paper could fit into the world that Jesus was describing.

If the Sabbath is about being a witness to God at work, what kind of a God do you want to be a witness to?

How do you see God at work in this world?

The Pharisees and experts in the law were very comfortable in thinking about God at work in this world through law and judgment. Jesus brought to the Sabbath day something different to witness. On the day of the Lord we are invited to witness God at work. We could keep the perspective of the Pharisees and experts in the law and witness the law and judgment at work.

God certainly works through the law. The law of God has been written upon our hearts and given to us in the Scriptures. We know right and wrong and the judgment of the law is real as we look around us. God certainly brings his judgment against sin. We can witness Noah and the flood, pharaohs army getting drowned in the Red Sea, and the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians. And the most immediate reminder to us of God’s judgment against sin is sickness and death. I know that God keeps his word and judges sin harshly because we are witnesses to the suffering of Jesus Christ. Jesus’ death on the cross is the harsh reality of sickness and death being a judgment against sin, because he took upon himself our sin he died. God is at work through the law. The Pharisees and experts in the law knew that much.

But now back to this banquet that Jesus is attending at the house of a prominent Pharisee. Jesus told a parable when he noticed that everybody was maneuvering for position. When invited to a party do not immediately take the place of honor because the host may come to you when someone more precious has arrived and ask you to go to the lowest place. Instead when you are invited go and sit in the lowest place, so that the host can say, “Friend move up higher.” Then instead of shame you will know honor.

Jesus does not just give a simple lesson in dinner musical chairs. Jesus, the Son of Man, the one who will judge on the last day, is able to see through our hearts. Jesus knows when we are just play-acting our faith. He exposes in this parable the dishonorable person who presumes his place at the table and exalts the humbled person who would not demand honor.

As the Day of Judgment is coming we must all be prepared to see our place at the banquet feast that will be served on the day of the Lord.

Who is at the table of the Lord? Who has the host invited?

Honestly, all of humanity should be excluded. In the game of musical chairs we should all find ourselves without a seat to sit upon.

But here we give thanks that the host of this party is not the Pharisees and the experts in the law that manage the law so well. With the judgment of the law we would be without a seat at the banquet.

Jesus is showing that God is at work on this Sabbath day, but not in the way we are accustomed to. Instead of the judgment of the law we are invited to the banquet by the undeserved love of God, by his grace.

To the party of the Lord the down and outcast are invited. Jesus does not need to gain honor in this world by having the most famous guest list. The party house on Malibu Beach might keep close watch over its party guest list to make sure none of the undesirables get in and ruin the atmosphere. But at the party that our Lord is throwing for us he has thrown open the doors and has invited the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. Jesus invites you to his party.

We are in the kingdom of God because of the grace of our Lord. We do not hide our mistakes, sins, sickness, or weaknesses as we take our seat. We do not need to masquerade as anyone. We come to the table with the truth of shame and humility. Embrace with me the shame that we are rubbish and still the party doors are open.

By the power of the cross, Jesus takes our shame and humility. He died on that cross in full shame and humility. Nevertheless let me tell you why I wear the cross upon both my forehead and my heart. This cross is my invitation to the kingdom of God.

Soli Deo Gloria