The Seventeenth Sunday after Trinity

Jesse Jacobsen

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Time-stamp: "Sat Sep 17 14:05:02 2005"

Luke 14:1–11

Now it happened, as He went into the house of one of the rulers of the Pharisees to eat bread on the Sabbath, that they watched Him closely. And behold, there was a certain man before Him who had dropsy. And Jesus, answering, spoke to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?” But they kept silent. And He took him and healed him, and let him go. Then He answered them, saying, “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?” And they could not answer Him regarding these things.

So He told a parable to those who were invited, when He noted how they chose the best places, saying to them: “When you are invited by anyone to a wedding feast, do not sit down in the best place, lest one more honorable than you be invited by him; and he who invited you and him come and say to you, `Give place to this man,' and then you begin with shame to take the lowest place. But when you are invited, go and sit down in the lowest place, so that when he who invited you comes he may say to you, `Friend, go up higher.' Then you will have glory in the presence of those who sit at the table with you. For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

Love fulfills the Law

Jesus was describing our time when He described the last days with these words from St. Matthew's gospel: “And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another. Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold.” It sounds pretty bad. It is pretty bad. If your eyes are open, you see it all around. It's also happening in our Lord's Church. Offense, betrayal, hatred, and love growing cold: love for the Lord's saving truth, and love for one another. Christian charity — that is, selfless love — is growing cold.

There are exceptions, and you can probably name a few exceptional Christians whose love for Christ shows in their love for others. Unfortunately, stellar examples of Christian charity are getting harder to find. Most of us must struggle mightily within ourselves to listen to others in Christian charity, and to speak to them in charity. It's hard work, and too easily given up for lost. Indeed, the Autumn of our world is already slipping into Winter. If this happens among Christians, is it any wonder that we also see it in the secular world?

One of the symptoms of this progressive disease is that we think of things in terms of what we ought to do, rather than what Jesus has already done for us. The more we focus on ourselves — even to improve ourselves — the less we focus upon Jesus. St. Paul wrote to the Romans, “Love is the fulfillment of the law.” If we try to improve our love or charity, we are trying to fulfill the law. To paraphrase what Jesus said, this is impossible with man, but with God all things are possible. Jesus demonstrates it in our text, showing us that love fulfills the Law. There are two things we learn from this today: first, love is what we need, and second, love is what we have in Christ.

So that love is what we need

Love fulfills the Law, so that love is what we need. We're not told the motives of the rulers of the Pharisees that Jesus was eating with. They may have seen to it that the man with dropsy was there, and that the meal would be held on the Sabbath. It seems that healing people on the Sabbath was something for which Jesus was famous.

In any case, there He was. It was the Sabbath, and there were many pharisaic rules against doing any kind of work on the Sabbath. Jesus knew this well, but could not help but show God's love toward the suffering man before him.

We're not told that the Pharisees wanted Jesus to heal this man. In fact, it seems that they preferred Jesus not to heal him. Their own rules prohibited any kind of healing on the Sabbath — their rules; but the rule of love toward our neighbors came from God. If they had loved this poor man as a neighbor, they could have invited Jesus not to eat, but to heal! Do you see how differently the men acted in Capernaum, when they opened a hole in the roof so that their paralyzed friend could be healed by Jesus? That was love in action. But the only one showing love in our text was Jesus.

It's easy to point the finger, isn't it? Those pharisees lacked love, that's for sure! Yeah, boy, they were pretty poor examples of God's people. But they are not the only ones! Every Christian is perfectly capable of being a ruler of pharisees in his own heart.

First, there is selfishness. Do you find yourself seeking the places of honor in the eyes of others? It's nice when others know who's in charge, isn't it? But we sometimes go even farther. Consider your own personal likes and dislikes. How sad when a father or mother chooses to impose their own preferences instead of thinking of what's best for the whole family! Yet it happens, even in Christian households. Instead of learning to get along and even appreciate our fellow Christians and neighbors, we want them to do all the learning. They should be the patient ones, not us. Dear friends, that's selfishness of the first order. If that's the way we want to be, then we can't compromise, nor even communicate with others, because compromise and communication both mean giving more than opinions or commands, and receiving more than what we want. Selfishness is sin, and it does not abide Christian charity.

Then, there is malice. Sometimes even malice creeps into the hearts of Christians. The uncharitable Pharisees had malice toward Jesus, and it came out in spades when they had Him arrested and tried. But did you realize that our desire for retribution against our neighbors — even for little things — is just as evil as the malice of the Pharisees? It's just as evil as the malice that Satan holds against God and all that He loves. So your neighbor doesn't mow his lawn on your schedule, or the way you like? So your coworker or roommate or family member gets on your nerves with some personal flaw? So your fellow church member has certain personal problems that annoy you, or certain preferences that you can't understand? Dear friends, this is all part of life in this imperfect world. Harboring malice is sin, and it will not exist alongside Christian charity.

We are no better than those pharisees. Love fulfills the law, but we have sinned, and love is what we need.

So that in Christ, love is what we have

Jesus accepted the invitation to eat with the Pharisees, knowing what was happening. But He accepted, not just for the meal, and not just for the man with dropsy. He accepted because He loved those Pharisees.

Jesus saw the man with dropsy, and couldn't help himself. He is the Son of God. Not only can He heal, He must show His love for everyone born of Adam and Eve. He asked the Pharisees if it's lawful to heal on the Sabbath, because He loved them. He healed the man because He loved him. He continued teaching the Pharisees in spite of their stubborn unwillingness to learn, because He loves them. Maybe that was what really got them angry: “He kept lecturing us, as though we want to learn from him!” But He loved them anyway, to the very end.

Jesus can't help but love, because God is love. He knew that the pharisees had knowledge, and wisdom of a sort (though they had missed the point). He knew they had zeal and a fierce pride in God's Word. But He also knew that even though they considered themselves to be righteous, they were not. That day, the most obvious thing they lacked was selfless love. They lacked charity. But love fulfills the Law, so lacking love, they were lacking righteousness.

Jesus was there to show them their lack of righteousness. They would have to realize that their pride, their selfishness, and their malice deserved God's wrath. It didn't matter that they were church-going Pharisees, and had been all their lives. It didn't matter that they were many, while Jesus was only one man. Truth and sin are not democratic. If all sin, then all deserve to die. That's what Jesus wanted them to know.

We're not told if any of those Pharisees came to believe in Jesus. Maybe so. But even if they didn't, Jesus still had to show them His love. You see, Jesus is righteous. He is the only man who was born, lived, and died perfectly righteous. He did not deserve to die, but die He did, so that His righteousness could be given away by God to all who need it. It was given to Adam and Eve, and Abraham and Sarah, and they are now in heaven. It was given to Moses, Joshua, David, and Elijah, and they are now in heaven. It was given to Daniel and Nehemiah, to Mary and Joseph, and they are now in heaven. Maybe the man with dropsy is in heaven, and maybe some of those pharisees too. All that is needed is the righteousness of Jesus. His perfect love fulfilled the Law, and now He wants to give it all to you.

Love fulfills the Law, so that in Christ, love is what we have. Now the words of the apostle John have come true: “We love, because He first loved us.” So let's repent of our lack of charity: our pride, selfishness, and malice. We do repent. Therefore, know that your pride was nailed to the cross, your selfishness pierced through, and your malice was killed on the hill called Calvary. Jesus was wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities. His holy body and His innocent blood were the price of His love for you and me. In Him, love has fulfilled the Law. Amen.

Soli Deo Gloria!

This document was translated from LATEX by HEVEA.