Grace to you and peace from God our father and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen
The text for this meditation is written in the 14thChapter of the Gospel according to St Luke: Verses 1–14:
One Sabbath, when he went to dine at the house of a ruler of the Pharisees, they were watching him carefully. 2 And behold, there was a man before him who had dropsy. 3 And Jesus responded to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath, or not?” 4 But they remained silent. Then he took him and healed him and sent him away. 5 And he said to them, “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?” 6 And they could not reply to these things.
7 Now he told a parable to those who were invited, when he noticed how they chose the places of honour, saying to them, 8 “When you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, do not sit down in a place of honour, 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 honoured in the presence of all who sit at table with you. 11 For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
12 He said also to the man who had invited him, “When you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothersor your relatives or rich neighbours, lest they also invite you in return and you be repaid. 13 But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, 14 and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just.”
Today’s Gospel gives an account of Jesus healing a man who had dropsy. Dropsy is a synonym for edema, an abnormal infiltration and excess accumulation of serous fluid in connective tissue or in a serous cavity. The swelling caused by insect stings is a localised version of edema. There are many causes for edema or dropsy. It might be something as simple as an allergy, an injury, or some sort of infection. The swelling and discomfort would vary depending on the severity of the edema. The person might even look a little strange because of the swelling, but this is a condition that people can live with for a long time. This was definitely not an emergency.
The real focus of these verses is not whatJesus healed, but whenHe did the healing. Luke is careful to tell us that Jesus did this healing on a Sabbath while He was the dinner guest of a Pharisee. This was one of those times when an important member of the community would invite an interesting collection of guests to share a Sabbath meal after the synagogue service was over.
This particular meal almost seemed like a trap to embarrass Jesus. Luke tells us that they were all watching Jesus carefully. Then, suddenly, this man shows up with dropsy. I don’t think this was a coincidence. It almost seems as though the ruler of the Pharisees invited the man with dropsy just to see what Jesus would do. As usual, Jesus took this confrontation and turned it into a teachable moment.
Once again, Jesus taught about the Great Reversal. We read of the Great Reversal in the three synoptic Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke. An example in [Luke 13:30]tells us “Some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.” Back in Luke chapter 1, Jesus’ mother Mary expressed the Great Reversal in the middle of the Magnificat. She said, [Luke 1: 51 - 53:]“He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts; he has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate; he has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty.”
The Pharisees were not big fans of the Great Reversal. After all, they were the mighty who would be brought low. They were the rich who would be sent away empty. They had a lot to lose in the Great Reversal.
Jesus used common table etiquette as a parable to illustrate His point. We are used to the idea of seating arrangements at an important meal such as a wedding reception. When you enter the banquet hall, you search the tables until you find a place holder with your name on it. Then you know where you are to sit. If you are the parents of the bride or groom, you find yourself right up front where the action is. If you are a fourth cousin, twice removed, you find yourself next to the door to the kitchen.
This was even more important in the culture of that day because people did not sit at a table. They reclined. If you were assigned to a bad place at the table, you were unable to effectively contribute to the ‘important’ conversation, in fact it would be very hard to participate in anything. In addition to that, there was a very strict “pecking order” in this culture. People expected you to keep your place and they were careful to enforce this idea. If you were moving up in society, you also moved up at table. Your honour in the community grew. If you suffered a downturn, you also moved to a less important place at table. This increased your shame.
The smart thing to do at a public meal was to take place beneath your station. Then when the host moved you to a better place all the people at the banquet would remark, “Look how he is moving up in this world!” If, on the other hand, you took a place above your station, the host asked you to give way to more important people. All the people at the banquet would remark, “Look how the mighty have fallen!”
Jesus expanded this idea of taking a lower place into our standing on Judgment Day. He said, “Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” With these words, Jesus teaches us that those who believe they can contribute to their own salvation will hear the words, “Give your place to this person and take the lowest place.” Such people will risk missing out on the Kingdom of God. Meanwhile, those who confess that they deserve eternal punishment for their sin and trust in God’s mercy will hear the words, “Friend, move up higher.” These people will enjoy God’s presence forever.
When we worship, that’s something we do early in the service. We confess that we are unworthy sinners and we take refuge in God’s infinite mercy. We stand far off with the tax collector and say: “God, be merciful to me, a sinner.” Then, the presiding minister, in their office as a called and ordained servant of Jesus Christ, has the distinct privilege of speaking for Jesus Christ Himself in the announcement of the forgiveness of all our sins in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. These words are just as if Jesus Christ Himself said to you, “Friend, move up higher.”
Jesus Christ can invite us to move up because Jesus Himself took the lowest of all places. His perfect life without sin earned Him the highest place of all, but He did not take it. Instead, He took the lowest place. He took His place under the punishment of the wrath of God. Even though Jesus was perfect in every way, He took the lowest place on the cross. On that cross, He even experienced the forsakenness of hell as He cried out, [Matthew 27:46]“My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” By taking on this lowest of all places, Jesus earned the right for us to live forever in the very presence of God.
We know that this is true because God the Father [Acts 17:31]has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead. When Jesus rose from the dead it was just as if God the Father spoke to Jesus and said, “Friend, move up higher.” Jesus Christ became the [1 Corinthians 15:20]firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. His resurrection assures us all that on the Last Day, Jesus will raise all the dead. Those who arrogantly took the higher places for themselves will hear, “Surrender your place! Go, instead to the lowest place.” Those who recognise their sin and call out to God for forgiveness will hear, “Friend, move up higher! Take your place at My side.”
Jesus made one more point in today’s Gospel. He instructed the Pharisee to invite people who could never pay him back … who would never be able to repay the favour. With these words, Jesus assures us that the Kingdom of God is for all people … even those who are repulsive to society.
At the time of today’s Gospel, Jesus spoke of the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind … He could even have pointed to that man who had the dropsy. In our day, He could point to that young person who makes you a little nervous because of the loud music, the tattoos, the piercings, the strange fashions and odd hairstyles, or any number of other things that make us uncomfortable. Jesus made Himself the lowest in order to save them as well. They too can confess their sins and trust in the mercy that Jesus Christ earned for us on the cross. They too can hear Jesus say, “Friend, move up higher!”
The Holy Spirit inspired St. Paul to write [Philippians 2:5-11]“Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant,being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” Jesus Christ who humbled Himself to the lowest depth of the cross is now exalted to the greatest height. He is now preparing the place of honour that He has earned for each of us at His wedding feast. When the time is right, He will come and say to each of His faithful people, “Friend, move up higher.” Amen.
The love and peace of our Great Triune God that is beyond all human understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen
