Trinity 17

Good Shepherd

2004 Pass Rd, Biloxi, MS 39531

Draft Proverbs 25:6–14; Ephesians 4:1–6; Luke 14:1–11; Ps 2; antiph: v. 11   –     10/12/25

Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father, and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

It is pride that blinds us to our sins. It is also pride that blinds us to the repentance of those who have sinned against us. With pride we believe ourselves above Adam’s nature. With pride we believe others only live by Adam’s nature. But Solomon warns, Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall (Prov 16:18). There are many similar warnings God gives throughout the Scriptures against pride, such as Psalm 5: The boastful shall not stand before your eyes; you hate all evildoers (5), or Psalm 101: Whoever slanders his neighbor secretly I will destroy. Whoever has a haughty look and an arrogant heart I will not endure (5). God speaks this way because, as Philippians 2:8 says, Christ humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death even death on a cross. God humbled Himself, so we also ought to be humble. Likewise, God speaks these warnings because of how dangerous the vice of pride is and how easily the devil, the world, and our own sinful flesh may tempt us to turn away from Jesus toward our own sinful hearts and desires, usurping Go’s rule. If we live by pride, and any of the sins which flow from it, such as slander, we live in sin and the Holy Spirit is not in us. We are rather blind to all that is Christ’s, and shall surely fall into the pit. Isaiah writes, He sees many things, but does not observe them; his ears are open, but he does not hear (42:20). Such is the proud.

Therefore we come to today’s parable. Jesus gives this parable to the Pharisees with whom He is eating because of their pride. They honored themselves, taking the seats of honor but despising the poor, the sick, and the sinner. One Sabbath, when [Jesus] went to dine at the house of a ruler of the Pharisees, they were watching him carefully. and behold, there was a man before him who had dropsy. It seems that at this Sabbath feast they thought to entrap Jesus with this sick man, knowing the compassion Jesus had for those suffering as a result of Adam’s Fall. It was unlawful to do any work on the Sabbath, and healing is, as they thought, work. In their pride they believed themselves righteous for abstaining from helping others on the Sabbath because they thought the Sabbath Law more important than the well being of others.

How does Jesus respond? He knows what they are thinking: Jesus responded to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath, or not?” But they remained silent. Then he took him and healed him and sent him away. 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?” And they could not reply to these things. Because of their pride they could not see that their legalism meant cruelty to God’s people, that God had not created man for the Sabbath, but the Sabbath for man so that they may study Scripture and rest, but also God did not ban love for their neighbors on the Sabbath. The Sabbath specifically exists for the care of souls and lives. That the man with dropsy was before Jesus on the Sabbath is a good thing because it is right to be healed by God of your injuries and forgiven of your sins on the Sabbath.

Thus Jesus teaches them about pride and humility, a lesson we must listen to attentively, for we too may become proud just as the Pharisees and lawyers had become. Jesus said, 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, 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. 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. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

This parable speaks to the difference in faith and salvation between the lawyers and Pharisees and those sinners, like Zacchaeus, who believe in Jesus. The Pharisees think they are perfect, or at least living more perfectly than everyone else, so they place themselves in the highest seats thinking they are worthy of them. They think themselves good and worthy in God’s eyes because of their keeping of the Law of Moses and the traditions of the elders. But Jesus shows them that pride and salvation do not go together. Rather, those who are saved are humble, for they know they are unworthy of salvation. Thus the humble sinners sit at the lowest place (if in the building at all!), and God in His mercy brings them to the seats of honor, that is, He gives them faith in the worth of Christ to die in their place, gives them new hearts which love Jesus, gives them salvation and eternal life because of Christ. Then how do the humble reply? “We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.”  (Luke 17:10)

But the lawyers and Pharisees show by their pride that they have no faith, their hearts remain hearts of stone such that they are unmoved by the plight of even a man with dropsy, and they are still in their sins. God in the end will send them lower, cast them out of His feast, even! Then how will such prideful, unforgiving, unloving villains reply? They ask, “‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’” But God will reply, “‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’” (Mt 7:22–23) Or perhaps we could look to what Jesus says later in the Gospel of Luke: “Strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. When once the master of the house has risen and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, open to us,’ then he will answer you, ‘I do not know where you come from.’  Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.’  But he will say, ‘I tell you, I do not know where you come from. Depart from me, all you workers of evil!’  In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God but you yourselves cast out.  And people will come from east and west, and from north and south, and recline at table in the kingdom of God.” (13:24–29) But those who cast faith aside for pride will themselves be cast out.

Consider the state of your hearts. Do you think God will reward you for what good things you think you do every day? If you think those good things you have done earn you a higher place of honor regarding salvation, you are woefully mistaken and are thinking no differently than the lawyers and the Pharisee. You must repent of that proud thought. Jesus teaches, Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

Have you loved your neighbor as yourself? That is no easy task, especially when Jesus includes your enemy as the neighbor whom you are to love. If you find that you do not love your enemy, you are sinning and must repent.

When someone who has wronged you repents and asks forgiveness, have you forgiven him? Or do you still resent him for the wrong? How can you hold your neighbor’s sin against him still when Christ, who is perfect, took the guilt of your sins away and paid your debt for those sins? Should you not show your gratitude for your own forgiveness by forgiving the one who has wronged you? Jesus warns, if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses (Mt 6:15). Give up that pride and repent!

Do you trust God to supply your daily needs? Or do you worry constantly over how you will make ends meet? Can not He who made heaven and earth, the sun and all the stars, take care of such little things like mortgages, hospital bills, not to mention meals, shelter, and clothing. These are little things, but God delights in caring for His children, humbling Himself to provide even for these things. How can you not trust Jesus for these also? Repent!

St. Peter says, Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you (1 Pt 5:5–7). God wants us to be humble. God wants us to trust in Christ Jesus our Savior. God wants us to look to Him for all our needs of body and soul, for our shelter, our clothing, our food, and our transportation.

There is great humility in surrendering anxiety; Christ is eager to give you comfort and take your burdens from you, as St. Peter just said. Likewise, Jesus gladly took the punishment which was due you for your sins that you might be freed from death, the devil, and hell. The punishment due for your hatred of your enemies, Christ paid. The just penalty for your pride in not forgiving someone who wronged you, that Christ also paid. When you arrogantly try to take God’s power over your well being by doubting He will provide your daily needs, Christ paid for that guilt as well. On the cross Jesus bore the guilt of these sins and all others which we have knowingly or unknowingly committed in our lives. Jesus did this because He loves His Father and because He loves you.

What are you to do then, as a forgiven, redeemed child of God? Consider the Old Testament reading: A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in a setting of silver. The forgiveness you received from Christ apart from anything you have done, speak it to others, your neighbor and your enemy, and those words will be as precious as golden apples in a bowl of silver. Like the cold of snow in the time of harvest is a faithful messenger to those who send him; he refreshes the soul of his masters. When you bring the comfort of Christ crucified for sinners to your neighbors and enemies, God Himself delights in your good work and will reward you; you have been like the refreshing cool of snow on the parched tongue. Solomon also says, It is better to be of a lowly spirit with the poor, than to divide the spoil with the proud (Prov 16:19). That is, live according to the means that God has given you, humble and trusting in Him to provide for you, which He has promised He will do. As God in Christ provided for your salvation, delivers you forgiveness in the waters of Baptism and in the bread and wine, His body and blood in the Lord’s Supper, so He has promised to take care of all your needs, and at the last take you from this world of sorrow to be with Him in the new heavens and the new earth in your renewed body. Let us pray that the proud humble themselves and so also enter the kingdom of heaven. Amen.

Now the peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen