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The
Seventeenth Sunday after Trinity.
The
Collect.
L
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ORD, we pray thee that thy grace may
always prevent and follow us, and make us continually to be given to all good
works; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
1 And
it came to pass, as he went into the house of one of the chief Pharisees to eat
bread on the sabbath day, that they watched him. 2 And, behold,
there was a certain man before him which had the dropsy. 3 And Jesus
answering spake unto the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath day? 4 And they held
their peace. And he took him, and healed him, and let him go; 5 And answered
them, saying, Which of you shall have an ass or an
ox fallen into a pit, and will not straightway pull him out on the sabbath day?
6 And
they could not answer him again to these things. 7 And he put
forth a parable to those which were bidden, when he marked how they chose out
the chief rooms; saying unto them, 8 When thou
art bidden of any man to a wedding, sit not down in the highest room; lest a
more honourable man than thou be bidden of him; 9 And he that bade thee and him come and say to thee,
Give this man place; and thou begin with shame to take the lowest room. 10 But when thou art bidden, go and sit down in the
lowest room; that when he that bade thee cometh, he may say unto thee, Friend,
go up higher: then shalt thou have worship in the presence of them that sit at
meat with thee. 11 For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and
he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.
(Luke
14:1-11)
It was the Sabbath Day.
“We have been thinking and speaking of a miracle done
on the Sabbath. It is evident that our Saviour had a preference for theSabbath
as a time for working miracles. How, then, is it with respect to ourselves — we
who, many of us, would be glad to have a miracle wrought on our behalf, and yet
have no right whatever to expect one? It is just thus — we are waiting for the
Sabbath. In other words, it was intended, no doubt, to be taught us by our
Saviour’s practice, that there is a special time of rest coming, when all the
various troubles that hamper and injure us will be utterly removed — our
burdens unbound; our fevers cooled for ever; our weakness changed to strength;
all our heaviness lightened; our blind eyes made clear; our deaf ears
unstopped; our feet filled with vigorous leaping blood; and all that is within
us lighted up with joy, even as the house was lighted up, and music and dancing
sounded in it, when the prodigal came home. There is a Sabbath coming; and as
Christ wrought His cures upon the Sabbath, when He was upon earth, we are
taught to look on to a day of cure that is coming — that Sabbath, namely, of
rest, into which we hope to enter hereafter. It may be needful for our
perfection, and the perfection of our friends, that we should still be
burdened; but we are quite sure that, after the round of the six days, there
will come the seventh; we are quite sure, when the time of trial has ended, the
boon of health will be granted.”
(Rev T. T. Lynch)
Jesus has
been invited to the house of a prominent Pharisee one of the chief of them, we
are told. Other Pharisees have been invited as well for the purpose of trying
to find some fault in Jesus whereby they might condemn Him.
“And it
came to pass, as he went into the house of one of the chief Pharisees to eat
bread on the sabbath day, that they watched him.”
Many other of
the Pharisees were doubtless there for “they watched him.” How greatly
would they have benefitted if they had watched Him to learn instead of to find
fault.
Why was Jesus
invited by one of those who hated Him and were constantly trying to destroy
Him? They had invited Jesus to catch Him in an act of disobedience of the
Sabbath – it was a ‘set up’ in the popular vernacular.
Why do you
suppose Jesus accepted the invitation? Jesus was no recluse – He came to
help all who would hear Him. He loved to be in social gatherings where men
would listen – ALL men…even Pharisees.
“And,
behold, there was a certain man before him which had the dropsy.”
The cunning
mind of the Pharisee bypassed no opportunity in providing a means of entrapment
for Christ. Seemingly, just by coincidence, a man with a grave and serious
malady is present – a man who probably had not been invited had it not fit
comfortably in the plans of the Pharisees to present Jesus with a temptation.
These men are
ruthless. They will use even the kindness and compassion of Jesus to try and
condemn Him.
They have
seated the man with the dropsy (congestive heart failure) in a place BEFORE
Jesus. They know that He loves to heal and to do good regardless the occasion,
but today is the Sabbath! They will use this as an occasion to condemn Christ
of violating the Sabbath by doing healing works on this day.
But Jesus
knows the heart of men, and He knows the evil thoughts of the hearts of those
who sit watching Him.
“And
Jesus answering spake unto the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath day?”
Jesus sets
the circumstances to turn the tables on these miscreants. The question restated
might read: “Is it ever unlawful to do good?” Did God provide man with the day
of rest for the purpose of omitting even deeds of kindness?
The Pharisees
and priests of Jesus day had added so many cumbersome proscriptions to the
Sabbath observance and every other aspect of the law, that men could not bear
them without misery – just the opposite of what God had intended.
Jesus was
continually tempted in every way that we are tempted, but Jesus never gave into
temptation except in certain cases.
What were
those cases? When tempted to do good, as in the present case, Christ could not
resist the temptation to act out of His compassion to heal and to comfort. This
was not a temptation to sin, but a temptation by sinful men of Christ to do
good. He always did!
You and I are
tempted, on the other hand, to do bad things not pleasing to God. But in every
temptation to do evil is found an opportunity to, instead, do good. Jesus sets
the example for us in every case.
Because they
have set their trap, the Pharisees do not respond to the pointed question of
Christ: “And they held their peace.”
Men will most often speak out when they can condemn or hurt, but will less
often speak out on the part of righteousness. Political correctness restrains
them from speaking righteousness but tends always to wickedness.
So Jesus
poses the simple question which they decline to answer so as not to give away
their plot. How many clergy, as well as laity, remain silent on issues of great
importance? I have observed the silence, even on discussion groups of the
church, remain stony silent on matters on which they should have strong
opinion. The silence of those is like a scream in the night.
Legalists
often forget that the Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath. (Mark 2:27)
The failure
to accept the Sabbath in the manner and purpose for which it was given
nullifies its benefits. The Christian Sabbath is not a once per week observance
but a daily one. Christ has given us an Eternal Sabbath (Rest).
“And he took him, and healed him, and let him go.”
The whole will of Christ was to heal the man and not to make a spectacle of
him. So Jesus, instead of having the man remain standing by for show, releases
him to go his way. How different from the Pharisees who heartlessly brought the
man to tempt Christ.
“And answered them, saying, Which of you shall have an ass or an ox fallen into a
pit, and will not straightway pull him out on the sabbath day?”
Had they
forgotten the counsel of Proverbs 12:11 - “A righteous man
regardeth the life of his beast: but the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel.”
An ox or a
donkey were precious to men who depended on them to produce income. If one of
the Pharisees own precious animals fell into a ditch on the Sabbath, he would
certainly have rescued the animal, if not out of kindness, then out of greed.
He thus shuts
them. Up to this startling alternative: "Not to do good, when it is in the
power of our hand to do it, is to do evil; not to save life, when we can, is to
kill"
“And they could not answer him again to these
things. 7 And
he put forth a parable to those which were bidden, when he marked how they chose
out the chief rooms; saying unto them,”
Righteous
words will shut the mouth of the wicked.
Jesus is an
observer of men and women. He watched as the poor widow cast her all into the
Temple treasury, and He has observed here how the guests of the Pharisee came
into the room and chose the best seats and provisions. They sought to
have their seating lend them honor when they should have allowed their honor to
determine their seating. They lacked humility and were filled with false pride.
So Jesus
tells them a story (Parable) to which they can relate in common life:
“When thou art bidden
of any man to a wedding, sit not down in the highest room; lest a more
honourable man than thou be bidden of him; And he that bade thee and him come
and say to thee, Give this man place; and thou begin with shame to take the
lowest room. But when thou art bidden, go and sit down in the lowest room; that
when he that bade thee cometh, he may say unto thee, Friend, go up higher: then
shalt thou have worship in the presence of them that sit at meat with thee.”
All of the
counsels of Christ are full of spiritual and uplifting truths. This short
Parable is no exception.
Jesus begins
the story with a delicate allusion to a type of gathering that would be
different from that of his present host of whom He has been invited. The venue
is a wedding feast, but still a feast so that the same principle will apply.
When we are
invited to a special event, do not exalt your importance by finding the highest
place, or most visible place, to stand or sit. We will inevitably to be
embarrassed by our presumptive pride when we are told, curtly, to move and
surrender your place to one having greater honor than you. The only place left
at that time will be the place of least honor – the lowest room. “And he that bade
thee and him come and say to thee, Give this man place; and thou begin with
shame to take the lowest room.”
He has given
an example of how not to behave, but He does not leave us in doubt as to how we
should behave: “But when thou art bidden, go and sit down in the lowest room; that
when he that bade thee cometh, he may say unto thee, Friend, go up higher: then
shalt thou have worship in the presence of them that sit at meat with thee.”
Notice the
host refers to the man who is humble and takes the very lowest place of honor
as Friend. He did not refer to the man who took the highest place as Friend.
Men despise false pride and arrogance in others. If we humble ourselves,
men will always elevate us in esteem. But greater is the reward in Heaven!
A college
professor once hosted a tea for his graduating students. When they all
presented themselves at his home, the professor had all the cups, in the right
number, assembled on the table. The cups were all of different kinds. One was
of stone, one of crystal, one of clay, and some were shaped curiously different
from any before seen. When the professor invited the students to take a
cup, the first took the crystal, the next the glass, the next the stone, the
next the clay, and so forth.
As the
professor watched them drink their tea that he had poured for them, he observed
that they had each chosen the best cup at the table; but the purpose of a tea
was not the kind of cup one drank from, but the tea which the cup contained.
The quality of the tea is not changed by the quality of the cup which contains
it. So with our worthiness before God. it is not some superficial position or
appearance that is important, but what is inside our hearts – the Temple of the
Living God!
