“Humbled and Exalted”

Text: Luke 14:1-14

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

          While still in college I had the opportunity to work as the youth director at a local church. It was a great opportunity that turned into a full-time job for a couple of years after college. On my first day of work, as a 20-year-old, I pulled into the very small parking lot, hoping I’d be able to find a spot and not have to park on the street. As I looked around there was only one spot available, and it was right up close to the office door. I thought “oh well, that’s too bad, I’m sure that spot is reserved for someone important.” Since the parking lot was so small, the only way to turn around was to pull into the spot and then back out to head out and look for a spot on the road. I was totally surprised when I turned into the parking spot and saw the sign attached to the brick wall which read, Youth Director, Paul W. Marks. I was totally prepared to park on the street, or anywhere else that I could find, but I’d been invited to the front. I’d been given one of the best spots. The only better spots were those for the Senior and Associate Pastors.

Today’s Gospel reading reminds us of what Jesus’ thoughts are on humility and exaltation. “When He went to dine at the house of a ruler of the Pharisees, and they were watching Him carefully” Jesus takes the opportunity to do a little observation of His own. The parable He tells is a result of Him noticing “how they chose the places of honor.” And in this parable Jesus reminds the Pharisees, who really needed to hear this message, and us, who really need to hear this message, that

EVERYONE WHO EXALTS HIMSELF WILL BE HUMBLED AND

HE WHO HUMBLES HIMSELF WILL BE EXALTED.

          If you notice, in this parable there are two exaltings and there are two humblings that are going on. The first combination of these is negative with someone exalting themselves and someone else humbling them. The second is positive with someone humbling themselves and the other exalting him. It’s fairly clear to see through Jesus’ parable which of these models we should be attempting to follow. Just do the thing that Jesus says and you’ll get that coveted seat at the wedding feast. And what He says is to be humble and not presume a place higher than you ought so that the host might come “and say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher.’” Sometimes I like to think that maybe we Lutherans have this all figured out. Arriving early to worship to make sure no one takes the back pews from us. Perhaps you’re all waiting for someone to come and tap you on the shoulder and say, “Friend, come up closer.” I’m not sure that’s the case though. I’ve experimented before worship a couple times with inviting people to move forward and no one’s ever taken me up on the offer.

One of Jesus’ points in the parable is that we shouldn’t put ourselves in the position where we might have to be asked to take a place of lower honor. “Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled.” But as easy as it is to see that this is God’s desire for us, our sinful nature desires that place of highest honor. And we want that position for our own selfish reasons. As children we wanted that seat at the lunch table with the cool kids because it would boost our reputation. Then we would go to parties and instead of listening with interest to someone else’s story, we’d be thinking of our own story to top theirs. And I love Christmas cards with letters attached, but how much time is spend on those thinking about what we might have to say about our family to make our own lives look better than everyone else’s. It’s so easy to compare ourselves to others and to try to get ourselves to the top of the heap.

But Jesus makes it clear that those who think they have a place of honor as a result of their own work or accomplishments will have a rude awakening in their future. “When you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, do not sit down in a place of honor, lest someone more distinguished that 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.”

Which brings us to Jesus’ second point in this parable. We shouldn’t expect to be honored in this life. “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.’”

Hopefully you didn’t take my opening story as me bragging about being willing to take the bad parking spot and then being offered a much better one. While that’s what happened at the outset, I came to really enjoy that parking spot. And I think I eventually even began to believe that I deserved it. Far from being a model for this parable, it’s really more of a cautionary tale against arrogance and pride. I even kept that parking sign when I left that job and still have it today as a reminder of the earthly exaltation I received. But as I look back, what I really remember about that parking spot is the older secretaries who had no assigned spots at all and who never once complained about having to walk from the street past the beautiful spot given to this newcomer who thought he deserved it.

Everyone at that church respected those signs. But maybe you’ve heard the story about the pastor who was having difficulty with his assigned parking space. People parked in his spot whenever they pleased, even though there was a sign that clearly said, “This space reserved.” He figured the sign must have needed to be clearer, so he had a different sign made, which read, “Reserved for Pastor Only.” Still people ignored it and parked in his space whenever they felt like it. “Maybe the sign should be more forceful,” he thought. So, he devised a more intimidating one, which announced, “Thou shalt not park here.” That sign didn’t make any difference either. Finally, he found the wording that worked. In fact, after putting up the final sign, nobody ever took his parking place again. The sign read, “Pastor Parking Only: All Violators will Give the Sermon Next Sunday.”

It’s funny, but it’s also so often how we live our lives. As if we’re owed something. When in truth, what we really deserve based on our own merit is the very lowest place. And it’s only when we recognize our rightful spot and our need for intervention beyond ourselves that we’ll realize that we are in fact “the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind” who are invited by our loving God to come before Him and receive the restoration that’s only possible because of the humility shown by our Savior, Jesus Christ. He’s the one who reminds us of what our Proverbs passage says. “Do not put yourself forward in the king’s presence or stand in the place of the great.” It’s not our role to put ourselves there. It’s His. And He did it as He was both humbled, and exalted, on the cross. Paying the price for our entry into the eternal wedding feast. Removing the pride and arrogance that would make us think that we have some standing before Him on our own. Allowing us to recognize that “it is better to be told, ‘Come up here,’ than to be put lower in the presence of a noble.”

I like the story historians tell about the funeral of Charlemagne. Charlemagne was perhaps the greatest Christian ruler of the early Middle Ages. After his death a huge funeral procession left his castle for the cathedral at the city Aix. When the royal casket arrived, with a lot of pomp and circumstance, it was met by the local bishop, who barred the cathedral door. “Who comes?” the Bishop asked, as was the custom. “Charlemagne, Lord and King of the Holy Roman Empire,” proclaimed the Emperor’s proud herald. “Him I know not,” the Bishop replied. “Who comes?”

The herald, a bit shaken, replied, “Charles the Great, a good and honest man of the earth.” “Him I know not,” the Bishop said again. “Who comes?” The herald, now completely crushed, responded, “Charles, a lowly sinner, who begs the gift of Christ.” To which the Bishop, Christ’s representative, responded, “Enter! Receive Christ’s gift of life!”

The point, of course, is that in God’s eyes, we’re all equally needy. Charlemagne, all who do good works, all who give generously, you, and me. None of us will ever be good enough to force our own entrance into the presence of God. And yet, all of us, everyone, has been invited. None of us are due a spot anywhere. Not a parking spot. Not a spot on the team. Not an easy and peaceful life here on earth. Not even a spot at the table prepared at the banquet feast in heaven. We don’t deserve it. We surely didn’t earn it. And yet, we often act like it’s our right to be there, when our only standing for this privilege is in the humility that seeks the way prepared by Christ Himself. The humility to recognize our sinful state and our need for the Savior sent by our Heavenly Father. For He is the One who was both humbled and exalted even in the very same act of sacrifice on the cross. The act which allows for us to be summoned by the host of the feast who says to us, “Come up here.” Who says, “Friend, move up higher.” To the place of honor He’s prepared for us. The place that is rightly and only His, but which He shares with all who have faith in Him. Amen.

The peace of God which surpasses all understanding guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.