Humility In Jesus

Humility in Jesus

Trinity 17 T Luke 14:1-11

INI

            Pride causes one to go like this (hug myself). It protects oneself at all costs. It can’t admit failures and wrongdoings, especially against God’s Law. It seeks to exalt oneself over and above all else. Because it believes it knows what’s best, even above God Himself. Pride directs the sinners’ life, and wants to lead God as I see fit

            But humility goes like this (opens hands). It opens its arms to receive from the outside. Because it recognizes it has nothing good within himself. If there’s any hope for the humble, it can’t come from within – that’s what pride wants you to do. It must come from the outside. It must come from God. Humility believes that God knows me better than I know me. Thus, I should follow Him, no matter what He tells me

            Today, Jesus reminds us once again: “follow me. Live in humility, not pride. Don’t exalt yourself above me, lest you be humbled to hell. Humble yourself. Put out the beggar’s hands, and receive the gift of eternal life.”

            If we follow the path of pride, we lead ourselves down the path to hell. Because we’re telling the God of the universe, who created all humanity, that WE know what’s best. The Pharisees in the Gospel are the prime example of this. One of the Pharisees invited Jesus over for dinner. Yet, it wasn’t to exchange fellowship. It was to try and trap Jesus in something He said. They were “watching him carefully” the text says. That’s what pride does. It stays on the defensive around Jesus, unwilling to surrender control or admit failure.

Contrast that with the humble man with dropsy who showed up at the party. We don’t know much about him, but it almost seems as if he’s some beggar, who see’s Jesus go into this house, so he loitered around until he could get in there to see Jesus. That’s what humility does. It follows Jesus wherever he goes to receive the healing He’s promised to give.

Seeing this humble man, Jesus used this opportunity to demonstrate His problem with the Pharisees’ pride. Jesus showed them their hypocrisy on the Sabbath laws. The Pharisees were so focused on preventing any work on the Sabbath, in line with the 3rd commandment, that they ended up following their own man-made laws rather than God’s. These extra-biblical rules were later recorded in the Mishnah and Talmud. These laws included things like limiting the number of steps one could take from their home to the synagogue, because walking too far was considered “work”. They also created rules prohibiting things like lighting a candle or cooking food, which were also seen as forms of “work.”

The pride of the Pharisees had turned God’s law into something it wasn’t intended to do. They forgot the point of the Law – that God made the Sabbath FOR man, not man FOR the Sabbath. So, Jesus humbled them. So, Jesus asked “is it okay to HEAL on the Sabbath or not?” Is it considered “work?” But they didn’t answer. Because they knew they’d been outsmarted by God, their creator. However, Jesus answered His own question. He healed the sick man, showing that it is lawful to heal on the sabbath. Because the extra-biblical laws that their pride lead them to invent around the Sabbath, made them lose sight of the overarching law of love.

So, Jesus challenged their hypocrisy: “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?” If they had any decency in them, of course they would pull out a son or animal trapped in a well. But that’s considered “work” according to their own definitions and rules put around the Sabbath. Now, Jesus has them right where He wants them. He’s successfully brought to their attention their own hypocrisy. That their own pride has led them to ignore God’s Law itself.

Jesus then told them the parable of the wedding feast after noticing how their pride showed even in something as small as choosing seats at the dinner table. He told them that when invited to a wedding feast, it’s better to sit at the worst seat, and be told to move up higher. Because it’s extremely shameful to sit at the best seat in the house and be told to move to the worst. Imagine showing up to a wedding feast and you sit on the back table near the bathrooms. But then, the bride and groom come up to you and say “we want you to sit with us at our table.” What a great honor! But then imagine the shame that would come if you started to sit at the table with the bride and groom, but then they tell you to move from there and sit at the back by the bathrooms. How humiliating!

In the same way, Jesus invites the humble to receive Him and His grace. However, humility is essential because we cannot come to Him on our own terms. We don’t get to make the rules. Pride can’t receive the gifts God gives. Because pride doesn’t open oneself to the work of Jesus. Pride fails to see the wisdom of God through weakness. It fails to listen to what GOD says about the way to go, and attempts to put himself above God. But true humility lets God lead the way, even when it may seem foolish.

For example, in the book of Judges, Gideon and the Israelite army were completely outnumbered against the Midianite army. Yet, God whittled down Gideon’s army from 32,000 to just 300 men to go up against an army of about 135,000 men. And of course, in God’s wisdom and strength, HE led them to victory with something as unimpressive as torches and trumpets. So, what made Gideon such a great warrior wasn’t HIS strength or strategic battle savvy. God was the strong one. Gideon just humbled himself to God, who was Gideon’s strength. That’s why victory was his. Because God exalted a humble Gideon.

The same is true spiritually. And it’s really simple. Jesus tells us: don’t be full of yourself. Be humble. Reject pride. Where the poor and the weak are, go be with them. You’re not above them. You won’t be repaid in this life, but you’ll be repaid in the next. Yet, don’t do this out of obligation. You do this out of love and respect for even the lowliest. This is how we should be, because this is the way God is towards us.

The God of the universe stoops down to be with us on our level. The infinite, majestic God – who lived in complete holiness and sinlessness – limited Himself to be born of human flesh to a virgin in a stable – to live in a world of filth and childish pride. Out of His love and mercy, He came to lift up the humble, those who have their arms out to receive His gifts; and he heals them! Like the man with dropsy from our lesson today, and many others who were sick, blind, lame, and deaf. He gave His life to exalt the humble – all throughout His ministry! Even when He gave His own humble hands unto death, stretching them out on a cross, that He might reach the lowest depths of humility that no man has ever suffered. Yet, He did this for you, that you might be exalted up to His heavenly Father without any guilt or shame. Because any guilt or shame has been taken away from you, and put on Him.

In the end, the call is clear: follow Jesus in humility. Not by your own strength. Jesus has already done what you could never do—He humbled Himself to the point of death, even death on a cross, to bear the weight of our sin and pride. Through His work, you are lifted up, not by your own merit, but by His grace alone. He took on your shame and guilt, so that you might be exalted in His righteousness.

So, the good news is not about what you must do, but about what Christ has already done for you. In His perfect humility, we are given eternal life, and it’s His work, not ours, that leads us home to the Father. So let us follow Him and be content with wherever He guides us.

INI

Pastor Joshua Ralston