Sermon for August 31, 2025 (Luke 14:1-14) by Rev. David Domanski
Imagine that at a wedding reception, some third cousin or bare acquaintance would plop himself down at the head table, right next to the bride. Everyone in the hall would notice, and though the wedding couple would try to be as gentle as possible, there’d be no avoiding the next move. The best man or maid of honor has to be seated there, and, in the sight of all, “you will . . . with shame . . . take the lowest place” (v 9).
Jesus tells the first-century version of this in our text, and it’s part of a larger teaching by Jesus about humility or exalting oneself. So let’s take a closer look at the parable to better understand exactly what Jesus is telling the crowd and telling us.
But even before we get to the parable, we have to understand that you are the man with dropsy—suffering and disfigured—but made whole by Christ (vv 1–6)! In the text, the man with dropsy knows his place. Luke, a doctor, uses the old medical term for what we would call edema today. This poor man was literally puffed up by water retention. It was terribly painful, and everyone could see his disfigurement. He knew his place as a pitiful sufferer in the house of the Pharisee—he was relying on the kindness of his host and on Jesus’ mercy.
But there were others present who didn’t know their place. The Pharisees were “watching” Jesus “carefully” (v 1). It appears this was all a setup; maybe they had brought the suffering man as a trap to see if Jesus would heal him on the Sabbath day. The Pharisees were puffed up with pride and looking to put Jesus in what they thought was His “proper place.” But Jesus put them in their place instead. Our Lord explained to them that the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. Surely anyone would help his son or even an ox in need on a Sabbath (v 5). So surely this man deserved mercy too!
The Pharisees “could not reply” (v 6). No one could argue with Jesus’ loving logic. They were humiliated because they imagined they deserved better seats than the sick man and Jesus! But we, like the suffering man in our text, humbly know our place. We are sinners in need of forgiveness and healing, and because Jesus loves us, we are welcomed by Him and made whole by Him through no merit of our own. Jesus doesn’t turn away in disgust at our ugly sin. After all, He came to take hold of us and to forgive us.
And so we are grateful to acknowledge that our place at Christ’s table is the lowest one. But we are exalted by Christ’s humble service toward us (vv 7–11). He is the one person whose motivation was purely selfless. He took the lowest place of all by going to a cross He did not deserve. He did that solely to turn our humiliation as sinners upside-down and make His own humiliation our exultation! Through His gracious death for our sake, Jesus says to us all, “Friend, move up higher” (v 10).
Through Christ’s death and resurrection, your place is as one invited by Christ, but you have been granted this place for God’s purpose—it is to serve (vv 12–14). After all, if it were only to elevate our worldly social status that Jesus put us in the seat of honor, it would only puff us up with pride. No, we are elevated in Christ so that we can imitate Him in also elevating the humble and overlooked. The world rarely seeks to exalt the humble, but it is part of our job of witnessing the love of Jesus in our lives that we raise up others as our Lord has elevated us. He invites us, the poor, crippled, lame, and blind, to his eternal banquet, to eat and drink at his table now and forevermore (22:30). And He compels us to do the same.
We may not feel like it, but in God’s plans to serve and save, we Christians are actually A-listers—invited guests to the grandest gathering, the most sought-after invitation on the circuit. We can’t climb the social ladder any higher—there’s no higher rung!—so rather than climb for ourselves, we bow to serve others some of that food and festivity that’s beyond what we can ever enjoy. Your place of honor at the table is right next to Jesus, and as Jesus is the Host Who serves, you are invited to share in His joy of serving. Jesus sends us forth as laborers into the field to love and serve our neighbor, to care for those in need with the gifts entrusted to us, and to bring them to Jesus.
In conclusion, “We love because he first loved us” (1 Jn 4:19). We love one another as he loved us (Jn 15:12). Our love for others proceeds from our faith (Gal 5:6). By faith we know the love of God for us in Christ Jesus by looking to the cross and seeing there the perfect and complete atonement for our sins. The faith that looks to Jesus is the same faith that makes us free to love and serve our neighbor. We seek out the poor, crippled, lame, and blind, that they, too, would come to know the saving work of Christ for them. This we do for them and their sake. We do not love that we might receive something from them. What more could we receive than what we already have in Christ? This is the freedom of the Gospel and the opportunity given to us as baptized children of God. Amen.