Grace to you and Peace, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus. “For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.” This is Your Word heavenly Father. Sanctify us by Your Truth. Your Word is Truth. Amen. Fellow redeemed: In the beginning, Adam exalted himself, observing, allowing the woman given him to take of the fruit and eat, then taking of it also, the one thing our Lord and God had forbidden. But Adam would make himself as God, he would exalt himself indeed over God’s Word through which he and Eve had been blessed, and if over the Word, then over God. For the Word by whom all things were made Himself has been made flesh and dwelt among us. Creature Adam sought to be exalted over Creator Jesus. And Jesus says “whoever exalts himself will be humbled.” To father Adam and mother Eve this had but one meaning, for the Lord had so warned him “in the day that you eat from it you shall surely die.” He who had exalted himself now fell. He scratched out his living in the sweat of his face. She was made subject to him, and bore children in travail. Adam and Eve were no longer presentable, but must be covered, for they were no longer glorious in the image of God. And to those who hate the Lord, and despise His Word, their iniquity is visited upon their children. So Adam and Eve bore sons, and the one slaughtered the other. And down the ages we sons and daughters of Adam have labored under the humbling visited upon our parents in the beginning, for they sought to make themselves the judges over God. So they died. So you die too, for you are their child, and bear in your flesh the inheritance of sin. And so you also have sought in many ways to manipulate events so that you might be exalted. Even through a false pretense of humility, you would that your worth be noticed above your neighbor’s and you should be praised and exalted by men. And in your desperation to make something of yourself, and to receive pleasure and glory, you have even gone so far as to have judged the Word of the Lord, now disdaining this word, now agreeing that that phrase has no hold over you. By the sin you have inherited, and by your own will, you have committed the very sin of Adam and Eve over and over and by this you well have earned eternal death. And this urge in you to exalt yourself exceeds all bounds. For those with whom Jesus had come to dine that sabbath were unwilling that Jesus should heal a man afflicted with a heart condition, or to answer a question whether or not one might rescue an ox or donkey which had fallen into a well on the sabbath. Now these things are clearly allowed in the Law given through Moses; but they thought themselves above God’s Word and in pride insisted on their own rule which here would contradict Him! Jesus sets things straight: He does not respect how very grand you may appear, nor how righteous those around you may consider you to be. He does not care at all about your ancestry, nor your accomplishments which the world regards. Indeed, there is extensive proof of this. Starting with the eldest surviving son of Adam, Cain was not the one through whom the righteous legacy of God’s Word would be passed. That honor belonged to the third-born son named Seth. The exalted triumph of the tower of Babel was brought crashing down, and the sons of Noah who had built it were cursed with confusion. Barren Sarah in her old age was blessed to bear Isaac. It was Jacob the younger son of Isaac, not Esau, who received the blessing. It wasn’t vast and ancient Egypt and her proud civilization, but the slaves of that land, the Hebrews, who were made the very people of God. In our Old Testament reading we hear the barren one Hannah now devoting Samuel, the son the Lord had given her now rejoicing that the Lord brings down those whom the world exalts and raises up the humble. And in our sermon hymn we again have heard the words of the blessed Virgin Mary as she sang her magnificat in similar fashion to the ancient lyric of Hannah. According to His humanity, Jesus is the Son of David, but you will recall that David was by no means the firstborn of father Jesse, but the youngest! Nevertheless he was raised up to become the great king of Israel. Over and over and over again God chooses the weaker, the lower, the humble things in His creation to raise up and to bless. For after all, the creature does not contribute to the glory of the Creator, and the accomplishments and accolades of we earthlings can add nothing to the greatness of the One who spoke the earth and we earthlings too into being. We too swiftly forget that we are not only the creation of the Word of the Lord, but that it is He who now sustains and gives us every good thing. Apart from the Lord God even the very greatest and grandest of men is not a thing at all. So to those gathered there that sabbath evening around the dinner of the ruler of the Pharisees Jesus teaches how He would have us live in the reality which we often deny, but which truly is. You receive all good things from the Hand of your Creator who sustains you, and before Whom you shall in the end stand. Whose praise would you have– that of men who are easily duped by appearances, or God in whose hands your life has always rested? We suppose that by being accepted into grand company of impressive folks we become something impressive and grand ourselves. But the fact is that the only truly grand and impressive One is Jesus. Those who are acclaimed today among men are forgotten tomorrow. So understanding before Whom we truly stand, and on Whom we truly rely, leave the self-grandeur and self-exaltation aside. Gather to your table those who need and will be served by what you are given to offer. The grandees of society will only sniff at your wine and meat, preferring the better stuff they had just last week over at that other fellow’s place anyway. Serve the one given you to serve. Don’t be looking over his shoulder for somebody more impressive to impress. You are in God’s hands all along, and He knows what He is doing. We look at what our neighbors may have, and we covet their successes. We want that flashy thing they so enjoy– or appear to enjoy– and we want that big house or business or vacation or church building. And seeing that it appears good to you, and desirable, you would leave what has already been given you, reach out your hand, you child of mother Eve, of father Adam, and as she reached and as she grasped, and as he ate too, so you would reach and you would grasp, and undo the good already given you before. And fall and fall and fall again. Jesus points you to the blessings already in front of you. The company of the poor and needy, the humbled, the beaten down, the tired, to whom you may serve, for into your hands such gifts have already been given as may delight and serve them. In preferring the service and the gifts given, you prefer Jesus. For He works through you toward these, and through these toward you. For inasmuch as you would give a drink of water to the least of these, your brethren, Jesus says ‘you give it also to Me.’ Jesus calls you to rejoice in the lowly Hannahs and Marys of this world, for He humbles the proud and self-important, and exalts them of low degree. He calls you to bear your cross, the cross laid upon you. For though you should be heavy labored through it, and you can see no good in it, the truth is that you are become as Simon of Cyrene. The rejected, lowly, humiliated One whom you serve by bearing it in truth is Jesus. Though you do not see it now, this is to your very great blessing. And Simon’s sons inherited this gift in Christ for Alexander and Rufus are remembered in the early Church– this is the inheritance of righteousness and blessing which the Lord extends to thousands of those who love Him and keep His Word! Have you sought to put yourself above and over your neighbor? Have you grasped at the trappings of glory and exaltation? Have you burdened others with standards no one may keep? Then turn to Christ and live. He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love. The Lord has created and redeemed you to be His own. Rejoice in Him, rejoice in whatever means and treasure He has given into your hand, and rejoice in those He has brought into your life that you may serve. All good things are from Him. And in Christ you already have forgiveness of all your sin, His own salvation, and the royal inheritance of eternal life. You have eternal habitation, no matter how humble things now may appear. So serve one another, and love each other. Do not worry that your love and service are wasted. Jesus knows and sustains and blesses you, though the world may not understand. You are forgiven. You are dearly loved. So now live and love and serve as Christ serves you, and rejoice in the gifts both common and divine, through His Word and Sacrament through which you are daily blessed. The peace of God which passes all understanding keep your heart and mind through Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.
Posted on: Sun, 22 Sep 2013 19:39:22 +0000
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