READINGS FROM HOLY SCRIPTURE:
Proverbs 25:6-14
Ephesians 4:1-6
- St. Luke 14:1-11
May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of
God and of Jesus our Lord.
Who speaks to you this morning saying,
Thus far from God’s Word, in which He wants us to think about a seat or a place in heaven. We are to know and believe that Christ takes the Judgement Seat and the Mercy Seat, in His Body, and know and believe we have a seat to be judged and to be shown mercy. This points us to run to Christ in His Word and Sacrament for Mercy and to view our own bodies as worthy of receiving such heavenly gifts.
Aren’t weddings fun? The mood, the atmosphere, the free beer? There are even games to be played. Dancing games, catch the flowers game, and the seating game. Going into the reception, you run to each table to find out where you get to sit, where your name is.
Table 1? Only if you got married that day. Table 2? Only if you’re family. Table 10? Table 20? All of a sudden you feel as if you are not in the right place. That you should have a seat closer to front. Why? You don’t know why. You only justify your feelings through “I deserve it” or “I’ve done so much for them to overlook me like this”.
But really, what is so special about the highest seat? If you think about it, you don’t deserve to be close to the wedding party if only because of all the work you didn’t put into their relationship and this wedding. Sure you were a friend and friends are important, but the stress, strain, and expense was all born by someone else.
And that someone else invited you. Invited you to share in a moment of happiness after months of planning and work. What’s so special about the highest seat?
King Solomon. There was the highest seat in the land. The wisest, the richest, the most prosperous king in history. Proverbs 25, our Old Testament reading today, was spoken by King Solomon from that highest seat.
“Thus King Solomon excelled all the kings of the earth”, says 1 Kings 10:23. And Nehemiah 13:36:
“Among the many nations there was no king like him, and he was beloved by his God, and God made him king”.
What was that seat like? Wars, politics, coups, wives, concubines. And ultimately, “his heart turned to other gods” (1 Ki 11:4). Sitting at the top, it was all Solomon could do to just sit. He did not have strength or honor enough to maintain dignity and morality. In his human frailty, he could only choose one or the other. Something had to be sacrificed.
That is the Highest Seat: sacrifice and death. The Place of Honor is such a chair that it drains the life out of the sinner. It demands all of your heart, all of your strength, all of your mind, and all of your soul. And all of that strain, all of that sacrifice, kills a man. And this is only an earthly seat!
Yet in our pride, that is the seat we believe we deserve. And that is the seat we believe Christ gives us, when we are good church-goers. We believe that if we just say the right church-things, sit in the right church-spot, and make sure everyone knows about it, then the place of honor is ours.
Repent. Aren’t weddings nice? Unless there’s no seat for you. This is the case from our Gospel reading. We don’t know which seat is lowest or highest. Will we be the life-long man with dropsy or the holier-than-thou Pharisees? It is only when Jesus sits down, do we know the difference. And when Jesus sits, He of course takes the Highest Seat.
Which, as we have just described, is the seat of sacrifice and death. This is why St. Luke put this parable just after a healing miracle and a violation of the Sabbath. If Jesus wants to maintain His dignity and honor of the Lord’s Sabbath, then He must not do any work on the Sabbath, of which healing is a part. If He wants to promote strength and morality, then He must help this man to the best of His ability, violating God’s Law.
Jesus reveals the highest and the lowest seat. As a man, where we fall short of God’s glory, He perfectly keeps the Law. As God, where we are unable to help our fellow men even on a Sabbath, Jesus takes this man’s infirmity into Himself. Higher than man’s sinfulness, yet lower than all the punishments of heavenly wrath.
Jesus, both God and man takes both seats.
In doing so, He also reveals your seat and there isn’t one. In fact, there’s only one, as our Epistle reading said. “there is one body and one Spirit”. One and it is the Lord’s. Revelation 7:10, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”
There are others: 12 and 24. 12 for the Apostles to judge the nations (Mt 19:28) and 24 for the elders to fall and worship (Rev 4:4), but those are occupied.
Another part of Ephesians, chapter 2, explains: “And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus” (2:6).
For one, this means we have access through Jesus Christ to all of heaven’s privileges and spiritual blessings (Ephesians 1:3–14). The power of God that raised Jesus from the dead is available and working on our behalf as we walk in this world. We have the whole armor of God at our disposal to help us “stand against the devil’s schemes” and stand firm “against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms” (Ephesians 6:11–12).
However, secondly, there are two humiliating lessons here. First, the one and only seat is Christ’s. Second, God must seat you. Humility is given, not found or earned. For Who is this Jesus Who shows you the seat? He is both God and man, in our flesh.
St. John Chyrsostom writes in a letter to Leo the Great, “Let us learn to know which nature it is to which the Father said, Share My Seat. It is that nature to which it has been said, ‘Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.'” (Epistle 65).
According to the flesh of Christ, all authority in heaven and on earth is given to Him. According to the flesh of Christ, are the Apostles and Elders given to participate in the Divine Seat. According to His humanity, he gives baptism into that flesh. Our flesh He shares in.
And it is according to that flesh, that Body of Christ, that a man is ordained, on earth, to show it to you. For the Seat of Christ is also called the Mercy Seat. In His infinite mercy, He shows you to your seat, through a man. Whether it is the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, upon which you have been built, Christ Jesus being the Cornerstone, or your own pastor. You are led to mercy, in His Church.
Mercy found, not just in a future participation in power and authority, but a present communion in forgiveness and salvation. Right now, in your body, you are seated in Christ, in His seat. And it is the sacrament of baptism which accomplishes this communion.
Our Large Catechism teaches:
“let everyone esteem his Baptism as a daily dress in which he is to walk constantly, that he may ever be found in the faith and its fruits, that he suppress the old man and grow up in the new. For if we would be Christians, we must practice the work whereby we are Christians. But if any one fall away from it, let him again come into it. For just as Christ, the Mercy-seat, does not recede from us or forbid us to come to Him again, even though we sin, so all His treasure and gifts also remain. If, therefore, we have once in Baptism obtained forgiveness of sin, it will remain every day, as long as we live, that is, as long as we carry the old man about our neck” (LC IV:84).
Again, humility is given. In this case, in order to find your seat, you must submit to Baptism, learn baptism, and always remember your baptism. This is why we cross ourselves so much in Church, to remember. To remember what brought us here, to remember Who redeemed us here, and to remember that He makes us belong here.
And in order to submit, you must be shown where your Lord is and where He accomplishes all this. In His Word, which He has given to men to preach and teach (Rom 10), in His Baptism, which He has given to men in order to disciple all nations, and in His sacrament of the Altar, which He has given to men, to give to you.
Dear Christians, there is no call from God to take your assigned seats at the assigned time. The call is to withstand temptations. The temptations to find a place outside of God’s Way, outside of Christ’s Way, outside of sacrifice and death.
Sacrifice in which the Blood of God fills our baptismal font, as Revelation 1 says, “Unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood”. And the death of God into which we are baptized. And “if we have been united with Him in a death like His, we will certainly also be united with Him in a resurrection like His” (Rom 6:5).
And at the Resurrection, the Feast. And at the Feast, the Wedding of the Bride and the Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the World.
Who speaks to you this morning saying,
“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.’”
Thus far from God’s Word, in which He wants us to think about a seat or a place in heaven. We are to know and believe that Christ takes the Judgement Seat and the Mercy Seat, in His Body, and know and believe we have a seat to be judged and to be shown mercy. This points us to run to Christ in His Word and Sacrament for Mercy and to view our own bodies as worthy of receiving such heavenly gifts.
Aren’t weddings fun? The mood, the atmosphere, the free beer? There are even games to be played. Dancing games, catch the flowers game, and the seating game. Going into the reception, you run to each table to find out where you get to sit, where your name is.
Table 1? Only if you got married that day. Table 2? Only if you’re family. Table 10? Table 20? All of a sudden you feel as if you are not in the right place. That you should have a seat closer to front. Why? You don’t know why. You only justify your feelings through “I deserve it” or “I’ve done so much for them to overlook me like this”.
But really, what is so special about the highest seat? If you think about it, you don’t deserve to be close to the wedding party if only because of all the work you didn’t put into their relationship and this wedding. Sure you were a friend and friends are important, but the stress, strain, and expense was all born by someone else.
And that someone else invited you. Invited you to share in a moment of happiness after months of planning and work. What’s so special about the highest seat?
King Solomon. There was the highest seat in the land. The wisest, the richest, the most prosperous king in history. Proverbs 25, our Old Testament reading today, was spoken by King Solomon from that highest seat.
“Thus King Solomon excelled all the kings of the earth”, says 1 Kings 10:23. And Nehemiah 13:36:
“Among the many nations there was no king like him, and he was beloved by his God, and God made him king”.
What was that seat like? Wars, politics, coups, wives, concubines. And ultimately, “his heart turned to other gods” (1 Ki 11:4). Sitting at the top, it was all Solomon could do to just sit. He did not have strength or honor enough to maintain dignity and morality. In his human frailty, he could only choose one or the other. Something had to be sacrificed.
That is the Highest Seat: sacrifice and death. The Place of Honor is such a chair that it drains the life out of the sinner. It demands all of your heart, all of your strength, all of your mind, and all of your soul. And all of that strain, all of that sacrifice, kills a man. And this is only an earthly seat!
Yet in our pride, that is the seat we believe we deserve. And that is the seat we believe Christ gives us, when we are good church-goers. We believe that if we just say the right church-things, sit in the right church-spot, and make sure everyone knows about it, then the place of honor is ours.
Repent. Aren’t weddings nice? Unless there’s no seat for you. This is the case from our Gospel reading. We don’t know which seat is lowest or highest. Will we be the life-long man with dropsy or the holier-than-thou Pharisees? It is only when Jesus sits down, do we know the difference. And when Jesus sits, He of course takes the Highest Seat.
Which, as we have just described, is the seat of sacrifice and death. This is why St. Luke put this parable just after a healing miracle and a violation of the Sabbath. If Jesus wants to maintain His dignity and honor of the Lord’s Sabbath, then He must not do any work on the Sabbath, of which healing is a part. If He wants to promote strength and morality, then He must help this man to the best of His ability, violating God’s Law.
Jesus reveals the highest and the lowest seat. As a man, where we fall short of God’s glory, He perfectly keeps the Law. As God, where we are unable to help our fellow men even on a Sabbath, Jesus takes this man’s infirmity into Himself. Higher than man’s sinfulness, yet lower than all the punishments of heavenly wrath.
Jesus, both God and man takes both seats.
In doing so, He also reveals your seat and there isn’t one. In fact, there’s only one, as our Epistle reading said. “there is one body and one Spirit”. One and it is the Lord’s. Revelation 7:10, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”
There are others: 12 and 24. 12 for the Apostles to judge the nations (Mt 19:28) and 24 for the elders to fall and worship (Rev 4:4), but those are occupied.
Another part of Ephesians, chapter 2, explains: “And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus” (2:6).
For one, this means we have access through Jesus Christ to all of heaven’s privileges and spiritual blessings (Ephesians 1:3–14). The power of God that raised Jesus from the dead is available and working on our behalf as we walk in this world. We have the whole armor of God at our disposal to help us “stand against the devil’s schemes” and stand firm “against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms” (Ephesians 6:11–12).
However, secondly, there are two humiliating lessons here. First, the one and only seat is Christ’s. Second, God must seat you. Humility is given, not found or earned. For Who is this Jesus Who shows you the seat? He is both God and man, in our flesh.
St. John Chyrsostom writes in a letter to Leo the Great, “Let us learn to know which nature it is to which the Father said, Share My Seat. It is that nature to which it has been said, ‘Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.'” (Epistle 65).
According to the flesh of Christ, all authority in heaven and on earth is given to Him. According to the flesh of Christ, are the Apostles and Elders given to participate in the Divine Seat. According to His humanity, he gives baptism into that flesh. Our flesh He shares in.
And it is according to that flesh, that Body of Christ, that a man is ordained, on earth, to show it to you. For the Seat of Christ is also called the Mercy Seat. In His infinite mercy, He shows you to your seat, through a man. Whether it is the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, upon which you have been built, Christ Jesus being the Cornerstone, or your own pastor. You are led to mercy, in His Church.
Mercy found, not just in a future participation in power and authority, but a present communion in forgiveness and salvation. Right now, in your body, you are seated in Christ, in His seat. And it is the sacrament of baptism which accomplishes this communion.
Our Large Catechism teaches:
“let everyone esteem his Baptism as a daily dress in which he is to walk constantly, that he may ever be found in the faith and its fruits, that he suppress the old man and grow up in the new. For if we would be Christians, we must practice the work whereby we are Christians. But if any one fall away from it, let him again come into it. For just as Christ, the Mercy-seat, does not recede from us or forbid us to come to Him again, even though we sin, so all His treasure and gifts also remain. If, therefore, we have once in Baptism obtained forgiveness of sin, it will remain every day, as long as we live, that is, as long as we carry the old man about our neck” (LC IV:84).
Again, humility is given. In this case, in order to find your seat, you must submit to Baptism, learn baptism, and always remember your baptism. This is why we cross ourselves so much in Church, to remember. To remember what brought us here, to remember Who redeemed us here, and to remember that He makes us belong here.
And in order to submit, you must be shown where your Lord is and where He accomplishes all this. In His Word, which He has given to men to preach and teach (Rom 10), in His Baptism, which He has given to men in order to disciple all nations, and in His sacrament of the Altar, which He has given to men, to give to you.
Dear Christians, there is no call from God to take your assigned seats at the assigned time. The call is to withstand temptations. The temptations to find a place outside of God’s Way, outside of Christ’s Way, outside of sacrifice and death.
Sacrifice in which the Blood of God fills our baptismal font, as Revelation 1 says, “Unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood”. And the death of God into which we are baptized. And “if we have been united with Him in a death like His, we will certainly also be united with Him in a resurrection like His” (Rom 6:5).
And at the Resurrection, the Feast. And at the Feast, the Wedding of the Bride and the Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the World.
