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The Sermon for Sunday, August 31st, the Eleventh Sunday after Trinity
The Lessons: Ecclesiasticus 10:7-18; Psalm 112; Hebrews 13:1-8; Luke 14:1, 7-14
The Text: Luke 14:1, 7-11
INTRODUCTION
Two ducks and a frog struck up a friendship. When their pond dried up, the ducks knew they could fly to another location, but what of their friend the frog? Finally, they decided to fly with a stick between their two bills, and with the frog hanging onto the stick by his mouth. All went well until a man looked up and saw them in the sky. “What a clever idea,” said the man. “I wonder who thought of that.”
“I did,” said the frog.[1]
In Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis writes this about pride:
There is one vice of which no man in the world is free; which everyone in the world loathes when he sees it in someone else; and of which hardly any people, except Christians, ever imagine that they are guilty themselves. I have heard people admit that they are bad-tempered, or that they cannot keep their heads about girls or drink, or even that they are cowards. I do not think I have ever heard anyone who was not a Christian accuse himself of this vice. And at the same time, I have very seldom met anyone, who was not a Christian, who showed the slightest mercy to it in others. There is no fault which makes a man more unpopular, and no fault which we are more unconscious of in ourselves. And the more we have it in ourselves the more we dislike it in others.
– p.94, C.S. Lewis: Mere Christianity
Pride tops the list of the seven deadly sins, as enumerated by Pope Gregory the Great in the sixth century. Though Protestants regard all sins as deadly, pride is one of the most insidious and deadly.
THE GOSPEL LESSON: AGAINST CHOOSING THE BEST PLACES AT A WEDDING OR BANQUET
Often these days in our culture, the host, hostess, or organizer of the event assigns one’s place at a table, and at some weddings, guests may choose where they want to sit, but in that case, there is usually no priority of seating except at the table reserved for the host and special guests. But in the times of our Lord, guests could choose to sit in places of honor near the host. However, as the Lord points out (Luke 14:9), when one does so, the possibility exists that a more honorable guest than oneself could be invited, and the host would then ask you to move to a place less honorable and further away from the host.
What should one do then? The Lord Jesus replies that one should first take the lowest place, so that perhaps the host may ask one to come up higher (Luke 14:10). Then one would be held in honor by one’s fellow guests. The Lord Jesus then states a principle that is often found in the New Testament:
For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.
(Luke 14:11, KJV)
We find the Blessed Virgin Mary testifying to the same truth in the Magnificat:
For he that is mighty hath magnified me; * and holy is his Name.
And his mercy is on them that fear him * throughout all generations.
He hath showed strength with his arm; * he hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.
He hath put down the mighty from their seat, * and hath exalted the humble and meek.
He hath filled the hungry with good things; * and the rich he hath sent empty away.
(Luke 1:49-53, p.26, Book of Common Prayer, 1928)
In the Magnificat, St. Mary recognizes God as the agent who has done great things for her, but at the same time realizes it is God who has brought down the proud, unseated the mighty, lifted up the humble and meek, and filled the hungry with good things. What the Lord Jesus Christ invites people to do is to partner with God in his work of reversing the worldly order by humbling themselves instead of seeking the limelight of people’s admiration and honor.
FOLLOWING THE PRINCIPLE OF HUMBLING ONESELF: HUMILITY MUST REPLACE PRIDE
What is important for us today is to be aware of how easy it is to depend too much on the approval and admiration of other people, and to curry favor with them to try to elevate our status in this world.
Rather than doing this, or even being concerned about others’ opinions of us, we must seek God’s approval. The pride that comes from looking to others for approval and honor, gets in the way of faith and dependence on God. Jesus himself said to the Jews who opposed him:
How can ye believe, which receive honour one of another, and seek not the honour that cometh from God only?
(John 5:44, KJV)
We see, then, that when pride has become a habit of thought, a habit of life, how deadly it is in even being able to impede the exercise of faith that leads to salvation.
THE ANTIDOTE TO THE POISON OF PRIDE
The antidote to the poison of pride is humility. That is why Jesus commands people to humble themselves, so that God may exalt them. In the Offices of Instruction in the 1928 Book of Common Prayer, we find this exposition of the Fifth Commandment:
To love, honour, and help my father and mother: To honour and obey the civil authority: To submit myself to all my governors, teachers, spiritual pastors, and masters: And to order myself in that lowliness and reverence which becometh a servant of God.
(p.288, Book of Common Prayer, 1928)
CONCLUSION
Our task, therefore, is to mortify pride as a habit of thought in ourselves, and instead cultivate humility, one of the virtues which St. Paul urges Christians to show in their lives:
I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, with all lowliness and meekness, with long suffering, forbearing one another in love.
(Ephesians 4:1-2, KJV)
To conclude, then, in our attitudes and habits of thought, let us substitute the virtues of the Lord’s humility and gentleness for the deadly sin of pride!
[1] p. 637, Robert J. Morgan: Preacher’s Sourcebook of Creative Sermon Illustrations. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, Inc., 2007