Today I am going to talk to you about just deserts, not to be confused with dinner desserts, the tasty after meal treats that are spelled with two S’s, the one “S” deserts I want to talk to you about are the reward or punishment one deserves for a specific action.
I enjoy seeing people get their just deserts, especially professional athletes. One of my favorite things to do is watch YouTube videos of football players getting their just deserts. I get an unreasonable amount of pleasure out of watching a showboating Tight End get the ball slapped out of his hand a yard before he crosses the goal line. I will giggle like a little schoolgirl at a cocky Running Back who celebrates a yard too soon and drops the ball before he is in the endzone. I will LOL at an overconfident Wide Receiver who gets tackled on the one-yard line by a 350-pound lineman because he started celebrating too soon. I enjoy seeing the reactions of those arrogant athletes when they are served their just deserts.
I enjoy seeing people being served their just deserts, It is so satisfying to see people get what is coming to them… as long as the people that get what is coming to them are not me. Recently I was reminded how unsavory just deserts can be. For 2 ½ years now I have been one of the few people who have never been infected with the coronavirus. After about a year of non-infection I became rather smug and started taunting my children (who have all been infected with the virus) that compared to them daddy was clearly a superior physical specimen. I often asked my boys what they thought it was that made me so much better than them, was the genetically superior O+ blood coursing through my veins or my powerful runner’s lungs that filtered out all contaminants and filled my chest with fresh air? Those of you who know my boys well can imagine how excited they were when this last Saturday, in a moment of weakness, my body betrayed me, and I became infected with Covid. Those boys of mine did not offer sympathies, or ask what they could do to help, those little heathens didn’t even offer to pray for me (and two of them are studying to be pastors!!!!) You should have seen how happy Eli was to see my positive test results, you should have heard the hysterical laughter when Jacob called, you should have read the sarcastic text Aidan sent. I wanted to rebuke them for their malicious behavior but alas I knew I had brought it upon myself; I knew these were my just deserts.
As my children so graciously reminded me, just deserts are delicious when they are served to other people, but they are significantly less appetizing when they are served to us. In our gospel lesson for today, a group of Pharisees are being served their just deserts, but before we derive too much satisfaction from them, we should be aware that the Holy Spirit inspired saint Luke to record this event for us.
It is easy to enjoy seeing a group of Pharisees get their just deserts. In verse one of our text, saint Luke tells us, “1One Sabbath, when Jesus went to eat in the house of a prominent Pharisee, he was being carefully watched.” You get a creepy feeling when you read these words. The prominent Pharisee did not invite Jesus to dinner to be nice to Jesus, he invited Jesus to dinner to destroy Jesus. He and his fellow Pharisees were watching Jesus like a pack of predators watch their prey. They were watching for Jesus to let His guard down for just a moment, make one mistake, one slip so that they could pounce on Him. The Pharisees are “carefully watching” Jesus, like a bunch of creeps.
As those creepy dinner guests settle into their seats, Luke tells us the Pharisees “7… picked the places of honor at the table”. This obnoxious display of arrogance from the Pharisees does not at all surprise us. In Matthews gospel we learn that the Pharisees “love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues; they love to be greeted in the marketplaces and to have men call them ‘Rabbi.’”[1] In Mark’s gospel we learn “They like to walk around in flowing robes and be greeted in the marketplaces”[2]. The Pharisees are a “look at me!” kind of people.
Luke tells us when Jesus noticed what the Pharisees were doing, He told them an earthly story with a heavenly meaning. Jesus said, “8 “When someone invites you to a wedding feast, do not take the place of honor, for a person more distinguished than you may have been invited. 9 If so, the host who invited both of you will come and say to you, ‘Give this man your seat.’ Then, humiliated, you will have to take the least important place. 10 But when you are invited, take the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he will say to you, ‘Friend, move up to a better place.’ Then you will be honored in the presence of all your fellow guests.” At this point we can’t help but get excited as Jesus puts these arrogant creeps in their place. I mean it had to be so awkward in that room as Jesus exposes the arrogance of Pharisees with His story. We can almost see them squirm in their seats as Jesus tells a story about them to them. The Pharisees invited Jesus to dinner to expose Him as a fraud but in so doing they exposed themselves.
It is so satisfying to see the Pharisees being served their just deserts. But before we derive too much pleasure seeing the Pharisees put in their place, we need to listen to what Jesus says in verse 11. “11 For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled.” Here is where we are reminded that Jesus didn’t just tell this story to put the Pharisees in their place, Jesus told this story to put “EVERYONE who exalts themselves” in their place. He told this story to put you and me in our place. Jesus tells this story because He wants us to think about all the ways we try to exult ourselves over others; all the times we try to seat ourselves in the place of honor.
Jesus tells this story because pride is one of those sins that is so easy to see in others but is often overlooked in ourselves. But if you take the time to look at yourself, and I mean really look at yourself, you will see it. You will see your desire to have Instagram likes and Facebook followers is a result of you being a “look at me” kind of person. You will see your need to win an argument and make sure others understand your point of view is an attempt to exalt yourself over others. You will see the reason you are set in your ways and are unable to relate to the next generation and unwilling to accept their way of doing things is because you believe you sit in the seat of honor. Take a look at yourself and you will see the sin of pride in your interactions with others. Look a little closer still and you will see you are even filled with pride as you stand before your God. You will see the reason you enjoy seeing people like the Pharisees get their just deserts is because you don’t think your sin is as bad as theirs. Jesus might have told this story to a group of arrogant creeps, but He was talking to you and to me when He said, “11 everyone who exalts himself will be humbled.”
Thankfully, that is not all Jesus said to the Pharisees and that is not all He wants us to hear when we listen to His story about the wedding banquet. In verses 12-13 Luke tells us Jesus said to His host, “12 When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. 13 But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind.” When you hear Jesus speak about inviting the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind to a wedding banquet you can’t help but think about the times Jesus compared the kingdom of heaven to a wedding banquet and realize that Jesus practiced what He preached. Jesus spent His entire ministry surrounded by humble people and not just socially humble people but spiritually humble people. Jesus seeks to gather the same group of people around him still today. In 1 Corinthians 1:26 saint Paul calls upon us to remember what we were when we were called. He says, “Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth.” Rather Jesus chooses to fill His banquet with the foolish, the weak, the lowly, and the despised. And because Jesus knew we could not come sit beside Him in His glory, He came to sit by us in our humility. Jesus left the place of the highest honor, sitting at the right hand of God the Father, and took the lowest place possible, crucified on a criminal’s cross, so that you could be exalted so that you could be elevated so that you sit in a place of honor. Jesus sat in the sinner’s seat so that sinners like you and me could be seated beside our savior. You don’t have to scramble after a place of honor as the Pharisees did. A seat of honor has already been reserved for you by Jesus who, in the second half of verse 11, promised, “he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
When you understand Jesus has already reserved a place of honor for you in heaven, it seems kind of silly to be chasing after a place of honor here on earth. You start to realize you don’t need all those likes and followers rather, you become more concerned about how many people are liking and following Jesus. You find you no longer need to win the argument; in fact, you might even start to do more listening to understand what others are saying. People might even start describing you as flexible as you consider alternative ways of doing things and embrace the creativity of the next generation. Finally, you will read Luke 14:7-14 and realize it is not really the Pharisees Jesus is talking in this story it is you and it is me. We are the ones Jesus warns about the sin of pride so that we can be the ones who participate in the resurrection of the righteous.
I am probably still going to giggle like a little schoolgirl every time a showboating professional athlete gets the ball slapped out of his hand on the one-yard line but having recently been reminded how bitter just deserts taste I may think twice before I taunt my children about the coronavirus again. More importantly though I am thankful for the opportunity to see this section of scripture not as a story about a bunch of arrogant creeps getting their just deserts, but rather a story that shows us how to avoid being served the same dish. I pray that you share my gratitude. May God, in His grace, keep us all from being served our just deserts. Amen.
[1] Matthew 23:6-7
[2] Mark 12:38