Righteous art Thou, O Lord:
And upright are Thy judgments.
Deal with Thy servant:
According to Thy mercy.
Blessed are the undefiled in the way:
Who walk in the Law of the Lord.
—Psalm 119:137, 124a, 1
A writing for the Holy Gospel, Luke 14:1–11:
In the first portion of this well-known Gospel text, Jesus is invited to a supper at the house of one of the rulers of the Pharisees. When Jesus entered the ruler’s home, a man with dropsy is placed before Him. Dropsy, now known as edema, is a swelling of the skin that causes tight, heavy skin and great discomfort. Upon seeing the afflicted man, Jesus immediately asks the Pharisees, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath or not?” (Luke 14:3). They gave Him no answer but watched Him closely.
It was the Pharisees’ fervent desire that Jesus would err. According to Pharisaical law, it was unlawful to heal on the Sabbath. This is an erroneous and inconsistent understanding of the third commandment, yet it was the standard to which the Pharisees held—and to which they expected everyone else to be held. They had a particular desire to entrap Jesus by enticing Him to break one of their laws, and it is likely that they placed the man with dropsy before Jesus intentionally.
Jesus, aware of their plot, heals the man with dropsy, and poses an unanswerable question to them: “Which of you, having a son or an ox that has fallen into a well on a Sabbath day, will not immediately pull him out?” (Luke 14:5). They again fell silent.
This Gospel text pulls us into a discussion on the third commandment, where we are commanded: “Honor the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.” The Pharisees were certainly aware of this commandment and grossly misread its scope and applications even in their own day. Though the Church inherited the Law and Commandments that were previously given to the Jews, it was expected of them, as it is of us, to honor the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.
This language implies that the third commandment is, in its truest sense, a matter of sanctification. Specifically, the third commandment is a matter of devotion and worship. Martin Luther writes in the Small Catechism concerning the third commandment: “We should fear and love God so that we do not despise preaching and His Word, but hold it sacred, and gladly hear and learn it.” To honor the third commandment, we must devote ourselves to the true teaching of God’s Word and the proclamation of the Gospel. We must immerse ourselves in and with the Word. It must be our focus.
This beautiful theme is echoed in Acts 2:42: “ And [the believers] devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.” Here, we are not only told that the believers devoted themselves to apostolic teaching—which is, in this sense, the true and indisputable teaching of Scripture—but they also broke bread and prayed with one another. This is an exceptionally clear sign that, from the inception of the Church, believers gathered to 1) be instructed in the Word, 2) receive the blessings of the Holy Eucharist, and 3) to pray with one another.
These are the principal ways the Holy Spirit sanctifies His people—that is, makes His people holy. Sanctification takes place chiefly through being “occupied by the Word of God.” To this end, Luther writes in the Large Catechism:
But what is meant by keeping it holy? Nothing else than to be occupied in holy words, works, and life. For the day needs no sanctification for itself; for in itself it has been created holy [from the beginning of the creation it was sanctified by its Creator]. But God desires it to be holy to you. Therefore it becomes holy or unholy on your account, according as you are occupied on the same with things that are holy or unholy.
—Martin Luther, Explanation of the Third Commandment in the Large Catechism
When we are exhorted to keep the Sabbath day holy – or, in some translations, to “sanctify the holy day”-- we are commanded to occupy ourselves with the Word and all things holy. We are to be instructed in the Word, and receive the gracious gifts of the Word made flesh, Christ Jesus our Lord. We gather with one another to be instructed in the Scriptures, to pray with one another, and to be fed and nourished with the gifts of His Body and Blood in the Sacrament of the Altar.
And, unlike the Pharisees, we must not fall silent. We must answer to our heavenly Father, who exhorts us to worship Him in spirit and in truth. We gather to receive His gifts and respond in turn with that very Word which we have been given. We are to respond to our Lord’s instruction with praise and thanksgiving, gladly and passively receiving the gifts only He can give, and responding with that very Word through true devotion of the heart—or, as Luther writes, a spiritual adoration “through the bowing of the heart,” which must accompany the outward adoration we lovingly give Him. As sanctified Christians, we do not fall silent.
Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath? Certainly—but what difference could this make? For on the Sabbath, as every holy day, we are to be immersed in the Word of God, rigorously instructed in the faith, and graciously fed and nourished with the gift of everlasting life through the Sacraments. To keep or sanctify the Sabbath day is to praise and worship God by receiving His gracious gifts, hearing His Word preached and proclaimed, and living as the Holy Spirit would have His saints live. This we must do, for this our heavenly Father desires.
Luther on Luke 14:11:
Therefore the Gospel aims at making all of us humble, whatever and whoever we may be, that none may exalt himself, unless urged and elevated by regular authority. That is what the Lord wants to inculcate by this parable, directing it to all, be they high or low. In this spirit he reproves the Pharisees and others who desire high places and are ambitious to get ahead of others. They may accept honors when regularly elected and forced to accept high places. I make these remarks to contravene and discredit their false spiritual interpretations.
But now they go and mingle and confuse spiritual and worldly things, and claim it is enough if they be humble in heart when they strive for the chief seats. Nay, dear friends, heart-humility must manifest itself in outer conduct, or it is false. All should therefore he willing to take a lower seat, even to throw themselves at the feet of others, and not move up higher, until urged to do so. Anyone who regards this rule, will do well; but he who disregards it will come to grief by so doing. That is what our Lord desires to impress upon his hearers as he closes this parable.
[…]
The sum of this Gospel then is: Love and necessity control all law; and there should be no law that cannot be enforced and applied in love. If it cannot, then let it be done away with, even though an angel from heaven had promulgated it. All this is intended to help and strengthen our hearts and consciences. In this way our Lord himself teaches us how we should humble ourselves and be subject one to another. [However concerning this virtue, what true humility is, I have said enough in former Postils c.] Let this suffice on today's Gospel.
—Martin Luther, “A Sermon on Luke 14:1-11,” taken from Church Postils.
Hymn of the Day for Trinity 17:
1 Seek where you may
To find a way
That leads to your salvation.
My heart is stilled,
On Christ I build,
He is the one foundation.
His Word is sure,
His works endure;
He overthrows
All evil foes;
Through Him I more than conquer.
2 Seek whom you may
To be your stay,
None can redeem his brother.
All helpers failed;
This man prevailed,
The God-man and none other,
Our Servant-King
Of whom we sing.
We’re justified
Because He died,
The guilty being guiltless.
3 Seek Him alone
Who did atone,
Who did your souls deliver.
O seek Him first,
All you who thirst
For grace that fails you never.
In ev’ry need
Seek Him indeed;
To ev’ry heart
He will impart
His blessings without measure.
4 My heart’s delight,
My crown most bright,
O Christ, my joy forever.
Not wealth nor pride
Nor fortune’s tide
Our bonds of love shall sever.
You are my Lord;
Your precious Word
Shall guide my way
And help me stay
Forever in Your presence.
Collect of the Day for Trinity 17:
Lord, we beseech Thee: grant Thy people grace to avoid the infections of the devil and with pure heart and mind to follow Thee, the only God; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen.