What Do You See?

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

In today's Gospel lesson, Jesus has been invited to a dinner at the house of a ruler of the Pharisees. Maybe you have been to a dinner like this one: the important people are all invited, each person for a specific reason and according to a specific protocol. The mix of people there is carefully crafted to elicit the desired social result. Jesus is there because they want to see how He behaves in this setting. Can our Lord behave Himself? Will He eat nicely and be gracious to His host, or will he cause an upset and a scene, as He is wont to do in more public places?

Jesus is invited to this dinner as a test. Well, actually three tests, if you will. The Pharisees are seeking to test Jesus, and they expect Him to fail. But Jesus will turn the tables, and show them their failings instead. For the Pharisees act only out of love for themselves, but Jesus looks in love at all those around Him, and He gives of Himself for their benefit, and not for His own gain and purposes.

"Wir Alle Sind Bettler"

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

“We are all beggars. This is true.” These were Martin Luther's last words. And as true as they were for Luther, they still ring true for us today.

From the very moment our lives begin until our final moments, we are beggars. In the womb, we come into being by no force or wish of our own. We are fed, nourished, and sheltered by that powerful outsider known as our mother. We must beg her body for the privilege of continuing there during gestation. We must beg our nourishment from her, and silently entreat her not to cause harm to us by her actions or intake. When the hour comes for us to be brought forth from the womb, we must beg for passage into the world, and we begin begging for our food anew.