Jay Mijares gave us a lesson on Sunday called “A Seat at the Table''. Taken from Luke 14:1-11, this is about the Sabbath Meal. A group of Pharisees invited Jesus to a meal in order to see if he would heal a sick man on the Sabbath. The Pharisee law stated it was wrong to do any work on the Sabbath, but their own law tripped them up. When Jesus asked them “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath or not?”, they could not answer.
When he asked if they wouldn’t pull a child from a well on the Sabbath, again, they could not answer. Whichever way they might answer, their law would be shown to be either wrong or pointless. Jesus was teaching them to love their neighbors more than their laws.
But Jesus had more to say to them. As they had gathered for the meal, he saw them jockeying for the honored positions at the host’s table. He explained that if you take a higher place at the table, and then someone of higher rank appears, the host will have to move you to a lower spot and you will be humiliated.
Such displays of pride only distance us from God. Instead, (Luke 14:10), “when you are invited take the lowest place so that your host will say… ‘Friend, move up to a better place.’ Then you will be honored in the presence of the other guests.” Humility is more important than our personal feelings.
We learn three lessons from the Sabbath Meal:
The Pharisees were blind to their own sickness. Their spiritual illness made them crave a high status while disregarding other people’s value.
They pushed Jesus away instead of drawing near to him. They tried to discredit his truths to protect their own flawed rules.
Self-exaltation brings one low while humility raises one up.
Jay left us with three questions to consider:
Do you fear humility?
Is your life focused on being better than everyone else?
Who will you choose to dine with?
We have a merciful Savior who is ready to embrace us and say, “Friend, move up to a better place.” Let us feast on His Word and dine with him daily.
view more