First, Christ cures the man with dropsy. The abundant flow of the flesh had oppressed the functions of his soul and had quenched the glow of his spirit. Then, Christ teaches humility. At the feast, Christ gently opposes the longing for a better seat, so that the humanity of persuasion excludes the harshness of coercion, reason promotes the effect of persuasion, and correction chastises pride. He joins humanity to this, as if at the next threshold. The boundaries of the Lord’s saying differentiated this, if it is conferred on the poor and the weak. There is a greedy disposition in those who would be rewarded for hospitality.

A Pharisee, of higher rank than usual, invited Jesus to a banquet. Although he knew their bad intentions, he went with him and ate in their company. He did not submit to this act of condescension to honor his host. He rather instructed his fellow guests by words and miraculous deeds that might lead them to the acknowledgment of the true service, even that taught us by the gospel. He knew that even against their will he would make them eyewitnesses of his power and his suprahuman glory. Perhaps they might believe that he is God and the Son of God, who took on our likeness but was unchanged and did not cease to be what he had been.

He became the guest of his host to fulfill a duty. It says, They watched him. Why did they watch him? They watched to see if he would disregard the honor of the law and so do something forbidden on the sabbath day. O senseless Jew, understand that the law was a shadow and type, waiting for the truth. The truth was Christ and his commandments. Why then do you arm the type against the truth? Why set the shadow in array against the spiritual interpretation? Keep your sabbath rationally. . . . Those who had the office to minister among you according to the law used to offer God the appointed sacrifices, even on the sabbath. They slaughtered the victims in the temple and performed the acts of service that were required of them. No one rebuked them, and the law itself was silent. It did not forbid people ministering on the sabbath. This was a type for us. As I said, it is our duty, keeping the sabbath in a rational manner, to please God by a sweet spiritual fragrance. As I have already said, we perform this when ceasing from sins, we offer God a life holy and worthy of admiration as a sacred oblation, steadily advancing to all virtue. This is the spiritual sacrifice well pleasing to God.

As they were silent from ill will, Christ refutes their unrelenting shamelessness by the convincing arguments that he uses. Whose son of you, he says, or whose ox shall fall into a pit, and he will not immediately draw him out on the sabbath day? If the law forbids showing mercy on the sabbath, why do you take compassion on that which has fallen into the pit? . . . The God of all does not cease to be kind. He is good and loving to people.

When, he says, a man more honorable than you comes, he that invited you and him will say, ‘Provide a place for this man.’ Oh, what great shame is there in having to do this! It is like a theft, so to speak, and the restitution of the stolen goods. He must restore what he has seized because he had no right to take it. The modest and praiseworthy person, who without fear of blame might have claimed the dignity of sitting among the foremost, does not seek it. He yields to others what might be called his own, that he may not even seem to be overcome by empty pride. Such a one shall receive honor as his due. He says, He shall hear him who invited him say, ‘Come up here.’ . . .

If any one among you wants to be set above others, let him win it by the decree of heaven and be crowned by those honors that God bestows. Let him surpass the many by having the testimony of glorious virtues. The rule of virtue is a lowly mind that does not love boasting. It is humility. The blessed Paul also counted this worthy of all esteem. He writes to those who eagerly desire saintly pursuits, Love humility.

There are humble religious, and there are proud religious. The proud ones should not promise themselves the kingdom of God. The place to which dedicated chastity leads is certainly higher, but the one who exalts himself will be humbled. Why seek the higher place with an appetite for the heights, when you can make it simply by holding on to lowliness? If you exalt yourself, God throws you down. If you cast yourself down, God lifts you up. One may not add to or subtract from the Lord’s pronouncement.

The Scripture asserts that everyone that exalts himself will be humbled, and he that humbles himself will be exalted. . . .

If we want to attain to true humility and come quickly to the top of that heavenly ascent to which we can only mount by lowliness in this present life, we must ascend by good works. We must erect the mystical ladder of Jacob, where angels ascending and descending appeared to him. Ascent and descent mean that we go downward when we exalt ourselves and rise when we are humbled. The ladder represents our life in this world, which our Lord erects to heaven when our heart is humbled. The sides of the ladder represent our soul and body, sides between which God has placed several rungs of humility and discipline, whereby we are to ascend if we would answer his call. RULE OF ST.

Where are the hundredfold rewards in this age for the dinners offered to the poor? These things will be during the times of the kingdom, on the seventh day that is sanctified when God rested from all his works that he made. This is the true sabbath of the just, in which they will have no earthly work to do, but will have a table prepared before them by God, who will feed them with all kinds of delicacies.

One of those who were sitting at the table with them said, Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God. Probably this man was not yet spiritual but earthly, and not able to understand correctly what Christ spoke. He was not one of those who believed, nor had he been baptized. He supposed that the rewards of the saints for their mutual labors of love would be in things pertaining to the body. Since they were too dull in heart to comprehend a precise idea, Christ outlines for them a parable that explains the nature of the era about to be instituted for their sakes.

The holy agape is the sublime and saving creation of the Lord. . . .

An agape is in reality heavenly food, a banquet of the Word. The agape, or love, bears all things, endures all things, hopes all things. Love never fails.^[1] Blessed is he who eats bread in the kingdom of God. The most unlikely of all downfalls is charity that does not fail^[2] to be thrown down from heaven to earth among all these dainty seasonings. Do you still imagine that I refer to a meal that will be destroyed?^[3] If I distribute my goods to the poor and do not have love, Scripture says, I am nothing.^[4] The whole law and the word depend on this love.^[5] If you love the Lord your God and your neighbor,^[6] there will be a heavenly feast in heaven. The earthly feast, as we have proved from Scripture, is called a supper. It is permeated with love yet is not identified with it but is an expression of mutual and generous good will.

Oh, brothers and sisters, what a banquet that is! How great is the harmony and joy of those who eat at this heavenly table! They enjoy food that produces everlasting life, not that ordinary food which passes right on through the body. Who will be considered worthy to be in that group? Who is so blessed as to be called to and counted worthy of that divine feast? Blessed is he who will eat bread in your kingdom. Although he has been washed, even a person who has been judged worthy of this heavenly calling and has been sanctified by it can become unclean. How can he become unclean? Counting as unclean the blood of the covenant by which be was sanctified and despising the Spirit of grace,^[1] he hears the Lord say, Friend, how did you get in here without wedding garments?^[2]

We understand the man to be God the Father. For similes represent the truth but are not the truth itself. The Creator of the universe and the Father of glory made a great supper, a festival for the whole world, in honor of Christ. In the last times of the world and at our world’s setting, the Son rose for us. At this time, he suffered death for our sakes and gave us to eat his flesh, the bread from heaven that gives life to the world. Toward evening and by the light of torches, the lamb was also sacrificed according to the law of Moses. With good reason, the invitation that is by Christ is called a supper.

Next, who is he that was sent? It says he was a slave. Perhaps it is Christ. Although God the Word is by nature God and the very Son of God the Father from whom he was revealed, he emptied himself to take the form of a slave. Being God of God, he is Lord of all. One may justly apply the title of a slave to the limits of his humanity. Although he had taken the form of a slave, he was still Lord as being God.

What was the nature of the invitation? Come, for look, all things are ready. God the Father has prepared in Christ gifts for the inhabitants of the earth. Through Christ, he bestowed the forgiveness of sins, cleansing away of all defilement, communion of the Holy Spirit, glorious adoption as children, and the kingdom of heaven. To these blessings, Christ invited Israel, before all others, by the commandments of the gospel. Somewhere he has even said by the voice of the psalmist, But I have been sent as a king by him, that is, by God the Father, on Zion his holy mountain to preach the commandment of the Lord.^[1]

They began, it says, all of them at once to make excuse, that is, as with one purpose, without any delay, they made excuse. . . . By senselessly giving themselves up to these earthly matters, they cannot see things spiritual. Conquered by the love of the flesh, they are far from holiness. They are covetous and greedy after wealth. They seek things that are below but make no account in the slightest degree of the hopes that are stored up with God. It would be far better to gain the joys of paradise instead of earthly fields and temporary furrows.

It says that when the house owner heard their refusal, he was angry and commanded to gather from the streets and marketplaces of the city the poor, the maimed, the blind, and the lame. Who are they who refused to come because of lands, farming and the physical procreation of children? It must be those who stood at the head of the Jewish synagogue. They were people with wealth, the slaves of covetousness with their mind set on profit on which they lavished all their seriousness.

He turned to the Gentiles from the careless scorn of the rich. He invites both good and evil to enter in order to strengthen the good and change the disposition of the wicked for the better. The saying that was read today is fulfilled, Then wolves and lambs will feed together.^[1] He summons the poor, the maimed and the blind. By this, he shows us either that handicaps do not exclude us from the kingdom of heaven and whoever lacks the enticements of sinning rarely offends, or that the Lord’s mercy forgives the weakness of sinners. Whoever glories in the Lord^[2] glories as one redeemed from reproach not by works but by faith.^[3]

He sends them into the highways,^[4] because wisdom sings aloud in passages.^[5] He sends them to the streets, because he sent them to sinners, so that they should come from the broad paths to the narrow way that leads to life.^[6] He sends them to the highways and hedges. They, who are not busied with any desires for present things, hurry to the future on the path of good will. Like a hedge that separates the wild from the cultivated and wards off the attacks of wild beasts, they can distinguish between good and evil and extend a rampart of faith against the temptations of spiritual wickedness.^[7]

The leaders of the Israelites remained aloof from the supper, as being obstinate, proud and disobedient. They scorned a surpassing invitation, because they had turned aside to earthly things and focused their mind on the vain distractions of this world. The common crowd was invited, and immediately after them the Gentiles.

On another occasion, the Lord says, Whoever comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, and wife and children, and brothers and sisters, and even his own soul, cannot be my disciple. As a rule, this is more upsetting to the mind of new Christians who are eager to begin at once to live in accordance with the precepts of Christ. To those who do not fully grasp its meaning, it would seem contradictory. . . . He has condescended to call his disciples to the eternal kingdom. He also called them brothers. In the kingdom these relationships are transcended, because there is neither Jew nor Greek, neither male nor female, neither slave nor freeman, but Christ is all things and in all.^[1] The Lord says, For in the resurrection they will neither be married nor marry, but will be as the angels of God in heaven.^[2] Whoever wishes to prepare himself now for the life of that kingdom must not hate people but those earthly relationships through which the present life is sustained, the temporary life that begins at birth and ends with death. Whoever does not hate this necessity does not yet love that other life in which there will be no condition of birth and death, the condition that makes marriages natural on earth.

He says, He that loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me. He that loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.^[1] By adding more than me, it is plain that he permits us to love, but not more than we love him. He demands our highest affection for himself and that very correctly. The love of God in those who are perfect in mind has something in it superior both to the honor due to parents and to the natural affection felt for children.

The Lord gives the signal for us to stand guard in camp and to build the tower from which we may recognize and ward off the enemy of our eternal life. The heavenly trumpet of Christ urges the soldier to battle, and his mother holds him back. . . .

What does she say or what argument does she give? Perhaps is it those ten months when you lay in her womb and the pangs of birth and the burden of rearing you? You must kill this with the sword of salvation. You must destroy this in your mother that you may find her in life eternal. Remember, you must hate this in her if you love her, if you are a recruit of Christ and have laid the foundations of the tower. Passers by may not say, This man began to build and was not able to finish. That is earthly affection. It still has the ring of the old man.^[1] Christian warfare invites us to destroy this earthly affection both in ourselves and in our relatives. Of course, no one should be ungrateful to his parents or mock the list of their services to him, since by them he was brought into this life, cherished and fed. A man should always pay his family duty, but let these things keep their place where higher duties do not call.

Mother church is also the mother of your mother. She conceived you both in Christ. . . . Know that her Spouse took human flesh that you might not be attached to fleshly things. Know that all the things for which your mother scolds you were undertaken by the eternal Word that you might not be subject to the weakness of flesh. Ponder his humiliations, scourging and death, even the death of the cross.^[2]

The Father did not send the only-begotten Son, the living God, to judge the world but to save the world.^[1] True to himself and faithful to the will of the good God his Father, he points to a doctrine whereby we may be made worthy of becoming his disciples with his severe decree. He says, If any man comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, and his wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. This hatred teaches the virtue of piety by withdrawing us from distractions and does not lead us to devise hurtful schemes against one another. Whoever, says the Lord, does not carry his cross and come after me, cannot be my disciple. Receiving the baptism of water, we make this same agreement when we promise to be crucified and to die and to be buried with him.^[2]

If you want to be the Lord’s disciple, you must take up your cross and follow the Lord. Take up your stress and your tortures or at least your body, which is like a cross. Parents, wives, children are all to be left for God’s sake. Are you hesitating about crafts, businesses and professions for the sake of children or parents? The proof that family as well as crafts and business are to be left for the Lord’s sake was given us when James and John were called by the Lord and left both father and ship. It was given when Matthew was roused from the seat of custom and when faith allowed no time even to bury a father.

I heard his holy voice speaking to all without distinction. He who does not leave father and mother and brothers and all that he possesses and take up his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. I learned from Scripture and from experience itself that the cross comes at the end for no other reason than that we must endure trials and tribulations and finally voluntary death itself. In times past, when heresies prevailed, many chose death through martyrdom and various tortures. Now, when we through the grace of Christ live in a time of profound and perfect peace, we learn for sure that cross and death consist in nothing else than the complete putting to death of self-will. He who pursues his own will, however slightly, will never be able to observe the law of Christ the Savior.

Next he uses two examples to encourage his friends to an unconquerable strength and to establish those who want to attain to honors by patience and endurance in an unwavering zeal. If anyone wants to build a tower, he first counts if he has sufficient means to finish it. Otherwise when he has laid the foundation and is not able to finish it, people will laugh at him. Those who choose to lead a glorious and blameless life should store up beforehand in their mind a sufficient zeal. They should remember him who says, My son, if you come close to serve the Lord, prepare yourself for every temptation. Make your heart straight and endure.^[1] How will those who do not have this zeal be able to reach the goal that is set before them?

Or what king, he says, wishing to make war with another king, does not consider with himself, whether with his ten thousand he can prevail over one who is more mighty than himself? What does this mean? We do not wrestle against blood and flesh, but against governments, empires, the world rulers of this present darkness, and wicked spirits in the heavenly regions.^[2] We also have a crowd of other enemies. They are the fleshly mind, the law that rages in our members, passions of many kinds, the lust of pleasure, the lust of the flesh, the lust of wealth, and others. We must wrestle with these. This is our savage troop of enemies. How will we conquer? We will conquer believing that in God we shall do courageously, as Scripture says, and he will bring to nothing those that oppress us.^[3]

The Gospel somewhere says that a person who begins to build a tower but stops with the foundations and never completes it is ridiculous. What do we learn from this parable? We learn that we should work to bring every aspiration to a conclusion, completing the work of God by an elaborate building up of his commandments. One stone does not make a complete tower, nor does one commandment bring the perfection of the soul to its desired measure. It is necessary to both erect the foundation and, as the apostle says, to lay upon it a foundation of gold and precious stones.^[1] That is what the products of the commandments are called by the prophet when he says, I have loved your commandment more than gold and much precious stone.^[2]

Whoever would truly be a follower of God must break the bonds of attachment to this life. This is done through complete separation from and forgetfulness of old habits. It is impossible for us to achieve our goal of pleasing God unless we snatch ourselves away from fleshly ties and worldly society. We are then transported to another world in our manner of living. The apostle said, But our citizenship is in heaven.^[1] The Lord specifically said, Likewise every one of you that does not renounce all that he possesses cannot be my disciple.

Salt is good, but if the salt becomes tasteless, with what can it be seasoned? It is cast out, he says. He continues, Let there be salt in you, that is, the divine words that bring salvation. If we despise these, we become tasteless, foolish and utterly useless. The congregation of the saints must throw out these things, by the gift of mercy and love to them from Christ, the Savior of us all.

People of God are truly the salt of the earth. They preserve the order of the world. Society is held together as long as the salt is uncorrupted. If the salt lost its savor, it is neither suitable for the land or the manure pile. It will be thrown out and trampled underfoot. He that has ears, let him hear the meaning of these words. When God gives to the tempter permission to persecute us, then we suffer persecution. When God wishes us to be free from suffering even in the middle of a world that hates us, we enjoy a wonderful peace. We trust in the protection of him who said, Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.^[1]