Don't Look a Gift Horse in the Mouth

Introduction

In the movie, The Horse Whisperer, Tom Booker, played by actor Robert Redford, employs his special gift of "gentling" horses.

A tense, New York magazine editor can't believe her eyes as she witnesses the gradual transformation of her daughter's horse from traumatized to tamed. In one telling scene, the horse, frightened by the editor's ringing cell phone, gallops off into the far end of a large pasture. Booker walks into the pasture and sits down, where he waits for what appears to be hours. The horse, drawn by its curiosity, inches closer and closer. Finally, it cautiously approaches close enough to touch the "whisperer," and allows itself to be led back to the safety of its stall.

That's the way it is with God, as he "gentles" the untamed or traumatized people who run from him.

Jesus...God in the flesh...enters the corral...or the pasture...of His creation...and offers himself...to gentle us....and draw us closer to himself.

One horse whisperer named Monty Roberts said his approach to taming wild mustangs was to get in the corral avoiding eye contact and staying away from the animal as it snorts and protests his presence. When asked his secret, he says, “The animals need to be with others so much, they would rather befriend the enemy than be left alone.”

You and I were created for relationship. The more lonely and isolated a person...the lest mentally, spiritually, even physically healthy they will be.

We were created that way by the Triune God...Father, Son and Holy Spirit...who within God’s self...there is reltionship, mutuatlity, love.

Today

As we continue our journey through Lent... journeying with Jesus to Jerusalem...the cross and resurrection...we encounter him sitting down...yet again...with Pharisees and Bible Scholars...for a meal. According to Dr. Scott Bartchy…”Luke gives more attention to table etiquette, table fellowship and the households in which these meals were eaten...than any other NT writer.” (Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels; 798)

We talked about his earlier meal from Luke 11 where Jesus corrects/condemns the pharisee’s focus on external piety...giving no attention to the heart of a life with God; adding that the religious leaders added so much minutia to God’s instructions that it weighed people down...making it seem impossible to please God.

In our reading this morning Jesus is back at the house of a chief Pharisee and this time...Jesus confronts yet another hindrance to understanding God’s kingdom...social status.

Hinduism in India is known for it’s use of a caste system...where people born in certain social groups...do not stray from those groups. Often it is seen as their lot in this life...and in some future life...perhaps they will be born into a higher caste.

In Greco-Roman-Jewish culture of the first century...there were similar understandings. Honor and Shame cultures like the one of Jesus’ day...were big on status and staying within those social status rings.

Jesus...in his proclamation of the gospel...and what the kingdom of God was like...was tearing down the facade of social status...and indicating that the kingdom of God has no such barriers to relationship with God in Jesus.

Resurrection of the Just/Righteous

Luke 14:12–14 NLT

Then he turned to his host. “When you put on a luncheon or a banquet,” he said, “don’t invite your friends, brothers, relatives, and rich neighbors. For they will invite you back, and that will be your only reward. Instead, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. Then at the resurrection of the righteous, God will reward you for inviting those who could not repay you.”

Richard Blight helps us understand this idea of repayment. He writes:

“Why will such a person be blessed because the needy people cannot repay him?

...This clause makes it clear that his hospitality was due to generosity and not self-interest [Lns, MGC, NIGTC, TNTC]. He will be blessed because his good deeds are sure to be rewarded, and if they cannot be rewarded by repayment from his banquet guests in the present world, they will surely be rewarded by God in the hereafter.”

Richard C. Blight, An Exegetical Summary of Luke 12–24, 2nd ed. (Dallas, TX: SIL International, 2008), 117.

In other words... self-interest is the motivation for a dinner invitation in the first century. But generosity (selflessness) is the reason for a dinner invitation in God’s kingdom. Jesus is critiquing here the stratification of society...as being motivated by self-interest. Jesus says it is not...and will not be like this with his followers...with the people of God.

We are to be generous people. With our time, talent, resources, and even in our invitations to dinner.

Proverbs 23:6–7 NLT

Don’t eat with people who are stingy; don’t desire their delicacies. They are always thinking about how much it costs. “Eat and drink,” they say, but they don’t mean it.

A stingy person only thinks about the bottom line...not the human being right in front of them. The reward for God’s people showing generosity is they will be repaid...not in this life...where everything (ultimately) fades away into nothing...but in the life to come...eternal life...where no thief may steal, no rust or moth may destroy.

As Christ’s followers...we are to have the table etiquette of generosity above all else. Because that is what God has toward us! We are not to count the cost...whether in dollars...or in social status.

The Parable

So Jesus proceeds to tell the Pharisees a parable. How a man once gave a great banquet and told all the invited guests that all things were now ready. But each one had an excuse as why they couldn’t make it. This made the man angry...and he said to his servant...

Luke 14:21–24 NLT

“The servant returned and told his master what they had said. His master was furious and said, ‘Go quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and invite the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame.’ After the servant had done this, he reported, ‘There is still room for more.’ So his master said, ‘Go out into the country lanes and behind the hedges and urge anyone you find to come, so that the house will be full. For none of those I first invited will get even the smallest taste of my banquet.’ ”

The word translated “urge” in the NLT and “compel” in the ESV...has a sense of persuasion. Dr. Blight brings up the point that in some societies, it is polite to initially refuse an invitation; if they are urged or persuaded to come, they would accept.

Those invited—refused to go ...due to self-interest.

Those subsequently invited—graciously accepted...they were never invited to anything. They were happy with the blessing of an invitation.

Closing

What is the good news of this passage? What are we to do with this text?

I titled the sermon “Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth”...this is a phrase meaning don’t be ungrateful for a gift given. Apparently the idiom is derived from literally looking a horse (given as a gift) in the teeth to judge its age and health. This would be seen as ungrateful and or untrusting of the person receiving the gift.

Jesus is on his way to the cross. He is teaching as he journeys to his destiny. This is the second time Jesus sat down with the religious leaders of his day.

First, exposing the burdens they put on themselves and others...ignoring relationship.

Second, exposing the social barriers erected to keep those thought “unclean” from getting a seat at the table.

In God’s kingdom, we are all invited. Some will look a gift-horse in the mouth; others will graciously accept the offer to join God’s family banquet.

Jesus is like the horse whisperer...knowing we desire relationship (because that is how we are made)...but do to life’s gut punches and traumas...we far too often stay away from God. Jesus...our soul-whisperer...calmly waits on us...invitation always open. Don’t politely or rudely refuse.

Accept Christ’s invitation to believe and God will change your heart, mind and soul!

Thanks be to God. AMEN