Luke 14:1-24
Notes
Transcript
Wedding reception seating arrangements...
A headache for bride and groom!
Where to place everyone?
Who knows who? Whose fallen out/doesn’t get on? Who’s going to cause a scene?
A nightmare for guests!
Who will I be next to? Is it someone I know? Don’t like? Do like?!
Even worse if there is family tension/ relationship drama. Awkward!
Some might think they deserve to be closer to the action, on the top table, or near it.
Some might think the opposite - they’re not really that close, so they’re happy to be at the back.
Some might take matters into their own hands, and choose where to sit or who to sit with!
This whole passage, Luke 14:1-24, takes place at one meal.
The Pharisee host probably thought he was the one providing the meal. But Jesus uses the occasion to serve up some of his own dishes!
It’s the scene for a healing, a teaching opportunity, a parable.
One question hangs over the passage - who will be round the table at the heavenly feast? Who will be eating and drinking at God’s eternal banquet?
What do you think? Who do you think will be invited to eat with Jesus when he returns, at what is sometimes called the “wedding supper of the lamb?” Do you think you will be there?
Are there any people, or kinds of people, that you think definitely won’t be there? Who couldn’t possibly get a seat at the Lord’s Table?
Whatever our answer, Jesus has something to say to us in this passage.
He says challenge the social norms, don’t exalt yourself, invite the lowly, and fill God’s house with the willing humble.
CHALLENGE THE NORMS
CHALLENGE THE NORMS
Verse 1 sets the scene for everything to follow:
One Sabbath, when Jesus went to eat in the house of a prominent Pharisee, he was being carefully watched.
“Sabbath” - already a source of debate and contention between Jesus and the Pharisees!
“Went to eat in the house of a prominent Pharisee” - probably a leader of the Pharisees, maybe a synagogue official. This is a big deal! A fairly major social occasion.
But Jesus wasn’t exactly the guest of honour...
“Being carefully watched” - every movement and word scrutinised to see if Jesus does something they can use against him. It’s a tense affair.
Immediately, (lit. behold...) an opportunity arises.
There in front of him was a man suffering from abnormal swelling of his body.
Greek word for this is ὑδρωπικός/ hydropikos - old medical term was dropsy, today might be known as edema or hydrothorax. A build up of water that causes swelling in the limbs or abdomen.
Almost definitely was not invited to the meal. He has likely heard that Jesus was here, and has come believing that he can be healed.
Jesus asked the Pharisees and experts in the law, ‘Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath or not?’ But they remained silent. So taking hold of the man, he healed him and sent him on his way.
Their silence isn’t an admission of guilt. They’re waiting to see what Jesus will do.
Then he asked them, ‘If one of you has a child or an ox that falls into a well on the Sabbath day, will you not immediately pull it out?’ And they had nothing to say.
Jesus again challenges the Pharisees’ attitude to the Law, to the Sabbath, and to having compassion, helping people who need it no matter when they come for help.
He’s challenging what has come to be the social norm - that Sabbath trumps serving the hurting. Law trumps liberating those bound by suffering or sin.
He calls out their hypocrisy. You’d do it for your son or animal. Why not for this man?
The implicit answer is because they don’t think he’s worthy.
The Pharisees’ attitude said: “He shouldn’t even be at this meal, let alone be healed. He’s a sinner, that’s why he’s suffering. Not like us. We’re healthy because we’re holy.”
They said none of this. They weren’t interested in being taught anything by Jesus. In their view, he’s not worthy either.
“Who’s he to lecture us?”
Every society has prejudices, biases, attitudes towards certain people and groups.
What about the church? Are there certain people that we think aren’t worthy to be included, or to receive forgiveness, or help?
Challenge the norms, says Jesus by his actions.
The meal goes on.
As well as the Pharisees watching Jesus, Jesus is also making observations of his own...
When he noticed how the guests picked the places of honour at the table
Jesus uses this to make a point of saying:
DON'T EXALT YOURSELF
DON'T EXALT YOURSELF
When he noticed how the guests picked the places of honour at the table, he told them this parable: ‘When someone invites you to a wedding feast, do not take the place of honour, for a person more distinguished than you may have been invited. If so, the host who invited both of you will come and say to you, “Give this person your seat.” Then, humiliated, you will have to take the least important place. But when you are invited, take the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he will say to you, “Friend, move up to a better place.” Then you will be honoured in the presence of all the other guests.
We can well imagine that this Sabbath feast was quite a social occasion, with lavish decoration and food, hosted by an important religious figure.
No wonder people were fighting to get the best seats, those nearest the host. They were desperate to look important, to seek opportunities, network, schmooze.
When Jesus talks about not choosing the best seats, but the lowest, he’s not providing tips on socialising! This isn’t an article in a magazine - “7 ways to appear fabulous at every gathering!”
Jesus makes his point in v11
For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.’
He’s not talking about wedding receptions or important feasts. He’s talking about the way we view ourselves not before others but before God, the only one who truly counts.
Do we think we’re so important, so good, so worthy that God will not only invite us to his banquet but give us the best seat?
Are we working our spiritual socks off to promote ourselves in God’s eyes so that he can’t fail take notice of us?
Are we looking for our eternal security in our performance in life?
Jesus says what we really need is a right and proper view of ourselves.
Genuine humility, that doesn’t self-exalt but knows that any worth we have comes from God himself - made in his image, re-made in the image of Christ.
Genuine humility, that knows that we deserve to be excluded from God’s banquet altogether because we have offended him with our sin. But also knows that he is rich is mercy, has sent his son to die in our place, and through given us the right to sit at table with him!
Don’t exalt yourself. Let your heavenly host exalt you in Jesus instead!
The meal continues, and Jesus now has something to say to his host...
INVITE THE LOWLY
INVITE THE LOWLY
Then Jesus said to his host, ‘When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or sisters, your relatives, or your rich neighbours; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid.
You can stop all the jostling for position by getting rid of the hoity toity!
Again, Jesus isn’t so much challenging social practices - who you invite to dinner doesn’t really matter, although there are some groups who shouldn’t be neglected.
But the motive is important, because it reveals something about your approach to life in God’s world.
In the first century, this sort of thing was very transactional. I invite you, you invite me. I get something, you get something.
Jesus then ties this again to the future banquet:
But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.’
Inviting those who can never repay the favour shows that you care more about serving them than yourself. It shows that you share in the love and compassion of God.
Because, that’s exactly what God does in the gospel.
He invites to his table those who will never be able to pay him back! He invites those who would never be invited otherwise!
This is a challenge to the proud Pharisees who are always looking out for themselves, looking to appear the most important, looking for a way to advance themselves.
But it’s also a massive encouragement to those who never even get a seat at the table. Like the man Jesus healed earlier! He would never have dared dream that he might be sat in the seat of honour at a banquet!
What about you? Do you feel unworthy to eat at God’s table? That he could never invite you, because of your past, your sins, your addictions, your failures?
Good news! That’s exactly what qualifies you to be there!
God doesn’t invite the most holy, the perfect, the spotless, the ones who look like they’ve never put a foot wrong in their lives.
No, he invites those who know they’ve messed up, who know they don’t deserve it, who know that they can only come because He is gracious, loving and kind.
Is that you? Then come!
Jesus has one more dish to serve us at this meal.
FILL GOD'S HOUSE WITH THE WILLING
FILL GOD'S HOUSE WITH THE WILLING
Someone else at the table wants to make a contribution:
When one of those at the table with him heard this, he said to Jesus, ‘Blessed is the one who will eat at the feast in the kingdom of God.’
A perfectly reasonable and accurate thing to say!
But Jesus is ready to serve dessert to this table of self-important Pharisees!
Jesus replied: ‘A certain man was preparing a great banquet and invited many guests. At the time of the banquet he sent his servant to tell those who had been invited, “Come, for everything is now ready.”
‘But they all alike began to make excuses.
Jesus is saying to those gathered: “You say that it’s blessed to be at the feast in the Kingdom of God, you think that it’s blessed, but you don’t really believe it.”
With the coming of Jesus, the feast is prepared. The invitations are issued. But Israel’s religious leaders are making excuses.
In the parable, the excuses are about other, more immediate, worldly concerns - a field, an ox, a wife.
The Pharisees, while claiming to love and obey God, have other interests - power, wealth, status, security etc. That’s what they want and are expecting from their Messiah.
Imagine their disappointment with Jesus!
But is there a challenge here for us who claim to love Jesus and the things of his kingdom? Are we in danger of saying one thing but meaning another?
Are we really concerned with God’s glory in the salvation of the lost, the making of disciples, the maturity of the church, with obedience to His word?
Or is it all lip service, opting in and out when it suits us, when our other priorities are taken care of?
The parable continues:
‘The servant came back and reported this to his master. Then the owner of the house became angry and ordered his servant, “Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame.”
In other words, God is fed up with being ignored by those who claim to love him and follow him. Those who say that it’s blessed to eat at his feast, but actually want their blessings to come from elsewhere.
This is Jesus declaring to the religious leaders of Israel that, because of their prideful priorities, they are not the ones who will eat at that heavenly feast.
Instead, it will be the ones they’ve driven away, declared unworthy, exploited and mistreated.
The poor, the crippled, the blind, the lame. Those who know that they can bring nothing to the table, and who will never be able to repay.
‘ “Sir,” the servant said, “what you ordered has been done, but there is still room.”
‘Then the master told his servant, “Go out to the roads and country lanes and compel them to come in, so that my house will be full. I tell you, not one of those who were invited will get a taste of my banquet.” ’
God intends to fill his banqueting hall with the willing, the grateful, the humble, the lowly, with all those who have received the invitation and know that they have done nothing to earn it!
As the guests gather round the Lord’s heavenly Table, they will look at each other with amazement at being there.
But most of all, they will gaze in wonder at their Host, who has been pleased to shower them with this great love, rich mercy, amazing grace.
Friends, he is inviting you to join him at that table! He sent his servant, the Lord Jesus, to convince you that the invitation is real, signed and sealed with his blood shed at the cross.
He invites you now to let go of your pride and boasting, thinking you deserve to be there.
He invites you abandon your ambitions and plans for life in this world and instead enjoy the eternal blessings of his kingdom feast.
He invites you, even though you might feel broken, unworthy, guilty and ashamed, even though everyone else seems to have given up on you and driven you away. He invites YOU, because his love is great and his mercy is sure.
So, come - come to the table of the Lord Jesus and feast on his pure delights. Taste and see that the Lord is good! Come and enjoy the bounty of his grace and find hope, comfort, satisfaction and joy in Jesus.
His table is prepared. Your seat is waiting.
