Sermon Tone Analysis
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Scripture Reading
Introduction
Context: Jesus had been invited to a dinner / feast by a prominent Pharisee.
Already he had confronted the guests in terms of them taking up places of prominence.
Now, Christ will continue by addressing the host himself.
Once again the area of concern that Christ is addressing is that of pride.
More specifically, he’s going to address the pride and self-centeredness that is shown through performing certain acts in order to gain the praises of men.
This is something that the phraisees were often prone.
Kingdom Invitations…
1. Confront our Motives (vv.12-14)
The very first thing that Christ does in this encounter at the Pharisees house, following on from what has just been said, is that he confronts the motives of the host.
He begins by telling the host the kinds of people that are to be avoided in terms of invitations going out.
It’s very interesting to note what He says.
The people that are included in this list are the typical kinds of people that you’d invite to your dinner.
We need to see that Christ was not outright stating to not invite these people.
Hospitality is always instructed in Scripture.
It’s commanded, even for new testament believers whose hearts have been transformed.
Elders are to be hospitable...
ALL BELIEVERS are to be hospitable...
What Christ is doing is he’s exposing the heart of the person.
Think about what Christ is confronting here.
He’s not confronting overt sin.
(Pharisees were careful to avoid such).
He’s confronting a heart that is motivated wrongly.
Uses hyperbole in order to expose the heart of the Pharisee.
Think about this!!
If Jesus were to confront us today… what would he be saying.
If Jesus were to be invited to one of our functions, might he say the same thing in order to expose our hearts.
But note, Jesus is not merely suggesting that this Pharisee include a couple of other
Now we see who Jesus says ought to be invited.
Again, we the extent to which Christ is exposing the sinful heart, and the self-serving heart of the Pharisee.
The people listed are those who need service… need help.... incapacitated in some way.
In a sense, the Pharisee would be required to provide help and assistance…
And he might be seen by his friends and peers to be doing this really strange task of entertaining the weak of society… Those who really cannot contribute all that much to society.
And because they’re weak, and limited in terms of the way in which they can function, they’re hardly celebrated and embraced as friends.
The reason that Christ’s instruction is so revealing is because the reward for inviting such people will not be found.
Notice - they do not have the means to repay you.
But that does not leave the person without some measure of reward.
The person who would do this would be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.
We must not overlook the significance of this truth.
The time-frame for awaiting rewards is eternal...
Application...
Who are your friends?
Not just, who are you friendly towards… but who are your friends.
One of the realities of the church is that it ought to be an example of friendships across all kinds of barriers.
One of those is friendships across social standings.
Kingdom Invitations...
2. Expose our Priorities (vv.15-20)
Not only does Christ’s teaching of Kingdom invitations expose our motivations, but it exposes our priorities.
We see this through Christ’s discussion with another person present at the feast, that poses a statement to Jesus, based on what Jesus has just said.
So, this man, seated at the banquet along with the other guests, picks up on the motif of the banquet and resurrection.
Those are two of the aspects that Christ has taught on.
The remark probably is designed to remove some of the tension Jesus’ remarks and actions have created.
Its force is, “Despite our differences, won’t it be nice for all of us to experience the blessing of sitting in fellowship before God when he reasserts his rule fully?” [Bock, D. L. (1996).
Luke (p.
394).
Zondervan Publishing House.]
What was meant by this?
What was their understanding of the kingdom of God, and eating bread in this kingdom of God?
Some texts that would have contributed to their thinking…
In addition to the above, there a couple of places that the Apocraphyl writings speak to this feast with the son of man.
This was clearly something that this man was looking forward to.
Christ now uses this man’s statement about the banquet in the kingdom, and eating bread in the kingdom, as an opportunity to teach on the kingdom, and the manner in which guests will be invited to this kingdom banquet.
We must seee that Christ is teaching here on the banquet in the kingdom of heaven.
Now, keep in mind here that the original invitation would already have gone out to those invited.
In antiquity an invitation had to be given twice.
First, the preliminary invitation was given, announcing the event and requesting the presence of those chosen.
But protocol also demanded that just before the meal was served, a second announcement was to come by messenger.
If a person accepted the first invitation, but, when the second invitation was given, then declined, this was considered to be a grave insult.
Grave enough to be grounds for waging war.
In this context, we should understand that God the Father had sent out an invitation to a particular nation to come and delight in a wedding feast for His Son.
But before we go further, I want us to see from Christ’s teaching that the wedding banquet is not merely something that should be thought of in terms of a distant future event.
This is what the Pharisees were thinking, at least to some extent.
They certainly didn’t see Christ as the Messiah that would inaugurate the coming of the Kingdom.
While there is ultimately a final fulfilment, where all the redeemed of the Lord will sit with Him at this wedding banquet, it was still true that this feast has been inaugurated right now.
Returning our attention to the parable that Christ is telling, he goes on to explain to his guests that from people that had initially been invited, they didn’t actually want to come to the wedding feast.
He says they refused to come.
All of them began to make excuses about why the could not attend the celebration.
This man has just purchased a new plot of land, and he needs to go and inspect.
In that day, it was not uncommon to conduct a post-purchase inspection in order to finally seal the deal of purchasing the property.
This is what the man looks to do… he wants to inspect the field and ensure that the purchase is finalised.
Here is another excuse related to domestic responsibilities.
This man seems to have been quite wealthy.
The average person that owned land would only require two oxen to work their land.
This man had 5 times that.
He’s evidently reasonably well-off.
Again, the process of trying out the oxen was probably related to sealing the deal
Here is another weak excuse.
In the Jewish law, in certain circumstances newly weds were granted exemption from participation.
Usually this was for war.
(Deut 24:5)
In this case, it was a feast, a banquet.
This was nothing like a war, and didn’t pose any of the dangers of a war.
The only possible reason that he may have had for then not going was that the banquet may have been arranged for men, and thus his wife wouldn’t have been able to attend.
However, even then, it’s only for an evening, and he could have returned to his bride.
The reality is that all of the excuses presented are precisely that - excuses because these people see themselves as having something more important to do than to attend the wedding feast.
What is Christ’s point through this?
What is He actually driving home?
Essentially, Christ is speaking here to Israel.
He was speaking in the context of God’s plan of salvation....
God had sent the invitation, as it were, to the nation Israel, calling them to dine and fellowship with Him.
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