'The Feast and the Full House'

Luke 14:1–24 

Jesus went for a Sabbath meal at the home of a leading Pharisee. The guests were watching Jesus, and right before Jesus was a man whose body was swollen.

Why would this prominent Pharisee invite Jesus to his house for meal on the Sabbath? Was he a sincere seeking or was this a set up? Jesus was being carefully watched and he found himself before a man whose body or limbs were abnormally swollen. Jesus knows that everyone is watching him and remember that a synagogue ruler had recently become indignant when Jesus healed a woman on the Sabbath (13:14). Jesus asks the scribes and Pharisees if it was lawful to heal on the Sabbath, but they say nothing. So Jesus heals the man, sends him on his way and then says, “Which of you, if your child or animal fell into a well, wouldn’t pull him out immediately, whether or not it was the Sabbath?”  Again they have nothing to say. (14:1-6)

Next we find Jesus assessing the situation at the dinner table. The guests are taking the places of honor at the table. Jesus tells them a story in which they are not to take the places of honor at the table or the host may give their seat to someone more important; which would be culturally humiliating. Instead, one should take the least desirable seat. Then the host may say, ‘Friend, take a better seat’ and you’ll be honored.  The Jesus quotes a prominent concept found throughout scripture, ‘the humble will be exalted and the exalted will be humbled’ (Ezekiel 21:26, James 4:10, 1 Peter 5:6).

Jesus is not concerned about dinner etiquette. Nor is Jesus presenting a more wise way to gain respect at a social function. This is not an alternative way to get recognition. Jesus is concerned about the Kingdom of God. He is denouncing an attitude of superiority. He is opposed to thinking of oneself as better or superior to others and the desire to be exalted in the eyes of others. For Jesus those who exalt themselves will be humbled and humble will be exalted; this is taught throughout scripture. (14:7-11)

Then Jesus addresses the one hosting the meal. Jesus tells him not to invite his friends, family and rich neighbors to dinner because they will simply return the favor. Instead Jesus says to invite the poor, the disabled and the disadvantaged who cannot return the favor.  They cannot return the favor, so the reward will come at the ‘resurrection of the righteous’. (14:12-14) This would have been as foreign back then, as it seems to us today. For Jesus, the ‘Kingdom of God’ is not about trying to obligate others and to get invited to parties or being seated in prominent seats. Such behavior is merely exchange and as a lifestyle it’s an empty pursuit.  Jesus’ point is that inviting those who can never repay reflects God’s other-centered love. No matter what our status, we are to identify with the disabled and disadvantaged because we are no better than them. Even if we have good health and economically privilege we are all spiritually impoverish. God’s people must know and demonstrate that all people are in need of the ‘grace of God’. Of course this takes faith; if we do this we will only be repaid—at the resurrection of dead!  

Then a guest said, “Blessed are those who will eat at the feast in God’s kingdom!” So Jesus tells a story of a man who invites many guests to dinner party. He sends his servant to the invited guests, saying, ‘Come, all is ready.’ But those invited make excuses. The first has bought property and needs to see it. Another has bought five teams of oxen, and needs to check them out. Still another has just been married and can’t come. The master is outraged and tells the servant to go gather the disadvantaged and the disabled. The servant says that this has been done and there was still room. The master tells the servant to go out compel them to come because the master wants his house full and says that those invited will not get even a taste of his banquet. In the parable those originally invited rudely snub the invitation to a splendid party, but the host is determined to have guests at his table. With the original guests disqualifying themselves, others are invited and coxed in to taking their places. (14:15-14)

Remember that Jesus has been going around Galilee summoning people to God’s great supper. Israel had been invited and they were waiting for the coming kingdom. And yet, most of them refused Jesus’ kingdom. However, others were delighted to be included. The poor, the disadvantaged, the disabled have responded to Jesus and have been celebrating with Jesus. The invited guests were the Jews, but most of them turned away when the time had come. The majority of the nation turned down Jesus’ invitation, so he gathered the poor, the outcasts, the misfits, the disadvantaged and he disabled. God’s messengers are sent out into all kinds of places in order to round up the unexpected people to join in the party—people with every possible cultural, social, ethnic and ethical background.  If people wanted to be included in Jesus’ movement, this is the sort of thing they were joining.

Since those invited were distracted and didn’t make the kingdom a priority. The host turns to the city streets and the back roads to bring in the disadvantaged, the marginalized and the disabled. The insiders are out and the outsider and outcasts are in. This is the challenge that comes to us today. Christians today are called to celebrate God’s kingdom in ways that the people at the bottom economically and socially find the invitation to be good news. The party guests are expected to become like the party host and invite the outsiders and outcasts and to compel them to come in!

 

 

The Door and the City (Luke 13:22-35)

Jesus is teaching in the towns and villages as he heads to Jerusalem. When someone asks Jesus if only a few people would be saved, Jesus tells them, "make every effort to enter through the narrow door". So Jesus essentially tells them not to worry about that, but to make every effort to enter through the narrow door. They are to make every effort to enter because the owner at some point will get up and close the door. Then some of his hearers stand knocking and pleading only to hear the owner say, "I don’t know you or where you’re from”. They say they ate and drank with the owner, and that he had taught in our streets. However, the owner says, ‘I don’t know you… away from me, you evildoers!’ (13:22-27)

So Jesus is determined to reach Jerusalem (13:22, 13:33). On his way he is on a teaching through the towns and villages. Someone asks if only a few people will be saved (13:23). Jesus answers saying essentially, ‘Don’t worry about how many will be included, rather make every effort to be included because one has to enter through a narrow door and at the last day many will be unable to enter (13:24–30). They claim to have shared table fellowship with him and to have heard his teachings. However, this was superficial at best because the owner will say, "away from me, I never knew you". There is no relationship there, no real knowledge and he refers to them as evildoers. Few in Jesus’ day would end up following the ‘suffering servant’ as Messiah. However, we have to realize that in the end a vast multitude gather which no one can measure gather around the Lord (Revelation 7:9-10).

Jesus goes on to say that there will be ‘weeping and gnashing of teeth’ when they see Abraham, Isaac and Jacob with all the prophets in the kingdom of God and they are left outside. These superficial acquaintances with Jesus end up excluded from the kingdom and yet people come from east, west, north and south to take their seats at the feast in the kingdom of God. Some who are first will be last and some who are last will be first. This reversal in Luke’s gospel likely means that those last to hear about Jesus are entering first and those invited first, well may not enter at all. The insiders enter last if at all, but the Jewish outcasts, the Samaritans and even Gentiles are entering before those who were originally invited. For example, the ‘devout’ Pharisees knew of a coming Messiah, but they didn’t follow Jesus, the Messiah God actually sent. (13:28-30)

These Pharisees come and tell Jesus to leave because Herod wanted him dead. Evidently, Jesus is still in Herod’s domain and they want Jesus to leave their area. However, Jesus tells them to go back and tell Herod that he would continue to drive out demons and heal people until he reaches his goal.  Jesus is not afraid of Herod or of death, but God’s plan is for Jesus to fulfill God’s purpose in Jerusalem; his exodus! (Luke 9:31, 13:31-33)

Some Pharisees warn Jesus to flee from Herod, but Jesus responds with disdain by calling Herod ‘that fox’ (13:31-32). Herod wants to kill Jesus, but Jesus knows that it is God’s plan for him to fulfill God’s kingdom purpose by his death in Jerusalem. This will be according to God’s will and not that of Herod. Jesus is committed to God’s will, but his heartaches for Jerusalem. He cries out, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing” (13:33-34). Jesus’ tears depict for us his lovely desire to gather Jerusalem’s children, is motherly care which he describes ‘as a hen gathering her chicks under her wings.’

Jesus weeps for Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and who stoned to death those sent to her. Jesus has longed to gather Jerusalem’s children as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings. Has been willing all along to gather them, but Jesus says that they were not willing. Jesus came to ‘his own’ but they received him not' and yet those who did receive him, he gave the right to be children of God (John 1:11–12). God sent the Anointed Davidic Messianic King, but they refused him and therefore their house would be left to them desolate. The story ends with Jesus’ claim that they would not see him again until they say, “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.” (13:34-35)

Jesus’ warning here may seem a bit unreasonable. It may seem unfair to us for the householder to shut the door on some people and to protest that he never knew them. Yet, as Jesus goes about his mission, he has been holding open the gate of the kingdom and urging people to enter it. The door isn’t wide and one day the door will be shut, so the message it to be responded to because the door will not be open indefinitely. There will come a time when the door shuts and and then it will be too late. Jesus is the final messenger and if he is refused, there will be no further opportunity. If one fails to respond to Jesus’ call, and thinks because they once shared a meal with Jesus or heard his teaching, then they will be badly mistaken. It is dangerous to linger around the gates to the kingdom of God, only to discover that by not responding one ends up excluded.

Jesus uses the picture of a hen gathering her chicks under her wings to protect them. In a fire a hen will gather and shelter her chicks under her wings at the expense of their own life. After a fire a scorched hen can be found with live chicks sheltered under her wings. She gives her life to save her own. It is a vivid image of what Jesus longed to do for Jerusalem. This picture of the hen and her chicks is the strongest statement so far in Luke of what Jesus death would accomplish. Another threat to the hen and its chicks is the predator, particularly in this case the fox. Herod, the puppet of Rome, is a treat to the people and no king of the Jews. The Pharisees may have been secretly hoping to get rid of Jesus, wanting him out of their territory. But Jesus has a destiny to fulfill, so he will continue his work and bring it to completion according to plan in Jerusalem (9:22, 44; 12:50).

Jesus’ destiny, then, is to go to Jerusalem and die, risking the threats of the fox, and adopting the role of the mother hen who dies to save her little ones. But Jerusalem has a long history of rebelling against God, refusing the way of peace. Would Jerusalem avoid it own pending destruction or would they welcome Jesus as God’s Messiah? The story was an urgent summons to repent and to embrace Messiah Jesus. Jerusalem would reject Jesus, God's king and our savior. Jesus gives himself in our place and on our behalf, and we must enter through this narrow door. While this door remains open we are to do what Jerusalem failed to do. We are to turn in trust to Jesus who conquers sin and death by becoming the 'suffering servant' in the cross in Jerusalem on our behalf.

 

'Repentance, Restoration and Expansion' Luke 13:1-21

Some among the crowd told Jesus how Pilate, the Roman governor, had his soldiers slaughter some Galileans and mix their blood with the temple sacrifices. Jesus challenged the idea that these Galileans were ‘worse sinners’ than all the others because of how they suffered. For Jesus the severity of their suffering was not necessarily related to their severity of their sins. Jesus exhorted his hearers that they were also in need of repentance or they would likewise perish. Jesus mentions eighteen people who were killed when a tower in Jerusalem fell on them and said they were not ‘more guilty’ than others in Jerusalem. According to Jesus everyone is in need of and is responsible to repent! When we see others suffering, we are not to judge them to elevate ourselves. Human suffering is a ‘wake up’ call for all of us to repent for we know what we actually deserve. (13:1-5)

According to Jesus tragedies with human causes (Galileans massacred by Pilate—13:1) and tragedies with natural causes (the fallen tower—13:4) cannot be directly linked the sin of sufferers. Those experiencing tragedies are not necessarily worse than those who are free from them. When we see people suffering it should evoke compassion and instill within us an attitude of repentance. The suffering of others is no reason to judge them or to think of ourselves as better than others. We ought to live a life of ongoing repentance knowing that God in Christ does not treat us as our sins deserve (Psalm 103:1-12).  

Jesus tells a parable of a man with a fig tree in his vineyard. He has patiently looked for fruit on this fig tree for three years, but has found none. Now the owner concludes that because the tree is wasting good soil it should be cut down. The caretaker asks for another year to dig around the tree and fertilize it. If after another the tree bears fruit great, but if not then it is to be cut down. (13:6-9)

A fig tree should mature after three years, and yet after three years the tree is still barren (13:6–9). The owner wants it cut down, but the caretaker asks for another year to fertilize that it might bear fruit. Consequently, it is God’s prerogative to exercise patience. He expects that we bear the fruit and the absence of temporal judgment is a sign of God’s patience and is not necessarily a sign of his approval. God’s patience and kindness ought to lead us to repentance and we are to bear the fruit of repentance as well (Romans 2:4, Lk 3:8).

Next we find Jesus teaching in the synagogue on the Sabbath when a woman with a severely curved back enters. She is so bent over that she can’t even stand up straight. He disabling condition was being caused by a spirit that had been oppressing her for eighteen years. Jesus sees her all hunched over and unable to look up or into another person’s face. When Jesus sees her, he calls her forward in front of everyone. Jesus announces that she is set free from her infirmity and he places his hands on her. Immediately she straightens up and gives praise to God! (13:10-13)

Jesus heals the woman of her severely curved back and delivers her from the spirit that had afflicted her for eighteen long years. She is standing upright praising God, but this angers the synagogue leader. He rebukes the crowd for coming to be healed on the Sabbath and not on a work day. Jesus rebukes this as hypocrisy, for they untie their farm animals and lead them to water on the Sabbath. If an animal can be refreshed on the Sabbath, why would it be wrong to restore a daughter of Abraham on the Sabbath? The woman has been bound by Satan for eighteen years and restoring her health on the Sabbath is God honoring. This humiliates Jesus’ opponents, the crowd elated with the wondrous things Jesus was doing. (13:14-17)

Picture this woman with her severely curved back shuffling into synagogue to hear a sermon. The preacher, Jesus, calls her forward and addresses her saying, “Woman, you are set free from your infirmity”. Jesus touches her and immediately she straighten up and praises God (13:10-13). The synagogue leader is indignant that this has occurred on the Sabbath (13:14). Jesus exposes their hypocrisy since they untie their animals and lead them to water on the Sabbath (13:15). This is a daughter of Abraham (13:16) bound for eighteen years and the Sabbath was about entering God’s rest (Hebrews 4:9-11). The Sabbath day, and particularly the Jubilee Sabbath, was about restoration and liberation? Wouldn’t it have been entirely appropriate that a daughter of Abraham to be transformed on the Sabbath day? In their zeal for ceremonial holiness these leaders had turned Sabbath-keeping into a burden void of real compassion. Jesus wouldn’t stand for it, and boldly stood against it.  

Then Luke records two short parables about the kingdom.  The kingdom of God can be compared to a mustard seed that a man plants which becomes a tree and birds land in its branches. It is also like yeast that a woman mixed into about sixty pounds of flour until it worked all through the dough. In both examples the kingdom starts of small and imperceptible, almost undetected. In each case the seemingly insignificant beginning has a recognizable longer term result. The seed becomes a tree that birds perch and the yeast is worked into the dough and causes the whole dough to rise.  

The two parables are closely connected. The mustard seed is a small seed (Mark 4:31) and yeast is only a tiny proportion that is added to the dough. Yet, the seed developed into a tree in which birds take refuge (See Nebuchadnezzar’s dream tree; Daniel 4). The tiny portion of yeast causes the dough to double or triple in size (13:19, 21). These examples demonstrate how God’s kingdom works (13:18, 20). Jesus’ kingdom has a small and humble beginning, with only a few committed disciples. However, in time by God’s grace and power this small group spreads throughout the whole world.

 

Why Worry, Be Watchful! LK 12:22-48

This passage follows the story of the ‘rich fool’ who stored up for himself, but wasn’t rich towards God. Jesus encourages his disciples to be ‘rich towards God’ and not to worry about their lives. Ravens don’t sow or reap and they don’t store up in barns and yet God provides for them. God cares much more for us and besides worrying can’t turn back the clock even one hour. So why worry? Wild flowers don’t labor or spin and the grass of the field is better dressed than Israel’s King Solomon . God does this even though today the field is dressed in beauty and tomorrow it is burned up in the fire. We don’t need to worry about what we eat or wear. Unbelievers chase after these things, but disciples are to seek first the kingdom of God. (12:22-31)

Jesus assures the disciples that God’s cares for them and will provide for them (See also 12:4–12). They need not worry about life for the Father knows what they need, so they should seek first the kingdom and God will provide (12:30-31). Jesus warns against obsessing over the things of this world and being fixed on our narrow self-interest at the expense of others. God and his kingdom matter most. Jesus says that the Father was pleased to give them the kingdom.  

Jesus challenges them, and us as well, to sell our possessions and give to the poor. He wants them not to store up in barns like the ‘rich fool’, but to store up treasure in heaven. They are to seek first the kingdom and part of that is to be “dressed to serve”. They are to keep their lamps burning like the servant waiting for their master’s return from a wedding banquet. When their master returns, they hear the knock and immediately open the door when he knocks because they are watching and waiting. It will be go well for those servants who are ready for their master’s return. Then, of all things, the master himself will dress himself to serve and he will have his watchful servants recline at the master’s table and he will wait on them. The servants should be busy serving even if their master comes in the middle of the night. Jesus reinforces this by saying that if the home-owner knew the hour the thief would come; his house wouldn’t have been broken into. (12:32-38)

Jesus illustrates the attitude he wants his disciples to have as they wait for his return. We are to be like the servant who was dressed to serve with lamps burning.  Even if the master comes late into the night he finds them ready and he will reward them accordingly (12:35–38). Jesus says that we ought to be like the homeowner who stays alert because he doesn’t know when thieves may strike (12:39). In like manner, we must be alert for the Son of Man will come at an unexpected hour (12:40).

Then Peter wants to know if the Lord is telling this parable to them, or to everyone. Jesus responds by asking, “Who is the faithful and wise manager, whom the master puts in charge to feed his servants at the proper time? The ready and busy servant will be rewarded at the master’s return. Then there is this sobering warning about a servant who says, ‘My master is taking a long time in coming,’ and then beats the other servants, and eats, drinks and gets drunk. The master will come unexpectedly and cut this one to pieces and assign him a place with unbelievers. Then Jesus lays down the principle that if you know God’s will and you don’t do it than you will suffer much. By comparison, if you don’t know God’s will and you do what is deserving punishment then you will suffer less. Those given much will be held responsible for applying what they know and much will be expected of those who have been given much. (12:41-48)

Jesus tells of a master who goes away and appoints a servant to run his household (12:41-42). The servant who looks after the master’s possessions is well rewarded (12:43–44), while the servant who exploits the other servants and neglects his duties is cut into pieces and assigned a place with the unbelievers (12:45-46). This isn’t literal since the servant is assigned a position ‘with the unbelievers’ after being ‘cut to pieces’. Jesus is clearly warning that his disciples are to serve people and not take advantage of them. In addition, those who know a lot will be have a lot expected of them. Those who neglect what they know will be punished more severely than those who know less (12:47–48). The passage warns all disciples, but Pastors, teachers, leaders and all those in authority will be held particularly responsible to apply what they know for the good of others. We must constantly ask ourselves if we are busy building up God’s people. God forbid that we store up for ourselves by taking advantage of people. We need not worry, so let us seek King Jesus, serve his people and watch for his return.