Luke
14:1-14 NIV
One Sabbath, when Jesus went to eat in the house of a
prominent Pharisee, he was being carefully watched. There in front of
him was a man suffering from abnormal swelling of his body. 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.
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.
When he noticed how the guests picked the places of honor
at the table, he told them this parable: “When someone invites you to
a wedding feast, do not take the place of honor, 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 honored in the presence
of all the other guests. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and
those who humble themselves will be exalted.”
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 neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be
repaid. 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.”
Lunch
There is wisdom in
humility. To be humble, to many people today, may seem like a negative characteristic.
I remember a conversation with a co-worker decades ago speaking about humility.
This was during a time in business processes when people were working on
visions, and self-actualizations. You would think of yourself doing something
great and set that as a goal for success. There are some things in this that made
sense to me, at the time, but there were other aspects of this technique that
encouraged a way to success over and above someone else who may be in your way
to success. And that’s the rub this always gave to me. My dad would tell me
that the way to succeed in the workplace was to make those around you
successful, then you would be successful too. This type of thinking required
humility. It was important to help the co-worker succeed. And it made sense to
me. Sometimes I needed to get out of the way and let a person with the skills
needed at that time or in that situation to move ahead. Those were times when I
would serve the one with the skills needed. So, this is a long way around to
make the point that there is wisdom in humility. And I think, in this passage
of Scripture, Jesus is teaching this life lesson and value for living.
So, it was fine for
the Pharisees to feast on the Sabbath. That’s okay. But what got in the way was
the thought of healing on the Sabbath. In the healing that Jesus gave to the
man with dropsy, the Pharisees were silent. Sometimes silence is not silent. Sometimes
silence says something.
For, Jesus, healing
on the Sabbath is praise to God. God created each of us unique. God created us
carefully and we are dear to Him. So, healing IS praise to God.
Jesus witnessed a
man in need and is compassionate towards this man with dropsy. Was this man
invited to the feast? I don’t know, but this man was before Jesus, and in need.
So, possibly, Jesus even loves the uninvited guests at the feast.
With this question
from Jesus about the lawfulness of healing on the Sabbath; Jesus makes an
observation of the guests at this Sabbath feast.
The standards of THE
Banquet to come in God’s Kingdom are different from this world’s standards. In THIS
WORLD, today and then, as hosts or hostesses of the feast, we typically display
a selfish type of behavior. Let me explain. Many times, at celebration dinners
of today, we, or someone we have chosen to honor, are the center of attention. And
that’s not always bad. That’s not the point here.
But when we compare
how we feast together in the world and in this place to THE BANQUET to come in
God’s Kingdom; the focus changes and the standards are set on their head.
For anyone to attend
THE BANQUET to come in God’s Kingdom, and even on a different scale, at the
Communion Feast in churches all over the world, we are witnesses to something
different from our typical earthly feast standards.
At the Communion
Table we see that God gave it ALL. Through Jesus God died in my sin to defeat
sin and death, AND TO, give me forgiveness of sin and eternal life.
SO THEN, as Jesus
moves this observation into a parable. And remember that parables have
spiritual meanings. So, start to think… marriage feast as being the heavenly
joy in God’s Kingdom. The question becomes for me…
How can I presume to
take the position of a higher place at the Feast?
If I think about
myself, my life and my place; I realize that when I am humble, I know my sin,
and even better, through what Jesus has done for me and ALL, I and we are
forgiven. In this forgiveness, I need nothing more. I don’t need to presume to
be important by my standards. Why? Because God, in Jesus IS compassionate, loving,
and forgiving. That’s a gift!
At the Feast, God IS
the Host of the Banquet. God is the Judge of who sits where. Not me. And God
has chosen to accept my broken, diseased, dropsy heart through Jesus. Because
Jesus stood the test of sin and death FOR me.
Humility is the
better choice.
So, be cautious here
as well, in the seating. Don’t trick your ego into taking a humble, or lower
seat, to just be moved up. This is just your ego at work again. This IS NOT
humility. This type of work is just another act to gain recognition and point
to yourself. AND IT JUST may backfire anyway!
In God’s Kingdom,
values seem to reverse. The proud will be humbled. The humble will be exalted.
So, put your BIG head away. It’s not all about you anyway.
Let’s dig back to
some advice in God’s Word from Proverbs…
Proverbs
25:6-7 NIV
Do not exalt yourself in
the king’s presence,
and do not claim a place
among his great men;
it is better for him to say to you, “Come up here,”
than for him to humiliate
you before his nobles.
It’s not like Jesus
didn’t know His Scripture of that day.
And not to be too
stuffy about all this; it’s okay to have family gatherings, like Jesus attended
at the Wedding Feast at Cana. Jesus condemns the type of feast for an earthly
reward. Huh? Well, this is a dinner where you expect your guests to return the
favor.
Do good to those who
can’t return the favor. Leave all of that reward stuff up to God, NOT yourself.
Put your work
towards those who can do nothing for you. Really give of yourself. Focus on the
other person, where your generosity has NO return expected. Your hospitality
has no religious merit.
Let’s take a look at
these groups of people that we invite to our own feasts and the groups of
people that God invites to His feast.
I tend to invite
friends, which could be selfish on my part, because in the friendship, I get a
fast reward. God, however, invites the needy. God looks at mankind as ALL in need
and ALL as loved by Him, that trust in heaven’s reward of faith in God.
As we reflect God,
we see that God is generous to those who are generous to ALL He loves, NOT
expecting any reward for our own generosity. You may have to pause and think about that one
for a moment.
Finally let’s tiptoe
into the end of this passage about all this resurrection stuff…
Revelation
20:6 NIV
Blessed and
holy are those who share in the first resurrection. The second death has
no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will
reign with him for a thousand years.
Revelation
20:11-15 NIV
Then I
saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. The earth and the
heavens fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. And
I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books
were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The
dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the
books. The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and
Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged
according to what they had done. Then death and Hades were
thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. Anyone
whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the
lake of fire.
What! Well, here we
see two resurrections. The first passage is a resurrection to life. The second passage
is a resurrection to death.
This is some harsh
stuff here. We are living in those thousand years now. God, through Jesus’
forgiveness of sin grants and gifts us a place in the first resurrection. We
don’t deserve any repayment from God or from those we have compassion on in
this life and in this place. Just as Jesus had compassion on the man with
dropsy and has compassion on the humble, we too must live in this example of
Christ to and for those God gives to us each and every day. We are called to be
humble, compassionate, loving and caring to those God places with us and live
out God’s will in the world in which we live… today… tomorrow… and forever. Not
for reward… No!... Because we love God.
So, enjoy the feast
of Communion that Jesus graciously gave us to live with in the here and now and
look forward to that Great Feast to Come in God’s Kingdom eternally. Wow! What a
Banquet, what a Feast, that will be! Thanks be to God!
Enjoy this hymn
about God’s Feast…
Gather The People
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PkOrYI5xt0g&list=RDPkOrYI5xt0g&start_radio=1
