Parables - Week 2: Dinner With Jesus II
Luke 14:1-24
14 Now it happened, as He went into the house of one of the rulers of the Pharisees to eat bread on the Sabbath, that they watched Him closely. 2 And behold, there was a certain man before Him who had dropsy. 3 And Jesus, answering, spoke to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”
4 But they kept silent. And He took him and healed him, and let him go. 5 Then He answered them, saying, “Which of you, having a donkey or an ox that has fallen into a pit, will not immediately pull him out on the Sabbath day?” 6 And they could not answer Him regarding these things.
7 So He told a parable to those who were invited, when He noted how they chose the best places, saying to them: 8 “When you are invited by anyone to a wedding feast, do not sit down in the best place, lest one more honorable than you be invited by him; 9 and he who invited you and him come and say to you, ‘Give place to this man,’ and then you begin with shame to take the lowest place. 10 But when you are invited, go and sit down in the lowest place, so that when he who invited you comes he may say to you, ‘Friend, go up higher.’ Then you will have glory in the presence of those who sit at the table with you. 11 For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
12 Then He also said to him who invited Him, “When you give a dinner or a supper, do not ask your friends, your brothers, your relatives, nor rich neighbors, lest they also invite you back, and you be repaid. 13 But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind. 14 And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you; for you shall be repaid at the resurrection of the just.”
15 Now when one of those who sat at the table with Him heard these things, he said to Him, “Blessed is he who shall eat bread in the kingdom of God!”
16 Then He said to him, “A certain man gave a great supper and invited many, 17 and sent his servant at supper time to say to those who were invited, ‘Come, for all things are now ready.’ 18 But they all with one accord began to make excuses. The first said to him, ‘I have bought a piece of ground, and I must go and see it. I ask you to have me excused.’ 19 And another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to test them. I ask you to have me excused.’ 20 Still another said, ‘I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.’ 21 So that servant came and reported these things to his master. Then the master of the house, being angry, said to his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in here the poor and the maimed and the lame and the blind.’ 22 And the servant said, ‘Master, it is done as you commanded, and still there is room.’ 23 Then the master said to the servant, ‘Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled. 24 For I say to you that none of those men who were invited shall taste my supper.’ ”
As Jesus unpacks these lessons, a pharisee yells out:
"Blessed is he who shall eat bread in the kingdom of God!”
This outburst is actually a provocation for Jesus to expound on his views of one of the most controversial topics of their day!
Jews understood the final fulfillment to time to be what is referred to in Isaiah 25:6-9
6 And in this mountain
The Lord of hosts will make for all people
A feast of choice pieces,
A feast of wines on the lees,
Of fat things full of marrow,
Of well-refined wines on the lees.
7And He will destroy on this mountain
The surface of the covering cast over all people,
And the veil that is spread over all nations.
8He will swallow up death forever,
And the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces;
The rebuke of His people
He will take away from all the earth;
For the Lord has spoken.
9And it will be said in that day:
“Behold, this is our God;
We have waited for Him, and He will save us.
This is the Lord;
We have waited for Him;
We will be glad and rejoice in His salvation.”
This passage is an Old Testament reference to what we would refer to as the:
Marriage supper of the lamb. (See Revelation 19 if you want to dive a little deeper)
There is a Jewish cultural problem in Isaiah’s prophecy: Verse 7 All nations
At the heart of this debate was the presence of Gentiles (that's non-Jewish) at this end-time banquet
- Because of the transition of language from Hebrew to Aramaic (6th Century BC Babylonian captivity) By the time they returned to Judea, everyday language was Aramaic.
Around the time of Jesus: a written expanded (words were inserted to explain meaning) translation emerged for Aramaic-speaking people:
The TARGUM
The Targum stated that invitation to the banquet would be extended to the gentiles, and while there, would be struck with plagues.
Second century B.C.: The Book of Enoch emerged:
The Books of Enoch: Gentiles and Jews would be present, but the Jews would slaughter the gentiles
Shortly after: The Qumran community (which produced the Dead-Sea Scrolls)
Asserted that there would be no Gentiles at the feast in one scroll called The Messianic Rule
Cultural Changes impact our understanding of Scripture!
We have to fight to remain diligent in properly processing scripture
CULTURE CHANGES EVERYTHING
So the hot-topic of the day was the question of whether or not Gentiles would be present at this "Final Banquet" or the Marriage Supper of The Lamb.
So the question was: Can Gentiles go to the same "Heaven" that Jews were going to?
They were literally asking Jesus: WHO do YOU think will be welomed there.
Jesus' response resonated with them because they understood him to say:
There were people who were originally invited (Jews)
There were people who rejected the invitation (Pharisees among others)
The kingdom invitation was going to be extended to the outermost reaches to people who had to cultural, social or influential significance. In short, Gentiles.
So:
Jesus taught that:
We are all invited. Regardless of:
Race
Gender
Financial position
Culture
Color
2 Peter 3:9
9 The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.
You have full right to reject it, but the invitation has been sent!
We see The Lord in this parable (The master of the banquet)
We see the Pharisees in this parable (Those who rejected the invitation)
OUR place in this parable:
We find ourselves in at least one of three places:
One who has rejected the invitation
One who is being invited
The servant of the house
(If you're not sure: you're the one being invited!)
If you have a relationship with the Lord, then you're sent as a servant (This is being a disciple!)
3-fold responsibilities of the servant of the house:
1. Go WITH someone
The instruction of the master to the servant in verse 21 was: BRING in here the poor, maimed, lame and blind
As a disciple:
You aren't just called to go tell them, you are called to BRING them.
You are called to go WITH somebody!
Blind, maimed, and lame can be a handful!
Bringing people into the kingdom is inconvenient!
God is raising up people who are willing to go the extra mile to make sure somebody gets to the banquet:
It's not just about being invited, it's also about being able to get there!
2. Make room FOR someone
Verse 22 in this passage - you can almost see the lightbulb go off for the servant - as he realizes that there is STILL ROOM for more
It changes everything when we catch the vision of the master:
Things change when we realize that the kingdom expands ONE SOUL AT A TIME!
If there's still a seat, my job isn't done!
You should be preparing for someone in your life to come into the kingdom this week!
3. Compel them BECAUSE of THE ONE
Then the master said to the servant, ‘Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.
DO NOT MISUNDERSTAND:
The purpose is not so that Hub City Church can be filled
The purpose is not so that our Micro-Church can be filled
It's not so that my Instagram account can be filled
It's not so that my ego can be filled
The purpose of the invitation is for lost humanity to be reconciled to their creator.
- We must compel them because God deserves more glory
Part of the great commission is for the love of people - we don't want to see people miss heaven or spend eternity in hell
Part of the great commission is for the love of God - He deserves more!
