Day 32 Lent 2023
Hey, up before the last minute. Excellent. Coffee is made, and words are flowing. Yay. Now, where were we?
1It happened that when He went into the house of one of the leaders of the Pharisees on the Sabbath to eat bread, they were watching Him closely.
2And there in front of Him was a man suffering from dropsy.
3And Jesus answered and spoke to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath, or not?”
4But they kept silent. And He took hold of him and healed him, and sent him away.
5And He said to them, “Which one of you will have a son or an ox fall into a well, and will not immediately pull him out on a Sabbath day?”
6And they could make no reply to this.
Luke 14:1–6 (NASB95)
They already know what Jesus is getting ready to do. He’s done it before, but He’s making a point again. God is filled with compassion for His children. He is on Earth among them, and one of them deserving of His healing has requested it. How can He not help them?
That then begs the question that if Jesus, being God made flesh, feels called to heal people while He is alive on Earth, why doesn’t God heal anyone who prays to Him asking for it now? I don’t know. The atheist or doubter would say, “Because he doesn’t exist.” What you look for, you will find. I believe He does exist. I’m secure enough in my faith to admit I don’t have the answer to everything, but I’m looking.
7And He began speaking a parable to the invited guests when He noticed how they had been picking out the places of honor at the table, saying to them,
8“When you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, do not take the place of honor, for someone more distinguished than you may have been invited by him,
9and he who invited you both will come and say to you, ‘Give your place to this man,’ and then in disgrace you proceed to occupy the last place.
10“But when you are invited, go and recline at the last place, so that when the one who has invited you comes, he may say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher’; then you will have honor in the sight of all who are at the table with you.
11“For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
Luke 14:7–11 (NASB95)
This is a parable about Heaven. We’ve seen this before. It is also often repeated in scripture. Here is Matthew’s version, also in Red Letters.
28And Jesus said to them, “Truly I say to you, that you who have followed Me, in the regeneration when the Son of Man will sit on His glorious throne, you also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
29“And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or farms for My name’s sake, will receive many times as much, and will inherit eternal life.
30“But many who are first will be last; and the last, first.
Matthew 19:28–30 (NASB95)
Mark has one in 10:31 as well.
29Jesus said, “Truly I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or farms, for My sake and for the gospel’s sake,
30but that he will receive a hundred times as much now in the present age, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and farms, along with persecutions; and in the age to come, eternal life.
31“But many who are first will be last, and the last, first.”
Mark 10:29–31 (NASB95)
The first/last concept is not new. If you’ve been studying God’s Word for any length of time, you will run into this idea. The point is back to humility. If we do as Jesus commands, we will not sit at the best spots and often be left in the crummy seats. However, sometimes that will work in our favor on earth, but it will certainly work in our favor in Heaven after.
12And He also went on to say to the one who had invited Him, “When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, otherwise they may also invite you in return and that will be your repayment.
13“But when you give a reception, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind,
14and you will be blessed, since they do not have the means to repay you; for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”
Luke 14:12–14 (NASB95)
This parable is about giving. Many in Jesus’ time only gave to those they could receive something of equal value back, thus returning the favor. Jesus’ point is to give without expecting anything back from anyone because God gives expecting nothing back. We have nothing God needs. Anything He needs, He already has or could acquire with no effort at all. The only thing we have that He wants is our obedience through love.
15When one of those who were reclining at the table with Him heard this, he said to Him, “Blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!”
16But He said to him, “A man was giving a big dinner, and he invited many;
17and at the dinner hour he sent his slave to say to those who had been invited, ‘Come; for everything is ready now.’
18“But they all alike began to make excuses. The first one said to him, ‘I have bought a piece of land and I need to go out and look at it; please consider me excused.’
19“Another one said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to try them out; please consider me excused.’
20“Another one said, ‘I have married a wife, and for that reason I cannot come.’
Luke 14:15–20 (NASB95)
We make time for the things that are important. God is giving a big dinner. Jesus has come out and invited us all to that dinner. What excuses are we making for not going to that dinner?
21“And the slave came back and reported this to his master. Then the head of the household became angry and said to his slave, ‘Go out at once into the streets and lanes of the city and bring in here the poor and crippled and blind and lame.’
22“And the slave said, ‘Master, what you commanded has been done, and still there is room.’
23“And the master said to the slave, ‘Go out into the highways and along the hedges, and compel them to come in, so that my house may be filled.
24‘For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste of my dinner.’ ”
Luke 14:21–24 (NASB95)
These are the people Jesus came to, sat with, and ate with; the sinners of the world. These are the poor, the lame, and the halt of life who are not experiencing the fullness of creation as intended by the creator. As many as respond are seated at the table, but those who make excuses for not being obedient to the call, “…none of those men who were invited shall taste of my dinner.”
13‘He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’
14“To the angel of the church in Laodicea write: The Amen, the faithful and true Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God, says this:
15‘I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish that you were cold or hot.
16‘So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth.
17‘Because you say, “I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing,” and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked,
18I advise you to buy from Me gold refined by fire so that you may become rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself, and that the shame of your nakedness will not be revealed; and eye salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see.
Revelation 3:13–18 (NASB95)
The Amen, the faithful and true Witness, is Jesus speaking in the Revelation to John. He is making clear what happens to those who were invited but made an excuse. Those are the ones that will be outside when the master shuts the door. They are the ones that will be wailing and gnashing teeth. I do not want to be among them.
This next bit stymies people. I struggle with it too, but I think I have a handle on it thanks to Haley’s Bible Handbook.
25Now large crowds were going along with Him; and He turned and said to them,
26“If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple.
27“Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.
Luke 14:25–27 (NASB95)
Halley’s lumps this section together with the other verses to the end of this chapter. I’m going to break it down a little further. I think the bitesize pieces are easier to digest than the ten-verse chunk.
Jesus is not commanding us to hate our families, though the literal reading says that. Scripture tells us to tend to our own house first, or we are worse than an unbeliever.
7Prescribe these things as well, so that they may be above reproach.
8But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.
1 Timothy 5:7–8 (NASB95)
The letters to Timothy from Paul are the letters of an experienced pastor to a junior pastor. Paul is instructing Timothy on how to do things. These instructions come from Paul’s lifetime of experience. People struggle with Paul for a lot of reasons, and I understand that. Those struggles do not diminish or remove the wisdom Paul has to give us. We should not discard his wise words simply because we don’t understand some of them. If we did that, we’d discard all of what Jesus said because we don’t understand every word of what He said. Paul’s words in scripture are no different.
So, if Jesus isn’t telling us actually to hate our families to follow Him, what is He telling us? Jesus is making a point with a little hyperbole. Following Christ needs to be the most important thing in your life. When things come into conflict with obedience to God or comfort for family, obedience to God is primary. That doesn’t mean your children go without food, shelter, and clothing so that you can donate to the next stewardship campaign. What it means is your family should see the importance of God’s call on your life and make time for both/and. This is not an either-or choice. Sacrifice other things to make them both happen.
28“For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it?
Luke 14:28 (NASB95)
Those of you who are not planners should take heed here. Jesus specifically tells us it is wisdom to “…calculate the cost…” meaning to plan how the builder intends to build the tower. That is a euphemism for any effort in life at all.
29“Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who observe it begin to ridicule him,
30saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’
Luke 14:29–30 (NASB95)
Don’t start it unless you intend to and can finish it.
31“Or what king, when he sets out to meet another king in battle, will not first sit down and consider whether he is strong enough with ten thousand men to encounter the one coming against him with twenty thousand?
32“Or else, while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace.
33“So then, none of you can be My disciple who does not give up all his own possessions.
Luke 14:31–33 (NASB95)
This one could be pulled down to the level of starting an internet debate on a subject for which no research has been done. It makes sense when we talk about people’s lives going to war and being outnumbered. Arguments started without the soldiers of information behind us are just as foolish, yet we do it all the time. Perhaps we shouldn’t.
34“Therefore, salt is good; but if even salt has become tasteless, with what will it be seasoned?
35“It is useless either for the soil or for the manure pile; it is thrown out. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”
Luke 14:34–35 (NASB95)
I take this one as both faith and hope. If we don’t have both faith and hope, we are not working in our strengths for the Kingdom of God. It is precisely our faith that gets us to the kingdom, but we hope that our faith is sound that gives us energy. They are tied together, one to the other. We need them both, or we will become tasteless for Jesus. That’s partly why we come together in corporate worship at church, to make sure we help keep our friends well “seasoned.” God bless and Godspeed.