Luke 14:12 - 24
12 He said also to the man who had invited him, “When you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers[b] or your relatives or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return and you be repaid. 13 But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, 14 and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just.”
15 When one of those who reclined at table with him heard these things, he said to him, “Blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!” 16 But he said to him, “A man once gave a great banquet and invited many. 17 And at the time for the banquet he sent his servant[c] to say to those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’ 18 But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said to him, ‘I have bought a field, and I must go out and see it. Please have me excused.’ 19 And another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to examine them. Please have me excused.’ 20 And another said, ‘I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.’ 21 So the servant came and reported these things to his master. Then the master of the house became angry and said to his servant, ‘Go out quickly to the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in the poor and crippled and blind and lame.’ 22 And the servant said, ‘Sir, what you commanded has been done, and still there is room.’ 23 And the master said to the servant, ‘Go out to the highways and hedges and compel people to come in, that my house may be filled. 24 For I tell you,[d] none of those men who were invited shall taste my banquet.’”
Questions:
ReplyDelete1. Should we not have our brothers and sisters in Christ over for dinner?
2. How will we be repaid?
3. What does it mean that the invited ones were not coming, but that the poor are brought in? What does it mean that people are compelled to come in?
https://hartmangroupdevotions.blogspot.com/2016/03/matthew-221-14-jesus-spoke-to-them.html?zx=190b1a2bc1ac22ae says:
ReplyDeleteMatthew leaves no doubt as to the interpretation: the wedding garment signifies repentance. Just as most of the Jewish leaders were unprepared at Jesus’ first coming, some professing disciples of Jesus will be unprepared at his second.
While our salvation is the free gift of God, it does not come without any requirements on our part. True repentance is one of the conditions of entering into the kingdom. Once again, we find no cheap grace in the teachings of Jesus. Following him is always seen as something costly and all-embracing.
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The wedding invitation is extended to anyone and everyone, total strangers, both good and bad. This refers to the gospel being taken to the Gentiles.
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the man had been utterly presumptuous, thinking he could come to the king’s feast on his own terms, in any clothes he wanted. He was proud and self-willed, thoughtless of the others, and, worst of all, insulting to the king. Arrogantly defying royal protocol, he was determined to “be himself.”
https://biblehub.com/commentaries/luke/14-12.htm says:
ReplyDeleteThis is not to be understood as commanding us not to entertain "at all" our relatives and friends; but we are to remember the "design" with which our Lord spoke. He intended, doubtless, to reprove those who sought the society of the wealthy, and particularly rich relatives, and those who claimed to be intimate with the great and honorable, and who, to show their intimacy, were in the habit of "seeking" their society, and making for them expensive entertainments. He meant, also, to commend charity shown to the poor. The passage means, therefore, call "not only" your friends, but call also the poor, etc.
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A striking parallel occurs in Plato's "Phaedrus," 233. "And, in general, when you make a feast, invite not your friend, but the beggar and the empty soul, for they will love you, and attend you, and come about your doors, and will be the best pleased, and the most grateful, and will invoke blessings on your head."
https://biblehub.com/commentaries/luke/14-15.htm says:
ReplyDeleteThis reproves the Jewish nation for their neglect of the offers of Christ's grace. The apostles were to turn to the Gentiles, when the Jews refused the offer; and with them the church was filled.
Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God - The kingdom of God here means the kingdom which the Messiah was to set up. See the notes at Matthew 3:2. The Jews supposed that he would be a temporal prince, and that his reign would be one of great magnificence and splendor. They supposed that the "Jews" then would be delivered from all their oppressions, and that, from being a degraded people, they would become the most distinguished and happy nation of the earth. To that period they looked forward as one of great happiness. There is some reason to think that they supposed that the ancient just people would then be raised up to enjoy the blessings of the reign of the Messiah. Our Saviour having mentioned the "resurrection of the just," this man understood it in the common way of the Jews, and spoke of the special happiness which they expected at that time. The Jews "only," he expected, would partake of those blessings. Those notions the Saviour corrects in the parable which follows.
At any rate, he seems to have assumed that he would be one of those who would sit at the heavenly feast which should inaugurate the new aeon, and from which, like all Jews, he held it to be almost inconceivable that any circumcised son of Abraham should be excluded.
https://biblehub.com/commentaries/luke/14-17.htm says:
ReplyDeleteSent his servant - An invitation had been sent before, but this servant was sent at the time that the supper was ready. From this it would seem that it was the custom to announce to those invited just the time when the feast was prepared. The custom here referred to still prevails in Palestine. Dr. Thomson ("The Land and the Book," vol. i. p. 178) says: "If a sheikh, beg, or emeer invites, he always sends a servant to call you at the proper time. This servant often repeats the very formula mentioned in Luke 14:17; Tefŭddŭlû, el 'asha hâder. Come, for the supper is ready. The fact that this custom is mainly confined to the wealthy and to the nobility is in strict agreement with the parable, where the certain man who made the great supper and bade many is supposed to be of this class. It is true now, as then, that to refuse is a high insult to the maker of the feast, nor would such excuses as those in the parable be more acceptable to a Druse emeer than they were to the lord of this 'great supper.'"
https://biblehub.com/commentaries/luke/14-18.htm says:
I. The first thing that I would desire you to notice is the strangely unanimous refusal.
The guests’ conduct in the story is such as life and reality would afford no example of. No set of people, asked to a great banquet, would behave as these people in the parable do. the very point of the story is the utter unnaturalness of the conduct described. Nobody would turn his hack upon such a banquet if he had the chance of going to it. What, then, shall we say of those who, by platoons and regiments, turn their backs upon this higher offer?
Small things, transitory things, material things, everybody grasps at; and the number of graspers steadily decreases as you go up the scale in preciousness, until, when you reach the highest of all, there are the fewest that want them.
II. Now, secondly, notice the flimsy excuses.
All the reasons that are given come to one and the same thing-viz. occupation with present interests, duties, possessions, or affections. As excuses they are flimsy; but as reasons which actually operate with hundreds of people, preventing them from being Christians, they are not flimsy; they are most solid and real.
III. Lastly, note the real reason.
When a man pleads a previous engagement as a reason for not accepting an invitation, nine times out of ten it is a polite way of saying, ‘I do not want to go.’ It was so in this case.
https://biblehub.com/commentaries/luke/14-20.htm says:
ReplyDeleteI have married a wife ... - Our Saviour here doubtless intends to teach us that the love of earthly relatives and friends often takes off the affections from God, and prevents our accepting the blessings which he would bestow on us.
https://biblehub.com/commentaries/luke/14-23.htm says:
The highways and hedges.—In the frame-work of the parable, this points to a yet lower class of the population of an Eastern country—to the tramps and the squatters who had no home, and who were content to sleep under the shelter of a hedge or fence. In the application of the parable, the men thus brought in can hardly be any other than the wanderers of the outlying Gentile world.
https://biblehub.com/commentaries/luke/14-24.htm says:
None of those men - This cannot be understood as meaning that no "Jews" would be saved, but that none of those who had "treated him, in that manner" - none who had so decidedly rejected the offer of the gospel - would be saved.
https://www.preceptaustin.org/luke-14-commentary says:
ReplyDeleteSuch hospitality was not an expression of love and grace but rather an evidence of pride and selfishness. He was “buying” recognition.
That kind of “fellowship” quickly degenerates into a “mutual admiration society” in which each one tries to outdo the others and no one dares to break the cycle. Sad to say, too much church social life fits this description.
Fellowship should not have social limits. The best hospitality is that which is given, not exchanged.
Often there are many blessings that come back on you in this life when you serve the Lord. But, often there are not any visible rewards here and now. You serve and no one notices. You give to help a needy person and you get ripped off, and the person never even says, “Thanks.” One test of whether your motives are right in your service for Christ is, “Are you hurt when you don’t get the recognition you think you deserve?” (WOE!) Another test is, “What is your attitude toward the poor and the hurting?”
https://www.preceptaustin.org/luke-14-commentary continued:
ReplyDeleteThe striking thing is that everyone who accepted the invitation could have come up with seemingly legitimate excuses for not coming. The poor man could say, “I don’t have anything decent to wear to such a feast.” The crippled man could say, “I can’t get anyone to carry me there.” The blind could say, “I can’t see to find my way.” The lame could say, “It hurts me too much to walk on my bad leg.” Those along the highways and hedges, the street people, could say, “I haven’t had a bath in days and my clothes are dirty and ragged. I can’t come.” But they all accepted the offer because the servant convinced them that they were welcome and they clearly knew their own need; they were hungry. They believed the offer and they responded personally to it in spite of the potential excuses they each could have come up with.
Crawford has an interesting note on the master said to the slave...go out...compel them - The reader will now see why we have insisted on the distinction between the many servants and the one Servant. Servants can warn, entreat, persuade, win, point to the Saviour and urge men to accept Him, but they cannot compel a sinner to come to Christ. It is very possible to use coercion to compel people to do things against their will, but it is not possible for men to compel their fellows to come to Christ against their will. But does the Holy Spirit compel sinners to come against their will? No, but by His awakening and convicting power He makes them willing and anxious to flee from the wrath to come (John 16:8-11).
Questions and findings:
ReplyDelete1. Should we not have our brothers and sisters in Christ over for dinner?
We probably can. Like so many other times, Jesus is attempting to address a heart issue. The issue Jesus is addressing here is how we constantly attempt to look good in front of other people. As Christ followers and God imagers, this kind of attitude has no place. However, almost all of us are guilty of this.
Instead of trying to impress others, we should be trying to love others. Once our hearts are pure in this way, it doesn't matter who is coming over to dinner. To examine our hearts using Jesus' measure, we need to think about who we are inviting over and why. Are we only inviting people who we think has status in the church or world, or do we also invite people that the world (and church) look down upon? Are we only inviting people who look like ourselves, or are we also inviting people who are very different from ourselves?
2. How will we be repaid?
I don't know what or which rewards Jesus is referring to. I do know it's something entirely different than what our worldly minds expect. God rewards us with eternal rewards, not with things that will be destroyed. So what are these eternal rewards? Are they eternal relationships? Are they positions of stewardship when Jesus comes back? Or is it just that we become more like Jesus?
3. What does it mean that the invited ones were not coming, but that the poor are brought in? What does it mean that people are compelled to come in?
In this parable, the invited ones are the citizens of Israel. The poor, lame, etc., are the Gentiles. However, in these times, we can probably apply these two groups as church members vs unchurched. These days the invitation goes out to all. However, some of us receive that invitation on a weekly basis (and make excuses as why we are not coming). Other's rarely or never hear the invitation.
We church-goers constantly need to be on guard lest we become like the Pharisees and make excuses to get out of joining God in His kingdom work. If we stop repenting, we will be shut out of God's kingdom. Unfortunately, on our own, we will all fall away. This is where the Holy Spirit comes in. He compels us to come to the party - but only if we are poor (in spirit).
So, we really do need to examine ourselves to see if we want to come to the party in the first place. However, when we find that we are making excuses, we need to come to God and confess it (i.e. recognize our poverty / inability). If we do this, the Holy Spirit will compel us. We need His compulsion because we can't do it on our own.