And 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. But when you give a reception, invite the
poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and 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.”
When 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!”
But He said to him, “A man was giving a big
dinner, and he invited many; and at the dinner hour he sent his slave to say to
those who had been invited, ‘Come; for everything is ready now.’ 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.’ Another one said, 'I have bought five yoke of
oxen, and I am going to try them out; please consider me excused.’ Another one
said, ‘I have married a wife, and for that reason I cannot come.’ 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.’ And
the slave said, ‘Master, what you commanded has been done, and still there is
room.’ 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. For I
tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste of my dinner.’” (Luke
14:12-24 NASB)
This entry
wraps up this account of Jesus as a dangerous dinner guest. I connected the last two elements because
they are connected in the story with a humorous circumstance. I can’t disconnect them. On the one hand I have Jesus correcting the
host (he should have invited Swollen Joe and his compatriots instead), and on
the other hand I have this guest trying to make the best of a bad
situation. Jesus squashes that too. It’s really funny, or it was until I applied
Jesus’ principle to myself. Then all the
fun went out of it.
This account
starts with Jesus admonishing the host for inviting friends, relations, and
wealthy neighbors. Jesus said he should
have invited the poor, crippled, lame, and the blind. The reasoning is that these sorts of guests
cannot repay the favor, and the host would have repayment in heaven. Again with the risky admonishment from my
Master. How would it look to the
neighbors? What would my friends and
relations think? Wouldn’t it insult them not to be invited when these low-life’s
were? In most cases, these human
derelicts were far worse off than the servants serving the meal.
Preparations
for such a meal could take days or weeks.
To then have this societal debris “reclining” at such a table in such a
prepared house would be very uncomfortable for the household. Can you imagine the stink? Jesus proposes the unimaginable for a
Pharisee, let alone one of their “leaders”.
The irony here is extended to the fact that one of these people was
invited, but only as entertainment.
Jesus says Swollen Joe and his buddies should have made up the principle
guests. It is an enormous reversal to
suggest such a thing.
I imagine
the uncomfortable silence following Jesus’ correction of the host. I can just imagine someone saying, “Awk-ward”
to those nearest him. One guest can’t
take the awkward moment, and in a fit of codependency, tries to find that
common ground where we can all just get along.
Jesus ends His correction of the host with a reference to the “Resurrection
of the Righteous” which would place Him right in line with Pharisaic belief;
common ground! So, the guest pipes in to
fill the awkward silence with, “Blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the
Kingdom of God!” Bad idea.
Jesus takes
the opportunity to tell another parable, but this one in the form of a
story. The dinner host is God, making
the host feel a bit better. The meal is
prepared, and the servants go to collect the guests. But these guests all have excuses. There are commentaries that examine the
excuses for validity or invalidity. I
suspect that around the table there were examples of each excuse, and that’s
why Jesus used them. I imagine these
excuses were used by the guests, and they knew who they were. They could not escape applying the ending to themselves. Now I don’t know that, but I suspect that.
In the
parable as the guest refuse to come after all the preparations are made,
Swollen Joe and his friends are invited instead. It’s almost the exact list Jesus used with
His host. So far, it isn’t that
bad. Then the table still has room; not
good. Others are invited outside the
city, i.e. Jerusalem, i.e. the Jewish nation.
The knife is thrust between the ribs.
But Jesus is not finished yet.
The final comment of the host (remember? God?) is that none of those
men who were invited shall taste of my dinner! And the knife is twisted. Not only are Gentiles invited, but the “righteous
Jews” are excluded!
At this
point the party is over. Luke stops his
account right here; and I suspect there was little point to go on. Who could eat after that? You can’t expect to tell a Pharisee that he
will be excluded from the Kingdom of God, that it’s his fault, and then expect
him to have much of an appetite. I have
an idea that the only one left at the table was Jesus (which means He could
have seconds, and bring some to His disciples later). It is dangerous to bait the Creator of the
universe at a dinner party, especially if you really want to celebrate.
So, what
does this tell me about my Master? Well,
unfortunately for me, I am one of those hosts who would be corrected. This account is really fun to read and teach,
but when it comes down to application, well, now I’m uncomfortable. It’s obvious; invite the homeless and those
who live in inhospitable conditions to Sunday lunch. I get it, but I don’t do it. I can make all sorts of excuses (not like the
guests, but close). My wife wouldn’t
like the house she works so hard to clean messed up by smelly humanity. Um, yeah, perhaps, but that’s not it. She’s very hospitable. This one hits close.
The less
obvious application is from the parable.
I’m not a Pharisee, or am I? Have
I ever given my Master a lame excuse not to do what He’s invited me to do with
Him? Ouch! Yes, I would have to honestly say yes. So, how different am I from these
guests? Jesus, the Son of the God they
claim to worship stands among them, and they treat Him shamefully. Yet I know, not just Who He is, but what He
has done for me. So when I tell Him, “Sorry,
not now, I’m kind of busy here,” what am I really saying? He’s not important. What He did isn’t that important to me. Worse?
When I tell
Him that a tithe is too expensive, or I tell Him I don’t have time for an act
of kindness, or I give Him some excuse for not speaking to my neighbor, what is
the unspoken message? To One Who gave
His all for me and those I refuse to serve, I say, “Naw, thanks anyway.” Really?
Seriously? I’m going to say that
to my Master? I’m supposed to be a
Knight of the Realm and a Servant to the King.
What kind of knight is afraid to serve, of other people? What sort of servant will not obey? How can I believe that I need more somehow
from my Master before I will act? Am I
nuts? I think so.
I have no
room to judge the Pharisees. Like them I
have spent most of my life studying the Bible.
I should be different. I have the
benefit of the perspective looking back to the whole story. I have less excuse than they do. If I am to be an authentic believer I have
the responsibility to live these principles out. I should take the lowest place at the table
and be happy to remain there. I should
invite those to meals who cannot invite me back. I should never hand my Master an excuse for
disobedience. I am feeling the strange joy
and peace of my Master’s twisted knife between my ribs. Though I die, yet shall I live!
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