I didn’t get out the usual posts that come on Tuesday and Thursday this week, but had something brewing in my mind to write about so here it is.
One of the more arresting parables that Jesus tells can be found in Luke 14.
The situation is a man wants to throw a party. He invites his friends and neighbors who all give various “good” reasons as to why they can’t make it on that day. Some have business deals to attend to, others have family obligations, and I am sure there was some youth sports going on somewhere. Something is always going on. Folks were busy in 1st Century Judea as well, evidently. As you can expect after all the hard labor the dude put into it he is kind of put off that his compadres seem totally uninterested in joining with him. Kind of stinks when you have a lot of time invested into a project to just then have people blow you off. I mean when we think about this story look at the context. He’s a rich man who is throwing an extravaganza full of the richest food and best drinks money can buy. No one who is without means has the energy or resources to do this kind of thing. Yet for whatever reason (Jesus never tells us why he’s holding the grand feast) the man wants to celebrate, but none of his supposed buddies want to join him, so it’s no surprise that we hear that he is irate. I’d be ticked as well if I had a bounty that I’d procured to share for free, at no cost to the attending throngs, and no one showed up. Not only do you feel like you wasted your money and time, but it shows pretty clearly what your now former friends think of you.
Must be a pretty empty feeling.
So what does he then do in his anger? Well, he sends his servant out to round up whoever he can, the lame, the blind, the poor, the maimed, all sorts of people to come into his home to eat the food which has been prepared. I’ve always been struck by the scene there. Imagine if you are like the lame man by the pool of Bethsaida or the blind man at the gate and a guy comes up and says, “Hey you want some Filet Mignon?” You’d probably laugh and say, “You’ve got to be kidding me?”.
But notice what they do. They get up at the invitation and come.
Why do they do that? My first thought is because they are hungry. Another thing that jumps into my head after I think more about what kind of people are being called by the servant is they are not the kind of folks who usually get invited to these types of events. There has to be a light of thanksgiving in their hearts. Those who are neglected and forgotten have a tendency to be more ready to receive the word of calling then those who expect to be called. I bet the rich guy putting on the event had a lot more fun with the maimed and the lame than he would have had with his fake friends.
Another thing that strikes me is that there are a lot of parallels in this parable with the Prodigal Son, which appears in the chapter after this. Likewise it is not accidental in the providential ordering of the gospel that the next two teaching moments of Christ following the Great Supper (and notice it’s called the Great Supper, not the Great Dinner, but I digress…) involve people following Jesus and salt losing its flavor. Hint. Hint. Hint. Most commentators on this passage point out that the “friends” are Jews and the people coming out of the hedges and highways are Gentiles, and while it is true that this is the immediate context of the parable, let’s next bring it forward to the situation that we find ourselves in currently, for proper effect.
Who are the Jews and Gentiles in this passage today?
It seems pretty clear that the kinds of people at aim in the parable are church people who don’t have time for Jesus. There is always something which keeps them from worship or prayer. Work, sports, school, sin, whatever…they all rank a little higher.
The benefiters are those who take up the blessings of God’s grace in Christ having heard the words of gospel truth, and are interested in eating the bounty.
So how do believers, at least those who are ones outwardly (Matt. 7:21, Romans 2:28-29), fit this picture? The answer isn’t rocket surgery. It’s because they don’t see the value. Whatever it is they are doing at the moment when an opportunity arises to meet with Jesus they do a little cost-benefit study in their head and make the determination that missing a meal is worth it at the time. Surely there will be other opportunities where they can go, when it won’t be inconvenient to them. I mean, God’s not going anywhere, right?
However, notice how Luke 14:15-24 ends:
“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. For I say to you that none of those men who were invited shall taste my supper.’“
Yikes.
Guess skipping a meal when the Lord of Glory invites you isn’t worth it.
Hope the thing you chose ends up being as important.
I can guarantee you that if the people in this parable were given a second chance they’d be all over the supper…or would they?
So at the end here I’m not sure much application is needed other than to say that possibly it would be a good idea to pay attention to the parable. If the Lord gives you an opportunity to eat the bread that man lives by maybe take Him up on the offer instead of taking off for that thing you’re heart would rather do. For what does the Scripture say?
“Whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure, for my heart rejoiced in all my labor; And this was my reward from all my labor.Then I looked on all the works that my hands had done and on the labor in which I had toiled; and indeed all was vanity and grasping for the wind. There was no profit under the sun.”
-- Ecclesiastes 2:9-11