Luke 14

Introduction

On Sunday evenings, we’re going through Luke’s gospel at a brisk pace. So, instead of taking short passages each Sunday and studying them in depth, we’re taking big chunks and we’re trying to pick out themes.

Last week we studied verses 10 to 35 of chapter 13 and the big theme was the kingdom of God. By healing a woman of her disability, the Lord Jesus made clear once again that he is God’s Spirit-Anointed and Conquering King who came into the world to proclaim and to provide freedom for God’s people. Since this is true, he freed the woman from his disability. And right now, he works in his people inwardly by his Spirit to free us more and more from the power of sin in our lives. And when he comes to renew all things at the end of time, he will free us from sin completely and he will free us from all sorrow and sadness and from disease and death so that all of God’s people will be able to live in the place God has prepared for us where we’ll enjoy his presence for ever and for ever.

And after healing the woman, the Lord compared the kingdom of God to a mustard seed and to yeast. By comparing the kingdom to a mustard seed, he was teaching us that we can expect his kingdom to grow and to grow and to grow in the world. It grows in the world through the Holy Spirit who uses the reading and preaching of God’s word to convince people everywhere to turn from their life of unbelief and disobedience and to turn with faith to the only Saviour of the world. And the Holy Spirit is at work throughout the world in every generation to draw more and more men and women and boys and girls into God’s kingdom.

And by comparing the kingdom to yeast, the Lord was teaching us that not only does his kingdom grow, but it penetrates all of life and society and changes it. Just as yeast works its way through the dough and changes it so that it rises, so God’s kingdom works its way through all of life and society. And so, God’s people meet together in church for worship and instruction and fellowship. And afterwards, we’re to go back out into the world which God made and which he loves, but which has been spoiled by sin, and we’re to seek to do what is right in the sight of Christ our King and to live for him. And so, we’re to go into our neighbourhoods and into our schools and colleges and into our places of work and into clubs and societies and everywhere else and we’re to live for Christ. And when we come across something that is not right, we’re to try to change it for good and for God’s glory. In other words, we’ll seek — as far as it depends on us — to reform all things according to God’s word. And in this way, the kingdom of God penetrates all of life and society and influences it for good and for God’s glory. The kingdom is like a mustard seed because it grows. And it’s like yeast, because it influences everything.

Those are some of the things we were thinking about last week. Today we come to chapter 14 which can be divided into four parts. In verses 1 to 6, the Lord once again healed someone on the Sabbath day. Then, in verses 7 to 14, the Lord — who was eating at the home of a prominent Pharisee — criticised those guests who picked the place of honour for themselves; and he criticised those hosts who only invite to dinner those who can repay them. Then in verses 15 to 24 he told them the parable of a great banquet when the invited guests refused to come. And finally, in verses 25 to 35 he spoke about putting him first of all. Loving Christ more than all other things.

What do these passages have in common? What theme or idea links them together? The main idea is the idea of the banquet, which symbolises salvation. Coming to the banquet and enjoying it stands for coming to Christ and enjoying the salvation he has won for us by his life and death and resurrection. And our salvation now through faith in Christ culminates at the end of history with a final great banquet in the presence of the Lord, when we will celebrate Christ’s victory for us over sin and death.

But in the parable, many who were invited to the banquet refused to come and they made excuses. In a similar way, many are invited to come to Christ for salvation, but they refuse to come to him and make all kinds of excuses.

In the parable, the invitation to the banquet was therefore extended to others who did not expect to be invited. The invitation to them was therefore an act of grace or kindness on the part of the host. In a similar way, salvation is God’s gracious gift to men and women and children who do not deserve it. We deserve to be sent out of God’s presence for ever to be punished for all that we have done wrong. And yet God graciously and freely invites us to come to Christ for salvation; and he promises us everlasting life in his presence. However, while salvation is his gracious gift, many did not receive it, because they prefer other things to Christ.

Verses 1 to 6

And so, let’s turn to verses 1 to 6, where the Lord heals this man on the Sabbath day.

Luke sets the scene for us in verse 1. It’s a Sabbath day and the Lord is eating at the home of a prominent Pharisee. It’s not clear why this Pharisee has invited the Lord to his home. After all, whenever we’ve met the Pharisees before in Luke’s gospel, they’ve been criticising the Lord and disapproving of the things he has done. They are not his friends. So, why did this one invite the Lord to his home?

Perhaps the last phrase in verse 1 explains it for us, because Luke tells us that they were watching the Lord carefully. That is to say, they had him under observation. They were keeping an eye on him to see if he did anything which they could use against him. They were ready to pounce on any perceived infraction of God’s law.

And then Luke tells us that there was a man there suffering from dropsy. In other words, he was suffering from fluid retention. There was a build up of fluid in his body tissue. The Lord saw the man and asked the Pharisees and experts in the law, who were keeping an eye on him, whether it was lawful to heal on the Sabbath or not? We’ve seen before that the Pharisees and law experts objected to the Lord healing on the Sabbath day. However, on this occasion they remained silent. And when they did not answer, the Lord went ahead and healed the man before sending him away.

Then the Lord asked them another question about their own practice. When their son or ox falls into a well on the Sabbath day, will you not immediately pull him out? You would, wouldn’t you? You wouldn’t leave your son or ox at the bottom of the well? You’d act immediately to save them. And though the Lord does state his point, you can see what it is, can’t you? The Pharisees and the experts in the law will do what they can to rescue their son or ox even when it’s the Sabbath day; and he — God’s Spirit-Anointed and Conquering King — will do what he can to rescue this man even when it’s the Sabbath day. And so, it makes no sense to criticise him, because what he has just done for this man is not that different from what they will do for a son or ox.

What did they have to say about that? It turns out that they had nothing to say. They remained silent.

Now, what’s the point of this incident? The focus is not so much on the healing itself. By now we’ve seen the Lord heal lots of people and we’re used to it. And so, the point of the incident is in connection with what follows in the rest of the chapter about the great banquet. The Pharisees and experts of the law refuse to come to Christ for salvation, just as the invited guests refused to come to the banquet. And just as the excuses of the invited guests are ridiculous, so the complaints of the Pharisees and experts in the law are ridiculous. They have no real grounds for rejecting the Saviour. Instead of rejecting him, they should have come to him for salvation.

Verses 7 to 14

Let’s turn now to the second part which is verses 7 to 14. And the Lord criticises, first the guests and those like them; and then the host and those like him.

Luke tells us that the Lord noticed how the guests picked the places of honour at the table. And so, we should imagine a table ready to hold the food and lots of empty seats arranged around the table. And the guests are all trying to take the best seats for themselves. These are probably the seats nearest the host, but they would also be seats beside other important guests. They want to be in the best seats and in the seats of honour so that everyone will look up at them. They want to be seen and admired.

And so, the Lord told them a kind of parable or saying. When someone invites you to a wedding feast, don’t take the place of honour. Don’t grab it for yourself. Why not? Because someone more distinguished or important may arrive after you and the host will ask you to give up your seat for the other guest. And if that happens, you’ll be humiliated, won’t you? You’ll be humiliated, because you’ll have to gather your things together and move down the table to take the last remaining seat, which is the very worst seat. And everyone will see your humiliation.

And so, when you’re invited, you should take the worst seat. Take that seat, because that will give the host the opportunity to invite you to take a better seat. In other words, if you humble yourself, the host will exalt you. And everyone will see it. But if you exalt yourself, the host will humble you. And everyone will see it.

That’s good and wise advice for any of us when we’re invited to a party. But the Lord is not really thinking about good etiquette for parties. Since this is a kind of parable, we know that the Lord is talking about something far more important than parties. He’s talking about our standing with God. Take a look at verse 11 which is the conclusion to the parable. The Lord said that everyone who exalts himself will be humbled. Humbled by whom? They will be humbled by God. And everyone who humbles himself will be exalted. Exalted by whom? They will be exalted by God. Some people exalt themselves. Like the Pharisees, they are sure of their own goodness. They boast about their good deeds. They are sure they deserve eternal life. They think they can walk right up to God and look him in the face. But God will humble such proud people who are so sure of themselves and their own goodness. But others are very humble because they’re aware of their sins and shortcomings. They know they have done wrong and they don’t deserve anything from God except for his wrath and curse for all that they have done wrong. They know they can’t walk up to God and look him in the face. Instead they bow their heads before the Lord and they know that all they can do is ask for mercy.

And how will the Lord respond to them? He will exalt them. He will lift them up. He will welcome them to his banquet and he will gladly give them salvation, because, instead of trusting in themselves and their own goodness, they’re trusting in God’s mercy towards them in Christ Jesus, who gave up his life on the cross to make up for all our disobedience and shortcomings.

But then the Lord turned to his host and said to him that when he gives a dinner, he mustn’t invite his friends and family and his rich neighbours. Of course, when the Lord says this, he means that we mustn’t invite our friends and family and rich neighbours only. God is the one who has given us our friends and family and our neighbours. He has given them to us for our good and he has created bonds of love between us. It’s therefore natural for us to want our friends and family and neighbours around us. As John Calvin says, it is not the Lord’s intention to stop us being neighbourly.

However, those who invite their friends and family and neighbours only are not doing anything out of the ordinary. Inviting them is normal behaviour. That’s what we expect somebody to do. That’s what we expect everyone to do. But the Lord expects his people to do more than that. He wants us not only to eat with our friends and family and rich neighbours, but to eat with the poor and the crippled and the lame and the blind. In other words, we’ve not to overlook the little people who cannot repay us. Anyone can love their friends and family. Anyone can love their rich neighbours. It’s no hardship to us to mix with people like that. In fact, we like to mix with such people, because we know that our rich friends might do something nice for us in return. And so, when we do something good for them, we’re really doing something good for ourselves, because we know that they’re likely to repay us in some way. Being kind to them is a kind of investment and we expect to receive a return on our investment some day. But when we’re kind to the little people, when we do good to the poor, when we love the outcasts, when we make a donation to the Presbyterian Children’s Society, for instance, we’re proving that our love is genuine, because we’re prepared to do good to someone even though we won’t receive anything from them in return.

And to encourage our obedience, the Lord reassures us in verse 14 that those who do not overlook the poor and the outcast will be blessed. That is, they will be blessed by God, because he will repay us at the resurrection. He means that God will reward our obedience. And like all of God’s rewards, we do not deserve them and we cannot earn them. God is under no obligation to reward us. But he graciously and freely promises to rewards us, because he is kind and good and he wants to encourage our obedience.

And, of course, the Lord is not asking us to do anything which he does not do himself. When the Lord Jesus was on the earth, he dined with all kinds of people. He mixed with all sorts of people including the poor and the crippled and the lame and the blind as well as notorious sinners and other outcasts from society. He was kind and good to all. And then, he invites all kinds of people to his banquet. That is to say, he gives salvation to all kinds of people. And that leads us to the next part of today’s passage and the parable of the great banquet.

Verses 15 to 24

So, we’re looking at verses 15 to 24 now. One of the other guests pronounces a blessing on those who will eat at the feast in the kingdom of God. He’s thinking of the heavenly banquet which all of God’s people will enjoy in the life to come.

The idea of a heavenly banquet is found in the Old Testament. In Psalm 23 it says that God himself will prepare a table for his people. And in Isaiah 25, the prophet speaks about a feast of rich food which the Lord will prepare for all people: a banquet of aged wine and the best of meats and the finest of wines. And he goes on to say that God will swallow up death for ever and he’ll wipe the tears from our eyes. And so, he’s referring to salvation and eternal life in the presence of God. However, whereas Isaiah said God has prepared the feast for all peoples, the Jews in the time between the Old and New Testaments reinterpreted the idea. Their expectation was that only the righteous and those who are without blemish will be worthy to take part in that heavenly feast. Eternal life will be for people like the Pharisees and the experts in the law, and it’s not for tax collectors and sinners or for the blind and lame. And so, they came to believe that most people will be excluded and only the great and the good will be invited to God’s great banquet.

And so, when the guest in verse 15 blesses the one who will eat at the feast in the kingdom of God, he was probably thinking that the right to eat at the feast was for people like the Pharisees and experts in the law. It was for them only.

And so, the Lord told them a parable about a man who was preparing a great banquet and he invited many guests. When it was time, he sent his servant to tell those who had been invited that everything was now ready and they should come immediately. In those days, you received two invitations to a banquet. After the first invitation was sent out and replies were received, the host would know how much meat to prepare. And when the meat had been cooked, he sent a message — to those who had already accepted the invitation and said they were coming — to say that everything was ready. And so, come now.

However, on this occasion, they all alike began to make excuses. Do you see that in verse 18? All the invited guests made excuses and what follows is only a sample of the excuses which people gave. One said he’d just bought a field and must go and see it. Another said he’d just bought five yoke of oxen and must try them out. Another said he’d just got married and can’t come.

Now remember. These three had already accept the first invitation. They had said they would come. But now, when the food is ready, they refused to come. That by itself was insulting. But what made the insult even worse was the fact that their excuses are ridiculous. One commentator says the first one is like someone saying, ‘I just bought a house and now I’m going to view it’. Who would buy a house without viewing it first? It doesn’t make sense. The second is like someone saying, ‘I’ve just bought a used car and I have to go and test drive it.’ Who would buy a used car without test driving it first? It doesn’t make sense. And the third excuse doesn’t make sense in a Middle Eastern setting because a Middle Eastern man would not put his wife above his social obligations. In other words, all three excuses are ridiculous. They don’t make sense. The guests don’t want to come and so they’re making up lame excuses.

The owner of the house who is hosting the banquet became angry. And rightly so. The invited guests have insulted him. However, their refusal to come does not mean the banquet will not take place. The banquet will proceed without them and the owner of house is determined to fill his house with guests. So, he tells his servant to go into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame. Bring in the outcasts who live in the town.

The servant reports to him in verse 22 that he has done that. The outcasts have been brought to the banquet. But there’s still room for more. And so, the man told his servant to go now to the roads and country lanes outside the town and make them come in. Do you see that in verse 23? ‘Make the people you find there come in.’ The ESV says ‘compel people to come in’. However, he’s not suggesting that the servant should use force. He’s not to coerce people. He means persuade them. Since they live outside the town, they don’t expect to receive an invitation. And when the servant invites them, they’ll think he’s only winding them up and joking. So, convince them. Persuade them. Make them see I’m serious. Make them see that they can come in. Make them see that they are welcome. The owner of the house wants his house to be full. And so, he will fill it with outsiders and none of the invited guests who refused to come will get even a taste of his banquet.

That’s the parable. And what does it mean? God had come to the people of Israel in the person of his Son Jesus Christ and he invited them to receive his salvation. All they had to do in order to receive it was to believe in his Son. But instead of believing in him, and receiving salvation, the Pharisees and experts in the law made all kinds of excuses. For instance, they would not come because the Lord Jesus did not keep the Sabbath laws. Or they would not come because the Lord Jesus was demon-possessed. Or they would not come because the Lord Jesus mixed with tax collectors and sinners. For lots of different reasons they would not trust in Christ, even though everything he did and said made clear to those with eyes to see and ears to hear that he was indeed God’s Spirit-Anointed and Conquering King. They had been invited, but they would not come.

But others came in their place. The poor came. The crippled came. The blind came. The lame came. They came to him because they believed; and he delivered them from their misery. Tax collectors like Zacchaeus came. Sinners like Mary Magdalene came to him. People who had lived a sinful life came to him and he delivered them from their guilt by forgiving them. The Pharisees and experts in the law, the religious people, the leaders, the proud, the rich refused to come. But the sick and the sinners, the little people, the humble, the poor, the weak, came to him. And all who came to him received salvation.

But God saw there was room for more. God saw there was room for more. And just as the owner of the house sent his servant outside the town and into the country, so God has sent his preachers outside Israel and into all the world to tell people everywhere the good news of salvation through faith in his Son. He sends his preachers throughout the world to persuade people that there is room for them if only they will believe in the Saviour. And God’s invitation is a gracious one, because he sends his preachers to those who don’t deserve salvation and who were not expecting it or even hoping for it. He sends his preachers to people who knew nothing about it. In the parable, the people in the country probably didn’t even know there was a banquet until the servant came and told them about it. And there are people all over the world and they don’t know there’s salvation, let alone where it is to be found. But because God is gracious and kind, he sends his preachers into all the world to persuade people everywhere to come and receive the salvation which Christ has accomplished for us by his life and death and resurrection.

God issues his invitation whenever the gospel is proclaimed. He comes to us in the preaching of his word and he says to us: ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’ Everything is now ready, because Christ died for sinners, the righteous for the unrighteous. He took the blame for us. He suffered the punishment we deserve. He gave up his life to make up for what we have done wrong. And now, salvation — the forgiveness of your sins, peace with God, the hope of everlasting life — it’s ready. Come and receive it by trusting in Christ.

Verses 25 to 35

And yet, not everyone will respond to the invitation. And according to verses 25 to 35, they will not respond to the invitation because they prefer other things to Christ.

The Lord says in verse 26: ‘If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.’ When the Lord says ‘hate’ here, he doesn’t mean ‘hate’. He’s using hyperbole. He’s exaggerating. What he means is that we’re to put him — the Lord Jesus Christ — first in our lives. We’re to prefer him to all others. We’re to put him before all other people and all other things.

Think of a man who receives the invitation to the banquet. He’s all set to go. But his wife refuses to come with him. His children don’t want to come either. Neither does his brother and sister. And so, because they don’t want to go, he decides to stay at home too. He’d rather be with them than go to the banquet.

And now, here’s a man who hears the good news of salvation and he’s invited to trust in Christ for salvation. He’s all set to throw himself all in and to believe and to join a church and to start worshipping God on Sundays and to live for Christ during the week. But his wife is not interested. His children are not interested. They will not join him in church. And so, what will he do? He loves the Lord, but he also loves his family. He wants to be with the Lord and his people, but he also wants to be with his family. What does he do? Well, it turns out that he loves his family more. He doesn’t want to offend them. He doesn’t want to alienate them. He wants to stay at home with his family and do what they do on Sundays instead of going to church to worship the Lord. And very soon, his interest in the Saviour wanes and whatever faith he had dies.

Here’s another person who hears the invitation to believe in Christ for salvation. She’s interested. But hang on. She knows that she can’t keep living with her boyfriend if she becomes a Christian. And she doesn’t want to lose him. And because she loves her boyfriend more than the Saviour, she does not accept the invitation.

The Lord is saying to us that we’re not to let anyone or anything stop us from coming to him for salvation. The invitation is made out to everyone. Everyone can come! Whoever believes will be saved. But, sadly, many people do not accept the invitation because they prefer other things — even good things — to the Lord Jesus.

And in verse 27 the Lord speaks about taking up our cross. Following Christ may lead to suffering, because it may lead to divisons in our family and separation from our friends. And there are many who cannot carry their cross and who cannot endure the suffering which Christianity brings into their lives. And they therefore stop following Christ.

The Lord warns us that those who come to him for salvation and who follow him will suffer. There will be trouble in the home and with our friends. And so, we need to count the cost. A builder wants to build a tower. Well, can he afford it? A king wants to fight a battle. Well, can he win? I want to follow Christ. But am I prepared to put up with all the suffering it will entail? Am I prepared to endure trouble and trials? And when following Christ leads to divisions at home, am I prepared to endure it all for the sake of Christ?

The good news is that the Lord does not leave us on our own, because he surrounds us with our fellow believers to encourage and help us; and he comes to us by his Spirit to comfort and strengthen us. And he encourages us with the sure and certain hope that in the end it will all be worth it, because all those who endure and who keep trusting in Christ will one day take their seat at the table of our Lord and they will take part in the heavenly banquet which Christ has prepared for his people. And there, they will join with all of God’s people to celebrate Christ’s victory over sin and death for us.