Luke 14: 16- 24 Dining As A Metaphor

Luke 14: 16- 24 Dining As A Metaphor

He replied to him, "A man gave a great dinner to which he invited many. When the time for the dinner came, he dispatched his servant to say to those invited, 'Come, everything is now ready.' But one by one, they all began to excuse themselves. The first said to him, 'I have purchased a field and must go to examine it; I ask you, consider me excused.' And another said, 'I have purchased five yoke of oxen and am on my way to evaluate them; I ask you, consider me excused.' And another said, 'I have just married a woman, and therefore I cannot come.' The servant went and reported this to his master. Then the master of the house in a rage commanded his servant, 'Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in here the poor and the crippled, the blind and the lame.' The servant reported, 'Sir, your orders have been carried out and still there is room.' The master then ordered the servant, 'Go out to the highways and hedgerows and make people come in that my home may be filled. For, I tell you, none of those men who were invited will taste my dinner.'"

Jesus tells another parable about dining. A man decides to give a dinner. He sends his servants out to invite friends and acquaintances. One by one they make excuses – they are busy with their own lives, their own priorities. This angers the man that invited them so he invites his servants to go back out and invite others – strangers, the lame, the poor, the blind. Still there is room so the master of the house sends his servants out again to force people to come in. He resolves that not only will his house be full but that those originally invited will not get a morsel of that dinner. What is the point of this parable? Is the master God? Are we the friends and acquaintances too busy to take the time to attend his dinner, to be with him? I don’t like to think of God as angry and vengeful, but that is how Jesus represents the Master in this story. Can we hurt God? To the point where he withdraws his invitation to us? Can our indifference, our busyness, our carelessness lose us the opportunity to be with God?

Luke 14:12 – 15 The Poor

Luke 14:12 – 15 The Poor

Then he said to the host who invited him, "When you hold a lunch or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or your wealthy neighbors, in case they may invite you back and you have repayment. Rather, when you hold a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind; blessed indeed will you be because of their inability to repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous." One of his fellow guests on hearing this said to him, "Blessed is the one who will dine in the kingdom of God."

Jesus is sitting down to dinner at somebody’s house. He addresses his host saying whenever you give a dinner do not invite your wealthy friends and neighbors, your family and relatives. They might invite you in return. Instead invite the poor, the lame, the blind, even though they cannot repay you. When I first read this I keyed in on the fact that your friends and relatives are all familiar to you and the others are strangers. I thought Jesus was telling us to get out beyond our comfort zone and meet, mingle and assist those who are different from us. Then I came across the part on payment. I think this was the key point for Jesus. If you have the means to be feeding more than your family, don’t share that bounty only with those who can reciprocate in kind. That only insulates you from the needs in the community around you and keeps your wealth in a small enclosed circle. Spread the (your) wealth Jesus seems to be saying. If you have gifts, be they spiritual or material - get out of your comfort zone. Look to those around you. This is not so easy to do today. I have a tendency to keep myself busy in the routine and distractions of my life. Help me to recognize the opportunities God puts in front of me and act upon them. Amen.

Luke 14:1 – 11 Love vs. Law

Luke 14:1 – 11 Love vs. Law

On a Sabbath he went to dine at the home of one of the leading Pharisees, and the people there were observing him carefully. In front of him there was a man suffering from dropsy. Jesus spoke to the scholars of the law and Pharisees in reply, asking, "Is it lawful to cure on the Sabbath or not?" But they kept silent; so he took the man and, after he had healed him, dismissed him. Then he said to them, "Who among you, if your son or ox 3 falls into a cistern, would not immediately pull him out on the Sabbath day?" But they were unable to answer his question. He told a parable to those who had been invited, noticing how they were choosing the places of honor at the table. "When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet, do not recline at table in the place of honor. A more distinguished guest than you may have been invited by him, and the host who invited both of you may approach you and say, 'Give your place to this man,' and then you would proceed with embarrassment to take the lowest place. Rather, when you are invited, go and take the lowest place so that when the host comes to you he may say, 'My friend, move up to a higher position.' Then you will enjoy the esteem of your companions at the table. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted."

Just in case you missed it earlier, Jesus reiterates his message of the previous chapter. By curing someone on a Sabbath Jesus confirms that an action of love and compassion is more favorable in God’s eyes and “keeping the Sabbath”. His audience here is specifically identified as Pharisees and lawyers, the religious and community leaders of the day. Not only is a loving action more favorable to God than rite and ritual and law, but those who seek status or see themselves as important in the current hierarchy are dangerously deluding themselves. “For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled and he who humbles himself will be exalted”, says Jesus. Humility seems to be much valued in God’s kingdom. I am thinking of another favorite passage of min which lists the “fruits of the spirit” in Galations 6:22 which are love, joy, peace, patient endurance, kindness generosity, faith, mildness, charity and self-control. We must respond to God’s invitation with loving action and with humility.

Luke 13:22 – 30 The Narrow Door

Luke 13:22 – 30 The Narrow Door

He passed through towns and villages, teaching as he went and making his way to Jerusalem. Someone asked him, "Lord, will only a few people be saved?" He answered them, "Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I tell you, will attempt to enter but will not be strong enough. After the master of the house has arisen and locked the door, then will you stand outside knocking and saying, 'Lord, open the door for us.' He will say to you in reply, 'I do not know where you are from.' And you will say, 'We ate and drank in your company and you taught in our streets.' Then he will say to you, 'I do not know where (you) are from. Depart from me, all you evildoers!' And there will be wailing and grinding of teeth when you see Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God and you yourselves cast out. And people will come from the east and the west and from the north and the south and will recline at table in the kingdom of God. For behold, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last."


Jesus continued on his journey through small towns on the way to Jerusalem. What he has to say to the Jews who come to see him is unsettling to say the least. The “chosen people”, Jesus says, are not assured salvation. Many who assumed they will be saved will not be. Complacency and the appearance of being a follower (“We ate and drank in your company. You taught in our streets.”) are insufficient. We must respond and those actions must clearly identify us as Christ’s followers in word and deed. To add even more fuel to the fire, outsiders, that is no- Jews from the north, south east and west are also invited to be saved. Some who are last will be first, and some who were first will be last. Jesus is warned from someone in authority that he is in danger. He foretells his fate – to be slain as have other prophets who were sent to Jerusalem. His desire is to save the people, to gather them safely to himself, but he cannot if people refuse to heed his message.

Luke 13:18 – 21 The Reign of God

Luke 13:18 – 21 The Reign of God

Then he said, "What is the kingdom of God like? To what can I compare it? It is like a mustard seed that a person took and planted in the garden. When it was fully grown, it became a large bush and 'the birds of the sky dwelt in its branches.'" Again he said, "To what shall I compare the kingdom of God? It is like yeast that a woman took and mixed (in) with three measures of wheat flour until the whole batch of dough was leavened."

To what shall I compare the reign of God? To a mustard seed, to yeast, says Jesus. In both cases something really small becomes something really big. But not something that is just small, something that from the outside, anyhow, looks insignificant. It is, however, something that has to grow, something that has to be nurtured. So the reign of God shall grow to have a profound impact on our world. Coming on the heels of the previous scripture that rebuked religious leaders as hypocrites Jesus seems to be saying that the reign of God, although small and seemingly humble to start will grow to life changing and life sustaining proportions with God’s help and our small efforts to nurture it.

Luke 13:10 – 17 The Sabbath Cure

Luke 13:10 – 17 The Sabbath Cure

He was teaching in a synagogue on the Sabbath. And a woman was there who for eighteen years had been crippled by a spirit; she was bent over, completely incapable of standing erect. When Jesus saw her, he called to her and said, "Woman, you are set free of your infirmity." He laid his hands on her, and she at once stood up straight and glorified God. But the leader of the synagogue, indignant that Jesus had cured on the Sabbath, said to the crowd in reply, "There are six days when work should be done. Come on those days to be cured, not on the Sabbath day." The Lord said to him in reply, "Hypocrites! Does not each one of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his ass from the manger and lead it out for watering? This daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has bound for eighteen years now, ought she not to have been set free on the Sabbath day from this bondage?" When he said this, all his adversaries were humiliated; and the whole crowd rejoiced at all the splendid deeds done by him.

In this passage, Jesus cures a woman – on the Sabbath! The chief of the synagogue is highly offended. The Sabbath is supposed to be a day of rest and worship. In my mind this is a case of knee jerk religion. The laws, the rituals, the structure that upholds the religion or at least it’s hierarchy have somehow become more important, at least to this individual, than the people the religion is supposed to minister to. Jesus cuts right through that nonsense. True religion, he seems to be saying, is acting out our faith by loving God and by loving and serving others. Don’t get me wrong – I am a big believer in setting aside the Sabbath or Sunday for worship, rest, family and friends, sharing a meal with loved ones. This world will take everything you’ve got, have you working around the clock, seven days a week, if you will let it. How wise our Father was to ask us to set aside the Sabbath/Sunday one day a week for something different, for something better. We desperately need that day to rest and recoup, and be present to Him and to those we love.

Luke 13: 1 – 9 Guilt by Association

Luke 13: 1 – 9 Guilt by Association

At that time some people who were present there told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with the blood of their sacrifices. He said to them in reply, "Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were greater sinners than all other Galileans? By no means! But I tell you, if you do not repent, you will all perish as they did! Or those eighteen people who were killed when the tower at Siloam fell on them --do you think they were more guilty than everyone else who lived in Jerusalem? By no means! But I tell you, if you do not repent, you will all perish as they did!" And he told them this parable: "There once was a person who had a fig tree planted in his orchard, and when he came in search of fruit on it but found none, he said to the gardener, 'For three years now I have come in search of fruit on this fig tree but have found none. (So) cut it down. Why should it exhaust the soil?' He said to him in reply, 'Sir, leave it for this year also, and I shall cultivate the ground around it and fertilize it; it may bear fruit in the future. If not you can cut it down.'"

Who is more guilty? Those who are directly involved in a bad situation or those nearby? Those nearby have maybe just escaped for the moment. Unless they break free of what is going on around them, unless they in Jesus’ words “reform”, their judgment is only delayed, not done away with. This in another of Jesus “signs of the times” warnings. Look around says Jesus. See where you are heading, if you allow yourself to be swept along with the crowd. He finishes with a short parable about a barren fig tree. A farmer had a fig tree that had not produced one fig in three years. He is ready to throw in the towel and cut it down. But his laborer asks for a little more time- to fertilize it, to cultivate it, to give it one more chance to produce. Apparently time and patience are not infinite, for either fruit trees or people.

Luke 12: 49 – 59 Trouble Maker

Luke 12: 49 – 59 Trouble Maker

"I have come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it were already blazing! There is a baptism with which I must be baptized, and how great is my anguish until it is accomplished! Do you think that I have come to establish peace on the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. From now on a household of five will be divided, three against two and two against three; a father will be divided against his son and a son against his father, a mother against her daughter and a daughter against her mother, a mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law." He also said to the crowds, "When you see (a) cloud rising in the west you say immediately that it is going to rain--and so it does; and when you notice that the wind is blowing from the south you say that it is going to be hot--and so it is. You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and the sky; why do you not know how to interpret the present time? Why do you not judge for yourselves what is right? If you are to go with your opponent before a magistrate, make an effort to settle the matter on the way; otherwise your opponent will turn you over to the judge, and the judge hand you over to the constable, and the constable throw you into prison. I say to you, you will not be released until you have paid the last penny.”

Jesus days, “I have come to light a fire on the earth”. What??? What happened to the guy who spoke about not breaking a bruised reed or quenching a smoldering wick? Jesus says he has come to sow division between mother and daughter, father and son, etc. This is Jesus as the revolutionary, the incendiary. It is not a Jesus I am used to thinking about. I seem to have developed a preference for the patient, wise, loving Jesus. The one who speaks of mercy and forgiveness, love and peace. What is happening? Has Jesus just reached the end of his rope? Does he need a vacation? A few days off? I think this is his acknowledgement that what he is preaching goes against the status quo, hence father vs. son. What he is calling for is going to upset established traditions and require new ways of thinking and being. It is not easy to break people out of their habits and ask them to set up new ones – feelings are going to be hurt, relationships broken up, patterns changed. Those tied to the old ways are going to be resentful, maybe even hostile to those trying to break free of old ways and follow Jesus’ new path. Jesus knows what is in his future, what his path will cost him and his followers. He says, “How I wish the blaze were ignited. What anguish I feel until it is over!” His humanity shows through in his anxiety, but so too his disillusionment. If I look around today at our status quo, our present culture, I can see how difficult it would be to break free. I can also see how necessary it is to follow Jesus’ path. Our world, our culture is heading in a dangerous, harmful direction. Jesus closes by saying - we know better. We need to “judge for ourselves what is right”. We already know deep in our hearts what is right. If we leave it up to “the law”, to outside “judges” we have surrendered our freedom and our responsibility. Jesus calls us to live according to God’s spirit within us and not according to outside laws.