The Banquet

Luke 14:1-27

Have you ever been to a banquet so fancy that you feel awkward? You aren’t sure when to eat, which fork to use, and so on? Or if you are a parent with children, you and your family are invited to someone’s nice home and you worry not only about your behavior, but even more about those of your children? We had an experience like this during our recent trip to Florida. We were eating with strangers, and of all things, they served spaghetti with sauce made from scratch – the messiest meal known to man. I had known in advance they were serving spaghetti, but there was a formality to this occasion – their kids were so well behaved – and I hadn’t thought through the implications of a spaghetti meal – that as we sat down to dinner, well, let’s just say it was a stressful experience. When it comes to a stressful eating experience, though, it is hard to imagine something more intense than the meal described in Luke 14.

One Sabbath, when Jesus went to eat in the house of a prominent Pharisee, He was being carefully watched. There in front of Him was a man suffering from dropsy. Jesus asked the Pharisees and experts in the law, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath or not?" But they remained silent. So taking hold of the man, He healed him and sent him away. – Luke 14:1-4

A tradition had developed among the Pharisees of having fine Sabbath meals. Because it was the Sabbath, food was precooked (before the Sabbath) and served cold, but there was no limit as to how fancy or nice the meal could be. To be a “prominent” Pharisee was a lot like being in the most “in” crowd in High School. It meant you were popular, and it also meant you had power. If you were invited to such a meal, normally it was expected that you, when you had your meal like this, would invite them back. Kind of like how Birthday Party invitations for little children can get out of hand, the Sabbath dinner easily became a major effort and expense for all of the in crowd.

Now we aren’t told why Jesus was invited to this particular party, but I don’t think it was because they were inviting Jesus to be a part of their little clique. There had already been a long history of conflict between Jesus and the Pharisees, and the details of this exchange reveal a coldness that is not in keeping with genuine interest. I also wonder why the man with dropsy was there. There are a number of possible illnesses that “dropsy” could refer to, but the Greek word hydropikos refers to an accumulation of fluid, or swelling, in the body. Severe swelling could be a sign of congestive heart failure or liver or kidney disease – in each case, something quite serious. Because the Pharisees tended to believe that illness was a sign of sin or of God’s punishment, it is quite possible that this man was no more a part of the in crowd than Jesus. In fact, they might have invited him just to see what Jesus would do.

The passage says that Jesus was being carefully watched. I don’t think this means they were eager disciples, hanging on His every word. Instead, I think it means that they were watching Him to see if they could find grounds to charge Him with something, or to find validation of their already negative opinions of Him.

Jesus is the one to break the awkward silence. There is almost a kind of humor here, as Jesus asks, “So guys, is it lawful to heal him today or not? I know what you are thinking!” Now, at this point, what would be a polite response? “Well, Jesus, I know you have healed on the Sabbath before, but I think it is in clear violation of the command in the Ten Commandments to keep the Sabbath day holy. Can you explain to me why you think otherwise?” Even an “I don’t know. Why don’t you tell us!” would be better than cold silence. They may have set up the whole situation, finding the sickest looking guy they could drag in out of the streets just to see what Jesus would do. Cold silence. Talk about an awkward dinner party!

After giving them an ample chance to reply, Jesus gets right to business and heals the man. It must have been an awesome sight to see, literally watching the man look healthier and healthier, watching his swelling go down, watching the giant smile forming on his face, the look of total gratitude to Jesus. You would think that being a witness to such a miracle would melt even the hardest heart, but there is no sign of this.

Notice that Jesus sent the man home. Ironic, isn’t it, that after receiving something that would really make that man want to celebrate, Jesus sends him away from this “super-party” because he wouldn’t find any celebration here! This of course doesn’t endear Jesus to the Pharisees any more than their silent treatment endeared them to Jesus. Again, what an awkward dinner party!

Then He asked them, "If one of you has a son or an ox that falls into a well on the Sabbath day, will you not immediately pull him out?" And they had nothing to say. – Luke 14:5-6

Jesus does not leave it at that. He points out the extreme hypocrisy of their stance by pointing out that they would of course rescue their child even on the Sabbath, and not only a precious child, but even a farm animal! How much more, then, is it appropriate for Messiah Jesus to rescue one of His “sheep” whom He deeply loves! But once again, the Pharisees act like they didn’t even hear the question. You know this is a response I expect from a 5 year old when they are caught doing something wrong and don’t know what to say (because there is no way to get out of it). This is not the response you expect from a room of the power elite, the leaders of their people! I bet at a normal dinner party, it was so noisy that everyone had to shout just to be heard! And I bet they never ran out of things to talk about.  

When He noticed how the guests picked the places of honor at the table, He told them this parable: "When someone invites you to a wedding feast, do not take the place of honor, for a person more distinguished than you may have been invited. If so, the host who invited both of you will come and say to you, 'Give this man your seat.' Then, humiliated, you will have to take the least important place. – Luke 14:7-9

But when you are invited, take the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he will say to you, 'Friend, move up to a better place.' Then you will be honored in the presence of all your fellow guests. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted." – Luke 14:10-11

The high honor accorded to sitting close to the host in Jewish dinner parties was similar to that of the general Roman culture. The highest honor was to sit at the left and the right of the host. Jesus noticed people hurrying to get close to the host, and uses this as an opportunity to give this parable. The fact that Luke tells us this is a parable means that Jesus is talking about more than just dinner parties.

There is some humor here in the fact that Jesus is saying this in the presence of people who have just doing this very thing. I can imagine people pointing at some of those close to the host’s position and giggling, and I can imagine some of those being pointed at turning quite red in the face. Perhaps Jesus even looked right at those people as He said this!

Jesus tells them, don’t rush for the important seats, but take the humblest seats, for it is much better to be invited “up” than it is to be invited “down.” But He is talking about more than just dinner parties – in general, He is saying, do not seek glory or honor, but seek the opposite. Seek to serve. Seek to do what is right anonymously. God will see, and He will honor those who have humbled themselves when the time is right – most likely, in the eternal life to come.

Then Jesus said to his host, "When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous." – Luke 14:12-14

Now that Jesus has finished rebuking the guests at this party, He moves on to the host. Jesus is saying out in the open one of those things that everybody knows but nobody is supposed to say – that this whole dinner party thing is about maintaining or improving your social position. Jesus suggests that instead of continuing this little game, to really show love and compassion and invite the “losers” of the world. Of course, if they do this, their socialite friends may not understand, and indeed, may include them as losers as well.

I just can’t get over how much this reminds me of high school cliques! If you are nice to the geeks, that makes you a geek too. Now this kind of pettiness and social insanity is bad enough in high school, but for it to continue among much older adults at first seems shocking. How can they do that?! But the reality is that this goes on all the time in the adult world as well. If you don’t participate in the behavior of a group, you are branded an outcast. This happens among lawyers who go out to drink after work, among doctors who play golf, among professors who are expected to show up at various social functions, among fast food employees who smoke, and on and on.

Jesus’ message here goes way beyond dinner parties. He is really speaking about our entire social lives. Note that Jesus is not saying that you cannot have a social life. What He is saying is that our social lives should not be the focus of our lives.

There is such a thing as a herd mentality, and it tends to bring people down to the lowest common denominator. Why do you think nobody spoke when Jesus asked His questions? Nobody spoke because the people looked up to as leaders didn’t speak. When a leader thinks it is OK or funny to be rude, the followers go along. Jesus is saying to them and to us, don’t be a follower! Be a leader! Be bold and do what is good, what is loving, what is compassionate, what is right.

How radical to give a dinner party for the poor, crippled, lame, and blind! How radical to treat the unpopular as guests of honor! To do this requires real leadership. It requires that you don’t care what others think of you. It requires that you be willing to give up your “membership card” in the “in” crowd.

Most of you have heard the story of how as a relatively young Christian I ended up volunteering at a homeless shelter one night a week while I was a graduate student at the University of Illinois. I will briefly repeat some of the highlights. After several years of going home for Christmas, as a young Christian in a Jewish family, I soon decided that this was the wrong time of year to go home for a visit. So I decided that the next winter break I would stay in Illinois. Well, I knew that everyone left town during the break, so I felt kind of sorry for myself, and rather dejectedly prayed that maybe I could “volunteer in a soup kitchen or something.” Well, I soon learned that the Urbana mission conference sponsored by Intervarsity was to be held that winter break, and that they needed hundreds of volunteers for this huge conference, so I signed up for several days. The first day, I was in a human chain of volunteers that were unloading semi-trucks filled with materials, especially books, for the conference. We each picked up the load from a person behind us and passed it to the person in front of us for an hour or two and in this way we rapidly unloaded thousands of pounds of books. Well one of the people right next to me was a “simple” Christian man named Gary Baker. For the whole time we unloaded the trucks, he never ceased telling me all about the local Salvation Army Homeless Men’s Shelter. He mentioned over and over their great need for volunteers. He explained that they had a soup kitchen. He talked about how God had used the shelter to change his life. And on and on. And the whole time I was almost literally in pain. It was as if God was stabbing me with some unseen dagger and saying, “Go! Do it!” I might have been quick to obey if it weren’t for me asking if it was entirely safe, and he replying with “Safe? No, it’s not safe! The police come out about once a week. Once, some guy brought a knife in and stabbed some people! And there’s this guy that’s been there longer than anyone else, and we all think he’s demon possessed! Some people think he killed someone.” And on and on.

Anyway, despite God’s knife of pain, I put off going to the shelter for about a month. That whole time, I felt the call – “Go! Do it!” – but tried to ignore it. When I absolutely couldn’t take it any more, I went. One of the first people I met was Tom Suchy, the man who has since gone on to become a missionary to Mongolia, the man whose church Bob Mussro and I went to serve a few years ago. In addition to Tom, as I was given a brief tour of the shelter, feeling thoughts of inadequacy and fear for my safety, there was this petite, cute, Asian girl up in the office wagging her finger at a big scary looking homeless guy, and this guy was actually pleading with her to let him off the hook. And I thought, “if she can work here,” it must not be so bad. Later on I learned the name of this cute girl – Mimi. Tom thought we would make a good couple, and without telling either of us, began to pray regularly that we would fall in love and get married! As you can see, God answered that prayer!

Did I display leadership in doing this? Well, for the Christian, leadership is really “followership.” A Christian leader doesn’t lead on His own initiative, but listens to the Lord and does what He says. I wish I could say I have always done this – I certainly haven’t. But I am forever thankful that for that one time, I followed. Was there a price for me to pay in my “social network”? A little. When some of my fellow graduate students asked me to go out on a Monday night, and I told them what I did on Monday nights, they looked at me as if I lived on the moon. Even some members of my church had doubts about what I was doing.

Now do you think any of the Pharisees actually took Jesus’ advice and held a dinner party for the people who were the bottom rung of the social ladder? I doubt it. But this is not surprising, for their hearts were not captured by the love of God; they were not in any way disciples of Jesus Christ.

When one of those at the table with Him heard this, he said to Jesus, "Blessed is the man who will eat at the feast in the kingdom of God."  Jesus replied: "A certain man was preparing a great banquet and invited many guests. At the time of the banquet he sent his servant to tell those who had been invited, 'Come, for everything is now ready.' – Luke 14:15-17

I’m not quite sure what to make of the comment of the person who says “Blessed is the man…” Is He a peacemaker? Trying to get everyone to cool down? Trying to reduce the tension? It’s a true enough statement, but other than being related to banquets, it sure doesn’t seem to relate to the topic at hand. Jesus uses the comment to go into one of my favorite parables.

At the time of Jesus, a banquet invitation was two-fold. First, some number of days ahead of time, people are invited and asked if they will come. There is a general expectation that the banquet will be “soon,” but an exact day is not given due to uncertainties in how long it will take to prepare. But once you say “yes” to the first invitation, it is a huge breach of custom to say “no” to the second invitation, which is really not an invitation at all, but simply a notice that the feast will be that evening. To not come after saying yes to the first invitation was a huge insult to the host. For multiple people to make excuses not to come implies that people have talked and have decided to blackball or shame the host in a concerted effort.

"But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said, 'I have just bought a field, and I must go and see it. Please excuse me.'  "Another said, 'I have just bought five yoke of oxen, and I'm on my way to try them out. Please excuse me.'  "Still another said, 'I just got married, so I can't come.' – Luke 14:18-20

I’m not sure I need to point this out, but these are really, really lame excuses. The people hearing the parable might have assumed they were lies. Who would buy a field without checking it out first? And who would buy five yoke of oxen without testing them out first? And who would not know they were going to get married when the first invitation came along?

I believe there is also some humor here in the parallelism between the three excuses. The first says he has this new field and wants to check it out. The second says he has this new yoke of oxen and he wants to check them out. The third says he has this new wife and, well, he really wants to, well, you get the idea.

"The servant came back and reported this to his master. Then the owner of the house became angry and ordered his servant, 'Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame.'   'Sir,' the servant said, 'what you ordered has been done, but there is still room.' – Luke 14:21-22

The owner is angry because he has been insulted. The behavior of his guests is truly outrageous. They could have politely refused the first invitation. But now the food has been cooked. And what is going on? Why this mass defection? But the master will not give up in embarrassment. He will have his party! Notice that this is the identical list of people described back in verse 13. But even this group doesn’t fill the place up.

"Then the master told his servant, 'Go out to the roads and country lanes and make them come in, so that my house will be full. I tell you, not one of those men who were invited will get a taste of my banquet.' " – Luke 14:23-24

Now some of these people out in country may have been respectable people who just happened to live out of the city, but implied in this command is that some of these people would be those who were banned from the city – people like lepers. And in the parable, the master commands the servant to “make” them come in – to compel them to come. Politeness would dictate that a poor person would graciously thank the servant for the invitation but still graciously decline. But the master told his servant to say, “No, my master really means it! He insists! He would love you to come!” The servant would not take “no” for an answer. Still hurt and angry, the master will have a successful party, but none of those originally invited will take part in it!

So what does the parable mean? Well I think pretty clearly it is directed at the very Pharisees who have treated Jesus so rudely during this dinner party, as well as others like them. The invitation to the banquet is like the invitation to put your faith in Christ – the gospel invitation. Who are the downtrodden people in the city and then in the country? Well, from a Jewish perspective, they are us! In God’s eyes, we are the bottom of the barrel. We are the last people you would ever expect to be invited to the wedding feast of the Lamb! It is only because of God’s love, because of His grace, and because of His sacrifice, that we have any business standing in His presence at all. So we are the poor, crippled, blind and lame. We are those “from the country.”

Why does God invite us to His table? Is it because it will improve His social standing? Will it make God part of the “in” crowd? How ridiculous! God does it because He loved us. “He came to that which was His own, but His own did not receive Him. Yet to all who received Him, to those who believed in His Name, He gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God.” – John 1:11-13.

In this parable we are not only poor, crippled, blind and lame, or those from the country. If we have accepted His invitation, then we are also His servants who invite people to come. We are to urge people to come – in effect, not to take “no” for an answer. Now we need to be careful not to read too much into the parable – God has not “written off” the Jews, or I would not be here. God still invites everyone to the banquet. There is no-one we should exclude from the invitation list. All are invited.

Now if you are His servants, those who have accepted His invitation, are you His modern-day disciples? Well, we are supposed to be. That is Jesus’ intention. But what does it mean to be a disciple? Jesus shares a few thoughts about this in the next several verses.

Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them He said: "If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters—yes, even his own life—he cannot be My disciple. And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow Me cannot be My disciple. – Luke 14:25-27

It can take a lifetime to really understand and learn what it means to carry out these verses. Do you realize just how shocking these verses were to the crowds following Jesus, to those who were hoping to be healed or even just to see another miracle? To those who simply wanted to see more fireworks between Jesus and the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law?

Does Jesus literally want us to hate our families? Of course not. “If anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for his immediate family, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.” – I Tim. 5:8. We are to love our families. But to be Jesus’ disciple, this love for our families should look like hate in comparison to our love for Him.

And we tend to gloss over the next part – “even his own life.” In comparison to our love for Jesus, our love for ourselves should look like hate. And Jesus goes on with the shocking statement “And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow Me cannot be My disciple.” Jesus said something similar back in Luke 9:23. What does it mean to carry a cross? It means we die to self. We die to self. Did Jesus want to be condemned to death by crucifixion as a common criminal? No. Remember how He prayed in the garden. But He chose to do it, because God the Father asked it of Him. He died to self.

Dieing to self is a non-optional part of the Christian life, if we truly desire to love Jesus and serve Him. I think it should also be a daily part of the Christian life – the passage back in Luke 9 even uses the word “daily.” If you are finding the Christian life difficult because you are tackling a big problem in your life, and you are battling yourself over doing what you know you should do, then be encouraged! You are learning to die to self. You are being His disciple! You are taking up your cross and following Him! This is good!

Here are just a few examples of what it might mean to die to self for you. If you have realized that you need to change the whole way you think about your finances and live a disciplined, balanced financial life, and as you are getting into it you are starting to realize how hard it is, that you are your own worst enemy, then be encouraged! You are learning to die to self. This is good! If you have realized that your marriage has serious issues that just have to be addressed, that there is a part of the problem that is Y-O-U you, and that changing Y-O-U is extremely difficult but needs to be done, then be encouraged! You are learning to die to self. You are being His disciple! You are taking up your cross and following Him. If you have come to realize that you have a problem with lust, and that part of the solution for you is giving up movies, or video games, or something else that you really love, and that you are your own worst enemy, then be encouraged! You are learning to die to self. You are taking up your cross and following Him.

For me, my battle is learning to die to professional aspirations. Compared to some of the other things I have described, I think “this should not be hard.” And probably for many of you, this wouldn’t be hard. But for me, a perennial overachiever, it is extremely hard. There is a part of me that needs to die that I have relied on for my whole life! I don’t want to let it go. I feel like I need it to be me. But I should be encouraged. I am learning to die to self. I am taking up my cross and following Him.

Is there something that you need to die to that you haven’t started to die to yet? Are you in the thick of the battle trying to die to self in an area but it seems like you are losing, like you love yourself too much? Fred and I would love to be in prayer for you. Write down what it is that you are battling. You can even write it down anonymously if you like – God will be able to sort it all out. But be encouraged! You are following Jesus. It is supposed to be hard. If it was hard for Jesus, we can be sure it will be hard for us. But it is worth it. Jesus is worth it. Remember that we have seats to the wedding supper of the Lamb, to the banquet of all banquets, and we are the guests of honor. Undeserving? Absolutely!  But we are the church, the bride of Christ.