A. Jesus Christ was the most masterful teacher the world
has ever known. His teachings were
perfectly crafted to His listeners and their situations.
B. The parables taught in Luke 14:1-24 are examples of
this aspect of our Lord. Let us consider
them here.
II. SETTING -- LUKE 14:1-6
A. Jesus entered the house of a Pharisee on a Sabbath to
eat bread.
1.
This particular
Pharisee was one of their leaders, which means that he was likely a member of
the Sanhedrin. This is the council that
would later decide to demand the crucifixion of Jesus.
2.
Notice that Jesus
associated with people from every walk of life, from the lowest of sinners
(Matt. 9:10-11) to the highest ranking members of Jewish society.
3.
The Pharisees
were watching Him closely. Typically,
they were looking for a reason to accuse Him of sin, such as healing on the
Sabbath, which they considered to be a violation (Luke 6:1-11)
B. Knowing that the Pharisees were watching Him, Jesus
put them to silence by His words and deeds.
1.
When Jesus asked
them whether it was lawful to heal on the Sabbath, they were silent. The question confounded them because healing
was an indisputably good and miraculous feat.
How could they declare that it was unlawful under any circumstances?
2.
Jesus pressed the
question when before their eyes He healed a man who suffered from dropsy. How could they accuse a Man who demonstrated
the great power of God?
3.
He exposed their
hypocrisy with a question that showed how they themselves would be willing to
work on the Sabbath to save a son or an ox.
Why then should He not have mercy on the sick by healing on a Sabbath?
III. THE PARABLE OF THE AMBITIOUS GUEST -- LUKE 14:7-14
A. The Lord was prompted to give this parable because the
guests were seeking places of honor at the table.
1.
Apparently, all
of the guests were attempting to honor themselves. This was typical among the Pharisees (Matt.
23:6).
2.
Although the text
does not say, we can safely assume that Jesus, who is the Lord of heaven and
earth, was seated in the lowest place at the table.
B. The Lord's first lesson teaches a paradox: be humble
in order to be exalted.
1.
This lesson is
called a parable in verse 7, but it is presented as direct instruction. Rather than taking a place of honor and
risking the humiliation of being told to move down, Jesus taught them to take
the last place so that they might be told to move up and thus receive honor.
2.
The lesson is
summarized in verse 11: "For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and
he who humbles himself will be exalted."
3.
This lesson is
common in the word of God (Matt. 23:12; Luke 18:14; Jas. 4:10; 1Pet. 5:6).
4.
The ultimate
demonstration of this is in Christ Himself, who "humbled Himself by becoming
obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore also God highly exalted Him, and
bestowed on Him the name which is above every name" (Phil. 2:8-9).
C. The Lord's second lesson teaches about motives: seek
rewards from God rather than from men.
1.
The Lord's first
lesson applied to the guests, but this lesson was directed toward the host.
2.
A man might give
a dinner or offer some other benefit to others so that they might return the
favor and do the same for him. Jesus
rejected this self-serving, worldly motivation.
3.
Instead, the Lord
said to invite those persons who could not repay. In this way, the reward for such a gesture
would be given not by men but by God "at the resurrection of the righteous."
4.
Further study on
this theme can be found in Matthew 6:1-18.
IV. THE PARABLE OF THE GREAT SUPPER -- LUKE 14:15-24
A. This parable was prompted by the comment of one of the
dinner guests.
1.
When this guest
heard Christ's words, he said, "Blessed is everyone who shall eat bread in the
kingdom of God!"
2.
His statement was
true, but the difficulty is found in convincing men to accept the invitation to
come into the kingdom. The Lord
demonstrated this with His next parable.
B. In the parable, a man gave a grand banquet, but his
invited guests excused themselves from coming.
Therefore, he invited many others to fill his house.
1.
The excuses given
by the invited guests were insufficient.
The guests simply did not value the opportunity to come to the feast, so
they created excuses for themselves.
2.
The master was
angry, for his invited guests had insulted him by refusing his gracious gesture
and despising his considerable effort to honor them.
3.
Therefore, the
master sent his slave to invite "the poor and crippled and blind and lame" (v.
21).
a. Notice that these are exactly the same persons whom
Jesus said to invite in verse 13.
b. These guests had nothing to offer, but they did have
the good sense to value the invitation to the feast. They accepted the invitation rather than
making excuses like the others.
4.
When there was
yet more room at the banquet, the master commanded his slave to bring guests
from "the highways and along the hedges...so that my house may be filled" (v.
23).
5.
The final word of
the master is a judgment on those who were first invited.
a. He said, "For I tell you, none of those men who were
invited shall taste of my dinner" (v. 24).
b. This judgment was determined not by the master but by
the invited guests. They chose to refuse
the invitation and miss the dinner.
C. Consider the lessons from this parable concerning the
kingdom of God.
1.
For the Pharisees
who were in the presence of Jesus, the parable corrected their false
understanding of the kingdom of God.
a. The Pharisees believed that their entrance to the
kingdom was guaranteed because of their elite standing among the Jews. They did not see that by rejecting Jesus they
were refusing to accept the invitation into the kingdom.
b. The Pharisees also believed that the sinners in their
society could never enter the kingdom.
However, many of the sinners, tax-gatherers, and harlots (represented by
the poor, crippled, blind, and lame in the parable) believed in Jesus and thus
accepted the invitation into the kingdom.
c.
Not only did many
sinners from among the Jews gain entrance into the kingdom through Jesus, but
later many from among the Gentiles did as well (represented by those from the
highways and along the hedges in the parable).
2.
For all people,
the parable teaches not to make excuses for refusing an invitation into God's
kingdom.
a. Many excuses are made by those who refuse to obey the
gospel of Christ and thus gain entrance into the kingdom. They say, "I'll wait," "I'm too busy," "I'll
find another way," or some other excuse.
b. However, no excuse will be accepted. Just as the master in the parable was angered
by his guests' insufficient excuses, so also with the Lord be angered (2Thess.
1:8), for He made the invitation at immeasurable cost to Himself (Mark 10:45;
1Pet. 1:18-19).
3.
Another lesson is
that man seals his own judgment by the way he responds to Christ's invitation.
a. Just as those who refused the invitation of the master
chose not to attend the dinner, so also those who reject Christ judge themselves
to be unworthy of the kingdom.
i.
This
self-judgment is made when one rejects the word of God concerning Christ.
ii.
Consider the
words of Paul and Barnabas to the Jews at Antioch of Pisidia: "It was necessary
that the word of God be spoken to you first; since you repudiate it and judge
yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we are turning to the Gentiles."
b. Just as those who excused themselves from the dinner would
never taste of it, so also those who reject Christ will never have a place in
His kingdom.
i.
There will not be
a second chance. In John 8:21, Jesus
said, "I go away, and you will seek Me, and will die in your sin; where I am
going, you cannot come."
ii.
The time to
accept an invitation into the kingdom is now.
Again, Jesus said, "Therefore I said to you that you will die in your
sins; for unless you believe that I am He, you will die in your sins" (John
8:24).
V. CONCLUSION
A. Today, we are the listeners of Christ's words, and His
lessons are still perfectly crafted to suit our needs.
B. Therefore, let us learn from our Lord the lessons of
humility, pure spiritual motives, and acceptance of Christ and His invitation
into the kingdom of God.
