DINING WITH A PHARISEE
SABBATH HEALING AND THREE LESSONS SUGGESTED BY THE EVENT
Probably Peræa
LUKE 14:1-24
The Fourfold Gospel provides a bit of historical background on the customs of banquets:
And he sent forth his servant at supper time to say to them that were bidden, Come; for all things are now ready. Luke 14:17
"The custom of sending a second invitation at the supper hour is a very old one (Esth. 5:8; 6:14), and is still observed."-Fourfold
"The triclinia, or Grecian table, then in use had three
sections which were placed together so as to form a flatbottomed letter U. The space enclosed by the table was not
occupied. It was left vacant that the servants might enter it
and attend to the wants of the guests who reclined around
the outer margin of the table. The central seat of each of
these three sections were deemed a place of honor. This
struggle for precedence was a small ambition, but many of
the ambitions of our day are equally small." -Fourfold
"Thus the things of the earth seem new and sweet in comparison with the gospel invitation. Again, all the excuses are trifling, for the parable is intended to teach that men forego their rights to heaven for trifles."-Fourfold
"What I'm saying is, If you walk around with your nose in the air, you're going to end up flat on your face. But if you're content to be simply yourself, you will become more than yourself."
-Luke 14:11 The Message
"Invite some people who never get invited out, the misfits from the wrong side of the tracks. You'll be—and experience—a blessing. They won't be able to return the favor, but the favor will be returned—oh, how it will be returned!—at the resurrection of God's people." -Luke 14:13-14 The Message
"And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled." Luke 14:23
I think that in reading this interaction, it's easy to interpret it woodenly and conclude that we should be inviting the homeless and hungry to our parties. Truthfully, the though makes me wince but not because I don't have mercy for that community. Instead, it causes me to pull back because I have some knowledge of the complexity of that community and their needs. These needs are not as simple as food and clothing. Although they need these basic things, from my experience with a local Christian charity, I know that they have many food resources funded and provided by both Christian and secular groups. Food is not the problem.
Another thought is that I have no relational connection with this community and would have to pour myself into a focused ministry to create one. Again, it's not that I don't think that people and the Church should take pains to connect to this community, but more that I don't think I am the one particularly effective at making this connection. I have a specific skill gifting and energy level that makes me able to best minister to a particular group or groups of people. I think this is the case for all Christians.
Also, I suspect our current culture is structured differently than Jesus' culture. This seems a reasonable conclusion based on other difference in politics, social structure, and community that I do have some knowledge about. I wish I had a better understanding of the social welfare system in this culture and how they provided for the poor and needy. The context might help me understand better precisely what Jesus is urging here.
As he's using a parable, I think it's fair to conclude that we are not just talking about social circles and food, but about spiritual poverty and alienation from community. This angle gives me a much broader circle to think about in my own life. Who feels alienated in my circle of friends? Who struggles with spiritual emptiness?
And, who might "come to dinner" if invited? This is a part of the teaching as well. The self-satisfied had excuses. I believe some of the people who would quality as "officially" poor or homeless that are in a sense self-satisfied with their decisions and life. It is our job to invite those who are NOT self-satisfied, the seekers, the misfits, the ones open to something different...
Do not think too highly of yourself, that you are superior to others who struggle:
"With regard to our inferiors, humility consists in assuming to ourselves no more than the difference of men’s circumstances, and the performance of their respective duties, for preserving the regularity and good order of the world, necessarily requires." -BI
If the advantages of our civil stations in the world tempt us to proud and haughty behaviour, we may do well to consider that argument of Job 31:13 : “If I did despise the cause of my manservant or of my maidservant when they contended with me, what then shall I do when God riseth up?” And Job 34:19 : “He accepteth not the persons of princes, nor regardeth the rich more than the poor; for they are all the work of His hands.” Which same argument is urged also by the wise man: “He that oppresseth the poor reproacheth his Maker” (Pro_14:31). (S. Clarke, D. D.)
The humble soul is like the violet, which grows low, hangs the head downwards, and hides itself with its own leaves; and were it not that the fragrant smell of his many graces discovered him to the world, he would choose to live and die in secrecy. (Sunday Teachers’ Treasury.)
Our status and position in life is not because we are special or better; it is a gift of God:
"God the true disposer of men
If God is really the King of the earth, there can be no use in any one setting up himself. If God is really the King of the earth, those who set up themselves must be certain to be brought down from their high thoughts and high assumptions sooner or later. For if God is really the King of the earth, He must be the one to set people up, and not they themselves. There is no blinding God, no hiding from God, no cheating God, just as there is no flattering God. He knows what each and every one of us is fit for. He knows what each and every one of us is worth; and what is more, He knows what we ought to know, that each and every one of us is worth nothing without Him. Therefore there is no use pretending to be better than we are. -C. Kingsley
We have a distinct responsibility to help the different and needy:
"THE RELATION OF GOD TO THE POOR. There is a strange mingling of terror and tenderness in God’s language in relation to the poor; terror towards their oppressors tenderness towards themselves. Take the former Pro_17:5;Isa_10:2; Jer_22:13; Amo_5:11; etc.).
"Whoever mocks the poor insults his Maker; he who is glad at calamity will not go unpunished." -Proverbs 17:5
"Woe to those who decree iniquitous decrees, and the writers who keep writing oppression, to turn aside the needy from justice and to rob the poor of my people of their right, that widows may be their spoil, and that they may make the fatherless their prey!"-Isaiah 10:1-2
“Woe to him who builds his house by unrighteousness, and his upper rooms by injustice, who makes his neighbor serve him for nothing and does not give him his wages, who says, ‘I will build myself a great house with spacious upper rooms,’ who cuts out windows for it, paneling it with cedar and painting it with vermilion. Do you think you are a king because you compete in cedar? Did not your father eat and drink and do justice and righteousness? Then it was well with him. He judged the cause of the poor and needy; then it was well. Is not this to know me? declares the LORD." -Jeremiah 22:13-16
"Therefore because you trample on the poor and you exact taxes of grain from him, you have built houses of hewn stone, but you shall not dwell in them; you have planted pleasant vineyards, but you shall not drink their wine." Amos 5:11"Such are some of the sentences of fire in which God speaks of the oppressor of the poor. We now turn from terror to tenderness. We shall hear how God speaks of the poor themselves. The lips that spoke in fire now quiver with messages set to music (Isa_58:6-7). There is an extract which I must give from God’s ancient legislation, and as I read you will be able to say whether ever Act of Parliament was so beautiful Deu_24:19-21). And why this beneficial arrangement? A memorial act; to keep the doers in grateful remembrance of God’s mighty interposition on their behalf. When men draw their gratitude from their memory, their hand will be opened in perpetual benefaction." J. Parker, Biblical Illustrator
It's not bad that it's bad to invite people you enjoy:
"The prohibition is not directed against the natural custom of inviting one’s associates and equals, but against inviting them only, and against doing so with a sharp eye to the advantages to be derived from it." -Alexander MacLaren
God's compensation is so much better than any man's:
"...and it is much better to have God to recompense us than to rely upon a poor dying creature." J. Parker
"It is a question, you see, not at all of social fellowship, but of expenditure, and of the objects to which our great expenditures should be devoted. When you would lavish trouble and money, says Christ, let the lavishing be, not for your own personal gratification, not with the view of securing some enjoyment or obtaining some benefit for yourself, but for the blessing of others." J. Parker
God's Kingdom and purposes will be accomplished regardless of man's individual and corporate response:
"GOD’S PURPOSES ARE NOT FRUSTRATED BY THE DISOBEDIENCE AND UNTHANKFULNESS OF MAN. The house is filled. If one guest refuses to come, another is brought in to occupy his place. Drop your crown, and another man will lift it and place it on his brow." -Biblical Illustrator, Anon.
"Incidentally the parable shows the roominess of heaven and the largeness of divine hospitality, so that Bengel aptly observes, "Grace, no less than nature, abhors a vacuum." -BI
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