Luke 14

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0:00 I got this idea of looking at the food of Jesus in Luke from a friend and Kendall and I were like going, what should we do with kids on Sunday morning? And she found this like little, the preschoolers have this little video curriculum that's going through the same stories because they're all stories in Luke. And then she found an older lesson for the kids so the kids are talking more about the same stories we're talking about. So if you got kids in there, pepper them with questions about it.

0:32 For the rest of us, we're in Luke chapter 12. This morning, Luke chapter 12 is kind of a longer reading. Sorry, Luke chapter 14. One to 24, not 12, 14. Luke chapter 14. It's kind of a longer reading. And it starts off with, you start to recognize it when you, when now we're like several weeks in, we're going to keep going here through June. Terry told me that he

1:02 got bingo on our family meal bingo. Good work, Terry. You guys have through the rest of June to get bingo, to get the prize. I got a couple more bingo sheets up here if you don't have one, come get one. It's fun. We did an American theme with a movie last night to cross off one of the blocks. There's like a theme with a dinner and a movie. It's one of the blocks. Did you do that one? The dinner was taken potatoes and the movie was cars. That goes together, right? That's very American. Yeah.

1:33 Cars is what? It's evil, is that what you said? Oh, they eat gas. Yeah, yeah. But it's American theme. I was like, wow, Danny, I don't think it's evil. I mean, it's Pixar, but I mean. Okay. So we're looking at all this food in Luke. It's loud. It's next door. We're looking at all this food in Luke. And we're starting to see a pattern now. If you look in Luke chapter 14,

2:06 verse 1, you see this pattern on Sabbath. He went to dying at the house of a ruler of the Pharisees. And they were watching him carefully. Remember, we talked about this, that this would be a regular pattern when a rabbi had come, a visiting rabbi had come that he would teach. And then someone who had a house big enough to welcome people might bring the rabbi there. And he would continue teaching. And they would be able to pepper him with questions. And what's happening with Jesus,

2:37 because Jesus is teaching a different way of interpreting the scriptures. They were used to traditions that had been passed down from specific rabbis. And Jesus is coming with a different one. And so the Pharisees are inviting him to eat with them, but they're doing different things, right? We saw before Matthew invited him to eat with them. And he went with Matthew. And no normal rabbi would go with a tax collector and hang out with the tax collectors. But Jesus is going wherever they're inviting him to eat. And so then the Pharisees are inviting him to his

3:10 house. But then they're doing things like, remember a couple of times ago, where they didn't get welcomed him with a kiss. They didn't anoint his head. They didn't wash his feet. They were insulting them as soon as he walked in to show that they were better or higher or more superior. In this case, Jesus goes in after being in the synagogue to have with the ruler of the Pharisees. And they're just watching him very carefully. And then verse two, and behold, there was a man before him who had dropsy. Remember at these meals, they would be kind of in an open courtyard. And the food would

3:46 be spread down the middle of the courtyard. And then people would be sat. The owner of the house would welcome you. And then take you to the right place in the seat, the closer to him, the more important you were, the further down, the less important you were. But you would be there. And then if he had servants, a lot of them had servants, they'd be behind you. You'd be reclining your feet towards the back. They'd be behind you taking care, bringing you what you need after they washed your feet. And behind the servants would be people who just wanted to see what was going on.

4:18 Anybody from the town might meander in and stand behind the servants and watch the interaction. And so this guy with dropsy may not have been invited to the feast. As a matter of fact, Pharisees and Essings, a lot of times had a specific thing. If you were maimed or injured, handicapped in some way, you weren't included. Because either you had sinned or your parents had sinned to cause this infirmity to happen. So you were not brought around. And so this guy with dropsy almost certainly wasn't invited. He just was there because he wanted to see what was going

4:52 on. And so Jesus who is invited, who has a seat at the table, stops to talk to the guy who doesn't. Right? And everybody's like, what is this guy doing? He doesn't get it. Right? Okay. And behold, it was a man before him who had dropsy. And Jesus responded to the lawyers. And behold, there was a man before him who had dropsy. And Jesus responded to the lawyers and Pharisees saying, so they were watching him carefully. Jesus talks. And then he doesn't address the

5:23 guy yet, but he could tell these guys are judging him already. And so he talks to them and says, is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath or not? It's a great question. Because I mean, Jesus is a healer. It's kind of work, you know, but it's also healing. So that's good. Tough question. Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath or not? But they remained silent. If I don't have a good answer, I don't want to say yes because then you're going to deal with this dropsy guy. I don't want to say

5:54 no because then you can't heal. I'll just stand here and look at you dumbfounded. That's what they did. But they remained silent. Then he took him and healed him and sent him away and said to them, which of you, having a son or an ox that has fallen into a well on the Sabbath day, will not immediately pull them out. And they could not reply to such things. He sent him on his way because he wasn't going to stick around and do the ridicule and they didn't want to deal with the guy anyway. So he heals him and sends him on his way. And then he's like, I kind of like this

6:27 guy. Like I actually love this guy. I care for this guy just as you would something that you care about. And so it's not work. It's just what I must do. I can't not heal him. I love that about Jesus. Often we see this. He can't not respond in love. And then he tells us parable to those who were involved when he noticed they chose the places of honor. So then he tells

6:58 him the parable. He's like looking at the table and he noticed people sat themselves. Maybe while Jesus was dealing with this drop-sea situation, other people are seeding themselves. And Jesus is like, oh, that's cool. I can see the way they're politicking and shuffling for the best seat. And so he tells them it's like almost proverb. It's described as a parable, but it's almost a proverb like, hey, when you go to a place, don't put yourself high because it's going to be embarrassing

7:30 if you get humbled. Now these guys probably rank to themselves exactly right at this feast. Because they know the ruler of the Pharisees. They do this meal all the time. They know the score. They know who will be there. And Jesus is implying when he tells him this proverb that you might find yourself at feasts where you don't know everyone that's coming or even worse, you don't know how they're being ranked. What's the most important thing? You say you might come to a place,

8:04 you might come to a feast one day where the drop-sea guy is sitting in front of you instead of being uninvited. And that would be embarrassing, wouldn't it? If you got moved down and they brought the drop-sea guy up in front of you. Jesus is saying you might not be in every situation where you understand what's happening. If you skip down then verse 12, he said to the man who had invited him after he tells him that lesson, then he says to the man who invited him, when you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or your rich neighbors,

8:41 lest they also invite you in return and you be repaid. But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed because they cannot repay you. You will be repaid at the resurrection of the just. He's just giving this guy like a tip. Jesus is having a meal with these guys and he's critiquing them, but I'm like he's eating with them. He's, last week we talked about when he went to the dinner with the Pharisees and he gives them these six woes that they're actually like a lifeline. Hey guys, don't get stuck in your own

9:16 hypocrisy and self-righteousness and self-satisfaction. Get a clue to what's going on here and his critique is that way. Jesus is offering the Pharisee this critique as well. Hey man, you're throwing these feasts and feeling really good about yourself, but you're really doing it just for yourself man. He's like you're having the synagogue ruler over, you're inviting all the people, but this is not generosity, this is self-service. Consider actual generosity, he's saying, right? And now look at

9:51 the last part. This is where I want to spend our time. When one of those who reclined at the table with him heard these things he said to him, blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God. This is a refrain that might have been common in the day, but it comes out of a place where he's like, I want you to try and imagine it just for a minute. It's Sabbath you've been in the synagogue

10:24 in the morning with all the people that you know. You then after that make your way over a period of time to the ruler of the Pharisees house. He doesn't do it every week, but you've got this like kind of renegade rabbi that you're going to go hear more from. And when you get there, you're greeted and you're welcomed and all your people are there and then there's a crowd bustling around because of the visiting rabbi. And he does this kind of crazy thing where he heals the guy

10:56 and every there's a little bit of a hubbub, but then it gets back to normal. And then he turns around and he's kind of critiquing and it's like kind of fascinating, but nevertheless, the food is kind of spread out. And now you're there with the food and he goes on to some more teaching and it's kind of expanding. You're like you're thinking new ideas, you're there with the food, all the people that you like. The guy's like this is fantastic. If this is just a little taste, then he says blessed is you get to break bread in the kingdom of heaven. And it's a known and

11:29 well-trotted metaphor for the life to come, the great banqueting feast. And so in the first century, they had this metaphor running that the life to come, eternal life, looks like this banqueting feast and it comes from Isaiah chapter 26. If you have a phone, it's easy to find if you have the paper pages. It's this far just to the right of the Psalms. Isaiah 26,

12:03 verse 6 to 9. Oh, Isaiah 25, that's what threw me off. Sorry about that, Megan. Isaiah 25, 6 to 9. On this mountain, the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine, of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine, well-refined.

12:39 And he will swallow up on this mountain, the covering that is cast over all peoples, the veil that is spread over all nations. He will swallow up death forever and the Lord God will wipe away the tears from their faces and the reproach of his people will take away from all the earth for the Lord has spoken. It will be said on that day, behold, this is our God. We have waited for him that he might save us. This is the Lord. We have waited for him. Let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation. Isaiah, when he gets a picture, when God is commanding

13:15 him, give comfort to the people of Israel and tell them what's coming, he gets a vision of a meal spread across up on a high mountain and of a feast table laden with good meat and good wine. I don't know if Isaiah got an actual vision of the meal or if he got like an intuition and a sense

13:51 of how good it would be and when he felt how good it was, it was compared to this setting. But I love that when we get a picture of what it looks like, he's not saying, when we get to the day of salvation that we have been waiting for, when we look at each other and say, this is our God whom we have waited for, this is the salvation, we'll all be seated neatly in rose shoulder to shoulder and looking forward at one thing and all singing songs, not that I'm

14:24 against singing. I like it. But when God is communicating to the people of Isaiah what the life that he has for them looks like, what the salvation to which they are headed feels like, he describes a great feast like a really good feast like with good wine and good food and all the people around and he says that as they are as they are eating the food, God swallows up, takes into himself

14:57 all of death and wipes away all the tears. This is the place to which they are going. Not bad. Not bad. And the guy in the ruler of the Pharisees house is there at the meal and is like, oh man, this is like a little glimpse, isn't it? So I want you to think of little glimpses you've had.

15:31 I was thinking of little glimpses I've had. I told you one of them. Another one comes, I don't know why this sticks in my brain. I was very young. Maybe, maybe in one not, maybe sixth grade, fifth or sixth grade. And we got together with my dad's family and my dad's family was like a little bit of a little bigger than my mom's. My mom, there's only three kids. My dad, there was five kids.

16:06 And then they all had kids, you know. And so it wasn't a common for us to pull the whole family together. But the memory I have, we had gotten the whole family together. My grandparents, all my aunts and uncles, all my cousins were at my aunt's house in Kansas City. And the way they would eat, the memory that I have is like just after lunch. Lunch was kind of big. But then they would

16:38 set out stuff and you would just kind of eat stuff all day, you know. Grandma had special chocolate chip cookies she would make. And Jan had special checks mix she would make. You got as many sodas as you wanted when the whole family was together, you know. And I remember it in the afternoon, one of these moments I can remember in the afternoon. Like I'm chilling at the table. I got a coke. I got a chocolate chip cookie. I got some checks mix. And there's enough of us that were spread through the kitchen, into the dining room and the, and the TV room at these tables, folding tables.

17:15 And we're sitting around because when dad's family would get together, they'd play these big card tournaments. So we're all full from lunch, but we're snacking on these snacks. We only get with grandma. We're sick then on this. And we're like playing cards. And dad's family was like two of the his two sisters were music teachers. His brother wrote and recorded songs. Like it was a very musical family. So we're sitting there and they start singing at a couple of tables. And then across three rooms, they're all singing. Like of course, they're like worship leaders.

17:48 So they're singing Christian songs while we're playing these cards, drinking soda. And I just, that memory sticks with me. It's probably idealized because I was a kid. If Meredith were here, she might have a different version of it. If my mom were here, she definitely would have a different version of it. But the way I remember it, it was incredible. A moment you wanted to stay in. And when I read this story about the guy at the feast and I went back and looked at Isaiah and

18:19 the description of the feast set and the mountains, the other time I thought of was at some of us got to go to the Rosenfarb sweating. In the mountains outside, all together with good music and a dance floor in the middle. It starts as the sun goes, is going down, but stays even into the evening. Nobody has far to go. We're all staying the same little area. You never want to leave it.

18:50 You never want to leave it. This guy in the rule of the Pharisees house is like sitting at this moment. He's a little confused, but he's sated and he's around people that he knows and likes. And he's like, oh man, how great is it going to be when we get to break bread in heaven? And the expected response, the common response in first century Israel would be for Jesus to go. Yeah, blessed are the ones who get to make it there. Right? Look at how Jesus responds.

19:25 Real tough guy. Jesus. Back to Luke chapter 14. The guy goes, hey, blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of heaven. And the normal response would be, yes, blessed are the ones who make it. But Jesus doubles down on his lifeline for this guy. But he's said to him, Jesus looks at him. Oh, blessed is he who makes it to the kingdom of heaven. A man once gave a banquet.

20:01 Sometimes I think when Jesus launches into his parables, it just would be like, oh gosh, where's he going? Can't you just take the win? Right? Okay, but he says, a man once gave a great banquet and invited many. And at the time for the banquet, he sent his servants. So you heard me say to the kids, you send out the RSVP, you get it back. This is important in first century because we've said it before. But if he's, if this guy is preparing a great banquet, he's not pulling meat out of

20:33 the freezer or from the store. He's killing an animal. And he's killing the animal based on how many people are coming. And so he sends the invitation out. And then based on the responses, he decides what he's going to prepare. Oh my gosh, I got a lot of people. I better kill the goat or the bull. Not a lot of people. I'll kill the bird or something. Right? Like, and so he sends out the invitation, gets the replies. And so that's why Jesus tells it this way. People would catch that in first century as soon as he said that they would know the order of things. So when he says

21:08 a certain man gave a great, great banquet and invited many, they would know he got the invitations and the responses and preparing accordingly. And the time came for the banquet. Now he's got the animal killed and it cooked and everything is ready. And that's what that means. And time came for the banquet. He sent his servants to say to those who had already been invited and already RSVP'd come for everything is now ready. They don't want to get there before he kills the animal and wait around, right? They want to come when it's ready. And now it's ready. So come on.

21:43 But they all began to make excuses in the original languages. It's like all at once. They all sent these excuses all at once. But the first said to him, I bought a field. I must go and see it. Please have me excused. The theme here for these excuses is that they're flimsy and fake. And so the first century, one, they would go, wait, they gave excuses after they already RSVP'd. And then when Jesus gives the excuses, they're absurd. So nobody would buy a piece of land without

22:15 looking at it and negotiating it based on what it's there. Not today, but certainly not then. And so the idea I've got to go, I bought a piece of land. I'm going to go see it. Is absurd. If he's bought it, he's seen it already. He's making things up. See, come for everything. I bought a field and I must go see it. Please have me excused. But he's asking for an excuse. And then another, I have bought five yoke of oxen. I must go examine them. Please have me excused. This is crazy. You never buy a yoke of oxen without testing them first.

22:48 The common practice would be at the market, they'd be drawing lines for you. So if a guy's selling oxen, you want to see how good they are at pulling. Do they work together as a team? You don't buy them without testing them. This is a joke. This is a flimsy excuse. And another man said, I have a wife and therefore I cannot come. This one is interesting. I was like doing a little bit of research on it. It's such a patriarchal culture that they don't, if they were writing a note back to someone, they wouldn't mention even a woman. It was common if they only had girls and they were

23:21 writing a letter back to home, they would address it to the son they hoped to have in the future, not to the girls. Right? And it could be that they completely devalued the women it could be that it developed as a safety mechanism. If the note got it intercepted in the meantime, they didn't want people to find out that there were women there without a guy at the house. Right? But either way, nobody says, I've got a woman in a note and she's more important than you. Nobody says that. This person doesn't even ask for an excuse. He just says like completely going,

23:57 I won't be there. This woman's more important than you. Nobody says that. Then the master, so I have a wife and cannot come. Verse 20 something, I can't tell. 21. So the servant came and reported these things to his master. Then the master of the house became angry and said to his servant, go quickly to the streets and to the lanes of the city and bring the poor and the crippled and the blind and the lame. And the servant said, sir, what you have commanded has been done and still there is room. And the master said to the

24:32 servant, go out into the highways and the hedges, compel people to come in that my house may be filled. For I tell you, none of these men who were invited shall taste my banquet. That's the response that the guy gets when he's like, this is so great. Blessed is he are the ones who make it into the great banqueting feast that Isaiah mentions. And Jesus is like, yeah, blessed is the one. And then he's like, people will exclude themselves.

25:08 And then he's like, whoever the blind and the lame will come. And then he's like, the ones out on the road, not even in the city, not even who are not even part of the crew will be invited. And if they want to come, they'll come because the time is ready. It's now. And of course, the critique to the guy is like, dude, it's like twofold. One, you don't know who's

25:39 coming. And it might be people you don't like. And two, you might find yourself turning it down. And if you turn it down, you don't get in. It's like interesting. There's a flip on this parable because again, in these stories of these meals, Jesus is the kind of guy I want to follow.

26:10 Like, I want to be at the party where he is. I love the way he gives it to the self righteous church people consistently within their house. Last week, six woes lined up. Bam, bam, bam. Whoa, do you Pharisees? I love that in their house at their meal. This time he like heals the dropsy guy. I was like, dude, get out. You don't want to stay here with these jokers here. Let me fix your hand. You go back out there. I'll take care of these guys, right? And then he sits down

26:44 with these guys and gives it to him. And then he says, hey, whoever wants to come can come. Whoever wants to come, I'll invite them all. And it'll be great. Of course, the flip side of the parable is that some people don't want to come. The thing I was reading was like, anybody's invited to the feast. But you can't have the feast delivered.

27:20 Right? Like you can't like, yes, you can't Uber eats the feast, right? Which means you got to be there. And if you're there, there's somewhere else you can't be. There's something about the people in the parable who turned down the great banqueting feast,

27:52 where they're like, I know, I think I know what's happening over there and I'd like to be over here. And they don't, they don't know what they're missing. They just miss it. They pick something else instead of the feast. This is what Jesus wants the guy to know, hey, you'd like to be there? Pay attention to the choices that you make.

28:35 I don't know, like sometimes I think about if following the way of Jesus costs me something. I think what Jesus is saying is everyone is welcome and it will cost anyone who comes, something. You're choosing to be at that feast instead of somewhere else.

29:06 You're coming on his time frame instead of your own. You're eating what he puts on the table. You're being around the people that he invites. I don't know. I think if it's true, like from like millennia for more than one millennia, the people of God have been describing life with God as a great banqueting feast.

29:42 A long time they've been saying it that way. And so if the little moments that I know of great feast times are any indication of what's to come, that's the place I want to be. It's better than the field I bought, the cows I bought, the relationships I've stacked up, whatever it is,

30:13 the prestige, the power that I might wield, it's better than all of it. And so the trick for me is to find sometimes, it's just an honest moment every once in a while, what is it costing me to show up at Jesus's party?

30:45 I think it probably will always cost us something. We have to say no to something in order to say yes to that. Anybody can say yes to that. All can say yes to that. But if you say yes to that, you say no to something else. Okay, let's pray that we might be able to see that choice and make it every once in a while. Hey Lord, thank you for the opportunity to join you. We know that it is not once that we join you, but in small ways and large ways, in moments and days

31:19 and weeks and months and years, Lord, we know that you draw us to yourself. Draw us to yourself today. And we look forward to the day Lord when your feast is set before us. May we always be found there. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.