Luke 14:1 When he went into the house of one of the rulers of the Pharisees on a Sabbath to eat bread, they were watching him. 2 Behold, a certain man who had dropsy was in front of him. 3 Jesus, answering, spoke to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”
4 But they were silent.
He took him, and healed him, and let him go. 5 He answered them, “Which of you, if your son or an ox fell into a well, wouldn’t immediately pull him out on a Sabbath day?”
6 They couldn’t answer him regarding these things.
From the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, the Pharisees chaffed against his teachings. Jesus had accused them that though… you study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life. John 5:39-40 Nevertheless they rejected Christ’s teachings and were constantly seeking to trap him. Knowing this, Christ purposely walked into their traps, unafraid.
After saying that he longed to gather Israel into God’s Kingdom, Christ was again invited into the home of a Pharisee on a Sabbath. The setup was that they had a man with dropsy or edema at the dinner. The trap was set. The lawyers and Pharisees were all watching as Christ was asked, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?” The Law of Moses did not prohibit healing on the Sabbath: however, because, as we have seen, because they added to the Law of God, the tradition of the Elders, Mark 7:3 did prohibit healing on the Sabbath. How would Christ answer?
He turned the tables on them, asking, “Which of you, if your son… fell into a well, wouldn’t immediately pull him out on a Sabbath?” Curses, foiled again. They couldn’t answer because they knew very well that, of course, they would save the life of their beloved son.
Having answered the lawyers’ question by turning the tables on them, he uses the occasion of his dinner invitation to turn the conversation back to his original point. Do you remember his warning?
“How often I wanted to gather your children together, like a hen gathers her own brood under her wings, and you refused! 35 Behold, your house is left to you desolate. I tell you, you will not see me until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!’” Psalm 118:26
To make his point Jesus tells a frightening parable.
Luke’s 14:7 He spoke a parable to those who were invited, when he noticed how they chose the best seats, and said to them, 8 “When you are invited by anyone to a wedding feast, don’t sit in the best seat, since perhaps someone more honorable than you might be invited by him, 9 and he who invited both of you would come and tell you, ‘Make room for this person.’ Then you would begin, with shame, to take the lowest place. 10 But when you are invited, go and sit in the lowest place, so that when he who invited you comes, he may tell you, ‘Friend, move up higher.’ Then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at the table with you. 11 For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.”
The Pharisees were all about exalting themselves. Remember, these were the religious leaders, the ones who had it all together – the ones who didn’t need a physician. Luke 5:31 They thought that they would be first in God’s Kingdom because they were the children of Abraham. Luke 3:8 Because they studied the Scriptures they honored and congratulated themselves thinking that they earned eternal life. John 5:39 But Christ condemned them because if they had understood the Scriptures they would have understood that everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.
Christ turns to his host who invited him to dinner and says:
Luke 14:12 He also said to the one who had invited him, “When you make a dinner or a supper, don’t call your friends, nor your brothers, nor your kinsmen, nor rich neighbors, or perhaps they might also return the favor, and pay you back. 13 But when you make a feast, ask the poor, the maimed, the lame, or the blind; 14 and you will be blessed, because they don’t have the resources to repay you. For you will be repaid in the resurrection of the righteous.”
15 When one of those who sat at the table with him heard these things, he said to him, “Blessed is he who will feast in God’s Kingdom!”
16 But he said to him, “A certain man made a great supper, and he invited many people. 17 He sent out his servant at supper time to tell those who were invited, ‘Come, for everything is ready now.’ 18 They all as one began to make excuses.
“The first said to him, ‘I have bought a field, and I must go and see it. Please have me excused.’
19 “Another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I must go try them out. Please have me excused.’
20 “Another said, ‘I have married a wife, and therefore I can’t come.’
21 “That servant came, and told his lord these things. Then the master of the house, being angry, said to his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in the poor, maimed, blind, and lame.’
22 “The servant said, ‘Lord, it is done as you commanded, and there is still room.’
23 “The lord said to the servant, ‘Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled. 24 For I tell you that none of those men who were invited will taste of my supper.’”
Who will feast in the Kingdom of God?
Christ has gone throughout Israel for three years inviting the Pharisees and lawyers to the Kingdom feast but for the most part they have rejected his invitation. All of the religious leaders have excuses as to why they won’t come to the feast. As a result, none of those men who were invited will taste of my supper. So because they have rejected him, the invitation will now go out to those that the religious leaders consider beneath them, the unworthy, the poor, the slaves, the infirm, the prostitutes, and the tax collectors.
And, in fact, the outcasts did indeed follow Christ. But he had a warning for them as well.
Luke 14:25 Now great multitudes were going with him. He turned and said to them, 26 “If anyone comes to me, and doesn’t disregard his own father, mother, wife, children, brothers, and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he can’t be my disciple.”
Great multitudes were going with him, but what was their motivation? Were they simply following him for the immediate benefits like healing from disease, food to satisfy their hunger, or perhaps they thought that they were joining a revolution to overthrow the Roman occupation. Christ wanted them to see that the Kingdom of God was much greater than all of those reasons. In fact the Kingdom of God granted life, but it also demanded total commitment.
God has called us to follow Jesus, be His witnesses, grow in grace, make disciples, work at building His Church and seeking His Kingdom, pursue holiness in the fear of God, and seek His glory in everything we do. Others may try to dissuade us from this, counseling us not to be so “fanatic” about our faith, or suggesting that we not devote so much time to religion. They’ll say you can be a Christian without having to be so serious about it.
But we will not truly love the people in our lives until we always love God supremely and first. Then we can love others as an expression of God’s calling, by the grace and in the power of God.
When we come to faith in Jesus, God calls us to put everything else in line behind seeking Him and His Kingdom (Matt. 6.33). Everything. Family. Church. Work. Avocations. Possessions. Everything. Love Jesus and His calling and hate everything else by comparison. That’s the rule.
We cannot be disciples of Jesus if we’re always postponing or down-playing or soft-selling or putting-it-off-till-whenever that calling that finds us seeking first the Kingdom and glory of God in all things.
(T.M. Moore, ailbe.org)
Luke 14:27 Whoever doesn’t bear his own cross, and come after me, can’t be my disciple. 28 For which of you, desiring to build a tower, doesn’t first sit down and count the cost, to see if he has enough to complete it? 29 Or perhaps, when he has laid a foundation, and is not able to finish, everyone who sees begins to mock him, 30 saying, ‘This man began to build, and wasn’t able to finish.’ 31 Or what king, as he goes to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? 32 Or else, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends an envoy, and asks for conditions of peace. 33 So therefore whoever of you who doesn’t renounce all that he has, he can’t be my disciple. 34 Salt is good, but if the salt becomes flat and tasteless, with what do you season it? 35 It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile. It is thrown out. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”
In Luke 9:23 Christ had first introduced the idea that anyone who wanted to follow him must take up their cross daily. Here he goes into more detail about what that means with three every day illustrations.
First, before you jump into a project you naturally add up the costs in time and money to see if you have the resources to see the project to completion. You wouldn’t want to invest in something that you couldn’t complete. Your failure would leave you open to ridicule and foreclosure.
Second, a king must count the cost before going to war or his army could be overwhelmed and he would be defeated and disgraced.
Have you considered what it will cost you to follow Christ?
Are you willing to disregard the criticism and rejection that you will endure from the unbelievers in the world and even from your own family; father, mother, wife, children, brothers, and sisters?
Third, as a Christian you are to be a light pointing the lost world to Christ. You are to be the salt that preserves those who are perishing. If you can’t do those things then Christ really isn’t your Lord. If you are more concerned about living a life of ease, then Christ really isn’t your Lord. If you strive after the acceptance of the world, if you long to be accepted by the cool kids, Christ really isn’t your Lord. In fact, if you are so concerned about yourself that you are leaving those who are captive to Satan to be forever lost in their sin and rebellion, Christ really isn’t your Lord.
When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.
(Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship, Macmillan)
Even after telling the parable of the dinner party the Pharisees still did not understand, so Christ explained by giving them three more parables.
Luke15:1 Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming close to him to hear him. 2 The Pharisees and the scribes murmured, saying, “This man welcomes sinners, and eats with them.”
3 He told them this parable. 4 “Which of you men, if you had one hundred sheep, and lost one of them, wouldn’t leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one that was lost, until he found it? 5 When he has found it, he carries it on his shoulders, rejoicing. 6 When he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!’ 7 I tell you that even so there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents, than over ninety-nine righteous people who need no repentance. 8 Or what woman, if she had ten drachma coins, if she lost one drachma coin, wouldn’t light a lamp, sweep the house, and seek diligently until she found it? 9 When she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the drachma which I had lost.’ 10 Even so, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner repenting.”
The very people that the Pharisees looked down upon and would not invite to their dinner were coming close to [Jesus] to hear him and the Pharisees were not happy. Jesus overheard them murmuring, “This man welcomes sinners, and eats with them.”
In response, the first parable Jesus told them was about a lost sheep. If you lost a sheep from your flock wouldn’t you go out looking for it?
Second, Jesus told a parable about a lost coin. If you lost a coin wouldn’t you look for it? In the same manner Christ came to seek and save the lost. Luke 19:10 And when the lost, the poor, the needy, the disenfranchised, and the outcasts are found, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner repenting.
You may know intellectually that you are a child of God. You may understand that you were bought by the blood of the Lamb of God, but do you ever stop to consider the joy of the angels of God over one sinner repenting? The Father wants each individual. The Father knows your name and wants you to turn from your rebellion against your Creator and repent of your sins. And when you do, your repentance brings great joy to the angels in the presence of God.
Third, to continue driving this point home, Christ followed up with yet another parable.
Luke 15:11 He said, “A certain man had two sons. 12 The younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of your property.’ So he divided his livelihood between them. 13 Not many days after, the younger son gathered all of this together and traveled into a far country. There he wasted his property with riotous living. 14 When he had spent all of it, there arose a severe famine in that country, and he began to be in need. 15 He went and joined himself to one of the citizens of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed pigs. 16 He wanted to fill his belly with the husks that the pigs ate, but no one gave him any. 17 But when he came to himself he said, ‘How many hired servants of my father’s have bread enough to spare, and I’m dying with hunger! 18 I will get up and go to my father, and will tell him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in your sight. 19 I am no more worthy to be called your son. Make me as one of your hired servants.”’
20 “He arose, and came to his father. But while he was still far off, his father saw him, and was moved with compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him. 21 The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’
22 “But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring out the best robe, and put it on him. Put a ring on his hand, and sandals on his feet. 23 Bring the fattened calf, kill it, and let’s eat, and celebrate; 24 for this, my son, was dead, and is alive again. He was lost, and is found.’ Then they began to celebrate.
25 “Now his elder son was in the field. As he came near to the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 He called one of the servants to him, and asked what was going on. 27 He said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf, because he has received him back safe and healthy.’ 28 But he was angry, and would not go in. Therefore his father came out, and begged him. 29 But he answered his father, ‘Behold, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed a commandment of yours, but you never gave me a goat, that I might celebrate with my friends. 30 But when this your son came, who has devoured your living with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him.’
31 “He said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. 32 But it was appropriate to celebrate and be glad, for this, your brother, was dead, and is alive again. He was lost, and is found.’”
The younger of two sons, selfishly thinking only of himself, went to his father and demanded his inheritance. At great expense, unbelievably, the father granted his son’s request. The young man then followed the desires of his heart until his money ran out. Having been abandoned by all of his “good time” friends and living in poverty, hungry, destitute, empty, having no place to turn, his only option was to swallow his pride, return home, and repent to his father for his sinful behavior against both his father and against God. He begged to be hired as a servant in his father’s household.
The son in the parable represents Adam and, by extension, Adam’s race. Adam was made in God’s image, and as a son of God he was to exercise dominion and rule over the earthly realm, filling it with godly offspring. Adam traded his birthright for a lie and inherited death. As the father pointed out, “your brother was dead… he was lost.” Like our father Adam, thinking only of ourselves, we too have taken this great inheritance for granted and followed the desires of our hearts. We all like sheep have gone astray. Isaiah 53:6 We are an unfaithful adulterous people, James 4:4 ever chasing after false gods and false promises.
When we discover that our dreams have not worked out as we have planned, we are empty, destitute, the life that we have been living does not satisfy, death is a relentless enemy, and our friends cannot offer us lasting meaning, where can we turn? When all else fails, as it inevitably must, our only option is to swallow our pride, turn from our self-centered ways, and come to God with prayers of repentance. Humble yourself before the Lord and he will lift you up. James 4:10
And just like the father in the parable, our Father in heaven, with an unimaginable grace that knows no limits welcomes us home with open arms, not as hired hands but as image bearers – sons and daughters. Instead of holding our sins against us he extends mercy and invites us to the marriage feast of the Lamb, Christ, whose blood, bought our forgiveness. Revelation 19:6 And there is great joy in heaven as our fellow sentient beings, the angels, join in to celebrate our return home… there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner repenting.
Meanwhile, the older brother, who had stayed at home working the fields, was angry when his father so graciously welcomed his brother home. He felt slighted that his father had never thrown a celebration for him but his father reminded him that he was the heir. Whatever the father owned had also always belonged to the older son. The father concludes, “it was appropriate to celebrate and be glad, for this, your brother, was dead, and is alive again. He was lost, and is found.”
Remember that Christ told this series of parables to the Pharisees because he heard them talking behind his back, grumbling, “This man welcomes sinners, and eats with them.” The doctors of religion and the lawyers had it all backwards. They thought that they could take heaven by force. Luke 16:16, Matthew 11:12 They believed that by their good works they had earned their way into heaven. Because they trusted in their own righteousness they felt justified in looking down upon sinners and ultimately, justified in murdering Christ, their Creator.
When a church today teaches works-based righteousness rather than understanding that salvation is by grace alone, it is in danger of becoming toxic and driving people away, just like the Pharisees. The Pharisees looked down on and excluded the lost, hurting, hungry, disenfranchised, outcast, and sinners – the very people that Christ came to seek and to save. Christ, the great physician, Luke 5:31 came to heal and bring his lost sheep into his kingdom.
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith… and this is not from yourselves, it is a gift of God… not by works, so that no one can boast.
Ephesians 2:8-9
We, like the younger brother, are self-centered sinners pursuing our own way. Knowing there is no sin beyond the reach of Christ’s love, we must turn, and repent, trusting alone in the grace of God.
If we, like the older brother, are self-righteous Pharisees, looking down on others while seeking to earn our way to heaven by our good works, we must come to understand that all of our righteousness are as filthy rags, Isaiah 64:6 turn, and repent, trusting, alone in the finished work of Christ on our behalf.
Jesus came into the world to save sinners. 1 Timothy 1:15