Luke 14 - God Wants Heaven Full!

Luke 14 - NIV

Enduring Word Commentary Luke 14

Jesus at a Pharisee’s House

14 One Sabbath, when Jesus went to eat in the house of a prominent Pharisee, he was being carefully watched. 2 There in front of him was a man suffering from abnormal swelling of his body. 3 Jesus asked the Pharisees and experts in the law, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath or not?” 4 But they remained silent. So taking hold of the man, he healed him and sent him on his way. 5 Then he asked them, “If one of you has a child[a] or an ox that falls into a well on the Sabbath day, will you not immediately pull it out?” 6 And they had nothing to say.

Jesus was in the home of a "prominent" Pharisee. Others were closely watching him to see what he would do a man who was in the house and afflicted with body swelling. Jesus healed the man and sensing the judgment of the Pharisees, Jesus asked them if they had an ox or child that fell into a well would they not save them. 

The man was an invited guest and possibly they brought him there to see what Jesus would do. Notice again the simple explanation, "Taking hold of the man he healed him." It is possible he healed the man without saying any words. 

7 When he noticed how the guests picked the places of honor at the table, he told them this parable: 8 “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. 9 If so, the host who invited both of you will come and say to you, ‘Give this person your seat.’ Then, humiliated, you will have to take the least important place. 10 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 the other guests. 11 For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.” 12 Then Jesus said to his host, “When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or sisters, your relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. 13 But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, 14 and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”

Wedding feasts were a big deal in Jesus' day. Months of planning went into them, and the seating chart was a big part of the planning. For someone to assume where they were sitting, much less taking the seat of honor, would have been a huge "faux pas". Jesus used this parable to talk about the "upside down" nature of his kingdom. He says things like, "the first shall be last", "if you want to save your life you need to lose it", and  "those who exalt themselves will be humbled and those who humble themselves will be exalted." 

Jesus teaches us to be content with wherever we sit, even it is the lowest place. Then we are not in jeopardy of being embarrassed when are asked to move to a lower place of honor. Yet, if someone were to offer a better place you can still accept this offer. When you are in the humble place, the only place to go is up. Jesus emptied himself to become a slave who served us even until his death on the cross. Therefore, God exalted him to the highest place so that every knee will bow and tongue confess that Jesus is Lord to the glory of the Father. Philippians 2

Do you seek the places of honor, or are you content with your assigned place at the table?

The Parable of the Great Banquet

15 When one of those at the table with him heard this, he said to Jesus, “Blessed is the one who will eat at the feast in the kingdom of God.” 16 Jesus replied: “A certain man was preparing a great banquet and invited many guests. 17 At the time of the banquet he sent his servant to tell those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’ 18 “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.’ 19 “Another said, ‘I have just bought five yoke of oxen, and I’m on my way to try them out. Please excuse me.’ 20 “Still another said, ‘I just got married, so I can’t come.’ 21 “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.’ 22 “‘Sir,’ the servant said, ‘what you ordered has been done, but there is still room.’ 23 “Then the master told his servant, ‘Go out to the roads and country lanes and compel them to come in, so that my house will be full. 24 I tell you, not one of those who were invited will get a taste of my banquet.’”

We see that banquets were a popular metaphor for Jesus' parables. Once again to be invited to a banquet was a big deal, so to turn down an invite you'd better have a pretty good excuse. When the "A list" had all RSVP'd no, the master got mad invited the poor, crippled, and lame to his banquet. But there were still empty seats, so the man ordered his servant to  and told him to go to the highways and byways. Another way to put it was to go to the "country roads". 

He adds, "Compel them to come in so my banquet will be full!" Assuming the man throwing the party was God, what is Jesus getting at? It was quite possible, the guests originally invited were the Jewish people, especially the religious leaders, teachers, and elders. The crippled, blind, and lame could represent the average Jewish person, and going to the country lanes could represent the Gentiles, to whom the gospel would go out shortly after many Jews rejected Jesus. 

But I think the main point is the man wanted his banquet hall full. He had made preparations, and he certainly didn't want to waste anything. If you take the wedding banquet as a reference to the wedding banquet in heaven, you could say God wants heaven full. But like the man in the story, he left it up to his servants to bring the invitation to the invited guests. In the same way the Father has given us the responsibility of inviting people to the banquet the Father will throw to all accept Jesus' invitation to eternal life. 

Do you think there are people in your life who haven't been invited to the wedding banquet? There is still room in the banquet hall, and the Father wants the room full.

The Cost of Being a Disciple

25 Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said: 26 “If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple. 27 And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. 28 “Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it? 29 For if you lay the foundation and are not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule you, 30 saying, ‘This person began to build and wasn’t able to finish.’ 31 “Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Won’t he first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? 32 If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace. 33 In the same way, those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples. 34 “Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? 35 It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile; it is thrown out. “Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.”

As people saw the signs and wonders Jesus was doing and listened to his message about the "kingdom of God", they started following Jesus in large numbers. It was time for Jesus to clarify what it meant to follow him. He uses two illustrations where someone had to count the cost before they came to a decision. In both situations if the person did not count the cost they faced defeat and embarrassment. 

Jesus nets what this means out to them by saying, "Those of you who do not give up everything have cannot be my disciples!"

This is a tall order. How do we interpret what it means? Does he literally want us to give up everything we have? Or, is Jesus talking figuratively about counting the cost of following him and being prepared to give up anything? 

Jesus also says that a person must hate father, mother, brother and sister to follow him. What did he mean by that? Obviously he doesn't mean it literally because that would directly be opposed to the 4th commandment, which is to honor one's father and mother. 

So I think we can conclude that Jesus is not being literal, but still he is being very clear on what it means to follow him. To follow Jesus means to offer everything you are to him. You are "all in". Jesus wants us to be 100% committed to him. We cannot serve two masters. Jesus is BOTH our LORD and our SAVIOR.

First, Jesus doesn't ask us to do anything he hasn't already been willing to do. Jesus went from being equal with God to emptying himself and becoming a servant unto death on a cross. You cannot give up more than that. Second, the promise is as you lose your life, you will find it. By dying, we will truly find life and life abundantly. As we surrender our lives to Jesus, we experience a peace and contentment that the world could never offer. 

Although we are giving up something, we are receiving so much more! 

Where in your life do you need to make Jesus the Lord? Are there any areas of your life where you tell God this is off limits? It may be the one area that you will find the most joy and freedom in as you surrender it to the Lord!