Reflections on Luke 14

Luke 14 (Contemporary English Version)

1. One Sabbath, Jesus was having dinner in the home of an important Pharisee, and everyone was carefully watching Jesus.
   
2. All of a sudden a man with swollen legs stood up in front of him.
   
3. Jesus turned and asked the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law of Moses, "Is it right to heal on the Sabbath?"
   
4. But they did not say a word. Jesus took hold of the man. Then he healed him and sent him away.
   
5. Afterwards, Jesus asked the people, "If your son or ox falls into a well, wouldn't you pull him out right away, even on the Sabbath?"
   
6. There was nothing they could say.
   
7. Jesus saw how the guests had tried to take the best seats. So he told them:
   
8. When you are invited to a wedding feast, don't sit in the best place. Someone more important may have been invited.
   
9. Then the one who invited you will come and say, "Give your place to this other guest!" You will be embarrassed and will have to sit in the worst place.
   
10. When you are invited to be a guest, go and sit in the worst place. Then the one who invited you may come and say, "My friend, take a better seat!" You will then be honored in front of all the other guests.
    
11. If you put yourself above others, you will be put down. But if you humble yourself, you will be honored.
    
12. Then Jesus said to the man who had invited him: When you give a dinner or a banquet, don't invite your friends and family and relatives and rich neighbors. If you do, they will invite you in return, and you will be paid back.
    
13. When you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind.
    
14. They cannot pay you back. But God will bless you and reward you when his people rise from death.
    
15. After Jesus had finished speaking, one of the guests said, "The greatest blessing of all is to be at the banquet in God's kingdom!"
    
16. Jesus told him: A man once gave a great banquet and invited a lot of guests.
    
17. When the banquet was ready, he sent a servant to tell the guests, "Everything is ready! Please come."
    
18. One guest after another started making excuses. The first one said, "I bought some land, and I've got to look it over. Please excuse me."
    
19. Another guest said, "I bought five teams of oxen, and I need to try them out. Please excuse me."
    
20. Still another guest said, "I have just gotten married, and I can't be there."
    
21. The servant told his master what happened, and the master became so angry that he said, "Go as fast as you can to every street and alley in town! Bring in everyone who is poor or crippled or blind or lame."
    
22. When the servant returned, he said, "Master, I've done what you told me, and there is still plenty of room for more people."
    
23. His master then told him, "Go out along the back roads and fence rows and make people come in, so that my house will be full.
    
24. Not one of the guests I first invited will get even a bite of my food!"
    
25. Large crowds were walking along with Jesus, when he turned and said:
    
26. You cannot be my disciple, unless you love me more than you love your father and mother, your wife and children, and your brothers and sisters. You cannot come with me unless you love me more than you love your own life.
    
27. You cannot be my disciple unless you carry your own cross and come with me.
    
28. Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. What is the first thing you will do? Won't you sit down and figure out how much it will cost and if you have enough money to pay for it?
    
29. Otherwise, you will start building the tower, but not be able to finish. Then everyone who sees what is happening will laugh at you.
    
30. They will say, "You started building, but could not finish the job."
    
31. What will a king do if he has only ten thousand soldiers to defend himself against a king who is about to attack him with twenty thousand soldiers? Before he goes out to battle, won't he first sit down and decide if he can win?
    
32. If he thinks he won't be able to defend himself, he will send messengers and ask for peace while the other king is still a long way off.
    
33. So then, you cannot be my disciple unless you give away everything you own.
    
34. Salt is good, but if it no longer tastes like salt, how can it be made to taste salty again?
    
35. It is no longer good for the soil or even for the manure pile. People simply throw it out. If you have ears, pay attention!
    

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    Jesus continued to teach kingdom values. Two different settings are described in this chapter. The first setting was a meal at the home of "one of the leading Pharisees." Verse one tells us "they were watching Him closely," which was likely the reason he was invited to the dinner. It was an opportunity to catch Him in an act for which they could bring charges against Him. To further support this idea, we are provided two other pieces of information: it was the Sabbath, and a man was present on this occasion "whose body was swollen with fluid." All the signs are present of a trap to catch Jesus healing on the Sabbath which the Pharisees would have considered unlawful.
    
    Before stepping into the trap, Jesus took the initiative by asking, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath or not?"  Everyone kept silent. Possibly they were caught off guard by Jesus' initiative or no one had an answer to Jesus' question that would not catch them in a trap. If they kept strictly to the Mosaic law the simple answer to Jesus' question would have been 'no.'  But according to the practices of the Pharisees layer upon layer of additional rules had been added to the Mosaic law to provide interpretations of the law. Had anyone on that occasion answered 'yes' to Jesus' question, it would have been based on these Pharisaical rules rather than the Mosaic law. This was not stable footing on which to stand in reply to Jesus. After going ahead to heal the man, Jesus asked another question for which no one had an answer, "Which of you whose son or ox falls into a well, will not immediately pull him out on the Sabbath day?"
    
    Both an ox and a son were of personal value to these Pharisees and they had no rules against rescuing them from a well on the Sabbath. But the man who was swollen with fluid was devalued by them on two counts: he was ceremonially unclean due to his condition, and, according to the opinion of the Pharisees, his condition indicated he was a sinner being punished for his sin. Such a person was not worthy of bending any rules. This attitude was played out in other ways which Jesus noted and addressed. Looking down on one as unfortunate as this man, the Pharisees, by contrast, had an elevated opinion of their own importance. Jesus observed this in their practice of trying to sit in the most advantageous seat at the table. In response, He advised the Pharisees to sit at the lowest place at the table. This would avoid the humiliation of being asked to sit at a lower position and allow the opportunity of being honored by being invited to sit at a higher position. Then He gave them a principle by which to live: "For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted." (14:11) A kingdom value.
    
    In addition to His advise of humbling themselves, Jesus advised them to honor those of lower social status by inviting them to a meal in their homes in place of inviting their friends or family. It was such upside down thinking and practices that were valued in God's kingdom, and therefore they would "be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous." (14:14) But a Pharisee, reclined at the table with Jesus, who assumed those of his standing would naturally be included in God's kingdom said, "The one who will eat bread in the kingdom of God is blessed!" (14:15) In response, Jesus told a parable with a message indicating that those, such as this Pharisee, who had originally been invited to eat bread in the kingdom of God would not do so because they had not responded to the invitation when it was extended. They had offered excuses instead. In place of those originally invited, those viewed as outcasts by the Pharisees would be invited in their place and many of them would respond positively.
    
    The kingdom value in all this is that serving the needs of others is of greater importance than fulfilling our own pleasures. The chapter concludes with a different setting in which Jesus taught another set of kingdom values. Crowds were following Jesus wherever He went and Jesus, on the occasion mentioned, taught them what it meant to be His disciple and a citizen of the kingdom. It was not something to be taken lightly. They should count the cost and then choose it only if they were willing to accept the cost. Furthermore, they would not be accepted as His disciples unless they accepted the cost. The kingdom, which is gained by following Jesus, is of greater value than all human relationships, including family. It is of greater value than following our own dreams, and is greater than all possessions.
    
    The principle, in my opinion, that Jesus was teaching was not that all relationships, all dreams, and all possession must be cast off before we can follow Jesus into the kingdom. Rather, I believe He taught that by valuing discipleship higher than these things we should not be hindered from following Him by these lesser valuable things. As an example, consider family relationships. I believe Jesus' teaching would place high value on family relationships. But it is not the highest value. Nor do I believe He was suggesting that we automatically leave family to follow Him. However, if our families do not choose to follow Jesus and would try to hinder us also from following Him, the better choice is to follow Him and gain the kingdom rather than lose the kingdom to follow family. Similar statements could be made regarding our dreams and possessions.