Reader’s Guide: “The Word for Today” Saturday, March 2, 2013 Read – Luke 14:1-35 One of the things we may have noticed earlier but have not commented about is that Jesus seems to be continually sitting down at a banquet to share a meal. Surprisingly most of those meals have been in the homes of Pharisees! (Luke 7:36-50; Luke 11:37-54; Luke 14:1-35). Jesus has shared meals with others – tax collectors and sinners at Levi’s house (Luke 5:29-32) and at the house of Mary and Martha (Luke 10:38-42). Luke loves to set his story of Jesus in the midst of a meal. Meals were important to the people of that time – just as they are to us. To share a meal was to share hospitality and welcome for another. The setting of this whole chapter is a banquet Jesus attended in the home of a Pharisee. We have already mentioned the opening story – a story only Luke tells us. As stated before this story seems to be linked to two other stories that are very similar to it – the story of the man with the withered hand (Luke 6:6-11) and the story of the bent woman (Luke 13:10-17). Together these three stories point out the faulty thinking of the religious leaders regarding the Sabbath. Little more needs to be said about this story. Only Luke tells us about Jesus noticing the guest list and the seating order of the guests. Jesus has precedent in his statement regarding the suggestion that guests ought to take the lower place and wait for the host to invite them to “move up” to a higher place. Proverbs 25:6-7 says, “Do not put yourself forward in the king’s presence or stand in the place of the great; for it is better to be told, ‘Come up here,’ than to be put lower in the presence of the prince.” Jesus reflects the same wisdom. There is a danger; however, that clever people may just turn this into one more system to receive honor – Jesus’ point would not have been that this was a calculated way to aggrandize yourself but an act of true humility. Luke suggests the same. Luke goes on to counsel the host to not invite those who can return the favor but to invite those who cannot do so. The whole passage reflects Mary’s song sung at the announcement of the birth of her child (Luke 1:46-55). God is bringing down the mighty and raising up the lowly. The ethics of the Kingdom suggest that people who follow Jesus adopt a similar attitude toward those around them. The message in this passage fits well with Luke’s whole disposition toward the poor and outcast. Luke has warned against the perils of wealth and here he carries that message forward. As we noted above the setting of this whole section of Luke is at a banquet – now Luke shares a parable about a banquet to move forward his theme of the “visitation of God” and reactions to that visit. Luke shares this parable with Matthew (Matthew 22:1-10) – it was in his “Q” source. Though there are differences between Matthew and Luke it is clear that we are hearing the same parable. As we listen to this parable we need to have the lament of Jesus over Jerusalem ringing in our minds. The point of the parable is that some who are chosen by God do not respond to God’s invitation – they will not be gathered under God’s wings. The parable also carries forth Luke’s theme regarding the “outcast” and the “poor” who are compelled to attend the banquet and do. Once again Luke strikes out mostly on his own. He may be aware of a saying he shares with Matthew regarding the need to put Jesus ahead of anything else if one is to be a follower of Jesus. Matthew puts it more positively – “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me” (Matthew 10:37). Luke says “One who does not hate father and mother … cannot be my disciples.” And in Mark, Jesus had issued the call to “take up one’s cross and follow Jesus” (Mark 8:34). All of that may well be lingering in Luke’s mind but at the very least he has done a whole lot of editing of his sources. More likely this is his own material. The two examples of the man building a tower and being unable to finish it and the king going to battle with an army half the size of his opponent are found only in Luke. The point of all of this is Luke’s strong call for a costly discipleship – following Jesus is neither easy nor obvious. Some will not gather under the wings of God.