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November 8, 2015 |
| The Invitation | ||
1One Sabbath, when Jesus went to eat in the house of a prominent Pharisee, he was being carefully watched. …1
Jesus had been invited to eat with a group of Pharisees on a Sabbath. The purpose could have been to try to get him to see things their way but it seems they were also watching to see if he would make a mistake they could use against him. Whether they subverted him or discredited him, the goal was the same - to end his ministry.
Jesus would have been aware of this but he went along with it. But his perspective was completely different. He wanted to help them.
7When 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. 9If so, the host who invited both of you will come and say to you, 'Give this man your seat.' Then, humiliated, you will have to take the least important place. 10But 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 your fellow guests. 11For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."
The Pharisees were probably wily enough that they already understood the top level meaning of Jesus' advice. But at a deeper level this message was really a slap at their desire to be the greatest among men and their focus on worldly matters. But at an even deeper level this was the same message that we hear from Jesus in other places, "But many who are first will be last and many who are last will be first"2 in the Kingdom of God.
Having advised them on seating protocol, Jesus makes another observation, this time about the uniformity of the guests, and he proceeds to give more advice.
12Then Jesus said to his host, "When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. 13But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, 14and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous."
Jesus' point, which appears in other places, is to "give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven"3 Stated more generally, if we expect repayment for the good things we do in this life our focus is on worldly things and our reward is of this world. ""Be careful not to do your 'acts of righteousness' before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven."4
15When one of those at the table with him heard this, he said to Jesus, "Blessed is the man who will eat at the feast in the kingdom of God."
"One of the guests responds enthusiastically to what Jesus has just said […]. The man probably assumes that he himself and the other pious Pharisees certainly will be in that number. Thus he exclaims how blessed is the person who will participate in the endless feast of Heaven."5 In effect, the man is wishing a blessing upon himself and his friends.
16Jesus replied: "A certain man was preparing a great banquet and invited many guests.
The parable Jesus is about to tell is not only appropriate to the occasion - a parable about a great banquet, told at a great banquet - but it is also an answer to the guest's comment. As we will see, it is also a warning to that guest, the other guests, and even to us.
The parable begins with a man who had planned a great banquet, invited many guests, and was then preparing it. We expect that the man, as a good host, had given his guests plenty of advance notice so they would be able to attend.
17At 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.'
When the time comes, the host called the invited guests to come to the banquet. But his servant brought back news that the invited guests would not be attending. Not only that, but the excuses they had given are particularly lame, to the point of being rude.
The first guest asked to be excused because he had just bought a new field and needed to inspect it. In this excuse we see a few things. First, the guest knew of the coming banquet and would have planned his purchase around it if he had really wanted to attend. Second, who would purchase a field that had not already been inspected? How would you agree to a price without knowing its value? And even if that happened, a field does not need to be inspected at a particular time. It will still be there tomorrow.
The guests at the banquet Jesus is attending would have immediately recognized this as a shocking breach of etiquette. If a real problem had come up that would have kept them from attending the banquet they would have notified the host right away. They would also have seen through the excuse in the parable and known that it showed the banquet was just not that important to the invited guest.
19"Another said, 'I have just bought five yoke of oxen, and I'm on my way to try them out. Please excuse me.'
Like the first guest, the second guest had made a purchase. Like us when we buy a car, the test drive doesn't tell us all we would like to know about the car. So after the purchase we want to go and play with the new toy. But also like the first guest, the new purchase will still be there tomorrow. So his response indicates that neither the banquet nor the host are that important to him.
20"Still another said, 'I just got married, so I can't come.'
A marriage in that time was as important as it is in this time and so it takes a lot of planning. If it was known in advance, he should have notified the host when first invited. If it was arranged after the invitation he should have notified the host as soon as possible. "This one doesn't even say 'Please'"6
"To Jesus' audience it is a ridiculous excuse. […] If the banquet is for men only, could he not be apart from his wife for even a few hours? If women were invited to the banquet, she would also be invited, and what wife would not want to go to a banquet?"7
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.'
The host for the banquet also understood the meaning of the lame excuses and it angered him. The ones he had invited, his friends who had much, have carelessly rejected his invitation. So he invites those who had little.
Notice that inviting "the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame" is just the advice Jesus gave to the Pharisees in verse 13. Jesus is showing here that God will do the same.
22" 'Sir,' the servant said, 'what you ordered has been done, but there is still room.'
When the servant returned to say he had gotten all the people from the town and there was room for more people, the master instructed him to go outside the town and bring in everyone.
23"Then the master told his servant, 'Go out to the roads and country lanes and make them come in, so that my house will be full.
24I tell you, not one of those men who were invited will get a taste of my banquet.' "
The host denies the benefits of the banquet to the original invitees.
As with any parable there is a deeper meaning and the major elements are symbolic. The obvious deeper meaning to this parable is "do not refuse my invitation". But there is more to it than that. We see no sign that the Pharisees were insulted by this parable so they may not have understood it, at least immediately. Here are the major elements and their explanations.8 This is one person's interpretation of their meanings; you may not agree completely.
1. One web page says, "This parable teaches that no one may enter the kingdom of God without an invitation from God."9 That may be a true statement, but is that what this parable teaches? If not, what does this parable teach about who may enter the kingdom of God?
2. This same web page also says, "It also is a warning to heed the invitation when it is heard; the invitation does not last forever." What do you think of this? Does the invitation last forever?
3. Who do the other characters in this parable symbolize? The host / master? The servant (singular)?
4. When the host revokes the original invitations, does this have a deeper meaning?
We are all invited to the great banquet. But to attend it, the banquet must be more important to us than the other things in our lives like property, marriage, or other worldly matters.
"The invitation to join God's community is not without cost. God's invitation demands the right to override all other claims on our time and resources. While it certainly does not demand that we abandon our families, quit our jobs, or throw away our financial assets, it does demand to come ahead of them in priority. At times we may experience conflicts that are far more pressing than the foolish excuses of Jesus' parable, but God's call must always come first."10
In addition to being invited to the banquet, each of us is the servant instructed to take the invitation to the Jews and gentiles. As such we are commanded to "make them come in, so that my house will be full".
1 All verses are from the New International Version (NIV)
2 Matthew 19:30
3 Mark 10:21
4 Matthew 6:1
5 NIV Standard Lesson Commentary, 2009-2010, Teachings on Community, Unit 2, Inclusion in Community
6 http://www.carm.org/christianity/parables/great-banquet-luke-1415-24
7 NIV Standard Lesson Commentary, 2009-2010, Teachings on Community, Unit 2, Inclusion in Community
8 http://www.carm.org/christianity/parables/great-banquet-luke-1415-24
9 http://www.carm.org/christianity/parables/great-banquet-luke-1415-24
10 NIV Standard Lesson Commentary, 2009-2010, Teachings on Community, Unit 2, Inclusion in Community