seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Luke 14:15 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.’”
Jesus was still at the Pharisee's dinner party. He's still sitting at the table. He's still being watched. Everything He says is being weighed for seditious intent. No doubt the crowds know He is there. It's the Sabbath, so travel is not allowed. So those who are still arriving, they must be breaking the law just to be in the area where they might get a healing from the Messiah. Those who have been following Him all along, well, I figure they pitched tents or slept under the stars. There would be thousands. People came from everywhere to hear Him and be Healed!
Jesus had just healed the man sitting across from Him. The man was all bloated [probably Dropsy] and Jesus just had to reach across the table to heal Him.
Jesus knew they were going to charge Him with "Healing on the Sabbath" but hey, who wants to sit across from some guy dying of bloat at a dinner party?!?
Jesus had just explained their bigheadedness to the Pharisees. He explained they think they are so much better than everyone else. And now, this is the rest of the discussion.
All the people dining with the prominent Pharisee would also be people of prominence. Well, except for the bloated guy, he was probably a ringer. Anyway, they were all perfectly capable of playing rolling dinner parties with the others. They probably ate with the proper fork, poked the meat in the proper manner, and drank with their pinkie just so. Jesus was dining with the "Proper".
That's when Jesus pointed out to them that when God holds His Banquet, this dinner party with all its properness is reported by the witnesses, those "Proper" people will not qualify for the banquet. God will leave them out because they were "too busy being proper" to help the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame. Their bigheadedness will keep them from RSVPing to the Banquet of God.
After all, why would God leave them off His guest list? They were sure they were so proper God would just have to let them in.
Jesus tried to heal them of the bigheadedness. They didn't want to be healed.
They were sure they were doing what God wanted them to do. After all, God loves everybody, so He'll have to let them in.
God doesn't care about "Proper".
