seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Luke 14:1 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.
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.”
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.’”
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.”
a. Luke 14:5 Some manuscripts donkey
So the commentary is from the easy English site this morning.
There were other lawyers and Pharisees there. So, Jesus asked them if it is legal to cure someone on the Sabbath day. It was a difficult question for them to answer. There is nothing in the Bible to say that it is not legal. But they had their regulations. These regulations had become law to them. By this law, it would be wrong to cure a person on the Sabbath day. (They would allow a doctor to cure a person if it was a matter of life or death. But this man was not in such a desperate state; he could wait until after the Sabbath.) The lawyers and Pharisees would not answer Jesus. So, Jesus cured the man and sent him away.
If people make themselves important, God will give no honour to those people. But to those people who are humble, God will give honour. A person’s position does not depend on his own opinion about himself. It depends on God because God will be the judge of all people.
Then Jesus spoke to the Pharisee who had invited him. Jesus advised him not to invite those people who could invite him back. Jesus did not mean that he should never invite any such person. Jesus is not against normal social life. But in God’s opinion, a host gains no advantage when he only invites those people. Such people may reward the host by the invitations that they give to him. So the host would receive his rewards from people and not from God.
Jesus had spoken of the future when God will raise people from death. The Jews were familiar with the idea of a grand dinner in God’s kingdom. They believed that the good people of the past would rise from death. And these good people would be guests at that dinner. Also as Jews, they expected to be guests with them at the dinner. So, one of the guests replied to Jesus. He said that it would be a great honour to be at that grand dinner. It seems that this guest expected to be there. But in fact, some who expect to be there will not be there. Jesus would explain to him that many people are too busy to accept God’s invitation.
Jesus told this story to show God’s desire to have a right relationship with people. The supper means a place in God’s kingdom. He sent the prophets to invite his people to come in. But very many of them would not accept that invitation. Now in Jesus, there is the invitation for all to come in. He sends Christians to bring in people from all nations. They must bring all types of people. No person is beyond the reach of God. The good news of Jesus is for all people. God will receive all who come to him. But when people refuse God’s invitation, that invitation may not remain open to them.
A disciple must be loyal to Jesus first. All who want to follow Jesus must be ready to die on behalf of Jesus. It is as if the disciple dies to himself each day. In other words, the true disciple does not do what he wants. He lives for Jesus and he follows Jesus.
To be a disciple of Jesus is not easy. The disciple has to give up everything to follow Jesus. This is a heavy price to pay. A person ought to think about this before he becomes a disciple.
Oh what a time I live in. Recently a woman I know contacted me out of the blue. She is now upset because her church.... the church that controlled every single step she took for the majority of her life so far.... was declared fake. Everything she knew has been shaken. She wanted to warn me.... afraid I might still be in that church.
Oh what a time I live in. Once in a while I try to listen [or watch] a sermon from home. Yesterday I decided to check out a highly recommended preacher out of Dallas, Texas. I watched a few of his sermons. He talked about how the prophets called out the sins of the people. Over the sermons... the preacher slurred and defamed all kinds of people.... everyone but the rich was fair game..... but he started out so good.
Jesus asked the Pharisees if it was "legal" to let someone hurt because they got a belly ache on the wrong day of the week. The commandments handed down by God have no such law. As a matter of fact.... God wants me to treat others as I would want to be treated. I have been diagnosed with metastatic colon cancer..... believe me.... I would not want anyone to leave me hurting just because it's the wrong day of the week to ask for help. Besides that... they were eating dinner.... sometimes those belly aches can be appetite killers.... and if that's the case... I'm sure a lot of the people dining with the Pharisee that night were delighted to have Jesus there to clear the air [pardon the quite intentional pun].
"curing people" of homosexuality and other "perversions" has been big business for some churches. It's ok to create a metal statue.... heat it up to white hot, throw a baby on it to sizzle and sing to cover the blood curdling screams of the baby.... but for two humans to care deeply for each other.....
IMHO.... I would never be chosen to have dinner with the person who highly recommended that preacher. IMHO... I would venture the opinion that the preacher would not invite me to his table either. That's ok.... my belly would probably overact to the rich food those people eat.... like the guest Jesus had to heal.
Jesus told them to stop acting like they were better than everyone else. It's not up to us to choose who's who. Jesus said.... if you talk a big game and get put at the head of the table.... somebody is going to come along who can talk a bigger game than yours and then you'll look like a fool. But if you keep your head down and take the back seat..... you'll be invited to the head of the table.
Remember, in Heaven, Jesus said there will be no marriage..... there will be no reason for procreation..... so what sense does it make to think a eunuch won't be just as welcome as anyone else.
Matthew 22:29 Jesus replied, “You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God. 30 At the resurrection people will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven.
There are a lot of horrible preachers who are teaching hateful things and declaring them to be prophecy.
Oh what a time I live in....
