BEHIND THE BOOK Connecting to the Bible (Observation) Generosity GENEROUS HOSPITALITY LUKE 14:7-24 (READ VARIOUS TRANSLATIONS) MAY 3 RD, 2017 To date, we have discussed generosity in the context of our attitudes living generously and our actions forgiving generously. Today we are talking about hospitality; generosity with our homes. What s the point? To understand God s hospitality and apply that hospitality to others. First: Pay Attention to the Setting 1-2 One Sabbath, when he went to dine at the house of a ruler of the Pharisees, they were watching him carefully. 2 And behold, there was a man before him who had dropsy. 1 - Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem for the final time (13:33) 2 - He stopped in the house of a Pharisee for a meal 3 - The Sabbath meal would have been prepared in advance 4 - The reason Jesus was invited was because they were watching him carefully 5 - A man with a dropsy was also invited Instead of waiting for the Pharisess or scribes to question him, Jesus asked them a question? vs 2-3 And Jesus responded to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath, or not? 4 But they remained silent. drop'-si (hudropikos, "a man afflicted with hudrops or dropsy"): 1
Both forms of this disease occur in Palestine, that in which the limbs and body are distended with water called anasarca, depending generally on cardiac or renal disease, and the form confined to the abdomen, usually the result of liver infection. The latter is the commoner, as liver disease is a frequent result of recurrent attacks of malarial fever. The man was evidently able to move about, as he had entered into the Pharisee's house (Luke 14:2). http://www.biblestudytools.com/dictionary/dropsy/ (accessed May 1, 2017) 4b-6 - Then he took him and healed him and sent him away. 5 And he said to them, Which of you, having a son [a] or an ox that has fallen into a well on a Sabbath day, will not immediately pull him out? 6 And they could not reply to these things. Second: Learn about Grace from the Story of the Wedding Feast 7-14 A parable is a story intended to clarify a point. GR = parabole = to throw before or to put one thing by the side of another for the sake of comparison IMP: Jesus told two parables: one of a wedding feast (7-11) and the other of a great banquet (15-24) with an intervening address to the host of the party he attended (12-14) Note the implication of what transpires in verse 2 versus verse 7. Jesus was sitting by the man with dropsy while the Pharisees were vying for the seats of honor as far as possible from the man with dropsy. A typical table would be U-shaped or an arrangement of separate tables in the middle of a room. At the head was the host, on either side of him the two most honored guests, and down the sides the remaining guests, all reclining on a three person couches (JM). V 8-9 The problem with seeking the place of honor is that someone more honored might arrive after you and publicly displace you Proverbs 25:6-7 - Do not put yourself forward in the king's presence or stand in the place of the great, 7 for it is better to be told, Come up here, than to be put lower in the presence of a noble. James 4:10 Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you. V 11 We saw this same application in Luke 18:14. This is a major theme of Luke s who repeatedly places people alongside each other to demonstrate the necessity of God s grace and the contrast of God s kingdom versus the kingdom of this world Contrast v 12b lest they invite you in return and you will be repaid and v 14b you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just. 2
Third: See God s Generous Hospitality in the Banquet Parable 15-24 The Jews in Jesus lifetime did not have a state-sponsored welfare system. God commanded care for the needy and those who possessed wealth and/or goods were expected to show kindness and mercy to those who did not have sufficient resources. This generosity was a response to God s generosity toward Israel Deuteronomy 6:10-12 - And when the LORD your God brings you into the land that he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give you with great and good cities that you did not build, 11 and houses full of all good things that you did not fill, and cisterns that you did not dig, and vineyards and olive trees that you did not plant and when you eat and are full, 12 then take care lest you forget the LORD, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. But the Jews of Jesus day forgot God s grace in giving them the land and turned hospitality into a self-interest system. It was done with great fanfare and in the expectation that guests would reciprocate in political advantage, economic advancement or public acknowledgement. When Jesus tells his parable about a great banquet, he was telling the story of many of his listeners, people who had invited others into their home for the purposes of advancing their own lives. But Jesus told the story of a man who invited people who could repay his kindness but rejected his invitation and people who accepted the invitation but were unable to repay the kindness. That s the Gospel story. Vs 12-14 Reciprocity controlled the ethics and actions of the Pharisees social structure. In Jewish society, an invitation to a meal with a Pharisee was a kind of currency; they exploited hospitality for the sake of self-glory and elevation. Disinterested kindness was foreign to them; everything they did was self-serving (JM). Contrast v 12b lest they invite you in return and you will be repaid and v 14b you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just. A banquet like Jesus describes would have been the social event of the year. It could have been the highlight of many people s lives. No one would have refused the invitation. Jesus listeners would have thought Jesus story incredulous. This sort of thing would never happen in Israel (and yet Jesus is stating that it is happening right then and his listeners are the ones who are refusing the invitation to a banquet far beyond any they might attend in Jerusalem). Jesus was speaking to Pharisees who believed in the resurrection. He had just instructed them that humility, not their pride or the pride demonstrated in Luke 18, was the key to the resurrection (14). The Pharisees are very familiar with this kind of story 3
Isaiah 25:6-9 - On this mountain the LORD of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine, of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined. 7 And he will swallow up on this mountain the covering that is cast over all peoples, the veil that is spread over all nations. 8 He will swallow up death forever; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the LORD has spoken. 9 It will be said on that day, Behold, this is our God; we have waited for him, that he might save us. This is the LORD; we have waited for him; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation. In other words, the resurrection is like a banquet. Their understanding of that picture is verified in verse 15 When one of those who reclined at table with him heard these things, he said to him, Blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God! This comment was: a boast to himself and all the other attending Pharisees. It was also a scorn to Jesus comment about humility. Not only did they expect to be at that heavenly feast, but also to be in the seats of honor (JM). Jesus always sought to shatter unwarranted religious hope, and never encouraged anyone s false sense of security, so that arrogant, misguided assumption called for immediate and unmistakable correction. Following his example is essential to all true evangelism (JM). a) The Invitation 16-17 Jesus story is intended to speak of God s graciousness and the appropriate response V 16 - The banquet is BIG and MANY are invited. The invitation is in the form of a save the date (v 16) invitation and a it s ready invitation (17). b) The Excuses 18-20 V 18 Not just a few but all of the invited guests made excuses not to attend the feast It was so absurd as to be incomprehensible (JM). It didn t make sense. 18 - Who buys land without looking at it first? 19 Who buys oxen without first seeing them? 20 Any new wife would have been beside herself to attend and any new husband would have been beside himself to take his wife, demonstrating his prestige to her and showing her off the other guests c) the Inclusion 21-23 21b The master of the house was understandably angry. No one had given him an indication the date, time or event was objectionable 4
v 21c - the poor and crippled and blind and lame would probably have to be convinced to attend. The invitation seemed preposterous. 22-24 Those in the highways and hedges would have been even less likely to attend. They needed compelling. d) The Exclusion 24b - For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste my banquet. I tell you is Luke s Verily, verily e) The Application The head of the household = God The banquet = salvation The pre-invited guests = Israel Israel said yes to God s promises but no to his Son The newly-invited guests = Gentiles Gentiles were so accustomed to being left out, the invitation to God s grace would be surprising and they would need to be strongly urged to salvation Romans 1:16 - For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. Conclusion: Go back to the beginning of the chapter. The Jews failed to see themselves as in worse condition than the man with dropsy, the son or ox (Israel was God s (failing) Son and God s servant). Jesus was both the one who healed and the one who went into the well, as well as the son and ox who did not fall in, i.e., the obedient son and faithful servant. Here is a good, very short article on evangelistic hospitality: http://gcdiscipleship.com/2012/02/06/show-hospitality-share-the-gospel/ ------------------ Behind the Book is only one aspect of Heritage s teaching ministry which seeks to employ our church s mission statement: Connecting to God, Growing with Others and Impacting the world. On Wednesday evenings we connect to Sunday morning s Bible passage and discover what it says through in-depth Bible study. Sunday morning in corporate worship (9:30am) we grow from the passage by learning what it means for our daily living. In Community Groups 5
(10:45am) we practically apply the text, being impacted by it and learning to impact the world with it. CGI provides a balanced approach to life and Bible study; an upward look (Connect), an inward look (Grow) and an outward look (Impact) ensuring that our mission fulfils our vision to be a God-centered, Great Commission congregation. It s a well-known and beneficial way to approach the Bible Connect/Observation, Grow/Interpretation, Impact/Application. It s also a Trinitarian approach to Scripture: Connecting to the Father, Growing in Christ and Impacting the world by the Spirit, so that the way we study the Bible daily reminds us about who our God is and how he is unique among all religions of the world. Small Group Questions: 1 Why was Jesus invited to this meal? The Jews were watching him. 2 Why was Jesus question so hard to answer? The Jews viewed healing as work. 3 In the Parable of the Wedding Feast, whom might the Pharisees have considered as worthy of honor? Themselves. Who was not worthy of honor? The man with palsy. And yet Jesus healed the man with palsy and the Jewish leaders remained unsaved. 4 According to Jesus, why shouldn t you walk into a banquet hall and take the seat of honor? 5 In the parable of the Great Banquet, wow are we blessed if people cannot repay us? 6 v 15 How was this response sarcastic? 7 What then is the point of Jesus parable? That all the guests there will not be at God s banquet. 8 How are all the excuses not to attend the great banquet invalid? 9 What kind of excuses do people make to refuse salvation? 10 Think about being addressed by Jesus in verses 12-14. How would you respond if you were him? How does the address change your thinking? 6