Luke 14:15-33

Last week we took a look at the account of Jesus’ dinner visit at the home of a ‘leading Pharisee’ as recorded in Luke 14.  As Jesus watched the other guests scrambling for the best places at the dinner table, and completely ignoring a very sick man among them, he taught them about humility, and summed up his teaching with this astounding statement: “…those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.” 

I mentioned last week that in saying this, Jesus was likely speaking about something more than ‘this world’. We have a couple of ‘clues’ supporting that – one is simply the surprising content of the statement itself! The reaction back then would have been very similar to today – i.e., “Yeah, right!” They knew as well as we do, that if you want to get ahead in this world, you have to push. If you put others first, that just makes it easier for them to step right on you, or over you.  They would have understood this statement as being very counter-cultural – the same as we should today. 

Another more significant ‘clue’ that Jesus is talking about more than this world here, is that in the beginning of his teaching, Jesus used the words ‘wedding feast’.  “When you are invited to a wedding feast” he said, “don’t take the best seats.”  The people at the table with him, being for the most part Pharisees and religious leaders, would have understood that reference. 

In Jewish theology (as well as early Christian teaching) the Great Wedding Feast with all it’s celebration and joy, was a favorite way to symbolically picture the end of this age of suffering and injustice, and the beginning of the New Age of justice, and peace, and the rule of God. 

So just by saying those two words Jesus was dropping a big hint that he was talking about the ‘economy of the Kingdom’ and not necessarily the values of this world. And we know from the rest of the Gospels, that Kingdom values often are completely the opposite of the values of this age. Humility may or may not get you ahead in this world, but it for certain will be rewarded by God. Once again we see that things that are important to God often don’t matter at all to the world!

Well, in the next verse (from where we left off last week), we see that at least one of those present that day ‘got’ his point. Here’s what we read (14:15): 

 Hearing this, a man sitting at the table with Jesus exclaimed, “What a blessing it will be to attend a banquet in the Kingdom of God!” 

So, he’s in tune with Jesus meaning. He gets it – ‘We’re talking about the Kingdom of God here.’ And notice, too, that he’s assuming that he is going to be one of the invited guests at God’s great banquet! (“What a blessing it will be to attend” he says.) 

Now, again, we have to remember the context.  So many times the deeper meaning of a Scripture passage will emerge when we ask those important questions about context – ‘who is this? ‘where are they?’, ‘when did it happen?’, etc.  Let’s picture the audience in Luke 14, and we can make some fairly safe assumptions about what this man meant by his statement to Jesus. 

One assumption we already pointed out: i.e., that he would be one of those attending that great Heavenly BBQ!  I’m going!  Another assumption (and we know this, because it was the way that the Pharisees thought) is that only a select few – in particular, those like himself – would be among the invited! Put it another way, at God’s great Banquet there will be no Gentiles, no ‘dabblers’ in the Law, no foreigners, no sinners, and probably no women, either.  This would have been his belief system. He was convinced that he, and those like himself, were the standard bearers for God’s people. 

So all that is laid out in that simple declaration. Jesus responds by telling him a story. There’s an apparently wealthy man who decided to have a banquet and sent out many invitations. 

A word about local customs may shed some light on this passage for us… Back in that day, when someone was going to have a big, formal party, they would send out invitations naming the day of the feast in advance, but not the time. And people would respond, indicating whether or not they would be attending. 

On the actual day of the party, once everything was in place and ready for the guests, the servants would be sent out again to tell the already invited guests that it is time; come and celebrate! Party on! For someone who had already accepted the invitation to turn around and refuse to respond to that summons would have been a terrible insult to the host. 

In his story, the excuses given were particularly lame. None of them were ‘legitimate.’  One says, ‘I’ve just bought some property and have to inspect it’. Another says, ‘I just bought a new pair of oxen and I have to try them out.’ A third says, ‘I just got a new wife – sorry!’ 

 Some commentators look at these excuses as symbolic categories of excuses that keep people away from faith. Like, the category of ‘Business/ wealth (I just got a new job… or I just bought a new house, I don’t have time for Bible study) … or the category of new things (I just bought a new guitar, and can’t come to church – I have to stay home and play it!)… or the category of good things (family, friends) which take the place of the best things (I just had a baby, or I just got married – who has time to pray?)  I don’t know if that was Jesus’ intention, but it’s obvious that his point was that the excuses were very weak. 

Now again, think of the context here… think of the bigger picture.  The symbolism of this ‘side conversation’ at the Pharisee’s table is pretty awesome. 

God sent out ‘invitations’ to his kingdom, to his ‘family,’ ages before this little dinner party. In calling Abraham and Isaac and Moses, in patiently establishing a people who would bear and declare his name to the world, patiently working over centuries with prophets, kings, farmers, and other ordinary and extraordinary people, the invitations were delivered.  We sing a song at 9:30 that asks “Don’t you want to be a part of the Kingdom?” That’s what God had been asking for centuries. The man sitting at the table with Jesus would surely have been, by Biblical standards, among the invited. (He was right about that.) 

And he has no idea, but here he is talking with the very Servant of God who had been sent by the Host (the Father) to summon the invited to his banquet!  One way we can look at Jesus’ mission is that he came to give the announcement: “Everything is now ready!” The time has come!  “Repent and believe the Good News! Believe in me!”  Say ‘yes to God!’  The kingdom is here! 

Jesus knew that for the most part his invitation was going to be rejected by those who were among the first invited. In fact, the Messenger himself was destined to be killed (ironically, an act that in itself would fling open the door, and extend the invitation to many others, which was the point of Jesus’ parable.) 

In Jesus’ story, the servant hears the excuses of the people and goes back to his Master and tells him what happened. The Master is furious, and he sends the servants out again - twice - telling them to invite anyone they find to his banquet. The poor, the blind, the lame… the people that can’t reciprocate. Bring them all in to my house!  I want this place filled! (These are the very people that Jesus told his dinner host that he ought to be inviting to his future parties!) 

And in the last line the Host says… For none of those I first invited will get even the smallest taste of my banquet.’” 

 So the point of Jesus’ story is that God surely has a Great Banquet planned, but the guest list is in flux, because the invited ones are refusing to come. And their excuses are…inexcusable!  So in this parable he is challenging the people at that table to consider: ‘am I ready or not?’ “Am I going to say ‘no’ to the invitation?” 

But let’s read on… there’s more. In the next section of Luke 14, Jesus is no longer at that dinner; now he is walking along a road.  We find out later that he’s on the road to Jerusalem, where, in fact, he was going to die, something which he was becoming increasingly aware of.  That fact makes his message all the more urgent. 

Having just shared a parable illustrating how people can easily make bad excuses to keep from responding to a wonderful invitation that comes from God himself; now Jesus goes to the other side, and in this difficult teaching suggests that maybe we shouldn’t be too quick to say ‘yes’ to that invitation! Because, the truth is that saying ‘yes’ is going to cost us something. Remember, Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem. His obedience to God was going to cost him … everything. And he says, we should carefully consider whether or not we’re ready to pay the price that is required of us as well. Let’s read it: 

²⁵A large crowd was following Jesus. He turned around and said to them, ²⁶“If you want to be my disciple, you must hate everyone else by comparison—your father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even your own life. Otherwise, you cannot be my disciple. ²⁷And if you do not carry your own cross and follow me, you cannot be my disciple. 

[Note: ‘carry your cross’ is a reference to death! In that day it wasn’t unusual to see someone walking along a road carrying a cross. This wasn’t a euphemism for an ‘annoyance’ in life (i.e., our ‘cross to bear’). They were all one way trips!] 

²⁷And if you do not carry your own cross and follow me, you cannot be my disciple.

            ²⁸“But don’t begin until you count the cost. For who would begin construction of a building without first calculating the cost to see if there is enough money to finish it? ²⁹Otherwise, you might complete only the foundation before running out of money, and then everyone would laugh at you. ³⁰They would say, ‘There’s the person who started that building and couldn’t afford to finish it!’

            ³¹“Or what king would go to war against another king without first sitting down with his counselors to discuss whether his army of 10,000 could defeat the 20,000 soldiers marching against him? ³²And if he can’t, he will send a delegation to discuss terms of peace while the enemy is still far away. ³³So you cannot become my disciple without giving up everything you own. 

I’m sure you understand now what I meant when I said this passage is ‘difficult’! I hope you also can see why I spent so much time this evening/ morning trying to give the context of this teaching. It definitely fits into the flow of this chapter of Luke and the context gives us a better chance of understanding what we’re reading. 

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Something you’ve heard me talk about frequently in my messages for as long as I’ve been here is the cost of being a disciple. I had a friend once say to me, “Lighten up! You’re scaring people!” 

As recently as two weeks ago I talked about the way in the Western Church that in an attempt to lift up the wonderful Gospel message of Salvation by Grace through Faith alone, we have at times fundamentally changed that very Gospel by completely removing any personal responsibility for discipleship. 

We clergy – over many years –  have refused to read to preach on the passages of Scripture that not only talk about our responsibilities, and the expectations of maturity, and growth in faith; but especially those passages that warn of the frequent complications of the life of a follower of Christ: things like the world’s hatred of us!  (“Don’t worry when the world hates you” Jesus said. “It hated me first!”  Things like persecution, and suffering. Burdens that we carry for a lost world- burdens that God gives us. And suffering that God allows in us to help us grow… sacrifice and service that are the foundations of the lifestyle of a disciple. This is all part of the ‘full’ message of the Gospel. [It’s in here!] 

I truly believe that this imbalance in our teaching has made the church in the West weak and self –centered over generations. The church in the US is like a club of out of shape athletes. We lack spiritual discipline and focus, and we look more for comfort and entertainment than to be conformed into the image of Jesus Christ. That’s a sweeping statement, (and I know I’ll never be the pastor of a mega-church if I keep talking like that) and I also know there are many wonderful exceptions to that generalization, and many are right here – thank the Lord!  But I also think it’s true. 

When we hear news reports like the one that came out just last week stating that more than 50% of the population in Great Britain believe that any religion is detrimental to society… and in that country that produced such Christian greats as John Wesley, and C. S. Lewis, only 17% of the population now consider themselves to be Christians, something is wrong with the church! And I wonder how far behind the USA is? 

Yes, we are forgiven in Christ!  We are freely given what we can never earn. But to say that it costs us nothing to follow Christ takes the heart out of the church.  And it contradicts what Jesus clearly has taught us. 

Friends, listen… if we want to be disciples of Jesus we must be willing to pick up our cross and follow him. Is he talking about a literal death? Well maybe – in other parts of the world that could be a likely ‘yes’.… but that might be easier than what it probably means for us: instead of one great act of sacrifice, it means a lifetime of turning our self rule over to him.  Stepping out of the mainstream in thought and actions. Making the priority of our lives to follow Jesus’ commands and teachings – over anything else. Anything. 

When the world laughs at us, or rejects us, we press on. When our right cheek is slapped, we turn the other one. (Have you heard that one before?) When they take our coat – unjustly – we give our shirt, too. We forgive time after time… 70 times 7!  Do you get it?  That’s the invitation! Not just ‘step right up and get your ticket to heaven! It is: “Pick up your Cross and follow me!” 

Jesus says if we really want to follow him that we can’t love anything or anyone more than we love him. Yes, that is hard. Will we reach it? Maybe, maybe not (and when we fall short, we know that we are forgiven!) But this needs to be the expectation, the goal, for all of us.  He sums it up in verse 33: So you cannot become my disciple without giving up everything you own. 

Does he mean, ‘sell everything’? Not likely. But he certainly is referring to clinging to our ‘rights’.  Another spiritual paradox: in losing our lives, in giving all to Christ, we find true life. 

Yes, it is hard. Yes, it costs a lot – but not more than any of us can afford! And yes, it is worth it. There is no more exciting life, no more fulfilling life than one that is completely sold out to God.

G. K. Chesterton one said, “The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult, and left untried.”[1] I think he is correct. 

When Texas pastor Jim Denison was in college, he served as a summer missionary in East Malaysia. While there he attended a small church. At one of the church's worship services, a teenage girl came forward to announce her decision to follow Christ and be baptized.

During the service, Denison noticed some worn-out luggage leaning against the wall of the church building. He asked the pastor about it. The pastor pointed to the girl who had just been baptized and told Denison, “Her father said that if she was baptized as a Christian she could never go home again. So she brought her luggage.”[2]

I guess the question today is… have we brought ou

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