Luke 14.1-14

1 One Sabbath day Jesus went to eat dinner in the home of a leader of the Pharisees, and the people were watching him closely. 2 There was a man there whose arms and legs were swollen. 3 Jesus asked the Pharisees and experts in religious law, “Is it permitted in the law to heal people on the Sabbath day or not?” 4 When they refused to answer, Jesus touched the sick man and healed him and sent him away. 5 Then he turned to them and said, “Which of you doesn’t work on the Sabbath? If your son or your cow falls into a pit, don’t you rush to get him out?” 6 Again they could not answer.

7 When Jesus noticed that all who had come to the dinner were trying to sit in the seats of honor near the head of the table, he gave them this advice: 8 “When you are invited to a wedding feast, don’t sit in the seat of honor. What if someone who is more distinguished than you has also been invited? 9 The host will come and say, ‘Give this person your seat.’ Then you will be embarrassed, and you will have to take whatever seat is left at the foot of the table! 10 Instead, take the lowest place at the foot of the table. Then when your host sees you, he will come and say, ‘Friend, we have a better place for you!’ Then you will be honored in front of all the other guests. 11 For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

12 Then he turned to his host. “When you put on a luncheon or a banquet,” he said, “don’t invite your friends, brothers, relatives, and rich neighbors. For they will invite you back, and that will be your only reward. 13 Instead, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. 14 Then at the resurrection of the righteous, God will reward you for inviting those who could not repay you.”

Comments

Here is another of those contentious meals Jesus shared with a Pharisee, this time a leader among them. It is interesting that Luke tells us the people were watching Jesus closely (v.1) and that Jesus was watching them closely (v.7). Things get tense immediately as a man with edema (also called dropsy) somehow gets in (even though his swelling made him unclean) and Jesus asks them what they think about healing on the Sabbath. It’s hard to imagine a room full of religious leaders and lawyers having no answer at all, but they make no response. Jesus heals the man and then begins discussing banquet seating arrangements.

The rest might seem like common wisdom or just plain good advice (the NLT seems to think so), but the word there should be parable not advice – Luke tells us that Jesus began to speak in a parable. It doesn’t seem like a parable, though, it seems like something you might find in Proverbs (e.g., 25.6-7) or in an etiquette book of the day. But Jesus is saying this to them while they are jockeying for the best seats. He is rebuking their behavior by making a parody of good advice. Humility was considered a vice in both Greek and Jewish culture. Holding it up as a virtue was a distinctive of Jesus’ teaching. 

This becomes more apparent with what Jesus says to the host: stop inviting those who can return the favor and invite the poor instead: the crippled, blind, and lame (those excluded from priesthood, Lev. 21.17-21). Taking these two parts together, Jesus is telling them to invite the poor to their parties and then take the lowest seats, giving honor to the poor. Jesus is advocating the very sort of reversal Luke has been talking about since chapter 1. Participate in the reversal, Jesus says, prefigure it now in your own social actions. Of course, those sorts of parties will be attended by unclean people (like the man who crashed this party), making the issue of when to heal very pertinent. One can only hope that some of the guests were positively affected by seeing the man healed before their very eyes. The best way to see people get healed is to have people who need healing feel welcome to come.

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale HousePublishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Luke 13.22-35

22 Jesus went through the towns and villages, teaching as he went, always pressing on toward Jerusalem. 23 Someone asked him, “Lord, will only a few be saved?”

He replied, 24 “Work hard to enter the narrow door to God’s Kingdom, for many will try to enter but will fail. 25 When the master of the house has locked the door, it will be too late. You will stand outside knocking and pleading, ‘Lord, open the door for us!’ But he will reply, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from.’ 26 Then you will say, ‘But we ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets.’ 27 And he will reply, ‘I tell you, I don’t know you or where you come from. Get away from me, all you who do evil.’

28 There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, for you will see Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all the prophets in the Kingdom of God, but you will be thrown out. 29 And people will come from all over the world — from east and west, north and south — to take their places in the Kingdom of God. 30 And note this: Some who seem least important now will be the greatest then, and some who are the greatest now will be least important then.”

31 At that time some Pharisees said to him, “Get away from here if you want to live! Herod Antipas wants to kill you!”

32 Jesus replied, “Go tell that fox that I will keep on casting out demons and healing people today and tomorrow; and the third day I will accomplish my purpose. 33 Yes, today, tomorrow, and the next day I must proceed on my way. For it wouldn’t do for a prophet of God to be killed except in Jerusalem! 34 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones God’s messengers! How often I have wanted to gather your children together as a hen protects her chicks beneath her wings, but you wouldn’t let me. 35 And now, look, your house is abandoned. And you will never see me again until you say, ‘Blessings on the one who comes in the name of the Lord!’”

Comments

These may seem like random little stories put together, but Luke was anything but random. The question that introduces today’s reading is the theme here. A man in the crowd wanted to know if Jesus was preaching the same sort of religious exclusivism that the Pharisees (and other groups like the Essenes) were known for. Just like he did with the lawyer asking who is neighbor was, Jesus answered a general, theoretical question with a specific, practical answer. Will it be few or many? You just work hard making sure you get through the door. Because some people will be left outside. People who will complain that they had shared a meal with Jesus. Luke has given us several accounts of Jesus eating with Pharisees. This is his subtle way of also telling the questioner that, ironically, the ones excluding others are going to be excluded.

And then, look, Pharisees show up! Warning Jesus about Herod. It might seem like the Pharisees were looking out for Jesus, but at no point have they treated Jesus well, even when he was in Galilee enjoying the favor of the synagogue leaders. Plus, the Pharisees have been holding a grudge against Jesus since he called them out at one of those meals (11.53). Add to that what Luke told us in 9.9 – that Herod wanted to see Jesus – and the fact that Jesus was already on his way out of Herod’s jurisdiction, and it becomes evident that the warning here was bogus. Were they trying to get Jesus to leave? He already was. Were they trying to get him to be quiet? Or scare him? Provoke him into acting in some way unprophetlike?

No chance. Just like he told the man at the beginning of this passage, Jesus had his own door to walk through. It was both narrow and incredibly hard work. And nothing could deter him from that work. The main message of Luke’s Gospel is embedded in these (not at all) random stories. Work hard getting through the narrow door of the kingdom. Don’t be left outside with the religious folk. Be sure that you are following Jesus in the hard work he did and the narrow door he went through.

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale HousePublishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.