The Gospel of Luke 14:16-35 A parable & disciples

Good morning. We're going to be venturing into this passage in Luke, Luke 14, 16 through 35. And just to remind you, we're continuing with the Messiah's banquet theme. Jesus is talking about this banquet that's going to take place in the coming millennial kingdom to begin the kingdom reign. has that theme from actually last week's passage 1 through 15 and he continues on with that with this parable here in biblical times a new ruler coming into the crown would put on a banquet for the people of the kingdom basically everyone would be invited So Jesus speaks of this Messiah's banquet in Luke 12 37 and also in chapter 13 in last week's passage Luke 14 1 through 15 and then in today's passage Luke 14 16 through 24 so this is something he carries on now for several chapters and Christ is referring here to those who are at the Messiah's banquet at the beginning of the Millennial Kingdom. That's something that was prophesied by Isaiah, Isaiah 25, verse 6, and 65, 13, and 14. He also spoke of it in Matthew 8, 11. Luke, in fact, of the Gospels includes the most on that Messiah's banquet theme. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob will be there. That's something that Jesus reveals in Matthew, and so he talks about Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob reclining at table in the kingdom.

So this banquet will include the believing Jews and Gentiles that survived the tribulation in human bodies, and it will include all those who are resurrected, including ourselves. We will be there as the body of Christ and our particular place and role will be unique. We will be the Messiah's bride. And in fact, very interestingly, we will be an island of grace in a world ruled by law.

So here's 14, Luke 14, 16 and 17. But he said to him, that is Jesus said to him, a man was giving a big dinner. He invited many. And at the dinner hour, he sent his slave to say to those who had been invited, come, for everything is ready now. Now, he says this to him. He's talking to the host, the Pharisee, who had hosted this meal. So he's speaking directly to him in front of the others. So Jesus tells this parable about the Messiah's banquet. And who puts it on and who's invited?

Like Jesus' other parables, this one is a story about something that is feasible and fairly common. It's interesting, Jesus told parables and they were always about something that people could relate to. They were things that were historically feasible, that is, they didn't contain fables and fancy. Jesus' parables are not like the fables of Aesop, for example, who would use a race between a tortoise and a hare to illustrate a point, even though such a race would never occur, right? And Jesus' parables, however, were not just fanciful, excuse me, not fanciful, they didn't even contain miraculous things in great part. And the meaning of the parable was often veiled to some, and many times that was intentional. So, what is he saying here as he starts this parable?

God the Father is the man who is hosting the dinner. He is the one who is hosting it, and the slave or servant is calling for people to come to the banquet. That's Jesus. So those are the first identifications here. The kingdom is called the kingdom of God, and Christ is called God's servant in both the Old and New Testaments. So that fits, servant or slave.

Isaiah 42.1 would be an Old Testament example, and Matthew 12.18 that quotes it would be another one, and there are others as well.

So here's Luke 14.18-20, and they all alike began to make excuses.

The first one said to him, I have bought a piece of land. I need to go out and look at it. Please consider me excused. Another one said, I have bought five yoke of oxen and I'm going to try them out. Please consider me excused. And another one said, I have married a wife and for that reason I cannot come.

Right? Now, there is a song that goes along with this. You may even have heard of it. It's been around for decades. The chorus goes, I cannot come to the banquet. Don't trouble me now. I have married a wife. I have bought me a cow. I have fields and commitments that cost a pretty sum. Pray hold me excused. I cannot come. Now, the biggest error that I ever heard in this, people say, I have bought me a wife. I have married a cow. Anyway, so don't make that mistake.

So as a summary statement here, the many who had been invited began making excuses just when the preparations for the dinner were complete. Now, it's important here for us to understand Jesus gives three examples of the kinds of excuses that people offered. And they were apparently typical excuses, kind of examples, typical of all the excuses that people gave, revealing their priorities and what they thought was important.

Now, we have to understand from the culture, the customs of the time would have meant that the servant went to those who had earlier responded with a yes. We would say they RSVP'd with a yes answer already. So they said they were coming. And then all of them turn around and say, no, we're not. And so he gives the three examples of each. So these are giving a lousy last-minute excuse. They are not going to say yes to this second invitation. When the invitation first came to them, they said, yeah, I'll be there. But now, no. And they all turned it away. These people had essentially turned down a second invitation, obviously the one that says, now is the time, it's ready. So think about it. You've got three examples.

One is the purchase of land and oxen. When one makes a purchase of land and oxen, these are examined carefully before the purchase. You don't say, hey, I'm not coming to dinner because I've got to go take a look at it. If you've purchased land or oxen, you should have looked at those carefully firsthand.

So these are both just bogus excuses. Most farmers would have only one ox, maybe two, in which case they would be yoked like you see in the picture, but five yoke of oxen, so this is ten single oxen in five yokes, is a lot of oxen to buy without examining the animals beforehand. The excuses would definitely be taken as an insult by the host, and these are all typical of the many excuses.

Now, how about the marriage excuse? Weddings were typically planned for a year after the engagement was set in place. So, once they would set the engagement, the groom-to-be would say, I go to prepare a place for you, that where I am you may be also. And he would take a year to get prepared.

In view of that, and having said yes to the invitation previously, this is a bogus excuse as well. To make matters worse, however, instead of politely responding after saying, I've married a wife, instead of saying, please excuse me, as the other two examples have shown, in this case, it's just a blunt, rude, I cannot come. That's it. I cannot come after having said yes.

So, bogus excuses about land, oxen and marriage reveal these invitees did not value their dinner invitation, nor did they value having given their word, nor had they set a sense of good priorities. Certainly very rude and discourteous, all of them. Since this parable is about the kingdom and the yet future kingdom, is earthly and spiritual, the excuses, though bogus, are near-term. That is, they're very short-sighted, very near-sighted excuses.

Right now I've got this thing going on, and so even though I told you yes, even though you're now coming to tell me it's ready, no, sorry, I can't do it. I really value this other thing more. So, Vern, you may ask, who are these people and what do they represent? We'll get there. Okay.

So here's Luke 14.21.

And the slave came back and reported this to his master. Then the head of the household became angry and said to his slave, Go out at once into the streets and the lanes of the city and bring in here the poor and the crippled and the blind and the lame. So this host was angry. Of course, after all these rude responses, that actually was somewhat understandable. The excuses were all bogus. They were insulting. And dinner preparations were made based on their earlier yes answers. Everything's ready.

So the host sent out his servant to those who are typically considered of low social rank. the poor and the crippled and the blind and the lame exact same words by the way as we saw in Luke 14 13 previously when Jesus told the host go and invite the poor and the crippled and the blind and the lame so Vern who are these people and who do they represent well we'll get there okay now so here's Luke 14 22 to 24 so the slave said master What you commanded has been done, still there is room. And the master said to the slave, Go out into the highways and along the hedges, and compel them to come in, so that my house may be filled. For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste of my dinner." So, Verne, who are these people and who do they represent? Well, we'll get there.

The highways in New Testament times were often built or at least upgraded by the Romans. The Roman soldiers actually are the ones that did the work and they had a particular design that they carried out with some slight variation but throughout the Roman Empire. As a matter of fact, they built so many Roman roads and it's ultimately for the priority that it's military. Get the military troops there, get the military supplies, get the weapons of warfare in place, So they built them for the military, but by the time the Roman Empire was all wrapped up, they had built enough roads by hand, like this, to go around the entire earth twice. Lots of roads. Those were the highways, the Roman highways.

Now the Jews did not actually plant hedges. They used stone fences, and it's because They had to do something with all that rock. That's one of the things we noticed over at Israel. Lots and lots and lots of rock. And so one of the things to do is, well, we'll do something with it. And so they'd make rock everything, right? Everything was made out of rock, if at all possible.

But they didn't plant hedges. So this would imply Gentile lands, because the Gentiles did plant hedges. So to compel them to come in, it's important to point out, was not to make them come in against their will, but rather to urge them to come in. Please come. Urge them to come in. So, now, who are these people?

The ones who were invited to the banquet initially were the leaders of the Jews, most particularly the well-respected Pharisees, who are the subject of this very parable, right? And matter of fact, it's the host Pharisee who's being told this parable. The poor and the crippled and the blind and the lame are the Jews whom the Pharisees view as having gotten that way because somebody had sinned. Remember, one of the things we've encountered here is the Pharisees are always asking the question, you know, if somebody had something bad happen or they had a particular condition, the Pharisees always attributed it to somebody sinned, right? And that's why this happened. And so Jesus is saying, those people who are the way they are because somebody sinned, those are this group. They're the other ones, right? They're the other part of society.

And then the ones who go out on the highways and hedges are the Jews and Gentiles out in the Gentile lands. Remember, by New Testament times, about two-thirds of the Jews actually lived in Gentile lands. Only about a third of the Jews actually lived in Israel. So this is all the other Jews who are spread out throughout in different places. These are ones who would be reached during the time of the book of Acts when the apostles would go out into other places.

So here's Luke 14, 25, and 26. Now large crowds were going along with him. So this is a different context than this meal. And he turned and said to them, if anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, even his own life, he cannot be my disciple."

Well, first thing when we take a look at this one is to remember about rabbis and disciples. The rabbis would commonly challenge their disciples for full commitment, counting the cost in advance and that sort of thing. They would do so as this with rather extreme words at times, rather intense words. So it's important to remember that there was a tradition regarding rabbis and that this tradition regarding rabbis would call for the rabbis to challenge people. And it would be a matter of, okay, we've got all kinds of Jews out there, and many of them might be very conscientious and observant of the law, and actually even godly-minded people.

So being a disciple was a subset. That is, it was not all Jews who were called to be a disciple. So Jesus' words were actually typical of rabbis in those days. These words here, and the rabbi's disciples were those who followed him, and they followed him wholeheartedly. A Jew might be observant and godly-minded in believing, but not be a disciple of a rabbi.

And that's an important distinction for us to make, especially as we look at the word disciples in a little bit here. Let's take an example. Here's Joseph, Jesus' would-be father. husband of Mary. Joseph, the Bible says, was a righteous man. So here's Joseph, an observant Jew. There's no evidence, however, that he ever followed a rabbi.

So it's possible for someone to be a disciple in the Jewish sense and be one who follows the rabbi, or to be righteous, but just not following a rabbi. So that's an important distinction to understand and to make. So there are disciples with rabbis and disciples without rabbis. What do we mean by that? The Jews had this set of traditions about rabbis and disciples. Jesus sometimes followed those traditions and sometimes he went against them. But the focus between the rabbi and the disciples was the law of Moses.

So we have here, for example, a dramatic portrayal of Gamaliel, Paul's rabbi. He was quoted in Acts chapter 5. And Gamaliel had over his lifetime about a thousand disciples. About a thousand disciples. He was actually, if you were to count it by numbers, more successful as a rabbi than Jesus was. Now Gamaliel did live longer, however, and so that's one difference. Paul was one of the disciples of Gamaliel. In contrast, in the book of Acts, we find that both Jews and Gentiles who become Christian believers were all, every single one, called disciples, even if they were brand new believers.

So it's very important that we understand, disciples in the Gospels, under the law, only for Jews. Jews were the only ones invited, and Jesus was exceptional. Ordinarily, rabbis would not have a woman as a disciple. In that situation, the word disciple is specifically for the Jews and those who are willing and able to be committed to learning under that rabbi. That's it. And you had to have a rabbi or you weren't a disciple. In the book of Acts, the word disciple is used differently. It's the exact same Greek word underneath, but it's used very differently.

It is used for every single Christian believer. No exceptions. It's used for every single Christian believer from the time that they first become believers on to the end. And it is for disciples who are all under grace and not under the law. So the word disciples means something very different in Acts than it does in the Gospels. And we can't just simply take what the Gospels say about being a disciple as applying to us in the body of Christ.

Very important to understand that distinction. As always, we compare and contrast, compare and contrast, in order to understand correctly. We, in the body of Christ, stand in grace, which is the reigning principle. Some time ago we went through Romans chapter 5, Paul made it clear in Romans 5, 2 and 21 that we in the body of Christ stand in grace, and for those of you in the Bible class, that's in the perfect tense, stand in grace, which God has made to be the reigning principle for the body of Christ. Very important distinction.

These disciples that Jesus was talking to and inviting and challenging, were under the law and not under grace. For us, it is God's intent that we see how God desires that we in the body of Christ, who have a different standing before God, are to live life very differently and to be of very different character as disciples. As Paul said, you are not under law as those disciples were in Jesus' time of earthly ministry, but under grace. So, you look at this verse and you say, what?

Jesus teaching hate? Unthinkable! Well, okay. This is a Jewish figure of speech, okay? That means that one's devotion to the rabbi is so great that by comparison, love for his family seems like hate. Jesus is not teaching hate. He would not do that. The Jews were, as a commandment, to honor and be respectful to parents, as required by the law of Moses, and part of that honor was to support them in various ways, especially during the latter part of life and under certain conditions. So Jesus would not be teaching that the people should hate their family. It's a Jewish figure of speech saying that the devotion to the rabbi is so great that the love for the parents and the family that they ought to have, relatively speaking, seems like hate.

In our situation here in the body of Christ, 1 John 4.19 gives us the proper perspective on love. We love, John wrote, because He first loved us. For us who are church-age believers, who are all disciples of Christ, that's out of the book of Acts, We are disciples of Christ, the one with whom we are seated, the one who indwells each of us. We love Him because He first loved us. Our love for Him is responsive. We love others, including those in the body of Christ, because He first loved us. Our love for Him and for others is responsive to His love for us.

It's like we bring up Ephesians 4.32, forgive one another just as God and Christ has forgiven you. Our actions of love, forgiveness, graciousness, all those things are because that's been shown to us first.

Here's Luke 14.27, and whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. And here's again another statement, you can't be my disciple. So that's not meaning that those who don't follow after Him in this particular context are automatically unrighteous. Just saying that being a disciple is a special assignment requires full devotion in the gospel context.

So what would they do in those days? The vertical piece, which would oftentimes be there at the place where the person is going to be crucified, the vertical piece, the stipes, would be already there and the person would be forced to carry what's called the petibulum, the piece that goes across. That's why Simon of Cyrene was compelled to carry that. because Jesus was collapsing under the weight of the petibulum. Why?

It's because he had been beaten so badly. Beaten very badly. Now, there is one sense in which this verse, 1427, had direct application to the apostles and ourselves. Here's 1 Corinthians 15, 30-31. Why are we also in danger every hour? I affirm, brethren, by the boasting in you which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily."

Paul also wrote in 2 Corinthians 4, 7-12, but we have this treasure in earthen vessels. What's the treasure? Christ. We have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed, perplexed but not despairing, persecuted but not forsaken, struck down but not destroyed, always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. For we who live are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our mortal flesh. So death works in us, but life in you. So, carry his own cross and come after me.

This sounds very unselfish and devoted, right? It does, doesn't it? For those who are under the law and the rabbinical traditions of the first century in Israel, it was the right thing to do. It was just the right thing to do. Is it right for us in the body of Christ to do?

Does Jesus right now want you to carry your own cross and follow Him? Is that what He has in mind? If we were to do those things in the church body right now, it would actually be setting aside part of what Christ died on the cross to accomplish. Are we to have an obsession with our cross or with His?

For us who are in the body of Christ, God has already taken care of the need to deny ourselves, pick up our cross, and follow Jesus. We were identified with Christ in His death, burial, resurrection, And we are called to faith in those spiritual facts. Faith in the spiritual facts that have been revealed about our having been crucified with Him, buried with Him, and resurrected with Him, as opposed to carrying our cross daily. Right? So it's not what happens with my cross that matters, but rather what God has already accomplished on Christ's cross. That's what matters.

Galatians 2.20 puts it this way, I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself up for me. My self has been crucified. I was crucified on his cross. Living each day means more than just following Jesus. By my own even if very dedicated self-effort. It is Christ living His life in and through me that's what God has in mind.

Here's Luke 14, 28-30, For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, All who observe it begin to ridicule him, saying, This man began to build and was not able to finish." Watchtowers were used in biblical times to watch out for, for example, predators that might come in, animals that might eat the crops. Watch out!

A whole flock of them is coming in, right? Invading armies or groups of thugs, somebody who might come in and take over the harvest that you've gotten. and to oversee the workers and harvest. Ah, let's see, we need to get more work done over here. We need to get this material over here so that this is prepared. So managing things was another reason to have somebody in the watchtower. This would be a larger graphic to get the picture.

You would have someone at various stages, basically almost around the clock in a watchtower. And this was one in Nazareth Village. It was one, it was very interesting. They had gone through, before they did anything in there, after purchasing the property, they went and did an archaeological excavation. They found that this watchtower had actually been there. and that it was a watchtower that Jesus himself very likely had watchtower duty in. So they rebuilt the watchtower so that it's visible in basically the same place that it was. So very likely Jesus had watchtower duty in this watchtower.

So he knew what he was talking about. So building a watchtower would require a rock platform, and the higher you could make that, the better. vertical wood members, and a roof structure which would provide shade and weather protection. And by the way, the carpenters in those days weren't just guys who worked with wood, they also worked with the stone as well. So Jesus was not only a carpenter with wood, but also a mason, a stone mason. So he would have been somebody who actually would have built that.

Not that we know that's the case in this particular one. So the question here then becomes, can I finish? In Israel, being a disciple is a very special calling and assignment, having a whole set of traditions that went along with it. And so a person, he's saying, needs to consider very carefully, can I finish this? Don't just tell me you're going to start and then just, you know, finally peter off and wander away. Among the Jews, not finishing anything that everyone knew you had begun would be cause for ridicule. This is a cultural thing. So seeing ahead of time that a person is able to finish as a Jewish disciple would be very important.

He's giving them the challenge. You do not want to be on the tail end of this thing, wandering away and not fulfilling your commitment and not finishing. Here's Luke 14, 31 and 32, or what king, when he sets out to meet another king in battle, will not first sit down and consider whether he is strong enough with 10,000 men to encounter the one coming against him with 20,000? Or else, while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. So the question here is not, can I finish, but can I win?

Can I be successful at this? A king who is badly outnumbered had better know that well in advance, rather than take a huge loss, perhaps everything, and maybe even the king's own life. It happened in biblical times. Can a Jew who is pondering being a disciple successfully complete the course prescribed by the rabbi, or will he be overwhelmed? For us, the church-age believers in a different position than these Jews, Jesus is challenging. That's important for us to recognize.

So here's Luke 14.33, So then, none of you, remember he said before, cannot be my disciple, cannot be my disciple. So then, none of you can be my disciple who does not give up all his own possessions. Ooh, that's intense. So are you ready to do that? Oh, okay. Did Jesus' disciples give up all their possessions? That's a good question to ask.

The record is clear, though the twelve disciples, eleven of whom would soon be apostles, did not give up every single possession. They still owned a boat and nets, and Jesus will tell them to buy a sword. Remember, after Jesus' resurrection, seven of them went out and went fishing, including dropping the nets down all night and that sort of thing. So what did Jesus mean by give up? I think that's the key. What does give up mean? Does that mean you give everything away, sell it all?

He meant that the attachment to material things must not take priority over being his disciple. That does have application to us. Certainly what he said was said to Jews in the Jewish context, but for us It is an issue if we have such an attachment to the material things that we own That that is valid spiritual concern for us in the body of Christ So here's Luke 14 34 and 35 therefore salt is good, but if even salt has become tasteless With what will it be seasoned?

It is useless either for the soil or for a manure pile. It is thrown out. He who has ears to hear, let him hear. The Latin word from which we get our word salary meant salt money. Salt was valued, valued highly, used for seasoning as a preservative and as an antiseptic. So several different purposes.

Salty rocks were used. And so they'd have this rock that was salty and you'd take that and put that in water or whatever you're going to do to draw the salt out. But eventually all the salt would be dissolved out and then you'd take the rock that remains and throw it away. Often throwing it away in a roadway because you didn't want it out in the place where you're trying to grow crops because it might still have a little bit of saltiness left in it. So the Jews were to have a good influence on the rest of the world, the Gentile nations. They were to be a light to the nations.

We have an example here from Isaiah 51, 4 and 5. Pay attention to me, O my people, that's Israel, singular people, Israel. And give ear to me, O my nation, single nation, that's Israel. For a law will go forth from me and I will set my justice for a light of the peoples, plural, That's Gentiles. My righteousness is near, my salvation has gone forth, and my arms will judge the peoples. Plural, Gentiles. The coastlands will wait for me, and for my arm they will wait expectantly. Here's Isaiah 60, verses 1 and 3.

Arise, shine, for your light has come, the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. For behold, darkness will cover the earth, and deep darkness the peoples, plural, that's Gentiles, right? But the Lord will rise upon you and His glory will appear to you. Nations, that's Gentiles, will come to your light and kings, kings of the earth, a phrase for Gentiles, leaders of the Gentiles, to the brightness of your rising.

So the Jews were intended by God to be a light to the Gentiles and they often did not understand that. but nonetheless that was God's intent. Jesus finishes this passage with, He who has ears to hear, let him hear. Now these words are similar to words at the end of each message to the seven churches of Revelation in chapters two and three of the book of Revelation.

There it says in Revelation 2.7 and in each of the ends of the subsequent messages, He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. Obviously, the people listening have physical ears. That's not what Jesus is talking about, is he? Jesus is talking about the spiritual sense of hearing.

Now, there are in our human bodies five classical senses, sight, hearing, touch, smell, and taste. And in the same way that we have five senses in the physical realm, we also have five senses and analog of those in the spiritual realm. And as we see in scripture, and this is only some examples, all five of those senses are referred to in the Bible, particularly, not exclusively, but particularly in the New Testament. And so one of the ways that we explain that in the physical realm, we have a body and a part of that body is a brain. In the spiritual realm we have a spirit and a part of that is the soul. So the brain and the soul have an interface between one another that include mind, emotions and will. We have those five senses in the physical realm that connect from our bodies into our brains and we have in the spiritual realm those same five senses. to be able to see the Lord. We talk about beholding the Lord, right?

And that's spiritually, looking unto Jesus, spiritually speaking. And in this case, Jesus says, he who has spiritual ears, let him hear. And so there is this sense of hearing in the spiritual realm. The thing to look at with this, these senses are only turned on in the believer. These spiritual senses are only turned on in the believer, and believers can either become like those believers to whom the book of Hebrews was written, where they become dull of hearing, or they can be trained, and they're trained up through the Word of God, they're trained up by the work of the Holy Spirit, and they're trained up by interaction with other believers, and putting those senses into practice and use.

And so, let's turn to the Lord now in prayer. Lord, we pray, as Paul did, that the eyes of our hearts might be opened. We pray, as Jesus challenges here, that we might hear and listen to what you have presented before us, that we would be spiritually seeing and listening and responsive. And we just thank you for what you've revealed here, because you love us, because you care for us. And you want us to walk in fellowship with you and in intimacy and dependence upon you. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.