A SABBATH MEAL AT A PHARISEE'S HOUSE; THE HEALING OF A MAN WITH DROPSY (14:1-6). It is unusual in Luke for us to be given the full details of the setting, yet in this passage Jesus is invited into the home of a ‘Ruler of the Pharisees'. And there He eats bread with him and his companions, companion... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And it came about, when he went into the house of one of the rulers of the Pharisees on a sabbath to eat bread, that they were watching him.' The description here is unusual for there were no rulers of the Pharisees. It may, however, merely signify that the man was both a ruler of the Jews, and als... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And behold, there was before him a certain man that had the dropsy.' There before Him Jesus saw a plain case of a man with the dropsy. This was a horrible disease in which water under the skin made the skin sag and ‘drop'. It meant that his limbs and tissues were swollen with excess body fluids. I... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And Jesus answering spoke to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, “Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath, or not?” Jesus ‘answers' the lawyers and Pharisees. This may indicate His response to the man's mute appeal, or it may signify that He recognised the unspoken question in the minds of the Pharisee... [ Continue Reading ]
‘But they held their peace. And he took him, and healed him, and let him go.' So they said nothing. They no doubt reclined there tight-lipped and observant, waiting to see what He would do. Perhaps He would think better of it. But Jesus was a faithful servant, and when they said nothing Jesus took... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And he said to them, “Which of you shall have an ass or an ox fallen into a well, and will not straightway draw him up on a sabbath day?” Then Jesus turned to those who were watching Him through narrowed eyes and asked them which of them, if a domestic animal had fallen into a pit on the Sabbath,... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And they could not answer again to these things.' They had no answer to give. How do you accuse a man of blasphemy when He heals successfully in the name of God? So they had nothing to say. But they had plenty in their thoughts, and it was probably not very pleasant. For their silence did not mean... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And he spoke a parable to those who were invited, when he marked how they chose out the chief seats, saying to them,' Jesus noted how the Scribes and Pharisees who had come for the meal at the leading Pharisee's house carefully chose the chief seats so that their superiority would be recognised. Th... [ Continue Reading ]
THE WARNING AGAINST BEING ONE OF THOSE WHO SEEKS OUT THE CHIEF SEATS (14:7-11). This passage is parallel in the chiasmus with those who are to seek, not food and clothing, but the Kingly Rule of God, and to have their minds set on Heaven (Luke 12:22). Those described here are the opposite of that.... [ Continue Reading ]
“When you are invited by any man to a marriage feast, do not sit down in the chief seat, lest it chance that a more honourable man than you be invited by him,” Jesus instances a marriage feast. This is because a marriage feast would be more formal and the placing of guests tightly controlled. But i... [ Continue Reading ]
“And he who invited you and him shall come and say to you, ‘Give this man place,' and then you will begin with shame to take the lowest place.” And the result would be that the host would say to them, ‘You are sitting in this man's place'. Then with shame they would have to leave their choice place... [ Continue Reading ]
“But when you are invited, go and sit down in the lowest place, so that when he who has invited you comes, he may say to you, “Friend, go up higher.” Then you will have glory in the presence of all who sit at meat with you.” What they should rather do is come early and take the lowest seat in the f... [ Continue Reading ]
“For every one who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” As so often the story is capped by a maxim. The one who exalts himself will find that he is at some stage humbled. He will find that he thinks more highly of himself than others think of him, and the res... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And he said to him also who had invited him, “When you make a dinner or a supper, do not call friends, nor your brothers, nor your kinsmen, nor rich neighbours, in case they also invite you in return, and a recompense be made to you.” ' The passage begins with Jesus suggesting to His host, the rul... [ Continue Reading ]
THE GREAT SUPPER WILL BE ATTENDED BY UNEXPECTED GUESTS BECAUSE THOSE FIRST INVITED HAVE MADE EXCUSES IN ORDER TO AVOID ATTENDING (14:12-24). In the previous parable Jesus had hinted at the danger of not partaking in the future life because they were too proud. Now He makes clear that most of those... [ Continue Reading ]
‘But when you make a feast, invite the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed, because they have no means with which to recompense you, for you will be recompensed in the resurrection of the righteous.” What he should rather do is invite the poor and needy, who have no way of... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And when one of those who sat at meat with him heard these things, he said to him, “Blessed is he who will eat bread within the Kingly Rule of God.” ' Someone present overheard what Jesus had said and piously and complacently declared, “Blessed is he who will eat bread within the Kingly Rule of Go... [ Continue Reading ]
‘But he said to him, “A certain man made a great supper, and he invited many, and he sent out his servant at supper time to say to those who were invited, ‘Come, for all things are now ready.' ” ' So Jesus spoke to them in a warning parable. The parable was about a man who made a great supper and in... [ Continue Reading ]
“And they all with one consent began to make excuse. The first said to him, ‘I have bought a field, and I find it necessary for me to go out and see it, I beg you, have me excused.' ” The excuses are to some extent patterned on the excuses offered to Israel's fighting men before they went to war, ... [ Continue Reading ]
“And another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am on my way to prove them. I beg you have me excused.' ” The second of those invited excused himself, making as his excuse the fact that the had bought five yoke of oxen and needed to go and test them out. Again he was a wealthy man. A poo... [ Continue Reading ]
“And another said, ‘I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.' ” The third does not make excuses. He baldly rejects the invitation and states that as he is newly married he cannot be expected to leave his wife in order to attend the supper. His wife (or his begetting of an heir) means mor... [ Continue Reading ]
“And the servant came, and told his lord these things. Then the master of the house being angry said to his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the main streets and side roads of the city, and bring in here the poor and maimed and blind and lame.' ” So the servant returns to his lord and informs him of w... [ Continue Reading ]
“And the servant said, ‘Lord, what you commanded is done, and yet there is room.' ” But the servant then informs him that he has fully obeyed his command, but although he has scoured the city he can find no more guests there, and yet not all the couches are filled. Note the emphasis on the obedienc... [ Continue Reading ]
“And the lord said to the servant, ‘Go out into the highways and hedges, and constrain them (strongly urge them) to come in, that my house may be filled.' ” Then the lord tells his servant to leave the city and go out into the countryside. There in the highways and under the hedges he will find hung... [ Continue Reading ]
“ ‘For I say to you, that none of those men who were invited shall taste of my supper.' ” And His parable ends on the sombre note that none of those first invited will taste of his supper. These words are addressed by Jesus to His hearers, as the plural ‘you' makes clear. He is enforcing the applica... [ Continue Reading ]
THE CALL TO DISCIPLESHIP (14:25-35). Luke closes this section off as he opened it by showing Jesus as challenging His disciples and His would be disciples to consider what was involved in what they were setting out to do. He wanted them to recognise fully what was involved. His challenge to put Him... [ Continue Reading ]
‘Now there went with him great crowds, and he turned, and said to them,' Great crowds ‘went on together with Him', as He went on His way to Jerusalem, and they included many would be disciples who were not aware of why He was going there. For in the crowds would be people with different hopes. Some... [ Continue Reading ]
“If any man comes to me, and does not love less than me, his own father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.” The first cost was with regard to family. As He had demonstrated earlier, now that He was fulfilling His min... [ Continue Reading ]
“Whoever does not bear his own cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple.” The second cost is with regard to manner of life. The idea here has already been dealt with in Luke 10:23. A man who would follow Jesus must be like a man who bears his cross on the way to execution. He leaves his past... [ Continue Reading ]
“For which of you, desiring to build a tower (farm mansion), does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he have that with which to complete it? Lest haply, when he has laid a foundation, and is not able to finish, all that behold begin to mock him,” But Jesus does not want them to take the... [ Continue Reading ]
“Saying, This man began to build, and was not able to finish.” For if he fails people will say scathingly, “This man began to build, and was not able to finish.” In the same way therefore those who are considering leaving all and following Jesus should consider whether they are really willing to fo... [ Continue Reading ]
“Or what king, as he goes to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and take counsel whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? Or else, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a deputation, and asks for conditions of peace.”... [ Continue Reading ]
“So therefore whoever he be of you who does not renounce all that he has, he cannot be my disciple.” Looking back therefore at the two examples of what discipleship will cost in terms of loss of family and of all their past life, and in terms of the possible hardness of the way (Luke 14:26), each o... [ Continue Reading ]
“Salt therefore is good, but if even the salt has lost its savour (literally ‘if it become foolish'), with what shall it be seasoned. It is fit neither for the land nor for the dunghill. Men cast it out.” Jesus then finishes with a warning of the danger of becoming a disciple and then losing the ve... [ Continue Reading ]
“He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” Jesus then finishes this passage, and the whole section, with the plea that men and women might hear His words. Let those who have ears to hear, hear. This could signify that they must ensure that they listen, mark, learn and inwardly digest. Or that only th... [ Continue Reading ]