Luke 14:1-14

God Gives Grace to the Humble

Into a world that praises strength and power, fame and glory, Jesus quietly makes His entrance. He
sees no need to muscle His way to the front or push His way to the top, in some sophomoric game of
king of the hill. There is no need. After all, He didn't come into the world to be served, but to
serve; to give His life as a ransom for many (Mk. 10:45). He has nothing to prove. He is LORD over
all the King who eternally dwells in unapproachable light (2 Cor. 4:4-6; 1 Tim. 6:16); He is not
served by human hands, as though He needed anything from us (Acts 17:25) and yet He hasn't
come for the rich and powerful or for those who are well and have no need of a physician (cf. Lk.
5:31). He came into our world to save people like you and me the meek and lowly (cf. Lk. 1:46-55;
6:20-23; 1 Cor. 1:18-31), those who have nothing to prove, who have nothing to offer, who have no
trophies in which to boast but instead have come to the tragic awareness that in the wake of our life
we are all morally bankrupt before God. The prophets are clear about this the one whom God
draws near to save:

the one to whom I [Yahweh] will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at
my word (Isa. 66:2).

[It is] the fear of the LORD [that] is the beginning of [all] knowledge (Prov. 1:7).

The way of entrance into knowledge to know God and to know ourselves in His world - is to begin
by fearing or humbling yourself before the source, the ground, the Alpha-Originator, as well as the
Omega-Consummater, who alone possesses omniscience. It is only as we are willing to bow down
before Him and willing to think His thoughts after Him that we can even start to have real
knowledge of God and ourselves.

For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy:
"I dwell in the high and holy place, AND also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit,
to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite (Isa. 57:15).

It is the way God Himself rode into our world. The prophet Zechariah proclaimed:

Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king
is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on
a colt, the foal of a donkey (Zech. 9:9; cf. Matt. 21:5).

It makes sense then that our humble God would dwell with a people who are themselves humbled
within His presence! - the humble God sits in the midst of a humble people. And that is exactly what
we find throughout the Scriptures. King David declared:

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 For you save a humble people, but the haughty eyes you bring down (Ps. 18:27; cf. 2 Sam.
22:28).

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not
despise. (Ps. 51:17).

And God Himself holds out the promise to His people that:

if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and
turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal
their land (2 Chr. 7:14).

In fact He says through the Apostles James and Peter:

Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for "God opposes the proud
but gives grace to the humble." 6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God
so that at the proper time he may exalt you, (1 Pet. 5:5-6; cf. James 4:6, 10; Prov. 3:34).

Jesus is describing the nature of the Kingdom of God, both how we enter into it and how we live
within it it is the way of our LORD, the way of humility (cf. Phil. 2:1-13). The older I get, the more I
realize how completely counter-cultural is the Christ-centered, self-denying way of humility.
There is nothing else like it in our world it is the very essence of what distinguishes us as
followers of Jesus Christ. And because it is so peculiar to our fallen race it is the reason why many
will seek BUT NOT find / not see not be able to enter into the Kingdom of God (cf. Lk. 13:24; Matt.
7:14; Jn. 3:3, 5). It is the key that unlocks entrance into the Kingdom of God that the way up is
down, the way to glory is through the path of suffering, that to be exalted, you must be humble. It is
the greatest mystery of life and few will discover it before it too late. Jesus came to earth to show us
the way the way into the presence of God - in contrast to the way of the Jewish leaders, who were
leading God's people away from God and that way is a person Jesus Christ Himself!

Jesus once again uses His rebuking of the Pharisees as a teaching moment for His disciples. Our
scene opens with Jesus being invited to dinner with one of the rulers or high officials of the Pharisees.
It is important for us to remember that Jesus had table fellowship with the Pharisees (cf. 7:36-50;
11:37-54); He came first to the Jews to offer them the way to God through Him. He was not above
teaching them the way of the Kingdom of His Father and they too were included in the external
preaching of the Gospel.

Further, because we have another healing on the Sabbath, we the readers have another
opportunity to see what, if anything, has changed in the attitude of the scribes and Pharisees toward
Jesus (cf. 4:31-41; 6:6-11; 13:10-17). Will they finally be arrested by God's glorious power through His
Son that they humble themselves before Jesus and confess Him as LORD (cf. Phil. 2:10-11), or will
they remain stubborn in their opposition to Jesus, lying in wait to hopefully catch Him doing

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something worthy of persuading the Romans to kill Him? We don't have to wait a long time for a
definitive answer to our question.

Upon reading the opening of the scene, the reader gets the impression that Jesus has been set up
(Luke 14:1-4a). Not only is it a Sabbath, but we are told that a man with dropsy, or edema, just so
happens to be sitting with a group of scribes and Pharisees at dinner with Jesus. While edema is
technically not a disease, it does indicate that other problems are present and according to the Law of
Moses it meant that the man was ceremonially unclean (cf. Lev. 15:1-12), making it highly unlikely
that the Pharisees would have NORMALLY been willing to have him sitting at their table during a
meal. Further, the reader is told that the scribes and Pharisees were watching Jesus carefully, (v. 1)
which means literally that they are lying in wait to trap Him. We remember at the end of chap. 11,
Luke had warned us:

As he [Jesus] went away from there, the scribes and the Pharisees began to press him hard and
to provoke him to speak about many things, 54 lying in wait for him, to catch him in
something he might say (Luke 11:53-54).
But, as we have already seen, Jesus will not be fazed by their blood-lust (cf. 13:31-33) all their
plotting for His death is in the sovereign hands of His Father they will finally be able to get their
evil hands on Him only when His Father has determined them to do so (cf. John 19:11; Acts 2:23;
4:27-28). No matter what their motive is, Jesus will heal this man in need because God's compassion
doesn't take a day off to rest.
But before Jesus heals him, He presses these notable lawyers with a question they should have been
quick to answer: Is is lawful (according to the Law of Moses) to heal on the Sabbath, or not? (v. 3;
cf. 6:2). The Pharisees loved to make legal distinctions because it gave them the opportunity to show
off their exhaustive knowledge of the details of the Law (cf. Rom. 10:2; 1 Cor. 8:1). So, it is all the
more shocking that when Jesus asks their opinion they remained silent. Obviously, they each had an
answer, but no one speaks up (v. 4a).
Think of the horns of their dilemma: (1) if they answered Jesus' question that healing is permitted
not only do they have to admit the power of Jesus to heal, but they would have to call into question
their whole understanding of the law would they be willing to admit that Jesus taught them
something about their law? Would they humble themselves and be willing to submit to His authority
to teach them? But (2) if they admitted that healing is NOT permitted, they would again fall into that
awkward position that Jesus has put them into so many times before of treating their animals better
than the sons and daughters of Abraham (cf. 13:15-16). Jesus' question leaves them speechless (cf.
Rom. 3:19-20)! Like those who caught the woman in adultery, they had no answer for Jesus'
penetrating question (cf. Jn. 8:9).
So Jesus took him and healed him and sent him away (v. 4b). Jesus embraced him in such a
way that there was no doubt in anyone's mind that the healing came from Jesus. He did what was
good on the Sabbath. Immediately, Jesus' knows what they are thinking. He asks them to look at
what He has just done in light of what their own practices were on the Sabbath. Who among them,

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without any hesitation, would rescue their son, or even an ox, had either of them fallen into a well no
matter what day of the week it is? Can you imagine a father, whose son has fallen into a deep well,
cry down to his son, scraped and bruised, barely keeping his head above water, and informing him
that he can't pull him to safety just yet because it is the Sabbath? And yet, here again we have
someone who is experiencing the awful effects of our fallen world now standing in the presence of
the Giver of Life Himself who can heal him immediately. But what do the Pharisees see before them?
What is important to them? How do they look upon this poor man who can't offer them anything in
return?
It's clear that the Jewish leadership has learned nothing from anything Jesus has taught or done in
their presence. What a waste! Imagine, being in the presence of God's Messiah Your King - and
seeing the power of God on display right in front of your eyes things that no one has ever done
before or since (cf. Mk. 2:12; Jn. 3:2) and when He attempts to draw you out, your pride stands like
an impenetrable wall between you and Jesus. Why couldn't they answer His question (v. 5)? Who
couldn't easily answer a question on whether or not you would immediately get your son out of well
he has fallen into no matter what day of the week it is? What's stopping them from answering Jesus?
Are they unwilling to admit any truth in Jesus? How can the refuse the LORD of glory who is trying
to draw them out so they can see their need for Jesus? Their silence is deafening! Their hatred for
God's own Son is forcing them out of the Kingdom, leaving them out in the cold, while foreigners
will sit in their seats along with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (cf. 13:28-29). Those who are first are
quickly becoming last (cf. 13:30; see also Matt. 15:26; Jn. 7:35; Rom. 1:16; 2:9-10).
In answer to Jesus' question, What better day to show God's love, compassion, and mercy upon
those in need than on the Sabbath day! God's compassion does not take a day off and neither
should those who represent Him. Jesus shows us that He desires us to use what He has given us to
reach out to those who are in need with His same mercy and love.
He has told you, O man, what is good; And what does the LORD require of you But to do
justice, to love kindness, And to walk humbly with your God? (Mic. 6:8).
In fact, the way all people will know that you are Jesus' disciples is if you have love for one another
(John 13:34-35). But the one thing that stands in the way of love, compassion, and mercy is PRIDE.
That's why Jesus tells the next two parables (vv. 7-14) both of them dealing with our attitude
towards those who have nothing to offer us in return here Jesus contrast the His way with the way
of the Jewish leaders the way of humility or the way of pride. The heart of what Jesus says is found
in v. 11, which has both practical significance for our present life, as well as eternal consequences in
where we will stand in relation to the Kingdom of God.
The Parable of the Wedding Feast (vv. 7-11)
So in v. 7 Luke tells us that Jesus turned to those who were invited if they won't talk, He might as
well take this moment and do some teaching of His own. Remember He is still at the dinner of one of
the high officials of the synagogue (v. 1) most likely the leading teacher and overseer of synagogue
worship. And who do you think are most likely the guests who would be invited to eat Sabbath
dinner with the chief ruler? We are already told that it is a room full of lawyers and Pharisees (v. 3)
the kinds of people who the high official normally rubbed shoulders with and who would hope

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that one of them would soon return the favor (v. 12b).
So imagine this room full of legal experts (in the Law of Moses), who are all eager to outshine one
another in their piety and knowledge and abilities to interpret the intricacies of rabbinic law, along
with their chief teacher of the synagogue sitting at the head of the table. The tables most likely form a
large u shape, with the host sitting in the center seat at the bottom of the u. The seat to the right
of the host would be the place of highest honor and then moving out from them on both sides would
be seats in descending importance.
It appears that in Jesus' parable, where the scene is now a wedding feast, that the seats are all
chosen by the guests (vv. 8, 10). You can imagine how a room full of lawyers, who are each
contending for the highest place of honor possible, would fight like children over who gets the front
seat and what loser has to sit in the back! As Jesus watches these grown men fight over the most
honored seats in the room, he notes what their behavior reveals about what's going on in their heart
(v. 8). What do they want by choosing these seats? What is driving them by where they sit in a room
full of their peers?
What's really important about this question is not what does this behavior display about these
particular men in their relationship to their peers, but what does it say about their relationship to
God? What are they trying to prove to God by where they get to sit in a room of their peers?
It's clear that by fighting for the most honored position that they are lusting for that sense of
significance and importance they receive from those men whom they most respect in life. It's
important to them to feel important in front of those who are most important to them. But why?
Why is it so important to be honored by other men mere men? What drives people to put up a shelf
where they can set up their honors and trophies they have received from men? What are they after?
What are they hoping to achieve? It can't be that we are completely satisfied when mere men admire
us. Why would we find such satisfaction in the praise of others especially when men are so fickle?
What they give with one hand can easily and quickly be taken away with the other.
Ultimately, what each of them is after what each of you is after is to be loved by God and deep
down you feel that if God is going to love you you have to be better than others around you. So you
compete and fight with one another hoping to win God's assured affection only if you can show Him
that you are worthy of His love. Sadly, we compete like this not only with our co-workers but with
our spouse, children, parents those closest to us in life. In fact, for some of you this is the driving
passion of your life its what you live for every day - hoping you can outdo everyone around you
and somehow in this vast universe of ours you hope to stand out and earn eternal fame and glory.
But do you see how foolish you are? You can hear Jesus' most alarming words ringing in your ears:
"If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow
Me. 25 "For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake
will find it.26 "For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or
what will a man give in exchange for his soul? (Matt. 16:24-26).

In the Kingdom of God, the way into God's presence (what Jesus says here about being exalted) is

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to humble yourself in His presence by trusting in the work of another of Jesus Christ alone! It is by
admitting your desperate need of His atonement and His righteousness that you have nothing to
offer of your own and resting in everything He has to offer you. But what does it take to admit your
need? What must happen to you for you to come clean and confess that everything you have to offer
is dung? Paul, in one of his most vulnerable moments, admits:

But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ.
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More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ
Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so
that I may gain Christ, 9 and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own
derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes
from God on the basis of faith (Phil. 3:7-9)

The Parable of the Great Banquet (vv. 12-14)

Finally, everything that has already been said can also be said of the last parable (vv. 12-14). Jesus
now turns to the host himself (v. 12) and begins spiritual surgery on his heart. Why has he invited
the kinds of people he invited to his dinner? What was he hoping to achieve? Jesus actually reveals
what was important to him at the end of v. 12 that they (those you invited) might invite you in
return so you would be repaid. There is a sense in this back-n-forth between colleagues that the one
thing that is missing is love and compassion and mercy for others that's not what is truly driving
the host in what he is doing. If it was, he wouldn't be living his life by being driven by what he can
gain from others in this world, but by what he will gain in the life to come (v. 14; see 12:21, 32-34). He
is laying up for himself merely treasures in this world rather than treasures in heaven.
But that is where most people live their lives everyday - for the strokes they can get from their
peers. What is most important to them is what will benefit them; what will lift them up; what will
improve their bottom line. But what would your life look like if the reverse was true? What if you
lost the praise of others to gain the praise of God? What if you gave your whole life to seek first the
Kingdom of God and its righteousness by loving and serving others even if it meant great loss now in
this present life? The Apostle Paul once again gives us Christ-centered clarity:
Consider what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything. Remember Jesus
Christ, risen from the dead, descendant of David, according to my gospel, for which I suffer
hardship even to imprisonment as a criminal; but the word of God is not imprisoned. For this
reason I endure all things for the sake of those who are chosen, so that they also may obtain the
salvation which is in Christ Jesus and with it eternal glory. It is a trustworthy statement: For if
we died with Him, we will also live with Him. If we endure, we will also reign with Him; If
we deny Him, He also will deny us; If we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny
Himself. (2 Tim. 2:7-13).

Amen!
-SDG-