1 And it came to pass, 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. 2 And behold, there was before him a certain man
that had the dropsy. 3 And Jesus answering spake unto the lawyers
and Pharisees, saying, Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath, or
not? 4 But they held their peace. And he took him, and healed him,
and let him go. 5 And he said unto 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? 6 And they could not answer again unto
these things.
7 And he spake a parable unto those that were bidden, when he
marked how they chose out the chief seats; saying unto them, 8
When thou art bidden of any man to a marriage feast, sit not down
in the chief seat; lest haply a more honorable man than thou be
bidden of him, 9 and he that bade thee and him shall come and say
to thee, Give this man place; and then thou shalt begin with shame
to take the lowest place. 10 But when thou art bidden, go and sit
down in the lowest place; that when he that hath bidden thee
cometh, he may say to thee, Friend, go up higher: then shalt thou
have glory in the presence of all that sit at meat with thee. 11
For everyone that exalteth himself shall be humbled; and he that
humbleth himself shall be exalted.
12 And he said to him also that had bidden him, When thou makest a
dinner or a supper, call not thy friends, nor thy brethren, nor
thy kinsmen, nor rich neighbors; lest haply they also bid thee
again, and a recompense be made thee. 13 But when thou makest a
feast, bid the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind: 14 and thou
shalt be blessed; because they have not _wherewith_ to recompense
thee: for thou shalt be recompensed in the resurrection of the
just.
15 And when one of them that sat at meat with him heard these
things, he said unto him, Blessed is he that shall eat bread in
the kingdom of God. 16 But he said unto him, A certain man made a
great supper; and he bade many: 17 and he sent forth his servants
at supper time to say to them that were bidden, Come; for _all_
things are now ready. 18 And they all with one _consent_ began to
make excuse. The first said unto him, I have bought a field, and I
must needs go out and see it; I pray thee have me excused. 19 And
another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove
them; I pray thee have me excused. 20 And another said, I have
married a wife, and therefore I cannot come. 21 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 streets
and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor and maimed and
blind and lame. 22 And the servant said, Lord, what thou didst
command is done, and yet there is room. 23 And the lord said unto
the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and constrain
_them_ to come in, that my house may be filled. 24 For I say unto
you, that none of those men that were bidden shall taste of my
supper.
Luke pictures our Lord not as a severe ascetic but as a man of human
sympathies and social instincts, mingling freely with his fellow men,
worshiping with them in their synagogues and eating with them in their
homes. No domestic scene in the life of our Lord is sketched with more
detail than that of the Sabbath feast in the house of a Pharisee. Jesus is
pictured as entering with the guests, noting the ranks of society to which
they belong, and taking a leading part in their conversation. Yet he never
for a moment forgot his mission; he seized every opportunity for
delivering some needed message. Here his tones were unusually severe, for
he was among persons who, while formally courteous, were in their hearts
hostile to him; but he showed to all his unfailing grace, and his desire
for their highest good.
While the guests were assembling Jesus saw a man suffering from disease.
He knew that the Pharisees were watching him and would object to his
effecting a cure upon the Sabbath Day and he therefore turned to ask
whether a cure would be lawful. When they hesitated to reply, he healed
the sufferer and then rebuked their hypocrisy, and warned against all
insincerity in religion by reminding these formalists that they would not
hesitate on the Sabbath to rescue a beast they owned; should they regard
it as sinful to deliver a human being from distress? Jesus never
encouraged breaking the Sabbath law, but he taught that this law must be
interpreted by love.
When the guests were seated and Jesus saw how they chose for themselves
the most desirable places, he took occasion to rebuke selfish ambition and
to give a lesson in humility. Evidently, when Jesus advised a guest to
“sit down in the lowest place; that when he that hath bidden thee cometh,
he may say to thee, Friend, go up higher,” he was not merely teaching good
manners or worldly wisdom, nor was he advising the pride that masquerades
as humility. He was stating the great law that among his followers true
lowliness and conscious unworthiness in the sight of God are the real
conditions of advancement and honor; “For every one that exalteth himself
shall be humbled; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.”
Then as Jesus looked around upon the company he took occasion to teach a
lesson in true charity. He told his host—and there was something of
playfulness in his voice—that in selecting guests one should invite not
only the rich, lest he might be so unfortunate (?) as to receive an
invitation in return, but also the poor, who could not return the favor.
Here again, Jesus was not giving merely rules of social hospitality; he
was illustrating the great spiritual principle of unselfish motives in all
deeds of kindness. We are not to confer benefits with a view to receiving
benefits in return.
However, Jesus did not mean literally to forbid inviting rich guests to
our homes or to insist that all feasts must be confined to paupers, but to
teach that no service is to be rendered with the mere hope of personal
gain. It is proper and pleasant, it may be even profitable, to entertain
“friends” or “brethren” or “kinsmen” or “rich neighbors;” but in none of
these cases is such entertainment a ground of merit for they may “bid thee
again;” but if kindness is shown to the poor or rich simply for their good
and with no thought of personal gain either present or future, the deed
will not be without its reward: “for thou shalt be recompensed in the
resurrection of the just.”
Possibly this reference or some similar reference called forth from one of
the guests the exclamation, “Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the
kingdom of God.” Jesus took the occasion to give the parable of the Great
Supper, by which he illustrated the sinful folly of refusing to accept his
offer of salvation. In this story those who were bidden to the feast at
first feigned a willingness to come, but subsequently, by their refusal
and their flimsy excuses, they showed their complete absorption in selfish
interests and their utter disregard for their host. However, their places
were filled with other guests, some of them poor and helpless, from their
own city; others were vagrants from the highways and hedges beyond. Thus
Jesus plainly pictured the refusal by the rulers and Pharisees of his
offered salvation and its acceptance, first by publicans and sinners, and
then by despised Gentiles.
There was, however, a message for each one who heard the story, and there
is a message to-day for anyone who is rejecting Christ. The Pharisees, by
inviting Jesus to dine, pretended to feel some sympathy for him as a
prophet, while in their hearts they hated him; and the very man whose
pious and sentimental remark about “the kingdom of God” occasioned the
parable, was unwilling to accept the invitation to “eat bread in the
kingdom of God” which Jesus was presenting.
So there are those to-day who show an outward respect for Christian truth
and talk sentimentally about the Kingdom of God, who, however, are so
absorbed in selfish interests and have so little real love for God that
they refuse the offer of salvation, while social outcasts and despised
heathen gladly accept the invitation to life and divine fellowship and
eternal joy.