We continue this second week of our 40 day journey through Lent as we walk with Jesus to the cross. Last week I reminded us of the scripture passage from Luke 9:51 which said “When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem.” Jesus, knowing full well what would happen to him in Jerusalem; rejected, beaten, flogged, and crucified, yet he resolutely set his face toward his destiny in Jerusalem because he knew it was the only way for us to find forgiveness of our sin and to have peace with God. During this journey Jesus gave some of his most difficult teaching. Last week we looked at what true repentance is, turning away from our sin, to a new way of life in Jesus Christ. True repentance is demonstrated by a change in our life.
The Invitation - The invitation to God’s Great Feast is offered to any who are willing to receive
In this second teaching of Jesus on the way to the cross, we find him at the home of a religious leader, called a Pharisee, and it was the Sabbath, their holy day. Jesus had gathered along with several other Pharisees for dinner. As they gathered around a meal, breaking bread together Jesus decided to use it as a teaching moment. He began to teach them using meals or feasts as the example, v. 7-14. Jesus was great at that wasn’t he? He would take whatever was around him and turn it into a story to teach a valuable truth.
In this particular teaching Jesus was prompted by a man sitting around the table who said, “"Blessed is the man who will eat at the feast in the kingdom of God (v. 15)." What was this guy talking about? What feast was he making reference to?
In the OT God had spoken through the prophet Isaiah about a great feast God would one day provide in his kingdom for all those who trust in the Lord. Listen to Isaiah’s words:
Is 25:6 On this mountain the LORD Almighty will prepare a feast of rich food for all peoples, a banquet of aged wine-- the best of meats and the finest of wines. 7 On this mountain he will destroy the shroud that enfolds all peoples, the sheet that covers all nations; 8 he will swallow up death forever. The Sovereign LORD will wipe away the tears from all faces; he will remove the disgrace of his people from all the earth. The LORD has spoken.
One of God’s images in the Bible of the kingdom of heaven or the kingdom of God is a Great Feast, sitting around a table in God’s kingdom with the best of meat and the finest wines. The shroud of death would be lifted off the nations. He would wipe the tears from all faces, no more death, no more sadness. Doesn’t this sound wonderful? In the book of Revelation God calls this same feast the wedding feast of the Lamb. Who is the Lamb? Jesus. Jesus’ wedding feast is when he is reunited with his bride, the church, that’s us.
Listen to the way the book of Revelation describes this banquet in heaven.
Rev. 21:3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4 He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away."
Sounds familiar doesn’t it? The Great Feast is the kingdom of heaven. In response to the man’s statement Jesus began teaching this parable on the great feast, which in reality is a reference to the feast in God’s kingdom, which by the way, we are able to have a taste of right now, here on earth.
In Jesus’ parable, a man was preparing a great feast and he sent out many invitations. It would be similar to us sending our invitations to a party requesting people to RSVP to see how many people were going to come. Apparently many responded positively that they were planning on coming, because he made a huge feast, lots of great food and drink plenty for everyone who had been invited. When all the preparations had been made he sent his servant out again with a second round of invitations to let them know exactly when to come to the feast. But what happened? Those who had RSVP’d and said they were coming changed their mind and decided there were more important things going on in their life than coming to this feast. They made excuses for not coming: one made the excuse that he had bought a field and wanted to inspect it, another excused himself because he had just bought five pair of oxen and wanted to try them out, while another had just gotten married, I suppose this party interfered with his wife’s plans for the evening.
In other words some prioritized their possessions (inspect field), their work (try out oxen), or their family (marriage) ahead of coming to the great feast. The feast became low on their priority list.
Remember, Jesus was not talking about a meal, but an invitation to be a part of God’s kingdom, the wedding feast of the Lamb in heaven. Jesus was saying that God sent out a first round of invitations to be a part of his kingdom. Who do you suppose the recipients of this invitation were? The Jews. They received the first invitation through Moses and the prophets, many of the Israelite people received this promise with open arms. However when the second invitation went out to let the Jewish people know everything was ready, in other words that the kingdom of God was upon them in the person of Jesus. What happened? Many turned down the invitation. Instead they had excuses not to follow Jesus. They had other priorities above receiving and following Jesus into the kingdom of heaven.
Jesus encountered this throughout his ministry, The Pharisees wouldn’t believe in Jesus because he regularly violated their traditions. One time a man wanted to follow Jesus but said, “first let me say good-bye to my family,” but Jesus replied "No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God (Luke 9:62, NIV)." One rich young man wanted to do the right thing but when Jesus told him he would have to sell all his possessions and give them to the poor he couldn’t do it. Jesus encountered many excuses not to believe in him and follow him into God’s kingdom, both now and for eternity.
Back to Jesus’ story, the feast was prepared but none of the original guests were willing to come, what’s a host to do? The host ordered his servant to go invite the poor, the cripple, the lame, and the blind, in other words invite the marginalized of society, those considered the least, and let them know they are invited to the Great Feast. God has a special place in his heart for those considered the least in society.
Jesus was saying he is the servant sent out with the invitation to the Great Banquet to invite the least of society to God’s kingdom. Jesus was going to do exactly what he said he was going to do at the beginning of his ministry. Right at the beginning of his ministry he read from the book of Isaiah what he had come to do:
18 "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, 19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor."
The social outcasts were to receive God’s invitation first, in fact Jesus had already been giving them the good news. But there was still room for more, so the servant was instructed to go out into the streets and alleys and to compel anyone who was willing to listen to come to the Feast so the house would be full.
Since many of the Jews rejected God’s invitation, he extended the invitation to the Great Banquet to anyone who would was willing to receive the invitation to follow Jesus, first the poor, the sinner, the unclean, or even the Gentiles (non-Jews). Jesus’ invitation to follow him and receive eternal life in the kingdom of heaven is extended to all who will receive it. That means Jesus extends the invitation to the great banquet to us too.
NIV Revelation 19:9 ’Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!’
Who are the invited guests? Anyone who is willing to receive Jesus and follow him.
NIV John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
“Whoever believes in him.” The invitation is not limited but open to any person who desires to receive the gift of the Great Feast, eternal life. God’s grace is free and open to all persons.
It doesn’t matter what our social status is, doesn’t matter how much we have messed up our life, the invitation is freely extended to you. Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb, are you willing to accept the invitation or do we have excuses too?
[Lead in prayer to receive Jesus’ invitation, either here or at the end]
The Cost
While the invitation to the Great Feast is extended freely to all who will believe and follow Jesus, we should not mistakenly believe there is no cost in following Jesus. Jesus was very upfront with people that the cost of following him is great. We like to talk about the free stuff, but for some reason we don’t like to talk about the commitment because it makes demands upon us. Jesus tells us that if we are going to follow him we must be willing to put him and his kingdom ahead of every earthly priority. Listen again to Jesus’ words.
NIV Luke 14:26 "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters-- yes, even his own life-- he cannot be my disciple.
We hear the word “hate” and we are shocked. Does Jesus really mean we should hate our family? No, Jesus doesn’t expect us to literally hate our family. He is using exaggeration to demonstrate his point that he is to take first place. If you don’t believe me consider the parallel verse in Matthew’s gospel:
"Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.” Matthew 10:37, NIV
It is about priority. It is about what or who will take first place in our life. Will Jesus take first place in our life even above our family; our parents, our spouse, our children, or even our own self? Remember the people who turned down the invitation to the banquet, what came first in their life; possessions, work, and family? As a disciple, Jesus must take first place. This doesn’t mean we abandon our family relationships, or give up all of our stuff, or quit our job. In a culture which valued family relationships above all else, Jesus was demonstrating how costly it may be to follow him. Are you willing to lose a family relationship because you decided to follow Jesus and do what Jesus would do?
I have been reading a book recently about Muslim beliefs written by two Christian brothers who grew up Muslim here in the U.S. In the introduction to the book they shared the pain of receiving Jesus because they knew it meant being disowned from their father, a devout Muslim. All three of his sons turned to Jesus as young men, and their father disowned all three. They never saw their father again until days before his death. Most of us are fortunate we don’t face rejection from our family for following Jesus, but what if we did?
Would you follow Jesus by refusing to do something illegal or lie even if your boss told you you would lose your job over it? Are you willing to lose your possessions because you know they are getting in the way of following Jesus?
Jesus knew that being his disciple was hard and would not be a casual thing we do only when it is convenient for our lifestyle. It can be costly, a sacrifice, and so, as Jesus reminds us, we must count the cost.
Counting the Cost
Jesus challenged his listeners to count the cost before they decided whether they were going to receive the invitation and follow him. He illustrated this in two ways: a building project and a king going to war. If you were going to build a house wouldn’t you count the cost before you began to determine if there is enough money to complete the project and pay the bills? How foolish it would be if you ran out of money before you finished. Second, what king would go to war without at first determining whether his army was strong enough to defeat the enemy? In other words count the cost before you decide to follow Jesus. Do you plan on receiving the invitation without any thoughts to following Jesus afterward? Jesus was pragmatic, he said “count the cost.” Don’t begin the journey with Jesus if you are not willing to finish it. That is why Jesus concluded by saying.
NIV Luke 14:33 In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.
Are we willing to risk it all to follow Jesus?
Fortunately if we make the decision to follow Jesus we don’t take this journey alone. Jesus promises us he will walk with us always. He promised he would give the Holy Spirit as our companion on the journey to strengthen us. He invites us to count the cost, but to take a step of faith trusting he will help us on the journey.
