Healing and the Parable of the Feast and Banquet

Well, good morning, church. Please turn your Bibles to Luke chapter 14 as we examine together verses 1 to 24. When you have that, please do stand for the reading of God's Word. Hear ye this morning the word of the Lord.

One Sabbath when he went to dine at the house of the ruler of the Pharisees, they were watching him carefully. And behold, there was a man before him who had dropsy. And Jesus responded to the lawyers and Pharisees saying, is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath or not?

But they remained silent. Then he took him and healed him and sent him away. And we had said to them, which of you having a son or an ox that has fallen into a well on the Sabbath day will not immediately pull him out?

And they could not reply to these things. Now he told a parable to those who were invited. When he noticed how they chose the places of honor, saying to them, when you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, do not sit down in a place of honor, lest someone more distinguished than you be invited by him.

And he who invited you both will come and say to you, give your place to this person. Then you will begin with shame to take the lowest place. But when you are invited, go and sit in the lowest place so that when your host comes, he may say to you, friend, move up higher.

Then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at the table with you. For everyone who will exalt himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted. He said to the man who had invited him, when you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return and you be repaid.

But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just. When one of those who reclined at the table with him heard these things and said to him, blessed is everyone who eat bread in the kingdom of God.

But he said to him, a man once gave a great banquet and invited many. And at the time of the banquet, he sent his servant to say to those who had been invited, come for everything is now ready. But they all like began to make excuses.

The first said to him, I have bought a field. I must go and see it. Please have me excused. Another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen. I go examine them. Please have me excused. Another said, I have married a wife and therefore I cannot come.

The servant came and reported these things to the master. The master of the house became angry and said to his servant, go out quickly to the streets and the lanes of the city and bring in the poor and crippled and blind and lame.

And the servant said, sir, what you have commanded has been done. And still there is room. And the master said to the servant, go out to the highways and the hedges and compel people to come in that my house may be filled.

For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste my banquet. This is the word of the Lord. You may be seated. Lord, indeed, you have placed a banquet before us. Truly, Lord, you have given us much good blessings, a banquet of your Word, a spiritual life, and a taste of the world to come.

We pray, Lord, that this morning we would have a mind and an eye for the healing and the feast that you prepare for us. We thank you, Lord, and we pray for the edification of your people, that you would speak to the hearts of your saints, convict the hearts of sinners, and bring to mind all that the Spirit has in store for us this morning.

In Jesus' name, amen. One of the themes that we've been examining through the book of Luke is that God's kingdom is breaking into the world. And the theme of Luke's gospel has been this, that the eruption, the entrance of God's kingdom has come into the world by means of His Son, Jesus Christ.

And it demonstrates clearly in the gospel of Luke, not only is this kingdom of God coming into the world, but this kingdom is made up of people called disciples, learners, pupils of King Jesus. Unfortunately, this morning you don't have your insert.

We weren't able to get that for you this week. But please continue to, with your ears and with your heart, hear and listen to God's Word and instruction for us this morning, because there's a clear and consistent narrative throughout the third gospel of Luke, from the beginning to the end.

And Luke is concerned with conveying this eruption, this entrance, this sudden and dramatic entrance of God's kingdom in and through the incarnation of Jesus Christ. And part of this kingdom-centric focus that Luke's narrative, that Luke's gospel is developing, is that this kingdom is made up of kingdom disciples, followers of King Jesus.

And all the parables and the teachings of Jesus reinforce the kingdom of God and the nature indeed of radical, selfless discipleship. Notice how this narrative starts. I'm actually, just for context, I usually would break this into about three sermons.

But next week is my last sermon and word to you as your pastor. And so I wanted to condense these three parables here, these three narratives here in Luke's gospel into one. And so bear with me just a little bit.

There's a lot to read here. There's a lot of material to go over. But there's a theme that's at play here, from verses 1 to 6, verses 7 through 11, and verses 12 to 24. And there's a theme here. The first, from verses 1 to 6, let's see if we can catch the theme.

One Sabbath when He went to dine at the house of a ruler, of the Pharisees, they were watching Him carefully. And behold, there was a man before whom He had dropsy. And Jesus responded to the lawyers and the Pharisees saying, Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath or not?

But they remained silent. And He took him and healed him and sent him away. He said to them, Which of you having a son or an ox that has fallen too well on a Sabbath day will not immediately pull him out?

And they could not reply to these things. You see, Jesus, when confronted with criticisms from the Pharisees for healing of the Sabbath, Jesus questions the heart of the Pharisees. And what He is doing here is that He is elevating mercy over legalism in His question about the Sabbath.

We find the Lord dining with this prominent Pharisee on the Sabbath, and it was customary on the Sabbath for the rulers of the synagogues to be either invited to a meal or host a meal after the morning service.

Why the invitation from the Pharisees to Jesus? Well, clearly, the Pharisees probably didn't have the best of intentions when they invited Jesus to the table. I'm going to date some of you here. How many of us have seen that classic romantic movie called The Titanic?

All right. Shame on all of you. I'm just kidding. In that movie, there's a scene where the main character, Jack, is invited to first class, and they dress him up, they put him in a nice suit, and they put him there, and they invite him, and they start questioning him.

All the first-class people, all the rich people start questioning him in an almost mocking fashion. But Jack was kind of quick with it, and he was very rhetorical with them, and his wittiness was able to overcome some of the sly attacks that were coming from the first-class people.

And Jesus, in a similar fashion, He is quick with it, and He, more so than any other person in a similar circumstance like Jack in the story of the Titanic, He has something that no one else has, and it's that Jesus knew the thoughts and the intentions of the heart.

And so when Jesus is invited to dine at the house of the ruler, the Pharisees, and amongst them, there's a man who has a sickness, has a disease, and Jesus heals that disease on the Sabbath day in the presence of the rulers.

He does something providentially, magnificently, that again, there's a man with a disability, and instead of being questioned by the Pharisee, the Lord questions them and asks them, is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?

Because Jesus knew their hearts, and He knew their theology, both of which were greatly flawed. After healing the man, Jesus appeals to the law of mercy. In verse 5, we see this. It says, which of you having a son or an ox that has fallen into a well on the Sabbath day would not immediately pull him out?

You see, the Pharisees had a twisted, legalistic view of the Sabbath. They thought the Sabbath was there as a means of control, and it was a regulation that was separated or divorced from God's love, from God's mercy.

And Jesus points out, which of you having an ox or a son that's in need, would you not quickly help or pull him out? And in verse 6, they could not reply to these things. You see, again, in verse 5, hearkening back to another instance that he had in the Sabbath in Matthew chapter 12, verse 7 and 8, he brings up the fact that healing and doing mercy was not outlawed by God's law.

But legalism is always a perversion of God's law, as it seeks to implement rules and regulations upon the conscience of God's people that don't come from Him. You see, our Lord prioritizes healing over regulations.

As Christians, don't become so nearsighted, so depraved that process and man-made rules get in the way of doing what is righteous and what is good. Do not elevate regulations over mercy. Our aim as Christians should always be to do no harm, but instead to inject healing, even if it displeases the rulers.

Ours should be one of mercy, not simply rules. That's not to talk about a lawless Christianity. Our Lord has given us a law that is good, that is right, that is righteous. It's not to the exclusion of God's good moral law, but rather it's understanding God's law in the same way that Jesus did through the lens of love and mercy.

That God's law is not there to be an overburdening shadow over the life of the believer. Rather, it is for our good, for our life, and for our enlightenment. And so, as Christians, we ought to elevate mercy and bringing forth healing, even if it displeases the rulers.

So, the theme here from verses 1 to 6 is a theme of mercy. Now, verses 7 onward, it says, He told a parable to those who were invited when He noticed how they chose the places of honor, saying to them, when you're invited by someone to a wedding feast, do not sit down in a place of honor unless someone more distinguished than you be invited by him.

He who invited you both will come and say to you, give your place to this person, and you will begin with shame to take the lowest place. So, Jesus sets up a scenario. Let's say you're invited to a dinner, to a banquet, to a wedding, and you, because you think highly of yourself, you sit in the place of honor.

And then someone more honorable than you comes, and you have to give up that seat to someone else. Now, we don't usually have the same societal pressures quite like in those days, but you can imagine this being kind of an embarrassing situation.

You thought yourself to be something that in that instance, you were shown and demonstrated not to be. And so, then you have to humble yourself and embarrass yourself and move to a different place, to a different place of honor.

And Jesus goes on in verse 10. He says, when you're invited, go and sit in the lowest place so that when your host comes, he may say to you, friend, move up higher. Then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at the table with you.

For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted. The theme here being the theme of humility. So, you see mercy and humility at play in these different scenarios.

One is the scenario of the Sabbath, and now the parable of the wedding feast. See, in this parable of the wedding feast, we're taught not to pursue the place of honor, but instead to sit at the lowest place, demonstrating our need for humility in God's kingdom.

Jesus is pointing out exactly what a disciple of this kingdom ought to look like. This disciple is one who does not elevate or exalt himself, but rather lowers himself, humbles himself, puts himself at the lowest place.

In fact, these are all beautiful images of discipleship because the word disciple literally means a learner, a pupil. The imagery that's conjured up by the word in the first century by the Jewish people was someone who sits at the feet of a rabbi.

You couldn't get more lower than that. You're sitting at his feet. You're listening. You're taking in. It's a place of humility. You see, the plight of the Christian in this world is not to seek the approval in the riches of this world, not to be first in all things, not to be exalted above others, but our plight is in this, recognizing others as greater than ourselves, suffering under hardship, knowing that it is God who is overall, and He exalts, and He brings low.

He raises up, and He tears down. The Pharisees, in this instance, seek to exalt themselves, and in so doing, they cease from being models and rulers of God's people. God's way is not their way, but because God's way is Jesus' way, the Pharisees' rejection of Jesus in this scenario does not reflect God's opinion of Christ.

Rather, the Pharisees regarded Jesus' intimacy with the social riffraff as a source of defilement, but Jesus is not worried about associating with the poor. Jesus is not afraid of associating with the crippled.

He's not ashamed of associating with the lame and the blind. Christian discipleship, then, is the abandonment of self-promotion to lift others up. This is humility. This is the call of a disciple of Jesus Christ.

We ought to be those who exalt mercy over rule, and we must exalt humility and bring forth a humble posture in all aspects of life, so that it may be true in verse 11, for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.

The true place of honor is found in a posture of humility, recognizing others as greater than yourselves, recognizing your true status and your true place, not only in society, but also, most importantly, in God's economy, in God's house, in God's family.

Therefore, we should always seek to outdo one another in love and humility and service, because, again, Christian discipleship is the abandonment of self-promotion. It's the work of lifting others up.

So you might ask yourself, how am I doing in that regard? Am I helping lift others up, both in the community and also here in God's church? Or are we constantly just looking for praise? Are we constantly looking, how can I get ahead?

Friends, we should always look not only to our own self-interest, but the interest of others. And this brings us to the next parable, where another theme is brought forth. So, again, the themes that we have seen so far is the theme of mercy, the theme of humility, and now a new theme comes into play in verse 12.

And he says also to the man who had invited him, when you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return and you be repaid.

But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just. In the kingdom of God, it will be the merciful and the lowly who will be dining at that great banquet.

In the instance of the healing of the Sabbath and in the two parables, Jesus has been demonstrating to us these vital characteristics of a true disciple. One can only be a disciple of Jesus if they've received the Lord Jesus Christ by faith, having repented of sin and trusted in Jesus alone for salvation.

And Jesus is today extending His hand of mercy even to you this morning. Whether you are lost and in need of salvation or you are a disobedient disciple, Jesus is extending His hand of mercy to you this morning.

And you are called by the preacher and by the Lord Jesus Christ to repentance this morning, to repent of our sins, to repent of our self-rule, to repent of our lack of mercy, to repent of our lack of humility, and to trust in Jesus so that we may be counted among His true disciples.

What's at play here in this narrative of the great banquet is selflessness. Selflessness is the key here. He gives a scenario. When you invite someone to a dinner banquet, don't just invite your relatives.

Don't just invite those who are nearest and dearest to you, but rather when you give a feast, Jesus says, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind. It shows you where His heart is when we consider society.

When we consider society, even as a church, even as a well-off church, do we consider the needs of the poor, of the blind, of the crippled, of those who the world has written off? What I love about God's kingdom is that it is oftentimes by commentators called the upside-down kingdom, because those who the world disregards, the kingdom of God embraces.

Those who are in the world's sight unlovable, untreatable, are in God's sight lovable and desired. God's kingdom doesn't operate like man's kingdom. And again, this is the underlining theme of Luke's gospel, is the breaking into the world of God's kingdom.

And this kingdom really undoes many of our assumptions about what God's kingdom and what heaven is like. God's kingdom is a place where mercy reigns. God's kingdom is a place where humility reigns. God's kingdom is the place where selflessness reigns.

Why? Why invite at the feast the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind? Because it's in serving others who cannot repay you that you find true and lasting blessing. That's where you find the blessings of life.

When you give with no expectation of receiving, that's selflessness, that's humility, that's mercy, that's mercy. So often we're so engrossed in our own self-interest and our own passions and our own desires that we forget to give priority to mercy and humility and selflessness.

And Jesus by means of these scenarios and these parables is reminding the disciple what the posture of a follower of Jesus should look like. Not one of hoarding and keeping, but one of arms wide open giving so that at the resurrection of the dead we may receive our due reward.

You see on this side of eternity, our efforts are seldom recognized. Our efforts are seldom rewarded. We may often feel like we're on a treadmill like a hamster and we're doing, we're doing, we're doing, and we don't seem to receive.

But I assure you that because there is truly a resurrection from the dead, because Jesus who lived and died and was raised again on the third day, he has promised us that there will be a day in which there will be a resurrection of the just and the unjust.

We know that our efforts in this side of eternity are not in vain. So concerned was the apostle Paul with this thought that in 1 Corinthians chapter 15, he says if Christ had not been raised from the dead, then we have believed in vain.

And worse, those who have already fallen asleep in Christ have also believed and died in vain. But that's not the case because it was the witness of the disciples of Jesus in the first century. And it is our testimony even today that Jesus is alive.

Amen. He's alive. And because he lives, we shall live also, but we must live in this side of eternity with the expectation of being good kingdom citizens by reigning in the place of mercy, humility, and selflessness.

Would you be willing to give with no expectation to receive? Many of us here, we practice tithing and we give to the church. There was a story of a friend of mine who grew up in the church. He ended up going to seminary and he told me a story once when he was a kid and the church would pass the plate.

He was really confused and he would tell his mom, he'd grab mom and say, mom, why are we putting money in there? What are we getting out of this? Right? You put money in the plate, you put money in the back offering, you put money when you give online and you're not receiving anything.

It's not a transactional relationship like it is when you go to Walmart and you put something on the conveyor belt and you scan it and then you put money and so you're getting an exchange, an equal exchange of goods and money and services.

But that's not so in God's economy. In God's economy, you are told to give with no expectation of receiving because it's the upside down kingdom. It's the upside down world of God's kingdom, of God's economy, where mercy, humility, and selflessness, giving yourself away for God's kingdom.

This is what brings you to your reward and your reward will be at the resurrection of the dead. We know that this resurrection is sure because Jesus himself died and was raised on the third day. In fact, this is a thing that we celebrate every week, not just on Easter as it's coming next week.

We don't celebrate the resurrection on just one day out of the year as if we're some type of pagans, but instead we recognize that when we come corporately every Lord's day, when we celebrate the new Sabbath, when we celebrate what God has done in Jesus Christ, we are memorializing, we are worshiping Christ all the day in which he was raised from the dead, being the first day of the week.

And so beloved, we have a sure hope and anchor for our souls that Jesus was raised from the dead and because he was raised, our efforts are not in vain. I'm going to continue to read this parable of the great banquet.

In verse 15, when one of those who reclined at the table with him heard these things, he said to him, blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God. But he said to him, a man once gave a great banquet and invited many.

And at the time for the banquet, he sent his servant to say to those who had been invited, come for everything is now ready. But they all like began to make excuses. The first said to him, I bought a field.

I must go out and see it. Please have me excused. Then he said, I bought five yokes of oxen and I go to examine them. Please have me excused. Another said, I have married a wife and therefore I cannot come.

That's my favorite excuse of them all. That's the one that we typically tend to use as men even today. Oh, I got to ask my wife. Oh, my wife says we're doing something else. We can't go. And he goes on to say, so the servant came and reported these things to his master.

Then the house became angry and said to his servant, go out quickly to the streets and the lanes of the city and bring in the poor and crippled and blind and lame. So the scenario here in this great banquet is that you have a master who is selflessly preparing a banquet, a feast.

He invites all the prominent people, all the people of status, all the people of money, all the friends, all the relatives. And then one by one by one, they're all saying, I can't go come this week. I just got married.

I just have my business I have to tend to. Oh, I've got this going on and this going on. I'm not sure about you if you've ever experienced this, but I've experienced something like this as well in my life, maybe more than once where I go out of my way to do something nice and to do something wonderful and spend hours slaving over cooking and organizing and then for people not to come.

And can I tell you that, that sucks. It's not nice. It doesn't feel great when you pour all this effort, all this time, all this resources for then no one to come and show up. It hurts. And so in this scenario, the master, what he does is that he sees the people that he has graciously invited and they're all one by one pulling out and saying, we can't come, we can't make it.

You know, please excuse me. Is he going to allow his efforts, his resources, his banquet to go to waste? No, but instead what he does, he sends one of his servants out and he says, go out quickly to the streets and the lanes and the city and bring in the poor and crippled and blind and lame.

He's saying, go and bring anyone and everyone, those who cannot feed themselves, those who could not fend for themselves, those who are blind, crippled and lame, bring them here so that we may bless them and serve them.

This banquet is a picture of the kingdom of God. And it's a picture of the mission of the church. We are called not simply to invite all the best and the wealthy and the successful into God's kingdom.

And sometimes, especially in North America, we tend to treat church like a business. And so, of course, we want people who are well off to come because they can fund the ministries, they can fund the pastoral salary, they can do all these wonderful things.

And that's not to say that there's no place for the rich in God's kingdom. Of course, there's a place for them, but it's not to the exclusion of those who have little. The church is not a country club.

Have you ever been to a church that feels a little bit like a country club? I've been to several. In fact, one of the more prominent churches in the place that I came from prior to here, I used to call it the yacht club because where we lived, there was a lot of water.

We're right on Lake Michigan. A lot of people had boats. And it was like almost all those families in that church had boats. And it was like a yacht club. And if you weren't part of the club, then you would not really be well-received in that context.

And our church that we had in that context was where all the poor people, the individuals with mental illness, the individuals with broken marriages, that's where they all came to. And we had a reputation in our church, and it was kind of a derogatory term by the other pastors, that we were the group of misfits.

And when I heard that, someone else was offended for me, but I loved it. I'm like, yes, that's us. We're the misfits. We're the poor. We're the crippled. We're the blind. We're the lame. If Jesus came to this town, you know where he'd be?

He'd be with us. And shame on you for having this elitist mentality when it comes to God's church, when it comes to God's kingdom. Beloved, do not fall into that trap of elitism. Rather, recognize that this place, this building, this congregation is to be on mission to seek the deplorables, the lame, the tired, the blind, those who have been rejected by society so that we can demonstrate the mercy, humility, and selflessness of God's kingdom.

That's the call of the great banquet. It goes on to say in this scenario, in verse 22, and the servant said, sir, what you have commanded has been done, and still there is room. Brothers, here's the good news.

There is still room at the table. This banquet that Jesus has prepared for His people is for the rich and the poor. It's for people who are black, people who are white, people who are well-known, people who are not known.

It is for every single social, economic, and background. It is for you and for me. This gospel call is for everyone, and because our Lord has not yet returned in glory, the good news is that there is still room at the table.

If you're a misfit, you've come to the right place. If you're poor, crippled, lame, and blind in one way or the other, you've come to the right place. This ought to be the place where all of those misfits, all of those people can feel at home and receive the gospel of mercy and grace.

Jesus rebukes here the rulers at whose table the Lord is dining. The Pharisees did not like mixing with the lower classes. The host, in this case, in this parable of the great banquet, the host here, in this case, the ruler of the Pharisees, is likely waiting to hear praise from his guests, including Jesus.

But instead, Jesus has to teach them what true hospitality looks like. We're taught in this parable a principle that Jesus also taught at the Sermon on the Mount, which is not to only serve, give, or love those who can pay you back, for even the pagans do that.

Our reward is at the resurrection of the dead when the Lord will repay us for all the things done in the body, whether good or evil. And what's at stake here in all three of these scenarios, the Sabbath, the parable of the wedding feast, and the parable of the great banquet, is what's hanging at the balance is a right understanding of the nature of discipleship, that ours is a selfless, humble, merciful work, not one of pride, envy, or strife.

The church should look like a hospital for the sick, not simply a museum of saints. This should be a place where all are welcomed at the table, all are welcomed to the banquet, all are given the call of Jesus to faith and repentance onto new life.

And so, the call for us all this morning should be crystal clear, live out the mercy of God, be humble, and have a right estimation of yourself, and be selfless as you give yourself away for the kingdom of God.

Pay those who cannot repay you, bless those who curse you, and invite the uninvitable to the table so that mercy, grace, love may rule on this day and on that great day. Beloved, you're being called today to repent of sins, to trust in Jesus, and Jesus is extending His hands of mercy to you today, this morning.

Whether, again, you are lost and in need of salvation or you're a disobedient disciple, either way, the Lord is calling us to repentance this morning, to repent of our sins, to repent of our self-rule, to repent of our unbiblical regulations that don't heal or lift up.

May He grant us repentance and grant us a right heart and a right spirit and a right mindset so that this place becomes a banquet for the crippled, for the poor, for the blind, and for the lame. May this church stand out for that reason and for that purpose.

Let's pray. Lord Jesus, we give You thanks this morning for this great gospel, this great banquet invitation that You have given us. Thou, while it is still called today, there is a hope and an opportunity by means of the calling of Your Spirit for us to repent, to trust in Jesus, and to live out this radical life and call to discipleship.

Lord, help us to seek opportunities to be merciful, to live out the mercies and the tender affections of our God. Lord, help us to seek out opportunity to exalt not ourselves but those around us, for it's in our humility in the exalting of others that on that great day of the resurrection that we ourselves shall be exalted, and we shall be raised from the dead with life incorruptible.

Lord God, also help us in our weakness, in our flesh to be selfless, for it is our inclination, it is our disposition to be selfish and to hoard and to not be generous and not to be thoughtful of the needs of others.

Lord, help us to put aside our selfishness and to be truly selfless as You were, who though You existed in eternity past in the very form, nature of God, You did not count equality of God a thing to be held onto or grasped, but instead, Lord, You humbled Yourself.

You became obedient by taking on human nature, true human flesh, living the life that we could not live in our weakness. You, though human, though true flesh, lived a holy, righteous, and perfect life, the life that we could not live.

And as a result of Your perfect obedience, You were obedient even so far as death, yes, even death on a cross, taking upon Yourself our due punishment. And because of Your perfect obedience and Your perfect work on that cross where You reconciled men to God, God has now therefore exalted You, O King of glory, to the right hand of the Father, where You now live and reign and intercede for the life and the sins of Your people.

And You grant us eternal life, those who put their faith in the name of the Son of God. As a result of Your exaltation at the right hand of God the Father, You now live forevermore, interceding for Your people as our King and as our Priest.

And so, Lord Jesus, we beg in You even now, grant in us by means of Your Spirit this faith, that we would have the same mind that was also in You when You gave Yourself up in Your incarnation, in Your perfect obedience, in Your obedience even to death on a cross.

Lord, help us look at You, Jesus, as the author and perfecter of our faith. Jesus, thank You for the work that You've accomplished. Thank You for such a great salvation. And let us marvel together, all of us, at this great salvation and this entrance into this great banquet, unto the glory of God the Father, so that the name of Jesus, who is Lord, may be forever exalted.

And we pray these things in Your name. Amen.