Being asked to dinner at someone’s house is nice, right?  A pleasure we aren’t able to have these days—maybe in the future we’ll appreciate it more.

Jesus was asked to dinner more than once. We read about one time in Luke 14, which begins: “One Sabbath, when he went to dine at the house of a ruler of the Pharisees, they were watching him carefully.”  So, maybe not so nice to be invited this time.  The dinner is a setup. A man with serious edema is there, which probably means he has hypertensive heart disease. The tension is thick:  Will Jesus heal this man on the Sabbath?  If so, the lawyers will pounce.

Jesus turns the situation around, and asks the lawyers their professional opinion on the legality of healing on the Sabbath. They don’t answer, for the very good reason that anything they say will weaken their position one way or another. So Jesus heals the man, and then answers the question for them, pointing out that ordinary kindness, even to animals, is indeed appropriate on the Sabbath. They don’t say a word, but the tension has ratcheted up even higher.

Then Jesus raises the tension further!  He tells a parable that is hardly a parable, having noticed the jockeying for the best seats—but who could find fault with Jesus over this?  He takes it directly from Proverbs 25:6-7. And then he says to the host that, instead of inviting his rich friends, he should invite the poor who can’t repay him.  Rude, or what!

One of the guests tries to defuse things a little. Let’s get the conversation onto something we all agree on!  “Blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!”  We’re on common ground on that, right?  But Jesus wasn’t done with the subject, and he tells the familiar parable of the great banquet. Those originally invited made excuses, so the host directed his servants to invite others.

Now, I suspect that most of us heartily say Amen to the thought, “Blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!”  And we sort of figure, as that guy did, that the “everyone” will surely include “me”.  We just kind of take it for granted.  But listen to Jesus. Who ends up actually eating in the kingdom?  First: the poor and crippled and blind and lame. There’s still room, so the host adds people from the highways and hedges, who he compels to attend.

So if we’re among those who will be at the banquet, what category do we fall into?  Do we think of ourselves as being among the impoverished and disabled?  Or among the bystanders who are grabbed and pushed inside?  Who are these people anyway?  We can ponder that, but we don’t have to think real hard about who isn’t there.  The people who get the invitation all right, but it isn’t important enough to give up mundane things of this life. 

The dinner will be served at a time in the future. Right now is when the invitations have gone out, and people are coming in to sit down. Right now, we each need to ask ourselves, am I going in and sitting down?  Or are there excuses—other things to take care of right now?  It is so nice to be invited to dinner!  And we have been, to the greatest dinner ever. Most of us would say we’ve sent our RSVP – Yes!  But right now is when we either show up or we don’t, to be present when dinner is served.

Love, hoping we’re seated together,

Paul

If you have any feedback, please contact me at: paul.zilmer@gmail.com