This section contains the record of several incidents that happened when Jesus was the dinner guest of a leading Pharisee. Jesus had just announced that He would leave Jerusalem desolate (13:35). The present section justifies Jesus' condemnation by showing that the root of Israel's problems lay with her leaders, the Pharisees. It also gives the rationale for Jesus excluding many Jews from the kingdom and admitting Gentiles (13:28-30).
14:1 The setting for what follows is secondary to the attitude of the Pharisees who were present. They had already decided to do away with Jesus (11:53-54). Now the Pharisees and lawyers were watching Him like vultures waiting to pounce on their prey at the first opportunity (v. 3). Views of the Sabbath were a major source of disagreement between Jesus and the Pharisees (cf. 6:1-5, 11; 13:10-17). Quite possibly this leading Pharisee, perhaps a member of the Sanhedrin, had set a trap for Jesus by inviting him to his house for a Sabbath meal. Table fellowship implied friendship, but clearly this was hypocritical on this occasion.
14:2 The text does not say that the host had planted the sick man among his guests to test Jesus, but that seems likely. Luke's description of the man's presence implies that. Luke said: there he was in front of Jesus. The name of the man's disease is misleading. Dropsy (Gr. hudropikos, edema) is a condition that causes the body to swell up due to the accumulation of fluid in the body tissue or the body cavities. It often results from a faulty heart or kidneys.332The rabbis regarded this disease as the result of immorality.333
14:3-4 Jesus took the initiative and asked the Pharisees and lawyers for their opinion thus shifting the burden of proof to them. He asked for their interpretation of what the Mosaic Law allowed (cf. 6:9). When they raised no objection, He proceeded to heal the man (cf. 6:10). He could have waited a day, but He performed the miracle on the Sabbath to launch the teaching that followed. Perhaps he dismissed the man to remove him from the arena of controversy and to center the discussion on the issue rather than on a person.
14:5-6 Jesus proceeded to show the logic of His action (cf. Matt. 12:11). The Old Testament and rabbinic tradition permitted saving a son and even an animal in such a situation (cf. Exod. 23:4-5).334Jesus implied that the sick man belonged to Him. This was the case since Jesus is the possessor of heaven and earth. His critics had no reply since Jesus' logic was irrefutable. Moreover they already knew what He believed about the relative importance of helping people and observing the Sabbath (6:1-11; 13:10-17).
This incident set the stage for the discussion that followed. That seems to be its primary purpose in Luke's narrative. This fact accounts for the lack of development that Luke gave this incident. Above all else it established Jesus' authority to teach the lessons that followed immediately.
Jesus next gave the assembled guests a lesson on the importance of humility. By identifying this teaching as a parable (v. 7) Luke informed his readers that the lesson has importance in people's relationship to God, not just interpersonal relations. Jesus gave the parable originally to correct the pride of the Pharisees.
14:7 Customarily people reclined on low couches for important meals, such as this one, resting on their left sides. Where a person lay around the table indicated his status. In the typical Ushape arrangement, the closer one was to the host, who reclined at the center or bottom of the U, the higher was his status. Jesus' fellow guests had tried to get the places closest to their host that implied their own importance.
14:8-10 Jesus' teaching from here on in this section centers on the concept of being invited (called, Gr. kaleo, vv. 8 [twice], 9, 10 [twice], 12 [twice], 13, 16, 17, 24).
The meal in the Pharisee's house was not a wedding feast. Jesus used that type of banquet in His parable because He was speaking of the messianic banquet at the beginning of the kingdom. Then Israel would unite with her Messiah. Evidently Jesus' point was that the Jews present should learn a spiritual lesson about the kingdom from the simple social situation He described. Everyone realized that seeking a prominent place for oneself at a banquet could lead to personal embarrassment. Jesus' hearers were to learn from this not to seek prominence for themselves but to humble themselves. In relation to the kingdom this meant being willing to forego present prominence, which the Pharisees so desired, and humbling oneself by associating with Jesus as a disciple. The implication was that those who so humbled themselves now would experience exaltation by God in the kingdom when it began (v. 11).
The reason one should humble himself is that someone else has invited him. He is a guest, not the host. Jesus further stressed this dependent relationship by using passive verbs. This was not only to avoid direct reference to God out of respect but to present God as the exalted host. A person's position in the kingdom depends on God, not on his own self-seeking.
14:11 This verse expresses the principle involved (cf. 13:30; 18:14; Matt. 23:12). Self-exaltation leads to humiliation whereas humility results in exaltation (cf. Prov. 25:6-7). The principle operates in the present and in the future. It operates in social situations and in kingdom situations.
This parable then was a lesson for the Pharisees especially, but also for Jesus' disciples and everyone else present, on the importance of humility. Participants in the kingdom and honored guests in the kingdom would be those who humbled themselves by following Jesus.
Jesus addressed the former parable to His fellow guests, but He directed this teaching to His host. This lesson, like the former parable, could have applied only to social relationships. However, Jesus' teaching was never simply ethical. It always had a spiritual dimension (cf. 6:32-36). Jesus was teaching on both levels. If the Pharisees did not perceive or rejected the lesson about Jesus' ministry, they could at least profit from the ethical instruction. In much of Jesus' teaching the alternatives were not really "do not do this but do that"as much as "do not do as much of this as that."This was common Semitic idiom, and it accounts for Jesus' strong statements.
The principle that Jesus recommended to His host for selecting guests is one that God had used in inviting people to the messianic banquet. Inviting those who could not repay the favor resulted in the greater glory of earthly hosts as well as the divine host. If earthly hosts behaved as the heavenly host, that behavior would demonstrate true righteousness, and God would reward it. Otherwise they would only receive a temporal reward from their guests. This lesson vindicated Jesus' ministry to the "have nots"and explained why He did not cater to the "haves"(cf. 4:18; 6:20-21). It also indirectly appealed to the Pharisees to receive Jesus' invitation to believe on Him for blessing.
"We cannot be certain that the ruler of Luke 14 was a silent believer like the ones mentioned in John 12. Perhaps he was not, because he had invited Jesus to dinner at the risk of criticism from his fellow Pharisees. But one thing we doknow is that he wasa believer, for if he had notbeen, then a guaranteeof reward could not have been given to him.
"What a fortunate host this man was! In return for this dinner, he gets from our Lord an invaluable lesson in Christian etiquette. If a believer uses his hospitality to entertain people who have no way of repaying him for it, God Himself becomes the Paymaster. And the resurrection of the just, which includes of course the Judgment Seat of Christ, becomes the payday!
"When was the last time that you or I extended hospitality in such a way that it would only be repaid to us in that future resurrection payday? Maybe we should rethink our guest lists!"335
Jesus continued to use the meal in the Pharisee's house to teach about the messianic banquet and the kingdom to come. He had taught the importance of humbling oneself to participate (vv. 7-11) and had justified that requirement (vv. 12-14). Now He invited His hearers to humble themselves so they could participate and warned those who rejected His invitation of their fate.
14:15 The fellow guest who voiced this comment appears to have understood that Jesus had been talking about the kingdom and not just about social propriety. Alternatively his or her comment may have been simply a pious reference to the kingdom, but this seems unlikely. The speaker seems to have assumed that he or she would be one of the blessed referred to. The speaker may have intended to correct Jesus' implication that some of those present might not participate (vv. 13-14; cf. 13:28-29). Jesus used the comment as an opportunity to clarify who would participate. A similar though obviously different parable occurs in Matthew 22:1-14.
14:16-17 In the parable the host corresponds to God, and the servant (Gr. doulos) is Jesus. The people invited were the Jews primarily. In Jesus' day a banquet took a long time to prepare.336Likewise God had been preparing His messianic banquet for centuries.
14:18-20 Those invited refused to participate. They tried to excuse themselves by giving acceptable reasons for not attending the banquet. The three excuses Jesus cited are only representative of many others that other invited guest undoubtedly gave. One man begged off on the ground that he had recently become the owner of some real estate and needed to tend to it. Apparently he was proud of his position as a land-owner in his community. Another person with new possessions expressed his greater interest in them than in the invitation. The fact that both of these men inspected their purchases after they bought them shows their love of them since they would undoubtedly have also inspected them before buying them. A third man cited his recent marriage as his excuse implying that pleasure was more important to him. These individuals represent the many who had declined to accept Jesus' gospel invitation for similar reasons.
14:21-22 The host legitimately felt angry in view of his gracious invitation and sacrificial preparations. Rejection constituted a personal insult. He decided to open the banquet to anyone who would come, not just the people who considered themselves the privileged few who were the most obvious choices (cf. Rom. 9:4-5). These people correspond to the religious leaders of Jesus' day. The other people the host included correspond to those in Jesus' day whom the self-righteous Jews regarded as deficient including the publicans, the sinners, and the Gentiles (cf. vv. 2-4, 13). Even though many of the needy responded there was still plenty of room at the banquet table.
The streets (Gr. plateia) carried all manner of people, and the lanes or alleys (Gr. rhyme) were where the lower elements of society felt more comfortable.337The servant's commission was urgent because the feast waited for guests.338Note that Jesus now described the host as "master"or "lord"(Gr. kyrie) hinting that God is in view.
14:23-24 The host then sent his servant farther out into the countryside to find guests wherever he could. Those taking refuge against the hedges, fences, and walls (Gr. phragmos) would have been people who were especially destitute and needy. Compelling (Gr. anagkazo) did not involve forcing them against their wills but urging them to come. It manifested "an insistent hospitality."339These people doubtless represent the remainder of humankind living far from the site of the banquet (i.e., Jerusalem). They are the spiritually needy, Jews and Gentiles alike, both in Jesus' day and in the ages that followed before the banquet begins at the commencement of the Millennium (cf. 13:28-30). None of those who received initial invitations but declined the host's gracious offer would enjoy the banquet (cf. 13:34-35).
Thus Jesus' correction of the original comment (v. 15) affirmed that those who would eat bread in the kingdom would be the objects of God's favor and therefore happy. However they would be those who responded to God's gracious invitation that He extended through His Servant Jesus, not those who anticipated the banquet but refused the invitation. This parable would have helped Jesus' original disciples appreciate their privilege and the urgency of their mission. Likewise Luke's original readers and all subsequent disciples should learn the same lesson. The parable contains a revelation of God's program through the church that Israel's rejection of her Messiah and God's consequent postponement of the kingdom made necessary (cf. Rom. 11).
