http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=luke%2014&version=31
Starting at verse 12-14, as Jesus is speaking to the Pharisees he tells the host to not invite those who may repay them, but invite those who are poor, marginalized and cannot repay him. I wonder under what motivation Jesus spoke this, and what the host might have thought, "What is this man doing telling me who to invite and who not to when I have invited him to dinner?"
I wonder how often we make it a point to serve those who cannot repay us. It has been said it is good to give, but it is even better to give knowing that you cannot be repaid.
Moving along, in verse 15-23, Jesus tells of a man who invites all his friends, who, for one reason or other cannot come. Jesus uses a banquet to illustrate 'feasting in the kingdom of God.'
I have two questions:
1) What does it mean to 'feast in the kingdom of God'?
2) What is preventing you from joining in at the feast of the kingdom of God?
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3 comments:
I will answer #2. I think my own busyness is a great killer of partaking in the exciting things that God is doing around me, and the abundant life He wants me to live. I remember a comparison made between a child who is playing in a mud pit while offered a holiday at sea at the beach.
God offers the feast and abundant life of the holiday at sea while we often are satisfied with our little mud pits. (can be busyness with making money, hobbies, our own little ministry, etc) Granted these are not bad things in of themselves, but when they take the place of what God wants us to do, then we settle for less than what He wants for us.
There is a stark contrast between the meal at the Pharisee's house and the parable of the Great Banquet.
The Pharisee invites his friends (which we can assume is also very prominent in society) to come for the meal.
Wheras in Jesus' parable, it is the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame.
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As Sam said, it is busyness with life that often halt me from partaking the feast. How often I am busy doing things which at the end of the day doesn't amount to much (in God's eyes).
A question that comes to my mind is, when was the last time I invited the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame to the feast?
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