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You're listening to Tim Bulkeley's 5 minute Bible
Reading the parable of the Big Feast
in context
One of the things we always have to do in trying to make sense of any text
is to undedrstand it in its context, Luke 14 provides a rather nice example of
this in a couple of ways
it's one of Jesus' best known and best-loved parables
Luke 14 beginning to read at verse 16
Luke 14 beginning to read at verse 16 It goes something like this:
Then Jesus said to him, "Someone gave a great dinner and invited many
at the time of the dinner he sent his slave to say to those who had been
invited
Come, for everything is ready now
but they all alike began make excuses
the first said to him
'I have bought a piece of land, and I must go out and see it; please accept my regrets.'
Another said, 'I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to try them out; please accept my regrets.'
Another said, 'I have just been married, and therefore I cannot come.'
So the slave returned and reported this to his master.
Then the owner of the house became angry and said to his slave,
'Go out at once into the streets and lanes of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame.'
And the slave said,
'Sir, what you ordered has been done, and there is still room.'
Then the master said to the slave,
'Go out into the roads and lanes, and compel people to come in, so that my house may be filled.
For I tell you, none of those who were invited will taste my dinner.'"
That's the story
So, what does it mean?
Well, first in this case and the order varies depending on which text you're
dealing with
we need to
work out some things about the cultural
context, because,
the cultural presuppose ofthe people to whom Jesus told this story
were somewhat different from ours
When I invite friends to a party
I just send them the one invitation and
they come at the specified time and date
Or, being typical Kiwis, they come on the specified date but uh... fashionably
later than the specified time
things were a bit different in ancient Palestine
no one could be quite sure when the food would be ready for
a party and so as well as sending a first invitation with the date
you would send a servant or a younger member of the household around the village to tell
people when the food was nearly ready
so they could arrive at the appropriate time and that's what's going on here
that's what the second imitation is all about
But we also need to ask about other sorts of context for this passage
you see, the bit we began gives us is a strong clue
then Jesus said to him
verse sixteen
"Someone gave a great dinner and invited many"
Jesus said to who? What's going on here?
We need to look back and to see the text in which this message is embedded
and I'm going to suggest we go back to the beginning of the chapter
Again, how far you have to go back varies from case to case, it depends on the passage
you're studying
but it's always a good idea to have a look around
even when the text doesn't demand it
but this one does
The chapter begins with Jesus at a party
a party in the house of one of the Pharisees
and there were a bunch of
lawyers around
wanting to catch Jesus out, watching and waiting for him to fall into their trap
and he neatly reverses the trap
Is it lawful to kill people on the sabbath or not?
if you have a child or an ox and it falls into a well
won't you pull them out the sabbath day?
Oops, the lawyers can't answer!
then
Jesus notices how the guests where busy choosing places of honor
and he suggested it might be smarter to choose a more humble seat
just in case you choose the place of honor and then someone more important arrives
you're going to be in trouble
Can't you just feel the tension rising in the room
as you read these verses?
and then he says to the one who's invited him rather rudely
"When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives
or rich neighbors, in case they may invite you
in return, and you would be repaid. v.12
verse thirteen
But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind.
And then you'll be blessed, because they cannot repay you,
for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous."
this was rather insulting to his...
host, who'd invited him
and it's in that context
that verse fifteen
the one before the passage we read occurs
One of the dinner guests, on hearing this, said to him,
"Blessed is anyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!"
Well, it's obvious what he's doing isn't it?
He's trying to defuse this rather tense situation that's developed between
Jesus and his hosts
by saying something that everyone will agree with:
blessed is anyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God
well you have to say Amen to that don't you?
Whether you are the Pharisee inviting or Jesus
the awkward dinner-guest
That's the context in which Jesus tells the story
and that tells us
what the story is about
doesn't it?