Tag Archives: banquet

LUKE’S GOSPEL…GOD’S BANQUET – 39

Christian Life,

“Then Jesus said to his host, “When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or sisters, your relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.””

‭‭Luke‬ ‭14‬:‭12‬-‭14‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Years ago, we, the elders in my church, decided to do what Jesus said. We planned a banquet in our town for the homeless and the down-and-out people. When we put our plan to our church family, they threw their weight behind our decision with wholehearted dedication. 

Offers of food and help flowed in. The whole enterprise became a joyful celebration. On the day, the church family gathered to serve the poor. Some cooked nourishing stew in huge pots over open fires. Others decorated the hall with streamers and balloons, turning a facility into a festivity. Still others packed parcels for these marginalised people to take with them for another day, another need. 

The invitations went out and the moment came for our guests to arrive. They streamed in with excitement and eager anticipation. 

I will never forget that scene. 

My pastor sat in a corner of the hall, tears streaming down his face as he watched the spectacle of som ragged, some dirty, some barefoot people arriving for a party…something they had never experienced in their lives. 

Other servers sat or stood around, overawed and transfixed by the overwhelming sense of the presence of Jesus. He was there, the unseen Host at His own banquet. 

The honoured guests were first served the “bread of life” by a man who had been where many of them were at that moment, ragged, dirty, and forgotten. He told his story…redeemed and washed clean by the blood of the Lamb, a witness to the grace which Jesus offers to all. 

Then came the feast! What a privilege to serve the poor, the hungry, the neglected people of our town. I think the Lord Jesus must have been bursting with joy as He watched His people bring to life His own word. 

Every last morsel of the feast was devoured… two, three generous helpings until there was nothing left. People ate for their tomorrow, their next day, because they had no idea when their next meal would come. 

Bursting with food and happiness, the homeless ones finally filed out, back to a bleak future but delighted that, for a moment, they were remembered. 

What if God’s people took Jesus at His word? What if we, from time to time, gave of our bounty to those who have nothing? 

I carry in my mind’s eye, a memory of that day…and a vision of another day. Every year, on Christmas Day, my son labours all morning over pots and a hot stove, to prepare a special meal for hungry people. He serves the food in takeaway containers and then sets out to look for the ones who sit on the pavement, dejected and alone. 

He comes home empty-handed but full of joy because he has been Jesus to the forgotten ones for one day. 

There are no accolades or applause from the world on that day…but heaven notices and heaven is glad… 

and Jesus says…“Go, and do likewise!”

To be continued…

LUKE’S GOSPEL…WHY THEM? – 10

Bible Study, ,

“After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector by the name of Levi sitting at his tax booth. “Follow me,” Jesus said to him, and Levi got up, left everything and followed him. Then Levi held a great banquet for Jesus at his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were eating with them. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law who belonged to their sect complained to his disciples, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” Jesus answered them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”

‭‭Luke‬ ‭5‬:‭27‬-‭32‬ ‭NIV‬

Jesus’ deliberate choice of unsavoury characters to join His group of close followers seems to cut across the very nature of who He was. He was, in His earthly sojourn, the Son of God, adopting the role of subordinate to His Father in His humanity. He was sent by the Father to live in submission and obedience to His will, to reveal the true nature of the Father, to rescue mankind from the penalty and ravages of sin, and to restore the human race to God’s favour and intended plan for His human family. 

Psalm 2 is quite clear…

“I will proclaim the Lord’s decree: He said to me, “You are my son; today I have become your father.”

‭‭Psalms‬ ‭2‬:‭7‬ ‭NIV‬‬

“Sacrifice and offering you did not desire— but my ears you have opened— burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not require. Then I said, “Here I am, I have come— it is written about me in the scroll. I desire to do your will, my God; your law is within my heart.””

‭‭Psalms‬ ‭40‬:‭6‬-‭8‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Jesus’ first choice of disciples was from a group of fishermen. Why not students of the rabbis who were eligible for discipleship? These should have been His most obvious choice. His call to the fishermen, after the miraculous haul of fish, “Follow me!” received an instantaneous response. Why was it that these young recruits dropped everything  and followed Jesus?

To be a personal disciple of a rabbi recognised to have authority was a privilege of the highest order. This honour was reserved for those who were prepared by following their elementary education with a dedicated study of the Tanach, the Hebrew Scriptures, under the guidance of an authorised rabbi. Instead, Jesus chose relatively uneducated men. Why? 

Part of Jesus’ role in Israel was to reveal to His people the true nature of the Father. Imagine trying to undo the rigid ideas of the rabbis, taught to their students, and represented by the religious leaders of His day. How much easier it would be to mold young minds by His teaching and example if their understanding was not already hardened into rigid patterns by years of indoctrination. 

Another purpose, in Jesus’ choice of disciples, might have been in keeping with His mission. He expressed His purpose clearly to those who criticised Him for hob-nobbing  with ”sinners”.  

“Jesus answered them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”

‭‭Luke‬ ‭5‬:‭31‬-‭32‬ ‭NIV‬‬

When Jesus was in the company of the religious boffins, He was constantly under attack. Nothing He said or did passed their scrutiny. He was too “nice” for their liking. They preferred the God they had invented who was a rigid stickler for the law with all the petty details added over time by the ancient rabbis. 

By contrast, Jesus was comfortable in the company of the people the religious ones dismissed as “outcasts and sinners”, the lawless riff-raff of society who offended their “holiness”. These were the ones who were comfortable with Jesus too, despite His holiness. He neither judged nor condemned them. Instead, He stood for mercy and grace and they responded gratefully with faith and hope. 

So, His band of followers grew, hand-picked under the careful leadership of the Father through the Holy Spirit. They began as a mixed bunch of guys who made a living by various means, some by doing day’s hard work, others by extortion or political connections, but nevertheless a disjointed and disconnected group. It was up to Jesus to shape them into loyal followers who understood His mission, adopted His yoke without question, and through love and loyalty, would be ready to pick up the baton and run with it after He had returned to the Father. 

Would Jesus ever succeed in this mammoth and seemingly impossible task? From His own lips, we have the answer. 

“I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word. Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you. For I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me.”

‭‭John‬ ‭17‬:‭6‬-‭8‬ ‭NIV‬‬

All of them?

“While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled.”

‭‭John‬ ‭17‬:‭12‬ ‭NIV‬‬

How did He do it? By the power of His word!

To be continued…

THE GOSPEL OF MARK – CAUGHT IN HIS OWN TRAP

Bible Study, ,

CAUGHT IN HIS OWN TRAP

Finally the opportune time came. On his birthday Herod gave a banquet for his high officials and military commanders and the leading men of Galilee. 22 When the daughter of Herodias came in and danced, she pleased Herod and his dinner guests.

The king said to the girl, “Ask me for anything you want, and I’ll give it to you.” 23 And he promised her with an oath, “Whatever you ask I will give you, up to half my kingdom.”

24 She went out and said to her mother, “What shall I ask for?”

“The head of John the Baptist,” she answered.

25 At once the girl hurried in to the king with the request: “I want you to give me right now the head of John the Baptist on a platter.”

26 The king was greatly distressed, but because of his oaths and his dinner guests, he did not want to refuse her. 27 So he immediately sent an executioner with orders to bring John’s head. The man went, beheaded John in the prison, 28 and brought back his head on a platter. He presented it to the girl, and she gave it to her mother. 29 On hearing of this, John’s disciples came and took his body and laid it in a tomb. Mark 6:21-29

What a sobering and terrifying chain of events, a setup which Satan used to his full advantage. John the Baptist was incarcerated in prison. What hope did he have of being released? Would he ever have a trial and if so, who would speak for him? What sort of justice system operated in his day? Herod was a puppet of Rome and functioned within the Roman system which would have had no interest in his personal affairs. He probably did not see himself as subject to Jewish law – so John was caught in the middle with no hope of justice or release.

I don’t think Herod had John in mind when he planned his birthday bash. Free-flowing booze and debauched emotions set him up for the dilemma he landed in. Herodias’ daughter’s provocative dance must have fired his alcohol-soaked lust even further, eclipsing his brain and loosing his tongue into making a rash promise which set him up for the trap he fell into.

Herodias was sharp and opportunistic. She wasn’t demented by alcohol. Her daughter was probably completely under her domination. She saw her opportunity and grabbed it with both hands. Herod had unwittingly opened the door to her unscrupulous obsession to get rid of John and her one-track mind fastened onto it immediately.

As soon as her request came back via the girl, Herod realised his mistake. He had been caught in his own trap and he couldn’t get out of it – so he thought. A series of completely self-centred plans had backfired and now, instead of being seen as a generous and magnanimous host, he was exposed as a weak, spineless drunk and foolish dictator. He had no guts to say no and so he also became a murderer.

Where was God in these circumstances? Mark begins the record by reporting that Jesus was baptised by John but only began His public ministry after John’s imprisonment. Do I see God’s mercy in John’s violent death – saving him from a long, slow and ignominious death?

THE GOSPEL OF MARK – INOPPORTUNE OPPORTUNITY

Bible Study, ,

INOPPORTUNE OPPORTUNITY

Finally the opportune time came. On his birthday Herod gave a banquet for his high   officials and military commanders and the leading men of Galilee. 22 When the daughter of Herodias came in and danced, she pleased Herod and his dinner guests.

The king said to the girl, “Ask me for anything you want, and I’ll give it to you.” 23 And he promised her with an oath, “Whatever you ask I will give you, up to half my kingdom.”

24 She went out and said to her mother, “What shall I ask for?”

“The head of John the Baptist,” she answered.

25 At once the girl hurried in to the king with the request: “I want you to give me right now the head of John the Baptist on a platter.”

26 The king was greatly distressed, but because of his oaths and his dinner guests, he did not want to refuse her. 27 So he immediately sent an executioner with orders to bring John’s head. The man went, beheaded John in the prison, 28 and brought back his head on a platter. He presented it to the girl, and she gave it to her mother. 29 On hearing of this, John’s disciples came and took his body and laid it in a tomb. Mark 6:21-29

Herod’s downward slide began with his illicit rendezvous with an evil woman and ended with blood on his hands. His unwillingness to rein in his lust had serious and sinister repercussions and, once he had allowed himself to start the slide, nothing could stop him. “The fear of man brings a snare”. Herod reminds me of Israel’s first king, Saul. He was also driven by the fear of man.

Throughout Scripture, there are patterns of people who had similar characters and showed similar tendencies in their behaviour. Compare Herod and Herodias with Ahab and Jezebel, for instance. Weak kings were manipulated by evil and scheming women. Both situations led to murder. Both men were warned by caring prophets whom they chose to ignore and persecuted instead.

What is the lesson in this story for us? Firstly, we must be on our guard against making the first poor decision that will set us on a downward path. The antidote is clearly stated in Proverbs 3:5, 6. “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight.” No-one knows where one wrong decision will lead, especially if it is driven by the fear of man. How much better to do the right thing even if it costs than to shrug off responsibility and open oneself to greater and greater pressure from the enemy.

Secondly, everyone must ultimately take responsibility for their choices even if they are made under pressure. We are either victims of forces outside of ourselves which makes us helpless against whatever happens, or we accept responsibility for our responses and our actions and can change the whole situation by taking positive action. What if Herod had stood up to Herodias and refused her request on the grounds that murder was not included in his offer? Would he have lost face with his guests or would he have won a new respect for doing the right thing? We will never know but it is a resolve we must make before we ever get into a situation where we must make a similar choice,

Do You Know You Are Sick?

Bible Study, , , ,

DO YOU KNOW YOU ARE SICK?

“After this He went out and saw a man at his work collecting taxes. Jesus said, ‘Come along with me.’ And he did — walked away from everything and went with Him.

“Levi gave a large dinner at his home for Jesus. Everybody was there, tax men and other disreputable characters as guests at the dinner. The Pharisees and their religion scholars came to His disciples greatly offended. ‘What is He doing eating and drinking with crooks and “sinners”?’ Jesus heard about it and spoke up, ‘Who needs a doctor; the healthy or the sick? I’m here inviting outsiders, not insiders — an invitation to a changed life, changed inside and out.'” Luke 5:27-31 (The Message).

Levi? A tax man? Jesus called him? And then Levi throws a party and invites all the scum from the underworld? And Jesus goes there?

What was He thinking? And then He actually eats with them? Isn’t that taking things a bit too far? Jesus was the God-man remember, and God was eating with them!

We are so used to reading the story that it doesn’t impact us like it impacted those religious men. How could this Jesus, who said He was God, whom Habakkuk said was of purer eyes than to look at evil, actually sit down and eat a meal with known “sinners” — people who habitually and deliberately broke the law and did nothing about it? They probably never went near the Temple, let alone offered a sacrifice to atone for their wickedness.

To share a meal with someone in that culture had great significance. You never ate with someone with whom you had issues. Eating a meal was a signal to everyone around that you were reconciled. God reconciled? To these people?

By celebrating with the “outsiders”, Jesus was making a profound statement. God and sinners were reconciled! But how could that be? Where was the sacrifice? He was there, with them, right before their eyes — the Lamb of God, slain from before the foundation of the world, taking away the sin of the world. The world? Yes.

These despised outcasts were just as much sons of God as the scribes and Pharisees who thought they had exclusive rights to God because of their “performance”. In Jesus’ story of the “prodigal son”, both sons were in the far country, the younger one in body and the older one in attitude. For the father, it was more difficult to win his older son back than the younger because he was so convinced that he was right.

Jesus not only taught but He showed that God is far less concerned about what people do as He is about who they are. On the basis of the atoning sacrifice of His Son, the Father receives whoever is willing to come home because they are sons and daughters — wayward yes, but nevertheless His children. “‘For in Him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your poets have said, ‘We are His offspring.'” Acts 17:28 (NIV).

That was something the Pharisees could not understand because they based everything on their performance, especially what they did for public scrutiny. What was in their hearts was unseen and therefore irrelevant, so they thought.

Jesus’ little barb must have hit home because they had nothing more to say. ‘It’s the sick who need healing, not those who think they are well.’ The greatest of all tragedies was that they were blissfully unaware of how sick they really were. It’s those who think they are okay who need the healing the most.

It’s better to be honest than to be fooled. The riff-raff of society in Jesus’ day welcomed Him because they knew how sick they were. There was a connection because He responded to their honesty. He could not connect with the religious people because they had built a wall of pretence they were not willing to demolish and only they could break it down.

What about you? Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.