Luke 14 Feasting in the Kingdom

Sunday evening

An invitation –

399 Come, risen Lord, as guest among your own

Prayer and the Lord’s Prayer

Reading: Isaiah 55: 1-13

Psalm 23 – STL 78

Lord Jesus, the Good Shepherd

Thank you that this night

You invite us to come

Into your presence

And find that peace you alone can give.

Help us to take that peace with us

Into all that lies ahead

Sure that we will dwell

In the house of the Lord forever.

Amen.

408 I come with joy to meet my Lord

Have you been yet?

You really ought to go.

Dick and I called in on the way back from Longney just after the first one opened.

I could have called in on my way to Longney today … but I didn’t!

When Felicity and I were setting off for Devon we had had a really busy day, ending up with a swimming lesson for Lake and we called in and it was really lovely.

We called in again and the grass has grown … and it really is looking beautiful!

What am I talking of?

The new Gloucester Motorway Services.

Well worth a visit!

It’s the third occasion I’ve been on a day out to a Motorway service station.

When the country’s very first Motorway opened in            the first to walk on the motorway was our Gwen                who worked for John Laing the construction company, the first motorway service station was at Leicester Forest East and we would go out there for a day out.

And then when the Severn Bridge was opened we went to the service station to get a wonderful view.

By now we just take them for granted … and know our favourite ones.

When you are on a journey you need to stop for a break and you need to stop for a meal.

Jesus is on a journey.

“When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem” we read in Luke 9:51 and from there all the way through to Luke 19:27 Luke reminds us that Jesus is on the way, he’s on his journey to Jerusalem.

And what do you do when you are on a journey?

You stop off for a meal and have something to eat.

As Luke 14 opens we read that Jesus was going to the house of a leader of the Pharisees to eat a meal on the Sabbath.  People were watching him closely.  Just then, in front of him, there was a man who had dropsy.  The GNB says it was someone whose legs and arms were swollen.  The point was it was a chronic illness, you might say, no rush to do anything.  But Jesus wasn’t like that.  So Jesus put a question to the experts in the law of the Jewish people and the Pharisees: “Is it lawful to cure people on the Sabbath or not?”  They were silent.  So, what did Jesus do?

So Jesus took him and healed him and sent him away.

No mater the day, you help those in need before you.  No questions.  No ifs not buts.  “If one of you has a child or an ox that has fallen into a well, will you not immediately pull it out on a Sabbath day?”  And they could not reply to this.

It was an important person.  An important meal.  Bit of a banquet really.

And Jesus noticed something.

He noticed how the guests chose the places of honour.

That was something to think about in Jesus’ book.

So he told them a parable.

⁸‘When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet, do not sit down at the place of honour, in case someone more distinguished than you has been invited by your host; ⁹and the host who invited both of you may come and say to you, “Give this person your place”, and then in disgrace you would start to take the lowest place.¹⁰But when you are invited, go and sit down at the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he may say to you, “Friend, move up higher”; then you will be honoured in the presence of all who sit at the table with you. ¹¹For all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.’

He actually pressed the point home.

He said also to the one who had invited him, ‘When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbours, in case they may invite you in return, and you would be repaid. ¹³But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. ¹⁴And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.’

There is a welcome to all … an inclusiveness.

It’s not just our people, it’s all people.

Shapes the way we think, the things we do.

You get talking at a big dinner don’t you.

So one of the dinner guests, on hearing this, said to him,

“Blessed is anyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!”

That’s a wonderful thought isn’t it.

It’s broadening it out now.

There’s a longing for a heavenly banquet.

When you think 23^rd Psalm do you think automatically still waters, green pastures?  It moves on to a wonderful feast – sitting down at the table.  Thou prepares a table before me – you make me, even me imporatant as my had is anointed.  My cup floweth over.

Wonderful moment.

The banquet is a wonderful image of being with God.

When we share around the Table of our Lord in the Lord’s Supper we often feel as if we are re-enacting the last Supper Jesus shared with his disciples.  We use the words he used on that occasion.

Maybe we should look further back and have in mind the way Jesus had meals with all and sundry – and make sure the doors are wide open to welcome all in the name of Jesus.

Maybe we should be looking forward in anticipation of that heavenly banquet.

So who will come in?

This is one of those great story parables.

We used to sing it a lot back in the day with a rollicking chorus …

How it presses home the welcome …

Reading:  Luke 14:15-23 – read by …

One of the dinner guests, on hearing this, said to him, ‘Blessed is anyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!’ ¹⁶Then Jesus said to him, ‘Someone gave a great dinner and invited many. ¹⁷At the time for the dinner he sent his slave to say to those who had been invited, “Come; for everything is ready now.” ¹⁸But they all alike began to 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 apologies.” ¹⁹Another said, “I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to try them out; please accept my apologies.” ²⁰Another said, “I have just been married, and therefore I cannot come.” ²¹So 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.” ²²And the slave said, “Sir, what you ordered has been done, and there is still room.” ²³Then 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. ²⁴For I tell you, none of those who were invited will taste my dinner.” ’

It has been said that the message Jesus has to share makes the comfortable feel uncomfortable, and it brings real deep down comfort to those in need.

I cannot help but feel a bit uncomfortable at these words.

Are we welcoming to all?

How do we best do that?

Do we think of ourselves as the religious in-crowd?  But what about the out-crowd?

It gets more challenging.

Then Jesus speaks of the cost of discipleship.

And ups the ante even more.

Following Jesus involves

Putting Jesus first – even above family

It involves taking up the cross.

It involves putting working out how you are going to follow him and planning accordingly

It involves putting Jesus before all those possessions we treasure so much.

He calls us to be salt – and not to let the saltiness lose its flavour.

Now large crowds were travelling with him; and he turned and said to them, ²⁶‘Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple. ²⁷Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. ²⁸For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not first sit down and estimate the cost, to see whether he has enough to complete it? ²⁹Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it will begin to ridicule him, ³⁰saying, “This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.” ³¹Or what king, going out to wage war against another king, will not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to oppose the one who comes against him with twenty thousand? ³²If he cannot, then, while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks for the terms of peace.³³So therefore, none of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions.

About Salt

34 ‘Salt is good; but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? ³⁵It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure heap; they throw it away. Let anyone with ears to hear listen!’

These are powerful words.

Uncomfortable words.

Let anyone with ears to hear, listen!

STL 55 Praise to God

Prayers of Concern

Offering and Dedication

The table is prepared

364 Jesus, stand among us – a hymn Dick mentioned when I visited him last week

The Lord’s Supper

Communion collection for Mary’s meals

580 From all who live beneath the skies

Words of Blessing