Episode Transcript
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What is the ethic of the Kingdom
of God? Another way of asking this
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question, how are people like us
who claim to be Christians supposed to live?
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And once we identify that ethic,
that way of life, what is
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our motivation after reading this text,
which seems a little bit disconnected? I
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will admit perhaps those aren't the first
questions that come to mind about ethics and
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about our motivation for living in ethical
life, but hopefully I will convince you,
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at least all attempt from the text
that this is actually exactly what Jesus
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has on his mind, even if
no one is asking this evening is we
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continue in the parables, we come
to a grouping of parables and teaching that
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do seem a little bit disconnected.
We have this really Awkward Dinner Party,
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we have this awkward teaching. Jesus
again seems to be trying to make people
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mad on purpose, as we have
seen before, and we find this strange
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parable and it does seem a bit
disconnected. I think we can see one
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thing that is common throughout, and
that's a party. In fact, as
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we continue through the next three pair
a few parables in Luke, particularly in
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Chapter Fifteen, we find that these
parables and the next three all are about
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parties. We find the parable of
the lost sheep, the lost coin and
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the productal son and Lord Willing,
we will be looking at those parables for
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the rest of the month of August. We can call it all party August
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or something like that. I don't
know. I have to come up with
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some branding for that. But in
the meantime we have before us a party
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and we have before us this theme
of feasting and partying, but this is
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an awkward party. Well, this
morning I want to consider this Awkward Party
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by first considering this question of ethics, and particularly a kingdom ethic. And
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as we look at the beginning,
I think we'll find it Jesus is giving
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us, and certainly these dinner guests, a picture of what it is to
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live according to a kingdom ethic.
Let's let's take a look. The first
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off that we find in Luke Fourteen
for a bit of context, as that
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Jesus has joined some Pharisees and particularly
particularly has gone to the House of one
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of the chief Pharisees on the Sabbath. And for US careful Gospel readers,
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we should know that something awkward is
about to happen, because whenever Jesus gets
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together with Pharisees, something awkward happens, especially on the Sabbath and especially when
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there's a sit guy present. And
that's exactly what we find here, isn't
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it? That Jesus, on this
Sabbath, comes and he heals someone with
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dropsy, and there's much that we
could say about that, other than,
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for our purposes this evening, to
know that at the beginning of our text,
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things all weird, things are awkward. Jesus has questioned the ethic of
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those sitting in front of him by
healing on the Sabbath. There's tension in
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the air and within this tension,
Jesus begins with a parable and the specifically
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a parable directed at the guests,
the text tells us in verse seven.
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So what does he say? He
says, when you're invited to a wedding
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feast, do not sit in a
place of honor. That says he noticed
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that that's exactly what people were doing. They were sitting in place of honor.
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So he says, don't, don't
do that. Now I've visited some
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of your homes for dinner. I
appreciate that and and never has anyone directed
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me, you must sit here or
move up to this seat here. That's
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not something that, at least in
your home so far, I've found to
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be overly common. And our culture
we're not super concerned about where you sit
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at the dinner table, but that
would not be the case here. How
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you knew someone's status in a certain
group was their proximity to the host of
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the party. For those who were
most honored at the party, they would
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sit at the right and the left
hand of the host. For those who
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were least honored at a particular party, they would be sitting the furthest away
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from the host. You might recall
James and John from Mark Ten requesting that
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Jesus, when you enter into your
kingdom, let us sit at your right
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and left hand. And it wasn't
just that they liked Jesus company, though
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that might be the case. They're
asking to be honored, and we know
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that by Jesus Rebuke, don't we? He says, that's not how my
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kingdom operates. What are you to
do? It's those who humble themselves that
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will be exalted. Those who even
take on the form of a servant,
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who would be the least honored at
a dinner party. Well, that's what's
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going on here. These guests are
wanting to honor themselves by moving up to
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the front of the dinner table.
This whole culture, as we read the
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New Testament, is really built to
develop on an economy of honor and shame,
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and that's so important to understand as
we approach these texts, that honor
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and shame meant everything in this culture. Now, perhaps we don't quite understand
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what it's like to have particularly honorable
seats at a dinner table, but I
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think we do understand in our culture
status. I mean there seems to be
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so much that goes on in our
economy that speaks of status. Our culture
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is full of metrics for being able
to judge one's status. These usually have
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to do with money or appearance.
Big Houses, Nice cars, education level,
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expensive clothes, all indicators in our
society of how much one is to
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be respected. Our culture is full
of people who are trying to appear more
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successful than they are. We even
have a phrase for it, keeping up
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with the Joneses, where you do
whatever you can to make sure you have
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an appearance of status that's just a
little bit greater than your neighbor. So
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we understand this culture, even though
it might not be around the dinner table.
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We get it to fail to keep
up with the Joneses as to admit
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some type of inferiority. Even if
we don't quite understand what that inferiority is,
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we still know it to be true. Well, that's what's going on
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here in this text. Whether rushing
for the best seat of the table or
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maxing out a spending limit, it
may see's status and the appearance of honor
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are common to all human societies.
We understand it the rat race, climbing
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the corporate ladder, keeping up with
the Jones is all phrases that encapsulate this
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idea of seeking status. Well,
this is the common mindset to these dinner
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guests. But contrary to this,
Jesus presents them with an ethic that's completely
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opposite than what they have in their
minds. He says everyone who exalts himself
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will be humbled, everyone who humbles
himself will be exalted. So he says,
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instead of going to the best seat, find the worst seat. So
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when? When? You won't be
embarrassed. No one can tell you to
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sit further away. Heck, it
might turn out that you get to see
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even closer, but the point is
that you would walk and humbled, considering
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yourself last, and that is the
ethic of this kingdom that Jesus presents.
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Well, Jesus continues to not only
show this ethic for those who are invited
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to the party, but to the
host himself. It says in verse twelve
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that Jesus turns his attention to the
man who had invited him, and he
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explains a very similar principle, doesn't
he? He says, when you give
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a banquet, do not invite your
friends or your family or rich neighbors.
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Then, other words, don't invite
people that can reciprocate the invitation. Now,
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for many of you, these are
exactly the people that you invite it
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to lunch today. So if that's
offensive, I'm sorry. This is just
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what Jesus says. So my apologies, but Jesus isn't just getting it hanging
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out with people, is he?
Again? This is this thought of honor
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and shame. These guests, just
like this host, are seeking a position
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of honor and society and this case
inviting people who could invite them to invite
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him to a similar banquet. You
would get reciprocal invitations and and together you
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would be rising the social ladder a
first century Palestine. And then that's what's
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going on here, isn't it?
We have a similar concept in the business
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world. You you take someone out
to you really want to purchase something from
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you or that you want to partner
with in business, and you whine and
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dine them, we say, you
show them the nicest dry aged beef at
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the nicest to restaurant with the best
wine list, so that maybe they will
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partner with you. He get them
to owe you something so that they might
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repay. We understand this concept well. Jesus says, no, that's that's
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not how it works in my kingdom. Instead, invite the poor, invite
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the crippled, invite the lame,
invite the blind, all people with no
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social status, all people with no
honor to return, people who could never
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repay you for your invitation. There's
nothing of profit for you to invite this
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type of people. And yet Jesus
says, this is how my economy works,
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this is how the ethic of my
kingdom plays out, and he says
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this to both guest and host at
this dinner party. Everyone at this point
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should be equally offended here. He's
highlighted everyone. He who humbles himself will
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be exalted and he who exalts himself
will be humbled. Well, first we
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see this ethic and then it moves
to another parable and in exclusion, if
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you will, and unlikely exclusion.
Let's let's see what we mean by that
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again. The situation is tense.
I keep saying that, but, but
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I want you to understand. This
is a weird, tense situation, so
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tense that that the guests are kind
of feeling some condemnation, that that some
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guy wants to announce something that will
ease the tension. Right, and we
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see it here in Verse Fifteen.
He kind of says, you know,
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Jesus, that's a great teaching we
appreciate that. That's that's a lot of
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fun. Thanks for being here.
But Hey, I want to propose a
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toast. Blessed is everyone who will
eat bread in the Kingdom of God.
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You know, it seems as guy
really wants to break the tension the well,
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his statement gives away two assumptions that
the text highlights. One, this
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listener is very aware that there is
more at stake than dinner etiquette. He
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gets that Jesus is talking about the
Kingdom of God. He's talking about something
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much greater than the dinner that's placed
right in front of him. The other
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thing that he seems to understand,
and perhaps wrongfully so, is that,
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despite Jesus Teaching, this guy is
pretty certain that he and all the other
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guests will be included in this great
banquet to come, so much so that
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he raises a toast. He says
thanks Jesus for that teaching. It's a
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little awkward, but hey, here's
something we can all agree on. Blessed
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is he who, at that feast, will eat bread and the Kingdom of
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God, and it's likely that he
has in mind the great feast that Isaiah
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himself prophesied. Issaiah says in and
twenty five that on this mountain, the
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Lord of hosts will make for all
people's a feast of rich food, a
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feast of well aged wine, of
rich food full of marrow, of aged
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wine, well refined. The sounds
like a good meal, doesn't it?
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and He, the Lord, will
swallow up on this mountain the covering that
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has cast over all people's the veil
that has spread over all nations. Here
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Isaiah prophesies of this great day when
the Lord will bring about the consummation of
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the eternal kingdom and it will be
marked by a feast. But this feast
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will not just be for the people
of Israel, will it? He says
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it will be for all nations,
all people's. Isaiah uses the Hebrew word
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that as used for to refer to
the gentiles, the go yem, all
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of the people. The veil will
be lifted from their eyes and all will
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be invited to this great banquet.
The problem is is that, at this
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point in history, is Jesus is
telling this story, the Jews of the
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especially upper class have assumed that that's
actually not what's going on. The banquet
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is for them, that's for those
who have shown themselves worthy to be there,
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and this guy who speaks up seems
to believe that he will be there
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as well as the rest of the
guests. Here's something we can all agree
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on. It will be a great
day when we are all eating bread and
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the Kingdom of God. Well,
Jesus responds very indirectly. He says,
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Oh, that reminds me of a
story. He says there was once this
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guy who threw a big banquet and
he sent out a ton of invitations.
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Now, this would be kind of
standard protocol at this time in history.
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You would send out invitations and people
would our SVP and then when the feast
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was ready, you would send your
servant to ring the dinner Bell to say
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hey, it's time. So this
is a common practice at this day and
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age. People would respond whether or
not they could come, and then they
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would wait for the servant to come
and let the people know that the feast
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was ready. And that's what we
find here. But in this case the
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servant goes out to announce that dinner
is ready and people start coming up with
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excuses, not necessarily bad excuses,
but excuses nonetheless. I bought a field,
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I need to take a look.
I bought five yoke of Oxen,
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I need to examine them. I've
married a wife, I can't make it
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all the people that were invited.
The text tells us those that originally responded
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to this RSVP are now bowing out
for other options. Then this problem is
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likely compounding. I mean, no
one wants to go to a party that
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no one is going too. So
as the guest list begins to fall apart,
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the guest list begins to fall apart. This would be a great shame
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to any host. The Barbecue is
going to meet is almost ready and now
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no one wants to attend. The
host's answer to the problem is interesting.
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He says, fill the banquet hall, forget them, fill it up,
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go and invite everyone, so that
there will be no room for those original
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guests. and to make matters more
awkward, Jesus, it would seem,
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has those sitting around him as the
aim of what he's talking about, those
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people and his parable that were originally
invited, all those that he is dining
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with, and we know this in
verse twenty four Jesus Terms, to the
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guests at the Pharisees House, those
who assume that they will eat bread in
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the Kingdom of God, and he
says, for I tell you that you,
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as plural we would say where I'm
from, for I tell Y'all,
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none of those men who are invited
shall taste my banquet. That's his response
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to the guy who says is want
to be great when we're eating, and
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the King of God, he says
all those folks who have been invited who
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didn't show up, they won't be
eating in my kingdom. I mean,
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this is an unlikely exclusion, isn't
it? All those who were once our
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SVP to common, and I think
we can see here that he's speaking of
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the Jews, at least these Jews
who are rejecting Jesus, those who are
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invited from generations past, called to
be part of the Covenant Community, called
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to be part of this grace great
feast, but now that the king is
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here, they're not interested in this
kind of King. The dinner announcement is
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going out and they're coming up with
excuses because Jesus doesn't seem to be the
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kind of dinner host that they're interested
in. Jesus says, none of those
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men who were invited. It shall
taste my banquet. Stark words. So
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my question that I put before us
at the beginning, how is this all
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connected? How do all of these
stories, this dinner party, this parable,
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how does it all come together?
This teaching of a kingdom ethic,
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now this parable about this exclusion of
the Jews. Where's the link? Well,
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I think if we look closely together, that Luke himself gives it to
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us. Let's let's consider and where
I think we find this link is not
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in the exclusion but in the inclusion, the unlikely inclusion, and that's where
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we will end our time together for
the next few moments. If we look
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back at the parable after the excuses
begin pouring in, what do we find?
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Verse Twenty One. So the servant
came and reported these things to his
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master, that that folks were coming
up with excuses. Then the master of
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the house became angry and said to
the servant go out quickly to the streets
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and lanes of the city and bring
in who? The poor, the crippled,
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the blind and the lame. This
dinner hosts, and the parable invites
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all the same people using all the
exact words that that Jesus told us to
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invite. That Jesus told the dinner
host and the previous narrative to invite uses
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all the same language. That should
be a clue whenever we're reading the scripture,
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when we see repetition like that,
it should cause us to stop and
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think. The poor, crippled,
blind and lame dinner host invites all these
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same people, not the rich but
the poor, using these exact same words.
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And I think here it is that
we find the link to what seems
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to be a bit of a disjointed
passage. What we find here is that
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Jesus is exactly the kind of dinner
host who invites all the wrong people.
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He's the kind of guy who doesn't
consider what his guests can give him in
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return, but invites people who could
never reciprocate, and not only the poor
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and the crippled and the blind in
the lane. But it goes on,
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doesn't at the servant comes back after
inviting all these people and says there are
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still seats left. And what does
the master say? Go out to the
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highways, go out to the hedges
and compel people to come in, that
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my house may be full. Most
commentators agree that this is a reference to
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the inclusion of the gentiles. Not
only are the Jewish rejects invited, but
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he's going to all nations and he's
saying, fill my banquet with people from
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all tongues and from all tribes and
from all nations. This host wants a
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huge party. The seemingly disconnected passage
tells us that Jesus himself follows the ethic
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that he teaches. We know this
to be true. He's consistent. Right
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when he invites people to his end
times feast, he does not invite those
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that can repay. He goes out
to the highways and the hedges, to
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the poor houses, to the prisons, to the prostitutes through the Publicans.
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Those are the kind of people we
found when we've read the parables, isn't
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it? To the poor, the
crippled, the blind and the lane who
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have no way of returning the favor
of his invitation, and he compels them
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to come and enjoy the feast.
But but this is not the only thing
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that this parable tells us. If
this is all true, if this unlikely
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invitation is true, if this is
how Jesus Works, then it tells us
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something about ourselves, doesn't it?
It tells us that those who are included
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in his kingdom, those who call
themselves Christians, are the poor, the
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crippled, the blind and the lane. We are the social and ethnic outcasts.
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We all those from the highways,
in the hedges, from the poor
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houses, from the prisons, the
prostitutes, in the Publicans. That's who
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makes up this party. We are
the sinners that Christ invites to his feast
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and to make this whole thing finally
connect, I hope it is only when
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we understand that that's who we are
the poor, the crippled, the lay
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and the blind, that we have
any ability to then follow the ethic that
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Christ gives us. Would we understand
who we are, that we are those
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of no social standing, that we
could never repay Jesus for his invitation?
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It is much easier to walk into
the banquet and sit in the back row,
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isn't it? We don't need to
put up ourselves in a place of
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honor. We're just glad to have
gotten in because we're not worried about that
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economy anymore. We know where the
outcasts will take, whatever sea you'll give
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us. The power to be able
to fulfill that ethic is and knowing who
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Jesus invites, sinners like us and
at the same time, when we understand
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that we are in not by our
own merit or social standing or ability to
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repay, we are free to invite
others who are poor, crippled, blind
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and lame, those with no social
standing, those ethnic outcast, those from
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the highways, the hedges, the
poor houses, the prisons, the prostitutes
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and the Publicans, people just like
us, and is much easier to invite
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those people when we know that that's
just who we are. No longer do
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we have to attempt it climbing our
way up some social ladder in the Kingdom
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of God by holding this reputation,
by associating with the right people. We
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can associate with the kind of people
that Jesus associated with, because that's who
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we are, sinners redeemed. We
have no need to maintain or increase our
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position in his kingdom, because our
position and our invitation is sure not based
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on all credentials, but on those
of Christ Jesus, who purchase us with
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his own blood, who signed our
invitation with. It is finished. You're
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in, and because of that we
no longer have to maintain a reputation and
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order to get in. This is
the motivation for a Christian ethic, for
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a kingdom ethic of self giving for
the sake of others, because we have
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no need any more to make something
of ourselves. Christ does that for us.
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We are freed from the slavery of
salvation by status. You are free
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to love, to live and to
give our lives for the sake of others,
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because he first loved and lived and
gave his life for our sake.
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If you are here today and you
believe that Christ died for your sins.
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You are in and you are free, and this banquet is for you.
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You are one who, Jesus himself
says, don't sit in the back,
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comes in on my table because you're
an honored guest at my feast. That
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is who we are, and because
of that we can be free to honor
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others by giving of ourselves. Oh
the death of the riches and wisdom and
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knowledge of God. How unsearchable are
his judgments, how inscrutable his ways,
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that his son would die and rise
again for you, for me, that
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we might be invited to his feast. Amen. Amen, let's pray together.
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