Luke 14: Life Upside Down

​Key Verse
11 For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.
 
Meditation
Today’s reading may be digested more effectively if you stand on your head to read it upside down. The initial scene at a sabbath meal (vv. 1-24) is followed by Jesus speaking to large crowds (vv. 25-34). In both scenes, Jesus inverts everything.

Love vs. rote religiousness (vv. 1-6): Lawyers and Pharisees were rarely quiet, but they were silent when Jesus asked if it was lawful to heal on the Sabbath. Love leads Jesus to heal over and against religious norms.
 
Seeking social status (vv. 7-11): Jesus taught people at the Sabbath meal to seek the lowest seat in social gatherings. A greater truth than momentary comfort is that “He who exalts Himself will be humbled and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
 
Outsiders become insiders (vv. 12-24): People who can never repay the invitation should be the target of kingdom hospitality. Those who are comfortable in life have too many good things competing for heart affection (A field, oxen, marriage in vv. 18-20). The kingdom invitation goes to the fringes, compelling outsiders to come inside for the banquet of the King.
 
The cost of discipleship (vv. 25-33): Jesus calls followers to love Him more than family, over and above mother, father, and wife- Even more than our own life. Disciples count the cost of renouncing everything to follow the King of kings.
 
Hearing leads to living (vv. 34-35):  Jesus commands disciples to hear and do so we will dwell with distinction. Like salt, our lives are set apart from hearing and doing God’s word. 
 
Today’s Reading
One Sabbath, when he went to dine at the house of a ruler of the Pharisees, they were watching him carefully.2 And behold, there was a man before him who had dropsy.3 And Jesus responded to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath, or not?” 4 But they remained silent. Then he took him and healed him and sent him away. 5 And he said to them, “Which of you, having a son or an ox that has fallen into a well on a Sabbath day, will not immediately pull him out?” 6 And they could not reply to these things.

The Parable of the Wedding Feast
7 Now he told a parable to those who were invited, when he noticed how they chose the places of honor, saying to them,8 “When you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, do not sit down in a place of honor, lest someone more distinguished than you be invited by him, 9 and he who invited you both will come and say to you, ‘Give your place to this person,’ and then you will begin with shame to take the lowest place. 10 But when you are invited, go and sit in the lowest place, so that when your host comes he may say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher.’ Then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at table with you. 11 For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

The Parable of the Great Banquet
12 He said also to the man who had invited him, “When you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return and you be repaid. 13 But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind,14 and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just.”

15 When one of those who reclined at table with him heard these things, he said to him, “Blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!” 16 But he said to him, “A man once gave a great banquet and invited many. 17 And at the time for the banquet he sent his servant to say to those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’ 18 But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said to him, ‘I have bought a field, and I must go out and see it. Please have me excused.’ 19 And another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to examine them. Please have me excused.’ 20 And another said, ‘I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.’ 21 So the servant came and reported these things to his master. Then the master of the house became angry and said to his servant, ‘Go out quickly to the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in the poor and crippled and blind and lame.’ 22 And the servant said, ‘Sir, what you commanded has been done, and still there is room.’ 23 And the master said to the servant, ‘Go out to the highways and hedges and compel people to come in, that my house may be filled. 24 For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste my banquet.’”

The Cost of Discipleship
25 Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them, 26 “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. 27 Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. 28 For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? 29 Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, 30 saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ 31 Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? 32 And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace.33 So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.

Salt Without Taste Is Worthless
34 “Salt is good, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? 35 It is of no use either for the soil or for the manure pile. It is thrown away. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”
 
Richly Dwelling
-Which upside-down portion of Jesus’ teaching stands out to you most from today’s reading? Why?
 
-How can your life reflect the distinction required by truly hearing and obeying God’s word?  This is to ask, which part of your life needs to be inverted to reflect the priorities of the King?
 
-Jesus renounced everything and died on the cross to give grace to those of us who struggle renouncing everything to follow Him. Grace is the ground of our discipleship. Take a moment to sink your faith into the soil of Christ’s love so you can more faithfully and fruitfully follow Him.
 
Key Verse
11 For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.