Rev. Stephen E. Stults
St. Paul’s Anglican Church
Second Sunday after Trinity, 2024
Luke
According to the Gospels, Our Lord
did not have “a certain dwelling place.”
We know that He was itinerate; that is, He moved from place to place and
called no one destination “home.” Perhaps one could regard his parents’ house in
Nazareth “home”, but the scriptures never tell us He went there, specifically.
Why do we care? For this reason. Jesus truly embraced holy poverty. Although we know he had mastered a trade,
carpentry, we never see him working at it in any of the Gospels. This differs
from St. Paul, who very clearly labored at his trade, tentmaking, to provide
for his needs. Christ did not. Instead,
he depended on the hospitality of friends and strangers, maybe even
adversaries, to eat and to lodge. How different
from the preachers and pastors of our day! Jesus had no multi-room mansion or
manor home. He didn’t have a private jet
or limo to carry Him about. No. He and his disciples walked, slept outdoors and
probably were hungry a lot of the time. One must recall the scene from the cable
TV series The Chosen, where the disciples return to their homes after a
missionary trip. They are questioned
furiously by their wives and mothers about their diet, which seems to be very
lacking.
Thus, our Gospel scene is typical: Our Lord is invited to hospitality at one of
the Pharisees’ houses for the Sabbath meal.
As usual in these situations, the Pharisees “watched Him closely”, not
out of admiration, but that they might entangle him in His talk.
This particular dinner, however,
doesn’t seem that hostile. Christ
relates several parables, whereupon one of the guests proclaims, "Blessed is he who shall eat bread in the kingdom
of God!"[i] St.
Augustine thought that this exclamation was both worthy and unworthy. First, it was worthy for it was expressed in
the context of Christ’s excellent teaching, as we read in the Bible. Imagine what it must have been like in
person! Thus, it was a worthy point to
be made. Yet, almost in the same
instant, Christ recognized it as being unworthy, for the motive behind it was
the very topic of his next parable.
Christ did not respond to the man’s
exclamation directly. Instead he tells
the party assembled that a “certain man” gave a supper and invited many. Luke tells us: "and (he) sent his servant at supper time to say to
those who were invited, 'Come, for all things are now ready.' But they all with
one accord began to make excuses.”
Several commentators have noted how
grievous it was to decline such an invitation in those days. When a sheik or an emir made an invitation,
the expectation for one to attend was great. These invitees, however, began to
demur. The one had bought oxen; the other had just acquired a farm. These two, notes Matthew Henry, could have
done their testing and their inspection on another day. As for the newlywed, this man evidently put
more emphasis on pleasing his wife than on the invitation. His excuse, at least on the surface, is the strongest
of all.
Again Henry notes: “The cold entertainment which
the grace of the gospel meets with. The invited guests declined coming. They
did not say flatly and plainly that they would not come, but they all
with one consent began to make excuse, v. 18. One would have expected that
they should all with one consent have come to a good supper, when they
were so kindly invited to it: who would have refused such an invitation? Yet,
on the contrary, they all found out some pretence or other to shift off their
attendance.”
The reaction of the ‘great man’ is
both typical and atypical. First, when
told of his guests’ excuses, he becomes angry.
This is most understandable, especially when one of great importance
does something for someone and the offer is spurned. St. Augustine tells us that unrequited mercy
stirs great wrath. True enough. For example, on a much, much smaller scale,
how do we feel when we have kindly let another person in front of us in
traffic, only to have that person fail to acknowledge our action, even with a
wave of the hand? Thus, the great man’s
reaction is typical: anger.
His other reaction is atypical. Instead of merely sulking and perhaps dining in
solitude, he commands his servants to go out into the poorest parts of the city
and bring in the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind, in short, the
most disadvantaged of society. The rich
and the favored were first invited, but they chose to decline the gracious
invitation.
This being done, the lord is
informed that his palace still has room.
Now, he commands his servants to go out into the highways and hedges and
“compel them to come”, that his house may be full. The parable ends with a
ominous note as the great man says, ”For I say unto you, That none of those men
which were bidden shall taste of my supper.” It is significant when one
considers the audience of the parable. Of course, Christ is talking against the
Pharisees and the other Jewish religious leaders. They are sitting with their
long-awaited Messiah but fail to see it.
They have been invited to the Marriage Supper of the Lamb but have
chosen to disregard the invitation. In a perfect fulfillment of Isaiah as
quoted by St. Luke: “that seeing they might not see, and hearing they might
not understand. “[ii]
This is evidence of further hardness
of heart that began soon after the Exodus from Egypt. The Lord told Moses before his death: “Surely
none of the men that came up out of Egypt, from twenty years old and upward,
shall see the land which I sware unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob;
because they have not wholly followed me…”[iii] Thus, the ominous tone of the great man’s
statement: “That none of those men which were bidden shall taste of my supper.” Disobedience and separation go hand-in-hand.
Yet, the Jews did not see it that way.
Having trusted in Abraham and Moses for their righteousness and thinking that
scrupulous keeping the Law would ensure their favor in God’s eyes, they were
bold, proud and impudent. They
were the Chosen People of God, a group set apart and wholly dedicated to God. Yet, rather than spread the Law and the
knowledge of God to all lands, the Jews built walls and fences, both literally
and figuratively, to avoid contagion from the World. How telling are St. Paul’s
last words in Acts 28:28: “Be it known therefore unto you, that the salvation
of God is sent unto the Gentiles, and that
they will hear it.”
St. Augustine saw the excuses as
various forms of pride. The first man’s
excuse, that of having bought five yoke of oxen, is an examples of pride in great
possessions, for why the emphasis on five
yoke of oxen? He is simply
bragging. The next man has bought a farm
and thinks that he must see it now. Again, this is the sin of concupiscence as he
must inform the messenger of his new possession. The last man has married a wife, thus
providing for the needs of the flesh over the needs of the spirit. The point is not that he could not attend, but that he would
not. Our Lord is very clear; when called to the Supper, we should hastily
attend.
Let’s bring this back to us. With the depiction of the Jews in the
Scriptures, it is too easy to cluck our
tongues disapprovingly. Yet, here’s the reality of it: we all act that
way. The Jews are God’s Chosen People,
meant to be an example to all mankind.
While they were to exhibit righteousness and be a beacon to all mankind
to follow God’s Law, so often in the Scriptures they do the exact opposite of
righteousness; thus they are examples of our human-ness, merely reminding all
of us of our common human nature. God
uses the His People as the great object lesson for all mankind, both positively
and negatively.
When we see those in this parable,
rejecting God’s gracious invitation, or following their own way rather than the
Will of God, or rejecting Christ in general, we need to ask ourselves, “How
often have we done the same?” How often
have we ridden roughshod over the Spirit’s gracious invitations to be Lord over
our lives?
How often have followed our own
sinful inclinations, usually to our detriment?
In short, have we spurned God’s grace, thinking that we have a better
way?
The answer to this is rhetorical. We must answer this in our most meditative
and introspective moments. These moments can yield the most spiritual progress.
For it is in these times that God speaks most clearly to us, if we will just be
still and listen. Listen to that
small, still voice calling you to Him. Listen for those quiet, peaceful
suggestions that lead you to greater knowledge of God and, at the same time,
smooth the path before you. Seek to quiet the unruly condition of your souls by
putting the bridle of the Holy Spirit upon them.
Then, be still and know that God is
God. Amen.
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