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Scripture Reading: Luke 14:1-24
Chapter fourteen of the Gospel of Luke begins with another incident that took place on the Sabbath. Verse 1 says, “And it came about, as He went into the house of one of the leaders of the Pharisees on a Sabbath to eat bread, that they were watching Him closely.” They were watching the Lord closely with an evil intention to accuse Him (Mark 3:2).
“And behold, a certain man suffering from dropsy was before Him.” Dropsy is a disease that causes the body to swell up because of fluid forming in the cavities and tissues. This may signify an inner abnormal function of life that causes spiritual death before God.
We do not know whether the man with dropsy came into the house on his own or if he was asked by the Pharisees to be there as a temptation to the Lord. In any case, it was sovereign of the Lord that this man was present. Those in the Pharisee’s house were watching to see what the Lord would do. He asked the lawyers and the Pharisees, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath, or not?” (v. 3). Then He took hold of the man suffering from dropsy, cured him, and sent him away (v. 4). Following this He said to them, “Which of you having a donkey or an ox that shall fall into a well, will not immediately pull it out on the Sabbath day? And they were not able to reply to these things” (vv. 5-6). In healing this man the Man-Savior once again broke the deformed sabbatical regulations.
In 14:1-6 we see that a Pharisee invited the Lord Jesus to eat in his home, and the Lord accepted this invitation. It is possible that the disciples may have received a wrong impression from this. They may have thought that the sabbatical regulations were right and that the religion of keeping the Sabbath was also right. Therefore, on this occasion the Lord took the opportunity to break the sabbatical regulations, that is, to break the Sabbath-keeping religion, in order to impress the disciples that He was going to Jerusalem, not to keep the religion there but to terminate it. This is the reason that chapter fourteen begins with a section concerning the breaking of religious regulations. The Lord did this purposely in order to show His disciples that He was not going to Jerusalem for the sake of the Sabbath-keeping religion.
While the Lord Jesus was in the house of the Pharisee, He observed the situation among the Pharisees and lawyers. “He noticed how they were choosing the places of honor” (v. 7), exalting themselves even in the matter of seating. Therefore, He told them a parable about not reclining in a place of honor when invited by anyone to a marriage feast, but instead sitting down in the last place (vv. 8-10). The Lord pointed out that if we take the place of honor, the one who invited us may come and say, “Give this one that place, and then you will begin with shame to occupy the last place” (v. 9). The Lord went on to say that if we sit in the last place, the one who invited us will say, “Friend, come up higher,” and then we shall have glory before all those reclining at the table with us (v. 10). The Lord concludes this parable by saying, “Because everyone who exalts himself shall be humbled, and he who humbles himself shall be exalted” (v. 11). The Lord’s teaching here is like that of a parent teaching his children how to behave.
In verses 12 through 14 the Lord said to the one who had invited Him, “When you make a meal or a dinner, do not call your friends, nor your brothers, nor your relatives, nor your rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return, and it becomes a repayment to you. But when you give a reception, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed, because they do not have anything with which to repay you; for it will be repaid to you in the resurrection of the righteous.” Those mentioned in verse 13 — the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind — are the people whom God invited to His salvation (v. 21). The resurrection of the righteous spoken of in verse 14 is the resurrection of life (John 5:29; Rev. 20:4-6), when God will reward the saints (Rev. 11:18) at the Lord’s return (1 Cor. 4:5).
In 14:15-24 we have the Lord’s teaching about the acceptance of God’s invitation. “One of those reclining at the table with Him, hearing these things, said to Him, Blessed is he who shall eat bread in the kingdom of God!” (v. 15). Then the Lord said to him, “A certain man was making a great dinner and invited many; and he sent his slave at the dinner hour to say to those who had been invited, Come, for it is now ready” (vv. 16-17). This great dinner is different from the marriage feast in Matthew 22:2-14. That marriage feast is for the reward of the kingdom. This great dinner is for God’s full salvation. God, as the certain man, has prepared His full salvation as a great dinner and sent the first apostles as His slaves to invite the Jews (Luke 14:16-17). But because they were occupied by their riches, such as land, cattle, or a wife, they refused His invitation (vv. 18-20). Then God sent the apostles to invite the street people — the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame. Because of their poverty and misery, they received God’s invitation (vv. 21-22a). Yet God’s salvation still had room for more; so He sent His slaves to go out further to the Gentile world, as the roads and hedges, to compel the Gentiles to come in and fill up the room of His salvation (vv. 22b-23; Acts 13:46-48; Rom. 11:25).
In this parable the Lord’s intention was to let the Pharisees know that God had invited them to His great feast, but they had all asked to be excused. Each one of them denied God’s invitation. That made it necessary for God to go to those of the lower class — to the poor, crippled, blind, and lame. After that, because there was still room in God’s salvation, God sent His slaves into the Gentile world to gather more people into His feast. Therefore, eventually those who had first been invited by God — the Pharisees, the scribes, and the lawyers — will not be able to enter into the kingdom of God.
This parable is an excellent parable concerning salvation. In order to be saved it is not necessary for us to do anything. We simply need to answer God’s invitation. To be saved all we need to do is come and receive what God has prepared for us. As long as we answer His invitation and accept what He has prepared for us, we shall be saved.
God’s economy, however, includes more than salvation, It also includes the reward of entering into the blessing of the kingdom age. Hence, to be saved is one thing, and to receive the kingdom reward is another thing. This is the reason for the Lord’s teaching in 14:25-35.
Verses 25 and 26 say, “Now great crowds were going along with Him, and He turned and said to them, If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, and moreover, his own soul life also, he cannot be My disciple.” The tone here is very different from that in 14:15-24. For salvation there is no need for us to do anything. This means that for salvation there are no terms, no conditions. We simply need to answer God’s invitation and receive what He offers us and we are saved. But there is more to God’s economy than just being saved. After we are saved, we need to enter into the coming kingdom to receive a reward. Therefore, to be saved by grace is one thing, and to be rewarded according to our following of the Lord is another thing.
We all need to see the difference between salvation and reward. It is significant that chapter fourteen, after an opening word concerning the breaking of the sabbatical regulations, goes on to speak concerning God’s salvation and God’s reward. God’s salvation is for us to enjoy the jubilee today, and His reward is for us to enjoy the jubilee in the coming age.
We have seen that the New Testament jubilee is of three stages: first, the jubilee in the present age, the age of grace; the second, the jubilee in the coming age, the age of the kingdom; and third, the jubilee in eternity, in the new heaven and new earth. Enjoying the jubilee today is a matter of salvation. However, enjoying the jubilee in the coming age is a matter of reward. The enjoyment of the jubilee in eternity in the new heaven and new earth will be the full taste of God’s full salvation.
Today everyone who accepts God’s invitation and receives the offer of what He has prepared for us has the ground to participate in the New Testament jubilee and enjoy Christ in this age. But in order to receive the reward of the jubilee in the coming age, we need to enjoy Christ faithfully in this age. Many saved ones are not faithful to enjoy Christ today. For this reason, God has set up a reward as an incentive that we may enjoy Christ faithfully in this present age. If we do not enjoy Christ faithfully today, we shall lose the enjoyment of Christ in the coming age. Here we see that in His wisdom God has made the enjoyment of Christ in the coming age a reward for the faithful ones, the ones who enjoy Christ faithfully in this age.
Christians have neglected a number of important matters in God’s New Testament economy. One of these matters is the reward given to the faithful ones in the coming age. Most fundamental Christians emphasize God’s salvation, but they do not pay any attention to God’s reward. This reward in the coming age has been set up by God as an incentive to encourage all the Lord’s believers to enjoy Him and follow Him faithfully in this age.
We have pointed out that there are no terms, no conditions, for enjoying Christ in this age. As long as we believe in Him, accepting God’s invitation and offer, we may enjoy Christ today. Nevertheless, we need to enjoy Him faithfully in order to receive the reward in the coming age of the kingdom. Otherwise, we shall lose the enjoyment of Christ in the coming age.
The kingdom will be a reward in the thousand years to the faithful enjoyers of Christ, and that reward will also be a jubilee. Today’s jubilee is real, but it is only a foretaste, not the full taste. God has presented us such a foretaste, and we need to have a high regard for it. So many Jews have excused themselves from accepting God’s invitation and have denied this jubilee and as a result cannot share its enjoyment. But we Christians have accepted God’s invitation and His offer. Therefore, we are on the right ground to enjoy this jubilee. Yet we still need to be faithful to enjoy the jubilee; that is, we need to be faithful to enjoy Christ.
Many genuine believers, truly saved Christians, are not faithfully enjoying Christ. All these unfaithful ones will miss the jubilee in the coming age. This means that they will miss the coming kingdom. We all need to see that today’s jubilee is a matter of salvation, that the jubilee in the coming age is a matter of reward, and that the jubilee in the new heaven and new earth will be the full taste of God’s full salvation.
According to the New Testament, God’s kingdom today is Christ as our enjoyment. This enjoyment is the jubilee. The kingdom of God, which is Christ Himself, has set us free from the bondage of sin, Satan, the world, and the self. The kingdom of God has also recovered our right to the divine inheritance, the right to enjoy the Triune God in Christ. Today in God’s salvation we have the right to enjoy Christ, the right to enjoy the jubilee. Now we must remain faithful in this enjoyment. Properly and faithfully we need to enjoy God’s Son who is the all-inclusive Christ as the all-inclusive Spirit. This faithful enjoyment of Christ will qualify us to enter into the kingdom in the coming age and there to enjoy a fuller jubilee. That fuller jubilee will be a reward. Receiving this reward requires the fulfillment of a condition, and this condition is that we faithfully and continually enjoy Christ today.
In our daily living we may fail to enjoy Christ. If you fail, simply repent and confess your failure, and the blood of Jesus will cleanse you. Then you will be brought back to the proper enjoyment of Christ. We may need to do this again and again, each time we fail. When you go to bed at night, you may sense your failures that day. But if you confess them, you will have a new beginning concerning the enjoyment of Christ.
Every day we should exercise to keep ourselves in the faithful enjoyment of Christ. Actually, this is to keep ourselves in God by praying ourselves into Him. It is also to keep ourselves in the kingdom of God for the enjoyment of Christ in this age. This enjoyment will then qualify us to enter into the coming kingdom, which will be a fuller jubilee as a reward to the Lord’s faithful ones.
