An Uncomfortable Dinner With Jesus

Okay, we are, remember that we are in the study of the life of Christ and we're pretty far along into his life. Help me reset a little bit tonight. Okay, how much time do we have left in the life of Christ? I'm not talking about how many Wednesday nights because nobody knows that except Lord but how much time do we have left in our Lord's life? About three months. Yeah, just shy, three months left. Where is the Lord at this particular point in his ministry? Remember where he is? Peria, okay? Yes. He has been in the south in Judea, Jerusalem area and because of the growing opposition on the part of the Pharisees and the intensity of that opposition increasing, he has now moved away from that area in the hot bed of opposition to the Lord and and he has moved across the Jordan River 17 to 20 miles away from Jerusalem in the area where John was baptizing when John the Baptist was ministering. When we, when we last saw our Lord, what was he doing? Do you remember where he was? Healing, okay? Healed him in? Where was that? Remember the scene, the setting? Okay, with the Pharisees at a dinner, he was invited to a Sabbath dinner in a Pharisees home. Now this is not a small event. A Sabbath dinner is is the highlight of the week for any Jewish home and a Pharisee who has invited a number of guests we see as we go through the story and we are in Luke chapter 14 by the way. I hope you have an outline with you tonight but we're in Luke 14. Jesus is in a setting where there would be a number of guests there. Very important people know doubt. This Pharisee is a religious and political leader and so this is the upper crust of society that would be there in this particular home. Why was Jesus there? Why was he invited? Do you remember? I see wonderful looks of recognition on so many faces and you're just itching to tell me I know. It was a setup. It was what? A trap, okay? Yeah, it was. It was a setup. It was a trap. It's very clear that that this is staged on the part of the Pharisees. In fact, remember what verse one says in chapter 14, one Sabbath when Jesus went to eat in the house of a prominent Pharisee, he was being carefully watched. That's the whole purpose. They have him there so that they can try to catch him in some kind of mistake in some kind of slipped word or something that they could nail him on. It's Sabbath day. They know that he's already healed people on the Sabbath. He's done things on the Sabbath that would be against their traditions and their additions to the law. They have set him up. They have a man there who is sick and Jesus has compassion on him. But Jesus, you remember, smelled the ambush and fired the first shot. Jesus actually took the initiative and in verse, what is it? Verse three. Yeah, verse three, Jesus asked the Pharisees, next person in the law, is it lawful to heal in the Sabbath or not? He knew why he was there. He knew what they were looking for. He knew they wanted him to heal this person on the Sabbath and they would nail him for a Sabbath violation. And so Jesus takes the initiative, goes on the offensive and asks a brilliant question that they cannot answer. Remember, the question basically is, is it lawful? In other words, does this violate the law of Moses? And they could not answer because they knew in their hearts it did not violate Moses law. I mean, there were good enough Old Testament scholars. They knew that it did violate the Pharisees and scribes definition of what was work on the Sabbath. And in order to define and further describe what work on the Sabbath was, they had all these laws about what constituted work on the Sabbath, what you couldn't could not do. And so it violated their traditions, their additions to the law, but did not violate the mosaic law. So they could not answer the question in a way that would keep the traps sprung that would allow them to still set him up. And so they didn't say anything, hoping that well, maybe we can still get him. And Jesus then really highlights as he is exposing their legalism, he highlights the inconsistency of their legalism in verses five and six. When he asked them, if one of you has a child or an ox that falls into a well on the Sabbath day, will you not immediately pull him out or pull it out? And obviously he's caught them. They were seeking to trap him, but he has now trapped them. Because yes, if one of their children had fallen into a well on the Sabbath, they would do whatever they could to get their child out. Obviously, even if an ox that belonged to them would fall into a well on the Sabbath day, they would get him out. That would be work on the Sabbath. It would violate certain traditions and standards of the Pharisees. But it's an emergency. It needs to be done. And Jesus' point basically is you will you will do that for your child or an animal of yours. But you accuse me of violating Sabbath in helping this man who's ill. This man is a child. He is a child of God. He is God's child. And he is not an ox. He's much more valuable than an ox. And so he had him trapped again. They could not answer verse six says. And so Jesus has exposed their legalism, but he is not done. This is one uncomfortable dinner. Jesus is before the evening is out, he is going to make everyone including the host uncomfortable at this dinner. He has already exposed their legalism. You can you can just feel the tension in the air when they thought they were going to trap him. He has actually trapped them and he has healed the man who was sick and sent him away. So now there is no more trap. So now that Jesus is on the offensive, he's going to keep he's going to keep probing and he's going to expose some other things about their sinful hearts. He's going to expose in verses seven through eleven. They're pride. Look at verse seven. And what you have here in verse seven is the scene. It's beautiful just to see the scene that's being set here. Verse seven, when he noticed how the guests picked the places of honor at the table, he told them this parable. Now before we get to the parable, you've got to you've got to imagine the scene. You've got to place yourself in that room, in that home, at that meal. You see they haven't even gotten to the meal part of the evening yet. Evidently, this has all happened out in the courtyard of the home or maybe the front room or somewhere where this man is healed. And they haven't even gotten to where they sat down for the meal yet. And so with tension in the air that you can cut with a knife because Jesus has exposed their legalism and removed the source of their trap for him, the hosts, you know, escorts everybody into the place where they will will dine, hoping that maybe things will start to go a little better, no doubt. Now do you remember how meals are done in the first century? I know that some of you have been exposed to this and aware of this. Do you know how they sat or how they just set themselves up for a meal? Help me out a little bit here. What did they do? They would lounge. They would actually rather than sitting at chairs at a raised table, the table was low to the floor. They would usually lie on their left side, prop themselves up with their elbow. But how was the table shaped? Does anybody know what the table would look like? Do you remember, you've talked about this, I'm sure before, with especially the last supper, the table would be in the shape of a U, okay? Just imagine a U. And right at the bottom center of the U, the letter U is the host, the most important person there. People would be seated from left to right next to the host and then in ever increasing distance from the host, the further you got away from the host, the less important you were. So the chief seats, the main seats, the most coveted seats would be the ones near the host. It's kind of like a head table, you know? But if you got close to the host, you were really important in a dinner. You were one of the top dogs in this dinner. And so imagine that scene, the host invites people back to the room where they're going to eat and everybody is scrambling to get the right seats. This is like a game of adult musical chairs. Everybody is trying to get to their position first and it's a position that would signify no doubt some honor. And if you've got beside Rabbi so and so, you know, Jesus, I'm sure was just observing all this, the smug smile on somebody's face who got by that Rabbi or maybe the angry scowl on somebody's face who kept getting pushed back toward the end of the table. Jesus is just watching all of this. Just imagine the scene, this childish, prideful game of musical chairs by all these prominent adults trying to angle for position to show how important they are. And Jesus is watching all this. And then he speaks. He tells the parable in verses eight through 10. Notice what he says, verse eight. The end of verse seven says he told them this pair of when he watched them picking their places of honor at the table, he told them this parable, verse eight, when someone invites you to a wedding feast. Now this was not a wedding feast. This was a Sabbath dinner, but he's telling a story that is very apropos to the setting that he finds himself in this evening. When someone invites you to a wedding feast, do not take the place of honor for a person more distinguished than you may have been invited. If so, the host who invited both of you will come and say to you, give this person your seat. Then humiliated, you will have to take the least important place. But when you are invited, take the lowest place so that when your host comes, he will say to you, friend, move up to a better place. Then you will be honored in the presence of all the other guests. Now Jesus tells this parable to now make a point. And when he makes this point, you can feel the temperature in the room rising again because he is going to expose their pride. Here's the lesson in verse 11. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled. And those who humble themselves will be exalted. In other words, if you're the kind of person that is looking for the seat of honor at some point and at some time, you're going to be humiliated. You're going to be humbled. If however, you're not concerned about the seat of honor and what Jesus is going to do, I'm jumping a little bit ahead of myself here, but what Jesus is going to do is he's going to show us what humility really is. If you're not even thinking about the seat of honor, not concerned about that at all, then God will in his own time and his own way honor you and exalt you. Now that is not what you will hear at the next assertiveness training seminar you attend. That is not the philosophy you will hear. That is not the philosophy this world operates by. What you will hear at the seminar is something like this. In order to get ahead, you've got to know how to sell yourself. You've got to know how to promote yourself. You have to know how to be seen with the right people. You have to know how to get invited to the right functions. You have to know how to present the right image to get noticed so that you can move up and that's exactly the opposite of what Jesus says is to be our lifestyle. Now that's exactly what was happening at this dinner as Jesus watches them rushing to try to get to the seat of honor and shoving each other out of the way to get the most coveted seats and positions at this meal. What he's seeing is the results of assertiveness training seminars right there in front of him and he says if you want to exalt yourself you're going to be humbled. If you humble yourself you will be exalted. So don't play the game of adult musical chairs to try to impress people and try to show how important you are and how honored you are. What Jesus is saying basically is be content with who you are. Be comfortable with who God has made you and how he's made you. Don't feel that you have to push yourself to the front to be noticed. God will take care of any honor he wants you to have but that's that's up to him. When we try to promote and push ourselves we're going to end up and God will see to it that we end up being humbled. When we are not concerned about the seat of honor then God will take care of the honor part. He'll take care of exalting or honoring in his own way and his own time. That's the lesson that Jesus is teaching. Now we have to be careful with this don't we? Because we can do the flip side and end up having the same attitude as the person who was jockeying for the main position and wanting the main seat. Because pride is very insidious. It has very crafty ways of finding its way into our hearts when we don't recognize it. It is just as possible for us to say, okay maybe Jesus is teaching this. Maybe Jesus is teaching that when I go into this meal I immediately go to the end of the table and take the least position in hopes that I will be invited up to the better position. Is that what Jesus is teaching? It can kind of sound like it. Isn't that really the same spirit? Aren't both people really hoping in the end to have the best seat and be recognized for it? Regardless of where you started, whether you jumped for that seat or whether you angled to try to make it look like you didn't really want that seat but eventually you get it. Isn't that the same heart motivation? You see pride can work in different ways in our hearts and lives and sometimes when we think we've got a handle on it is when it's got us pride has us in its grip at the very worst. And so Jesus is not saying play the humility game in order to get honored because that's just a very terrible form of pride. Someone has said it very well when they said it this way. Humility is not thinking mainly of yourself. Humility is just not thinking of yourself at all but rather thinking of other people. Humility is the sincere desire to let others have the main seat and to rejoice in them being honored and not even thinking about where you would be sitting. That's true humility. Pride can take either the form of angling for the best seat or trying to look humble hoping you'll be invited to the best seat later. Both of those can be pride. True humility, Jesus is teaching I believe in this lesson in verse 11 is basically you don't think about yourself at all. You just go in and take a seat and you're not angling for the best seat. You're in fact hoping someone else will be recognized and get that seat. It really doesn't matter to you and so it's not a sign of dishonor to you to be at the end of the table. That's what Jesus is teaching here. Well can you imagine how that went over as everybody is you know bumping elbows to try to get to the main seat? Can you imagine how that went over? I mean if everybody was a little tense before they're really squirming now. I mean this really getting uncomfortable in the room. Any comment or question about what we've just seen at this meal? Anything you want to pursue further? Yes John? I guess it could vary. I'm not sure how many would typically be there. Yeah I don't know. I would even hate the hazard of guess. Steve? Yeah I mean I guess to me it's just easy to speak into what these teachers assume is that they're a lot of hard. You know here's what others do. I kind of love you know first you get 15. Hmm. I know it's not that bad. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah good point. Just genuinely rejoicing in the other person being honored not even thinking about the fact it wasn't me. I'm glad for that person. That's genuine humility. And someone has said that genuine servanthood you know whether or not you're a servant when you're treated like one. How do you respond when you're treated like one? If it really gets under your skin, if it really bothers you then probably you've got some pride issues in your heart. You're not really a servant at heart. So I don't know about you but I get a little squirmy intense when I read this. You know this is not easy stuff to hear. But especially in that setting with that kind of stuff going on at the meal. Just imagine that the tension in the room but Jesus is not done. He has exposed their pride and now he's going to expose their self-centeredness. Verse 12. Then Jesus said to his host. Uh oh. Okay. He's kind of put the spotlight on everybody that's going into the room to be seated and people are you know finally sitting down. And now Jesus turns to the host. Can you imagine what it would have been like when their eyes met and the host is thinking why did I invite this man? Why did I have him come? His whole plan for trapping him is blown out of the water. That's gone now. The guy's been healed. He's gone. And there's nothing they can do about that. And now Jesus is on the offensive peeling back the layers of legalism and pride and self-centeredness in their hearts. And now he's got his eyes on the host. What would you be like if you were the host in the hot seat? If you were the one that Jesus is looking at after he's just scorched everybody in the room and now he's looking at you. What would you be thinking? I think I would be squirming. I really do. Notice what he says. When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or sisters, your relatives, or your rich neighbors. If you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. When you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous. What do you think Jesus is getting at here? Is he counseling against and what is he counseling for? Linda, say it again, please. God opens His kingdom to everyone. Yeah. Great. That's a great insight into the whole thrust of this passage. Jesus is going to end up with making direct application to who's in the kingdom and who's not. Yeah. Jesus is really driving at the motive for having this dinner in the first place and for the guest list. Who's on the guest list? Why did this man invite these folks? Because they were prominent people. And what does that mean for the host? He's going to get accolades from the prominent people in town. What else is going to happen? They're going to repay him. He's going to get invited to their dinner, isn't he? Yeah. And Jesus is putting his finger on the fact that this is undoubtedly this man's motivation. Remember, he is speaking to the host now. He's not talking to the group. He's looking right at this guy. And he says, when you give a luncheon or a dinner, that's pretty pointed. That's pretty specific. And so I think he's peeling back the heart of this man, opening it up to show the whole motivation for this dinner is self-centered. You've invited all the prominent people in town. The guest list looks like a who's who and whatever town this is. And the reason you've done that is because you'll be talked about in all the social columns and newspapers and everything else for having this dinner with anybody who was anybody was there. And so it'll get a lot of talk, but it will also get you invited to their place. And you'll be repaid. That was very typical in that day. It is still typical today. Not just with dinner situations, but just the way people work, just the way people do things in life. With an angle to try to get something back out of what we do. To get some reward, some visible reward out of something I've done. If I do this for this person, then I'm liable to get this. If I'm seen with this person, then it might get me this far. Just those little angles of self-centeredness is what Jesus is pointing out. It's really evidence of a prideful heart and a self-centered spirit. So what Jesus says for him to do rather than that is when you give a banquet invite the poor, crippled, lame, blind. Where does the reward come from that? They can't invite you to their place. They can't put on a banquet like this. They can't put on a meal like this. So what do you get out of that? What do you get out of that? The Lord repays, blessing as Jesus says, you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous. So what kind of reward is that? It's an eternal reward, isn't it? It's a future reward. It's not a reward right now that I get noticed. I'll get invited back. I'm going to climb the social ladder. This will be good for me. It will be good on my resume. It will be good. It will be good PR for me. It will help me climb the social ladder. It's none of that stuff. It's none of this immediate stuff that's really self-centered. It's all about pleasing the one who will reward us in the future. And so I think Jesus is saying, take care of those who cannot provide for you. Because then the motivation for the meal becomes to take care of someone else. In other words, it's truly an act of love, isn't it? It's truly an act of giving. Not how's this going to improve my social standing? What's this going to do for me? But if you invite the blind and the poor and so forth, then what that demonstrates is that you're really wanting to help these people. This is a genuine act of love. It's not self-centered. It's others-centered. Now, let's bring it around to us. What about us? When we do an act of kindness, or when we speak to someone, or when we do something for someone, we need to examine our motives whenever we do that. Why are we doing what we're doing? Am I speaking to a certain person, or am I doing something for a certain person because it will get me something in return? Or because it will help me climb the social ladder, or because it will increase my stature in other people's eyes. If I'm seen with that person, we need to examine our motives because what Jesus is doing is He's peeling back the heart of this man saying, you need to look at your heart. Why did you invite the people you invited to this banquet, this feast? And Jesus said, I'll tell you why. I'll tell you that it's self-centered. It's pride. That's what it is. It's all about you. It's all about what you can get out of it. And so I think Jesus, if He were here tonight, would be asking us the same kind of questions. Why do we do what we do? Are we angling for that which will boost my career, or help get me in certain circles, or get me something back? All of us would do well to ask ourselves, what is the motivation behind our friendships? Who are we seeking to develop friendships with and why? Is it because of what it does for me? Then that's an abuse of a friendship. Because friendships are to be relationships of love and caring for the other person. And if I'm developing friendships simply because of what it will do for me, and how it will make me look, and then I'm just as guilty as this Pharisee. Is there some penetrating questions we need to ask ourselves? I don't anybody else. It makes me feel uncomfortable. Just in that, like you said, Jesus said, giving a couple of full water in me, or when I was making, He did it when I was in a circle, He could give me clothes when I was making. Because people who can't do anything for it. How are the common standards that I mean, I'm thinking of stuff with those people that are uncomfortable? Sometimes, like, Jesus, you already know that they don't ask for something. Do you want to be uncomfortable because I don't want to? Because there's something wrong with them that feels superior. Or if they are my comfort zone, I think. I think it's all because we tend to look at people. I don't know what those clothes, so it's even well read. And we do a lot of things to do with that attitude. That all of them. They had a superior attitude, and they tended to try to get everything that people were poor, and it's dressed well, and all of that. And it's a shy way to not get that. And those people who need help from they couldn't afford those who want us to really need someone. Yeah. And Jesus really is testing our motives about why we do what we do. If it's because of what I get back, then it's self-centered. But the very act of choosing the neglected, the disabled, the poor, is showing that my concern really is for them, not me. And that's the hard issue. Okay. So he's exposing their self-centeredness. Yes. You're hearing people with that, and you're showing them all that. Yeah. I mean, this is, again, the insidious nature of sin is that you can do that so that you'll be recognized again. And if it's the motivation for that, again, it's just pride and selfishness, taking a different form. So, you know, you have to be careful about that side of it, too, John. It certainly will. Certainly will. John's made a great point that this will all be exposed at the judgment seat of Christ, because we can't see the hearts like Jesus could. And so sometimes we're fooled by what people do. Sometimes we're even fooled by what we do. And thinking it's out of pure motives. But it's easy for us to be fooled. And that's why a verse comes to mind that I think I referred to when I was preaching on the judgment seat of Christ. Yeah. We're Paul said in 1 Corinthians 4-5, therefore, judge nothing before the time, the point of time. Wait until the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness. And we'll expose the motives of the heart. At that time, each will receive their praise from God. So, if we have done something with impure motives, it will not receive his commendation. If we have done something out of pure motives, it will receive his commendation. So, yeah, the judgment seat will clarify all of this. And that is going to be a searching time. Okay. One other thing that Jesus exposes in this meal, he's still not done. And that is, he exposes their excuses. Notice what happens in verse 15. There's an awkward silence at the table. And then a guy figures out how to break the silence. Verse 15, with this exclamation. So, this exposure of the Pharisees' excuses begins with the exclamation. When one of those at the table with him heard this, heard what? Well, what he just said in verse 14, you'll be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous. Okay. When he hears about the resurrection of the righteous, he says, Blessed is the one who will lead at the feast in the kingdom of God. Now, just imagine this scene. Here's a guy who is one of those guys that feels like he's got to say something. You know, there's tension in the air. Everybody, there's an awkward silence. The host has just been embarrassed. And so, here's a guy who feels like, I gotta say something to get things moving in a different direction. And so, he picks up on Jesus' comment about the resurrection of the righteous and he thinks, you know, wow, that's a feast. Everybody wants to be at. So, blessed is he who is at that feast. Thinking that he said just the right thing and he's gonna bring the conversation back to a more pleasant topic and people are gonna be able to get on with the meal now and he will have kind of smooth things over. Not so. What happens is Jesus basically says, and I'm sure this guy was thinking, I'm gonna be one of the ones there at that feast. No doubt. I'll be there. And when he makes that exclamation, Jesus basically says, let's talk about that for a little bit. Let's talk about this thing of this feast. And I can just see everybody's head drop at the table. Oh no. Why did we ever ask him to come? Because Jesus borrows right in and exposes now their excuses. And what he's gonna do is he's going to show that they have really no interest in the kingdom of God. They really don't have any interest in that feast. Oh, talk about all you want about being blessed to be there. You don't have any interest in being there. You've already proven it by rejecting the one who will be giving that feast. Jesus. And so what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna show you how flimsy your excuses are and how preoccupied you are with other things so that you really don't care about that feast. You really don't. Okay. Here is the invitation. Jesus tells a story. Verse 16. Jesus replied, a certain man was preparing a great banquet and invited many guests. At the time of the banquet, he sent his servant to tell those who had been invited come for everything is now ready. Now, did you notice how this works? And this was very typical of first century near Eastern settings, banquets that would be given. There are two invitations. First invitation, verse 16. A man is preparing a great banquet. So this is well before he sends out the invitation so that everybody can get it under calendar. Everybody can make sure they know when this banquet is gonna be. They're invited. And so you know you're invited. You've got plenty of time to plan for it. You should know not to schedule anything else on that day. Right? You've been given fair warning that the banquet is coming well in advance. That's the first invitation. Second invitation. In verse 17. This is very typical of this time. At the time of the banquet, by the way, when you would get an invitation to an important function in that day, whether it was a wedding or a feast of some kind or something, a reception, or whatever it might be, you would be given the day well ahead of time. You would be given the first invitation and say, this is gonna happen on such and such a day. You wouldn't be given a time just the day. So you would mark that day you would not plan any other major activities if you were invited to this event so that you would have fair warning to know to be ready. Now the second invitation would always come the day of the event. And it would be someone actually being sent to your house to tell you everything's ready. And that's what Jesus says in verse 17. At the time of the banquet, he sent his servant to tell those who had been invited come for everything is now ready. Now that's the way the culture worked in that day. You get the event on your calendar for the day well ahead of time, way in advance. But you don't know the specific time necessarily. But on that day, when everything gets finalized and prepared, someone is sent out from the host's home, some of the doors of those who have been invited, it's okay, we're ready for it's time. And so you make your way over there. Now Jesus is going to apply this to the Kingdom of God. So think about this for a moment. Think about the invitation. Israel has been given an invitation to a banquet. In the Old Testament, the Kingdom of God was seen as a great feast. Jesus portrays heaven this way. Ephesians 5, Jesus is coming as a bridegroom for his bride and what's going to follow? The wedding feast, Revelation 19, when Jesus comes back with us to set up his Kingdom, the first thing is going to happen is a wedding feast with the bride. And so heaven and the Kingdom are pictured in terms of a feast. Israel had been given fair warning way in advance that the Kingdom was coming. The Old Testament prophets over and over and over again told them the Kingdom was coming. This is what it's going to look like. This is what the Kingdom will be like. Isaiah 35. The Kingdom of heaven is at hand. That's the second invitation. That's okay. It's ready. Come on. It's here. Now, when everything was ready for the Kingdom, John the Baptist was the one sent out to say everything's ready. Remember what John the Baptist preached? Repent for what? The Kingdom of heaven is at hand. That's the second invitation. Ready. Come on. It's here. You're supposed to come now. It's set up. The King is here. That was the second invitation. And what Jesus is going to point out to them is you had fair warning and you even got the second invitation that it was ready and you started making excuses. Now, look at the folly of their excuses. Verse 18. The first thing that I've seen in story form, but they're getting it, no doubt. They're getting it. But they all alike began to make excuses in Jesus' story. People that are invited this piece began to make excuses. The first said, I've just bought a field and I must go and see it. Please excuse me. There's so much I want to say here and there's so little time to say it. Of course, it's storming terribly outside, right? So we don't want to go out. Jesus is going to point out basically how full it is. Not basically how foolish and flimsy their excuses are. Here's a person who's bought a field and he's got to go see it. Now, in the first century, it's not a matter of... He hasn't seen the field before he buys it. That's not the issue. The issue is, in the first century, a property transaction took a long time. It went through a number of hoops. You say, well, what's changed? It went through a number of hoops. It would take a long time. So the banquet is usually given in the evening. You're going to have plenty of other opportunities to look over your land and plan what you want to do with it because this is going to take a while to close this deal. It's not like you've got to do it today and you don't have much time in the evening to go see it anyway. So it's just a flimsy excuse. That's what Jesus' point is. I'm going to go see a piece of property. I've got to go see it. Now, you'll have two more weeks to go see it because this is not going to happen now. It's going to take a while to close this deal. It's just a flimsy excuse. The second excuse. Verse 19. I've just bought five Yoke of oxen and I'm on my way to try them out. Please excuse me. Now, if you bought five Yoke of oxen, that's not for home. That's for business. That indicates wealth. Five Yoke of oxen is for the kind of work that would be done by a wealthy person. So this is a businessman. This is not somebody buying an ox to help them around the farm. Five Yoke of oxen? That's a businessman. That's a major operator. That's a heavy farmer. Okay? And I'm on my way to try them out. A guy with any business sense at all is going to know what he's getting before he buys it. So he's already tried them out before he's bought the thing. Again, this is just a flimsy excuse. It doesn't hold up. The third flimsy excuse, verse 20, still knows that. I've just got married so I can't come. Now, what do you think about that one? Transparent? Okay? In fact, maybe. I don't know. We're not really giving any indication as to why this is a bad excuse, but it is. Really, here's what Jesus is getting at, I think, to compress this and to wrap it up. Jesus is basically getting at the point that these people are preoccupied. The first guy is preoccupied with possessions. And so he's giving a flimsy excuse, but his heart really is about his possessions, about this field I bought. The second guy is preoccupied with his business. The excuse is flimsy, but it shows where his heart is. It's really all about his business. And the third guy is occupied with relationships. He's preoccupied. Any excuse will do if you don't want to be at the feast. Whether it's business, whether it's relationships, whether it's possessions, anything that's captured your heart will keep you away from the invitation to the feast. Because whatever's captured your heart is more important. And the same thing is true with us. The problem with these excuses is they are preoccupied with other things. And then the result is, and you know the end of the story, servant comes back, tells the master, master says, go out and get the poor, the cripple, the blind, the lame. So those who have real needs and who recognize their needs are invited to come. The ones who were invited a long, long time ago had plenty of time to get ready, but simply were too preoccupied and gave flimsy excuses for not coming. They end up not getting there, verse 24. They're not going to taste in my banquet. Jesus pointed this, only those who understand their need will be in the kingdom. You were invited a long, long time ago. You got the message of the prophets, you got the invitation from John the Baptist, but you were too preoccupied with other things. You didn't recognize who I was, what my kingdom was, and so you turned it down. Well, I'm going to take it to people who know they have a need. You know the poor, the blind, the people who don't have a business to go back to. The people who can't see to buy a field or test oxen. People who have a need and they know they've got a need, that's who the kingdom is going to go to. And the people who had all the opportunity, but were too preoccupied to recognize their need, they will not taste of my banquet. Wow. You imagine how that went over in that meal, that evening. So, in a meal that started with an attempt to trap Jesus, Jesus has layer by layer by layer exposed the emptiness of their hearts. And finally, there are flimsy excuses which will render them outside the kingdom. Wow. No wonder the Pharisees hated him. And this is only going to increase their animosity and hatred and desire to kill him. We'll see that later. Let's pray. Father, we marvel at our Lord, His wisdom, His fearlessness, His insight, His willingness to expose pride and self-centeredness and flimsy excuses and really get to the heart of the issue. Lord, I pray that you would help us to allow you to do that with us. We're not asking Lord that we be the kind of people that can expose others. We need to be exposed ourselves. And I need to be exposed in my heart. So, Lord, help me to open my heart and all of us to open our hearts to you so that you can search us just like you searched that dinner crowd that day. And Lord, we know we may not be pleased with what we find when we allow you to search us, but help us to deal with it. And to come to you in repentance, we ask in Jesus' name, amen.