On Sunday at CBC we were looking at the familiar parable of Jesus in Luke 14 where the invited guests fail to turn up when the feast is ready and the host invites all and sundry to come in from the highways and byways to fill the places. There were five different activities for people to visit and in my little seminar-style group we were looking at the question of how we try to find the meaning of such a story.
I suggested four key questions:
What does the text say? This can be difficult for Christian people because they’ve probably heard the passage preached on a number of times and so when they read the text they read it with a pre-formed interpretation. For example, several people suggested it was about “getting to heaven” or “responding to Jesus” (in a “salvation” sort of way). But does the text say any of that?? It doesn’t, really!
Who is speaking? Well, often in the gospels it’s Jesus who’s speaking. But we’re not listening to a tape recording – we’re reading what someone wrote about Jesus. Out of all the life of Jesus, that person selected what he thought was important and moreover he placed the story in a particular place in his account of Jesus life. What point was he trying to make?
What emotional and attitude factors are present? This can colour the meaning of the passage. In the Big Feast story there is an atmosphere of suspicion and conflict from the start – Jesus and the Pharisees didn’t hit it off, did they? It says in the text “they were all watching him”.
Where is it placed? Following from the last point, what materials surround the story? In the case of the Big Feast story we noted:
· Jesus told the story at a feast in the home of a Pharisee – warning bells!
· The event kicks off with Jesus healing a man on the Sabbath and rebuking his host for thinking it was a bad thing to do
· He then goes on to rebuke the guests for competing for the best seats and tells them to be humble.
· He then adds that perhaps it would be better if you held feasts for the poor and needy and not for your own family and friends who will just invite you back. God will reward such generosity “when the good are raised to life”
· This prompts a rather self-satisfied comment from one of the guests who says – “How wonderful it will be to sit at the feast in the Kingdom of God”
· It’s here that the parable comes in: In effect Jesus says to this guy, “Tell you something, friend, you might not be there!!” I think that’s what he’s saying because the parable is about people who think they’ve got it all made – they’re the “invited” (chosen) people. Yet when the host says, “come now!” they’re the ones who’re too “busy” to be bothered. What is the “feast”? Is it “heaven”? : is it “celebrating God in life”? - or is it maybe Jesus himself? Is it another of these times when Jesus is saying – “I’m the one you’ve all been looking for, but now I’m here you’re too busy with your familiar ways to see me and welcome me!” A word about life – and maybe too about church! (A party????? – this is a church!!)
· We noted that the party ends with Jesus speaking about the cost of following him. “Unless you love me more than father, mother, wife, children — everything!! — you can’t be my disciple.
Two people in my group quoted the saying, “Many are called but few are chosen”. It’s a difficult one to interpret, but yes, God may have invited you, yet, in a strange way, your “calling” rests in your response! Like the disciples had to leave their nets and their offices, will we drop everything and “come to the feast”?
