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Luke 
Day 
Day 185

Luke 14 : 12-24 "THE AFTER-DINNER DISCOURSE"

Day 185 – Luke 14

Text: Luke 14 : 12-24

THE AFTER-DINNER DISCOURSE

Dinner functions were not just occasions to eat good food. Jesus made sure that the time spent with His hosts was never wasted. In those special dinner functions, there would be people who were privileged to be invited by the host. It was common practice for the specially invited guest of honour to begin a discourse.

Those dinner functions were not “closed door’ affairs. The house of the rich host would be open to “outsiders”. These people would of course not be allowed to partake of the meal, but they would be allowed to listen to the discourse that the special guest would be expected to give.

On this occasion, Jesus had healed a person who had suffered from dropsy. This was a general term used by Luke the physician to describe a disease that caused the body to retain body fluids. (The individual could well be suffering from kidney failure)!

Jesus had also chosen to speak about how to care for and be concerned for the poor, as the subject of His dinner discourse! How well was His after-dinner speech received?

“BLESSED IS HE WHO SHALL EAT BREAD IN THE KINGDOM OF GOD” Luke 14:15

One of those who sat at meat with Jesus made this remark, after listening to the wise and deep words of Jesus.

“Blessed is he who shall eat bread
in the kingdom of God!”
Luke 14:15

He was right in his observation! How blessed is that individual who enters into the Kingdom of God! The figure of speech used by the speaker must not be misunderstood. He was not saying that in the eternal kingdom of God, there would actually be the physical partaking of food and drinks.

He might have been among the few who understood the significance of having been in the company of the Lord Jesus Christ. He must have been struck by what Jesus taught.

Being in the Presence of Jesus, and having a meal with Him was just about as good as it gets! It caused him to think of being in the kingdom of God! What greater joy could there be in life than to have such company, and to hear such words of wisdom? Surely heaven must be like this!

How many really understood the significance of what Jesus taught? Perhaps not too many, judging from the parable that Jesus told, in response.

THE PARABLE OF THE GREAT SUPPER

The storyline of this parable is not difficult to follow. Jesus spoke of a man who prepared a great supper. He had sent out many invitations.

However, instead of responding favourably to the invitation, those invited began to make all kinds of excuses (Luke 14:18).

The Master of the House refused to be despondent when his invitation was turned down. He was determined that the effort put in to plan for the Great Supper would not go to waste. He did something most extraordinary.

He ordered his servants to,

“Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city,
and bring in here the poor
and the maimed and the lame and the blind.”
Luke 14:21

The servants did as they were told, but reported that there was still room for more. The Master of the House then gave a second order.

“Go out into the highways and hedges,
and compel them to come in,
that my house may be filled.”
Luke 14:23

The punch line was then given.

“For I say to you
that none of those men who were invited
shall taste of my supper.”
Luke 14:24

THE APPLICATION OF THE PARABLE

The man who spoke to Jesus might well have been the only person who appreciated the experience of having had dinner with The Teacher. There were other people who were invited for the dinner. Some of them were watching Jesus intently as He ate.

This dinner occasion was held on the Sabbath. One of the people had come to Jesus to be healed on this occasion! Would Jesus heal on the Sabbath? He did, and He made it clear that He did not break the Sabbath as God originally designed this day to be observed!

As Jesus gave His thought-provoking speech after dinner, only one person seemed to have appreciated what he had experienced! That prompted Jesus to teach the people who sat with Him for dinner a deep spiritual truth!

They had not appreciated the significance of having Jesus at their dinner function. Obviously, they had not recognized the fact that even as Jesus spoke about being concerned for the poor, He was challenging them to put their faith in God into practice – if they had any faith at all! If they had understood Jesus and His message at all, they would have agreed that He was right! Real faith resulted in caring for the maimed, the lame and the blind! If they did not have such a heart for the poor, could they speak about having faith in God at all? The maimed, the lame and the poor would be personally cared for by the Lord God Himself! Was Jesus understood at all? What do you think?