It happened that when He went into the house of one of the leaders of the Pharisees on the Sabbath to eat bread, they were watching Him closely. And there in front of Him was a man suffering from dropsy. And Jesus answered and spoke to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath, or not?” But they kept silent. And He took hold of him and healed him, and sent him away. And He said to them, “Which one of you will have a son or an ox fall into a well, and will not immediately pull him out on a Sabbath day?” And they could make no reply to this. (Luke 14:1-6)
I can imagine this scene; Jesus enters and hears, “Greetings, Rabbi. Thank you for coming to this reception which we have organized in your honor.” Perhaps the only honest part of the host’s opening sentence was that it had been organized. Whether the host was grateful or intended to honor this so-called teacher is unlikely. We can assume that everyone in attendance had been invited. The invitations had been sent out with an organizational agenda in mind. It wasn’t advertised, but this gathering was intended to be a barbecue.
Whether we acknowledge it or not, we always have an agenda. (This is an aside, but it would be healthy for our spiritual formation to acknowledge this and, when God desires, to even know what our agendas are.) It is not improbable the day (the Sabbath) and at least one guest (the dropsy victim) were chosen to further the agenda of the host and his orthodox colleagues, which was to expose the interloper (Jesus) as a violator of their sacred commands and their myriad derivatives.
Oh, how I love Jesus! For many reasons, but this morning I love watching Him cut through all the pretense of this gathering. What was Jesus’ agenda, anyway? He had been on record (since the Nazareth Synagogue incident) on just this point: “He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed, to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.” So how did Jesus advance His agenda in the midst of this trap His enemies had laid for Him?
To begin with, Jesus knew that His Father was sovereign and had sent out His own invitations. This made His Father’s will light and easy. Jesus did not feel His Father’s agenda as a heavy burden. Neither should we. Jesus never lost sight of His Father’s will, which was (and is) to put all things right (on earth as it is in heaven), by expanding the sovereignty of His Son, one heart at a time. Jesus simply watches to see what kind of banquet the Father would spread out before Him in the presence of His enemies.
Knowing fully well what was in men’s hearts, Jesus plied His prophetic-messianic vocation of realizing that this moment (and all moments going forward) represented the favorable timing of salvation. Always intuiting God’s heart, Jesus simply wades into the situation as the living, active, and sharp, two-edged sword of Truth, prepared to slice into the thoughts and intentions (agendas) of His host’s heart. As was often the case, this occasion required exposing the obvious contrast between the letter and the spirit of the matter. And on this occasion, the scalpel, as it often was, is in the form of a question: “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath, or not?”
But the hosts keep silent—hopefully because the scalpel was doing its work, liberating them from the snare of religion they themselves were unknowingly entangled in. Not one to squander even a single kingdom moment, Jesus healed the man beset with dropsy. Knowing Who had sent out the invitations and His agenda, equipped Jesus (and will equip us) to better organize our hearts so that we will be able to present to Him hearts of wisdom.
When God tells us that His ways are higher than ours, He is also saying our agendas are inferior to His. If it is our agenda to give our lives away as leaders, Paul tells us it is a fine work we desire to do. However, James would add that “not many of you should become teachers since they we will incur a stricter judgment.” In light of the higher accountability, a powerfully equipping idea for any would-be leader (with whatever title they aspire to) would be to keep in mind that the kingdom of God is an invitation-only affair, and that God’s invitations, coming as they always do from a higher agenda, more often than not, go unnoticed or turned down.
Perhaps an even more sobering idea is that the most scripturally literate among us, can miss the spirit while flailing about in the letter of some law or principle. Here’s a reality-based principle that might liberate us into our walk in the Spirit: there is always more going on in the kingdom than we typically perceive. Just understanding the motives of the One who has invited us to the banquet will help us keep our hearts running on the kingdom track and our clay feet out of the snares set to entangle them. Keeping in mind the Father’s comprehensive full-time salvation intentions (which include our bodies, souls, and spirits) will go far in giving us eyes to see and ears to hear.
Father, may our hearts receive and ponder the piercing questions that will expose our hearts so that they may be liberated and equipped to see just how intricately the banquet table has been laid out before us. Teach us to use the right questions when necessary to silence the religious spirits within and without. Amen.
Perhaps today’s post, in its consideration of “Invitation,” will be a key to better understand the balance of today’s passage which is The Parable of the Guests (Luke 14:7-15). From here, I will leave you to your own meditations.