Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.1
One Sabbath, Jesus was invited to the house of a prominent Pharisee, Jesus was being carefully watched by them. As they walked to the house, in front of Him a man was suffering from abnormal swelling of the body. Jesus asked the Pharisees, is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath or not? But they remained silent. Jesus reached down, healed the man and sent him on his way. He then says, Which of you, having a donkey or an ox that has fallen into a pit, will not immediately pull him out on the Sabbath day? And they could not answer Him regarding these things.
Is it unlawful to make a man whole on the Sabbath? As they arrive at the house, Jesus sits in the lowliest place at the table, he then notes how they chose the best places at the table and how they left out others, especially the unclean, the sinners. Here is Jesus sitting with them, he had just healed a man in their sight, he said he was from the Father, but they continued to promote themselves over God. Jesus had said to the Pharisees, if they had known His Father they would have known him, they would have seen the Father in him and the authority the Father had given Him. But they did not. They were more concerned with promoting themselves than promoting God and letting God promote others. We are to sit at the lowly places, with lowly people, to please our meek and lowly God. God will lay low pompous pride.3
Jesus then says to them if you are invited to a wedding feast, would you sit yourself in the most honorable seat? what if someone more honorable than you shows up? you in shame will move to another seat, and the more honorable will be invited to take your seat. For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted. If you are the most honorable and sit in the lowlier seat, you will be exalted to the correct seat. If you give a dinner party and you only invite your friends and important people, what is your reward? Your reward is you will be invited yourself, you will receive an earthly reward. If you want a heavenly reward, invite the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind, And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you; for you shall be repaid at the resurrection of the just.6 Let us be just, not like these Pharisees.
A man gave a great supper and invited many. At the time of the supper he sent his servant to receive the guests but all made excuses in one accord not to come. They were too busy to sit at the table of the master of this house, they were consumed with self. Cultural Christianity spends much money on inviting people to the dinner party who are too busy to come. But they all with one accord began to make excuses. We usually only invite those like us; excluding the least from eating at the table of our master. Oh we say they are not like us, they are unclean and can give us diseases, they might get violent, they might harm our people and our leaders, take our young girls, steal our possessions, and eat our food. Their uncleanness might rub off on us, pollute us, and they have nothing to return to us.
Like the Pharisees, we are too busy arranging the table by importance, by how we will be seen and rewarded from earthly standards. We in turn forget about the master of the house, we forget how we were once poor and lowly and how he chose and loved us, how he exalted us at His table so that we could invite others to come. We become so consumed by earthly rewards, how important we are at the table, so much so that we demote God himself sitting him at the lowly place, if we even set a place for him at all. As James writes, favoritism is a sin at His house, when we invite the rich and leave out the poor, we disgrace God and violate his principles. These Pharisees and lawyers, shepherds of the flock, were so caught up in themselves, their position and authority, they forgot about God and were no longer inviting the sinners to His table.
God demotes the proud and exalts the humble. The feast with the master is open to all peoples and He invites all to sit at the supper table. It is by His invite, not earthly standards of righteousness nor by traditions and religious measures, not by how they do not sin, but how God has measured the heart, as belief is the work of God. The religious leaders of Jesus' day excluded sinners, the unclean, the poor, lame, maimed, and the blind from eating at the supper table. At the root of this exclusion was pride and teachings of men, traditions that promoted legalism and self. These teachings excluded the least of these, under the name of God. The master tells his servants, go into the highways and the byways, That My House May Be Filled.
Does Anybody Hear Her
One Sabbath, Jesus was invited to the house of a prominent Pharisee, Jesus was being carefully watched by them. As they walked to the house, in front of Him a man was suffering from abnormal swelling of the body. Jesus asked the Pharisees, is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath or not? But they remained silent. Jesus reached down, healed the man and sent him on his way. He then says, Which of you, having a donkey or an ox that has fallen into a pit, will not immediately pull him out on the Sabbath day? And they could not answer Him regarding these things.Is it unlawful to make a man whole on the Sabbath? As they arrive at the house, Jesus sits in the lowliest place at the table, he then notes how they chose the best places at the table and how they left out others, especially the unclean, the sinners. Here is Jesus sitting with them, he had just healed a man in their sight, he said he was from the Father, but they continued to promote themselves over God. Jesus had said to the Pharisees, if they had known His Father they would have known him, they would have seen the Father in him and the authority the Father had given Him. But they did not. They were more concerned with promoting themselves than promoting God and letting God promote others. We are to sit at the lowly places, with lowly people, to please our meek and lowly God. God will lay low pompous pride.3
Jesus then says to them if you are invited to a wedding feast, would you sit yourself in the most honorable seat? what if someone more honorable than you shows up? you in shame will move to another seat, and the more honorable will be invited to take your seat. For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted. If you are the most honorable and sit in the lowlier seat, you will be exalted to the correct seat. If you give a dinner party and you only invite your friends and important people, what is your reward? Your reward is you will be invited yourself, you will receive an earthly reward. If you want a heavenly reward, invite the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind, And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you; for you shall be repaid at the resurrection of the just.6 Let us be just, not like these Pharisees.
A man gave a great supper and invited many. At the time of the supper he sent his servant to receive the guests but all made excuses in one accord not to come. They were too busy to sit at the table of the master of this house, they were consumed with self. Cultural Christianity spends much money on inviting people to the dinner party who are too busy to come. But they all with one accord began to make excuses. We usually only invite those like us; excluding the least from eating at the table of our master. Oh we say they are not like us, they are unclean and can give us diseases, they might get violent, they might harm our people and our leaders, take our young girls, steal our possessions, and eat our food. Their uncleanness might rub off on us, pollute us, and they have nothing to return to us.
The master of the house, being angry, said to his servant, ‘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.’ And the servant said, ‘Master, it is done as you commanded, and still there is room.’ Then the master said to the servant, ‘Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled. For I say to you that none of those men who were invited shall taste my supper.’8
Like the Pharisees, we are too busy arranging the table by importance, by how we will be seen and rewarded from earthly standards. We in turn forget about the master of the house, we forget how we were once poor and lowly and how he chose and loved us, how he exalted us at His table so that we could invite others to come. We become so consumed by earthly rewards, how important we are at the table, so much so that we demote God himself sitting him at the lowly place, if we even set a place for him at all. As James writes, favoritism is a sin at His house, when we invite the rich and leave out the poor, we disgrace God and violate his principles. These Pharisees and lawyers, shepherds of the flock, were so caught up in themselves, their position and authority, they forgot about God and were no longer inviting the sinners to His table.
God demotes the proud and exalts the humble. The feast with the master is open to all peoples and He invites all to sit at the supper table. It is by His invite, not earthly standards of righteousness nor by traditions and religious measures, not by how they do not sin, but how God has measured the heart, as belief is the work of God. The religious leaders of Jesus' day excluded sinners, the unclean, the poor, lame, maimed, and the blind from eating at the supper table. At the root of this exclusion was pride and teachings of men, traditions that promoted legalism and self. These teachings excluded the least of these, under the name of God. The master tells his servants, go into the highways and the byways, That My House May Be Filled.
Does Anybody Hear Her