The Parables Of Jesus - The Three Feasts: Part 2

The Parables Of Jesus - The Three Feasts: Part 2

In Luke 14:7-11, Jesus uses the story of a wedding feast to describe what was going on in the culture around Him. He had walked and taught among these people for quite some time and was appalled at the extraordinary display of arrogance and elitism among the religious leaders. In another place, He would call these same leaders “blind guides” who didn’t know how to find God and yet put themselves in the position of leading others to Him.

In the first parable, Jesus described pompous and intolerable elitists who arrived at a wedding and presumed to take the most desirable places of honor for themselves. He warned them to humble themselves. God loves humility as much as any other character trait.

In effect, the religious leaders were hoarding God. They were supposed to be leading people to Him but, in truth, they didn’t really want to share Him. They enjoyed the prestige, the power, the fringe benefits and the wealth.

Jesus was warning them that they were going to lose what they had. God’s love is for everyone and if the religious leaders weren’t going to reach out and love the neediest among them, then God would go get them Himself and the worthless leaders would be replaced.

Humility, Jesus warned, would be coming. There comes a day when each of us learns that lesson. It’s better to learn humility on our own, rather than having it forced upon us. I heard a great preacher put it this way: God’s plan for you is humility. Plan B is humiliation.

Tomorrow: the Parable of the Luncheon.