The Parables Of Jesus - The Three Feasts: Part 5

The Parables Of Jesus - The Three Feasts: Part 5

The Parables of the Feasts do not occur in a vacuum. Before them, Jesus is at odds with the Pharisees and Herod is out to kill Him. Immediately following them, Jesus declares that being His disciple will cost you everything you have, possibly even your life.

In that context, Jesus relates these three parables to make clear that no one can serve God while living out their own agenda. Pursuing wealth and power, choosing who is worthy by our standard and making excuses for why we can’t do what He wants are all evil things to God.

The disciple of Jesus must be all-in. His followers can never put their own agendas ahead of God’s. The cost is simply too high. The needy of this world are rescued by those who care enough to sacrifice their own good for them. The world has seen enough self-serving elitists who avoid the poor and the needy and who are in it for themselves.

In the very last part of this chapter, Jesus tells us that we are His salt. That means two important things. First of all, salt is worthless if it never comes into contact with something else. Salt can’t season a meal, preserve food or melt snow unless it actually touches those things.

Now, has it escaped your notice that all of these parables are about meals? What is it about the table and Jesus? He is always dining with sinners, picking grain, eating with His disciples, catching and preparing fish, breaking bread, multiplying fishes and loaves, talking about grain, wine, olive trees, fruit trees wheat, barley. He is the Spring of Water that gives life, the Bread of Life, the True Vine.

Jesus loves using the dinner table to be a difference maker because that’s where the people are. The number one place where a disciple can come into contact with the world is someplace around food. Thats where salt does it’s best work.

That is no accident. There is a message for the church there: go where the people are and be the face of Jesus to them. Don’t worry about yourself. Don’t have an agenda. Don’t think more of yourself than you should. Just love, serve and let them see the love of God.