Tuesday Devo
Scripture:
Luke 14:15-20
15 Hearing this, a man sitting at the table with Jesus exclaimed, “What a blessing it will be to attend a banquet in the Kingdom of God!”
16 Jesus replied with this story: “A man prepared a great feast and sent out many invitations. 17 When the banquet was ready, he sent his servant to tell the guests, ‘Come, the banquet is ready.’ 18 But they all began making excuses. One said, ‘I have just bought a field and must inspect it. Please excuse me.’ 19 Another said, ‘I have just bought five pairs of oxen, and I want to try them out. Please excuse me.’ 20 Another said, ‘I just got married, so I can’t come.’
15 Hearing this, a man sitting at the table with Jesus exclaimed, “What a blessing it will be to attend a banquet in the Kingdom of God!”
16 Jesus replied with this story: “A man prepared a great feast and sent out many invitations. 17 When the banquet was ready, he sent his servant to tell the guests, ‘Come, the banquet is ready.’ 18 But they all began making excuses. One said, ‘I have just bought a field and must inspect it. Please excuse me.’ 19 Another said, ‘I have just bought five pairs of oxen, and I want to try them out. Please excuse me.’ 20 Another said, ‘I just got married, so I can’t come.’
Commentary:
14:15 Blessed is everyone who will eat seems to be a common saying, possibly intended here to change the uncomfortable subject—i.e., to shift the focus away from the need to care for the poor and the infirm. In the kingdom of God points to the future messianic banquet, to which the people of Jesus’ day would have understood only godly Jews would be invited. Jesus, however, uses the parable to teach his listeners, contrary to their expectations, that the guests invited originally will miss the banquet (v. 24) and will be replaced instead by “the poor and crippled and blind and lame” and the outsiders (the Gentiles) found in the “highways and hedges” (vv. 21, 23).
14:16–20 A great banquet refers to the arrival of the kingdom in the ministry of Jesus, with its initial present taste of the joyful fellowship with God that will be fully realized in the coming age. invited many. Two invitations would have been involved. The first would have concerned reservations for the banquet and would have been given well in advance. The second invitation would have been given on the day of the banquet, announcing that the time for the banquet had come and everything was ready. Although the guests had been invited well in advance, they began to make excuses—failing to see that the kingdom is now here, and that God is inviting people to participate in its great blessings. Bought a field … bought five yoke of oxen … have married a wife shows that these people have put the business of everyday life ahead of the claims of God and his kingdom, and they are therefore not worthy to enter it (Jesus taught on similar themes in 8:19–21; 9:23–24, 59–62; 10:41–42; 12:31; cf. 14:26–27).
14:16–20 A great banquet refers to the arrival of the kingdom in the ministry of Jesus, with its initial present taste of the joyful fellowship with God that will be fully realized in the coming age. invited many. Two invitations would have been involved. The first would have concerned reservations for the banquet and would have been given well in advance. The second invitation would have been given on the day of the banquet, announcing that the time for the banquet had come and everything was ready. Although the guests had been invited well in advance, they began to make excuses—failing to see that the kingdom is now here, and that God is inviting people to participate in its great blessings. Bought a field … bought five yoke of oxen … have married a wife shows that these people have put the business of everyday life ahead of the claims of God and his kingdom, and they are therefore not worthy to enter it (Jesus taught on similar themes in 8:19–21; 9:23–24, 59–62; 10:41–42; 12:31; cf. 14:26–27).
Study Questions:
- In Jesus' parable, he described people making excuses and rejecting the invitation of the master. These excuses were especially flimsy and weak. An excuse is nothing more than the skin of a reason stuffed with a lie. This brought great dishonor to the master. The picture here is of people that make silly excuses in order to reject the Gospel. But we, even as believers, often do the same thing. Maybe not in the rejection of our Savior, but in the mishandling of our priorities. How many things in our lives take precedence over Jesus and his Word? How many events are we less likely to miss than church? How easy is it to talk yourself out of things that you know are good for building your faith?
- The first takeaway from Sunday was that humility is INEVITABLE. You WILL be humbled. It's not a matter of IF, but WHEN. Pride is at the root of almost any sin you commit. It's basically idolatry, putting YOU on the throne of God in your life. He is committed to humbling the proud and exalting the humble. It's a major Kingdom principle. Can you think of a time in your own life when God allowed you to fall or disciplined you resulting in a lesson in humility?
Pray:
- That you would never make excuses when it comes to your faith.
- That you would strive to stay humble.
This Week's City 7:
Try to commit to memory!
7. How can I trust that the Bible is still God’s Word today? I trust the Bible is still God’s Word today because Jesus rose from the dead proving He was God and said His words would never pass away. Through the Holy Spirit, God inspired the writing of the Scripture, determined the canon of Scripture and protected the copying of Scripture so that we might know Him and worship Him to this day.
(Matthew 24:35; 2 Timothy 3:16; 2 Peter 1:16-21; Revelation 22:18-19)
(Matthew 24:35; 2 Timothy 3:16; 2 Peter 1:16-21; Revelation 22:18-19)
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