Sunday or the Sabbath

Luke ch 14:1-35

One day in the week was instituted as a day of worship (Sabbath) meaning to receive the greatest gift of eternal life from Christ, Word. It is for this reason the seventh day of the week was referred to as Sabbath – a reference to spiritual blessings for all men and women.

These blessings are as follows:

1. The Feast – the invitation
2. The light of the world
3. Discipleship

1. The Feast:

1) Jesus revealing himself as the Truth and the Life Eternal

The Jewish priests misread the law and would not accept Jesus as the giver of life – the true Sabbath, even as was standing in their midst. On this Sabbath – a sumptuous meal had been prepared and Jesus had been invited. At the feast he saw what was going on. Food instead of the Word of God for life and the invitees were more important than Christ, here represented as the Feast.

Jesus had asked them

“Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath day?” There was no answer – silence reigned. In reference to himself as the Giver of life, i.e. the Healer; he went ahead and healed the man with the withered arm.

The priests and their followers had been caught in a conundrum; the Sabbath Law of not doing any work; was the exact opposite of the Feast or the “the Giver of life”, Christ in their midst.

To make matters worse, the hypocrisy of the Pharisees was more concerned with saving the life of an animal, such as a donkey, etc., than to save a human soul from sin.

Here among these Pharisees, Lawyers and all who had gathered, Jesus presents himself as the Sabbath, the Giver of life; the Savior and thus the Feast for receiving life.

• To heal the broken hearted
• To recover the sight of the blind

This feast would have been the greatest day, the reception of spiritual life, thus becoming “One body”; the greatest wedding, people as brides with Christ as the groom. This would have been the greatest Feast.

This rejoicing, with one another would have been the true fellowship of the spiritual union.

On such a feast, there would have been no distinction between the educated Jew and uneducated, high and lowly. There would have been no preferential seats of honor because all are saved by grace alone. Sadly, all rejected the sumptuous feast of life from Christ.

There will be great shame among many people who though honorable and great, will not sit at the table of the Lord. Instead, there will be condemnation: “give your seat to another”, the Lord will say. To some of low estate, he will say unto thee, “Friend, go up higher”

The whole context of Jesus’ speech fits himself as the Feast; referred to as “Meat” in John 4: 8. “My meat is to do the will of him that sent me”: to save the lost. For whosoever exalts himself shall be abased – meaning shall be condemned to eternal death.

The workings of the world in dealing with one another is nothing but exaltation and sin; in short, lies and deceit because all our works and walks of life on earth are for death.

But Jesus says, “when thou makest a dinner or supper, call not thy friends, nor thy brethren, neither thy kinsmen, nor thy rich neighbors, if you do so, they will do the same to you in return” – no gain. These are the feasts in our world, the lies we embrace everyday of our lives.

Instead, “call the poor, the lame, and the blind” – that is, those who have come to accept their sinfulness and weaknesses and have turned to Christ, the one who has life eternal.

“And thou shall be blessed”.

2. Blessedness is the light of the world

The blessedness of a new life when freed from all lies and blindness.

The body which supports and houses our life is fed and nourished (made to grow) by the food we eat; yet the food or any sumptuous meal cannot give life (life eternal).

A Pharisee who knew Christ’s blessedness as the bread of life shouted out: “Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the Kingdom of God”.

He may have been taught or heard Christ’s own words such as found in John 6:35 “I am bread of life; he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst”

The Word as light and bread is the eternal life as when a man is freed from lies by the person of Christ who at this moment was standing among the Pharisees, his disciples and the crowd.

He stood among them as the bread of life meaning to free them from lies; but these Jews were lost in their blindness. They would not accept the gift of new life from Christ through faith.

“Come for supper for all things are now ready” – Verse 17 – but all with one consent rejected the Lord’s invitation. Jesus used a parable to make this call. They each had an excuse; this is the blindness – no light in the soul of man. This blindness was in their excuses; the deep involvement in our earthly activities which draw us away from the Word.

• I have bought a piece of property – a farmland with animals to be taken care of,
• I am married, etc.

We too have many excuses, many other duties; I go to another church or synagogue and so on. The table is set, and invitations have been sent. The Word itself as we have it in written form is the source of the gift of righteousness. Christ himself dispels all our deceit and lies.

All our excuses are empty; no reason exists for us not to be rid of the lies and accept the Gospel call (knowledge of God through the Word). These lies prevent us from seeing Christ and embracing Him. Here Jesus exposes the blindness of this world which prevents us from seeing and hearing the Gospel call; and so remain in our blindness because of the things we think of as important.

Property, land (wealth), marrying (weddings) are the topmost important things to us; yet these blind every living soul, hence the Word is crowded out. Unfortunately, these things make us blind, and we fail to see the source of life and choosing the right direction. Yet the reception of the Feast (Christ) leads to the new life of discipleship.

3. The character of a disciple (Discipleship)

The truth is spelt out in precise terms. Jesus states: ‘’I am the bread of life and he that cometh shall never hunger or thirst’’. Blindness and lies; from within the heart and from the outside of the heart, are removed when we come to Jesus. Coming to Jesus is acceptance of the wedding supper; that is, the removal of blindness through faith in Christ.

Jesus now reveals the new spiritual life, and this is the real character of a disciple, the true test or measure of a disciple’s saltiness. Discipleship is the salt which involves abandoning altogether, the lies of this world.

Things we regard as most important are not that important in the light of true discipleship. “If any man cometh to me and hate not his father, mother, wife, children, brother, sister and his own life – he cannot be my disciple”.

This is not to be embraced superficially. Spiritual life strikes and hates all these, yet embraces each one in a spiritual bond, in discipleship, all having received the gift of the spirit of God through faith in Christ.

The family relationships are replaced by the spiritual bond. Then the worries to obtain property, land, business, insurance, etc., are replaced by dependance, faith in Christ. These things are not bad in themselves; but have the effect of making our trust in them blinds us and replace our love for God. For these things which appear so important in life here on earth are nothing in regard to life eternal.

The gift of life is from God to all who have become his disciples. To have the gift of the spirit of God’s love is the discipleship. To be rid of sin and the lies of the world is the most important gain in life here below.

 Discipleship is well explained in the previous Chapters and here it is summarized as bearing or carrying the cross in order to follow Jesus, who alone gives the spiritual gift of life eternal. Discipleship builds and strikes at hostility. This is the faith and the new life, the gracious power that builds and hates.

Grace does all the work. Building and hating go together, we cannot have one without the other. The objects of hate, even the hating of our own lives; is what animates the body and inclines it not to become carnal. This is exactly the same as what is explained in Chapter 12.

The fire that came upon the earth as a baptism etc. “I have not come to give peace but division, father against son, etc.” Despite all the hate, God’s love remains. So, love and hate are very much compatible etc., see Jesus’ example of love to his mother, not the biological mother – Luke 18²⁹

To follow Jesus demands “spiritual life”; and many people are bound to shrink from these demands if they think it can be done without the new spiritual life. Discipleship is a big thing; it is much like building a tower or embarking on a grand campaign against a king with a much bigger army; it is a dangerous undertaking. Yet, discipleship overcomes the devil and his assaults.

The new spiritual life abandons all that is ours, Law, wealth, natural abilities, and earthly relations as well; and puts forth only our spiritual trust in God.

The hatred of these things represents the actual taste and strength of our saltiness (the spiritual life). Discipleship is the salt of the world.