The Parable of Feast Invitations Made Simple - Luke 14:12-14
In Luke 14:12-14 Jesus shares about what sort of people you should invite to your feast.
He shares that we should not invite the rich or relatives or friends but the poor maimed and crippled.
In this touching teaching we see what Jesus means.
Luke 14:12-14.
"Then Jesus said to him who invited Him, "When you have a dinner or supper, do not ask your friends, or your brothers, or relatives, nor rich neighbors, lest they also invite you back, and you are repaid.
But when you give a feast, 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.
" In this discourse Jesus had just shared a parable saying when you go to a feast, don't go and sit at the most important place but sit at the least important place and then when the head of the supper comes in if you're someone important, someone that he likes, he'll invite you to the higher place.
Then Jesus went on with this parable and said when you have a feast, don't invite your brothers, your relatives, your rich neighbors, lest they also invite you and you'd be repaid.
But when you have a feast, the poor, the maimed, and the blind.
Now, is Jesus just playing semantics? Is Jesus making up things here? Is He saying things that are just too hard for us? There's one school of thought that says until Jesus had been resurrected on the cross, Jesus was still teaching both grace and the law.
And this parable just seems just too hard to obey.
Imagine having a feast, imagine having a party, not inviting any your relatives, your brothers or sisters, your friends, the rich, the people that you know but instead going out into the streets inviting the poor, the sick, the maimed, the homeless and all those sorts of people that you don't know and cannot repay you.
Jesus is very big on mercy and compassion.
If we were to see this parable in its true light, this is almost a parable reflecting what Jesus Christ did for us.
We were poor, we were blind, we were lost in sin when Jesus came and died for us.
We've been invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb.
We've been invited into relationship with the King of Kings.
And truly there's nothing we can do in return.
We've been invited into relationship, a lovely relationship with the Creator of the universe.
Sometimes, we look at a parable like this and we say that this is all too hard.
We can't have a party and invite people that we don't know.
How would my life look we ask ourselves if all I did was give party to strangers? How would I climb the social networks? How would I climb the social ladders in our society? How would I grow in influence? How would I be looked upon by my friends and my relatives if all I did was mix with the poor, the maimed, the homeless and the broken hearted? What would become of me? Can I tell you it's three to four times I've been sitting with a homeless person and the Spirit of Jesus has entered the homeless person.
And three or four times they've gone into a trance and Jesus has spoken direct to me face to face.
I've only had Jesus speak to me four times face to face and each time, it's been a homeless person that I've been sharing dinner with.
Each time they have gone into this trance and I've had a conversation with Jesus.
I'd say something the homeless person with Jesus voice would say something.
I'd comment, he'd comment.
One conversation went for about half an hour.
They were memorable moments.
People say all the time, "Would you like to meet Jesus on earth? I'd love to meet Jesus on earth.
" And every time I've met Jesus on earth, it's been through a homeless person and each time it's been through a homeless person I've been feeding.
A person I've been sitting down with.
For many who are reading this I might give you some added information.
These four times Jesus spoke through a homeless person were not the only four times I have been sharing a meal with homeless people.
I have done that hundreds of times.
I merely share this as an example of how blessed you can be if you mix with the homeless.
I've mixed in churches.
I've been in churches for many years.
I've never had anyone speak for 10 minutes and it be Jesus speaking through them.
I've never had a Christian speak to me for 10 minutes and it's been Jesus speaking.
But each time I've had Jesus speak face to face with me it is through homeless people.
On many occasions, I've spoken to people for 10 or 20 minutes and it's been Jesus speaking through me to them and that is through the gift of prophecy.
Sometimes in these occasions, I just let Jesus come right in to me and it's like he fully possesses my body and I just talk and I just hear the words coming out of my mouth but I don't form the words in my mind.
My experience with homeless people has been tremendous when it comes to fellowshipping with Jesus.
Why is it so hard for us to look at this? Imagine having a party.
Imagine having a 21st birthday party and going down to a homeless shelter and inviting 5 homeless people to your party and giving them a good table and showing them a good time.
If you had alcohol flowing and you had nice food and you could take them to the shops and buy them some clothes and bring them to the party.
You know, it'd be pretty hard just to pick up some homeless people and get them all prepared to go to a party.
You'd have to put some thought into it.
The homeless people would probably have to know you.
Do you know any homeless people personally? Do you personally know anyone that's homeless? Do you know any sick people, people who are maimed? Do you know anyone in a wheel chair? Do you know any poor people, people that couldn't afford to give you $20 or $10 back for inviting you to the party? Jesus is saying, show compassion and mercy in this life.
Give to people who can't afford to give back to you.
Give to one freely.
Freely give to people who can't afford to repay you back in any way in this lifetime and you'll be blessed.
You'll be blessed by God.
Do you want to be blessed by God? It's amazing to find how much some homeless people know about Jesus Christ.
It's amazing to find sometimes how passionate some of these people that are hard up are about Jesus Christ and the Jesus I love.
It's amazing.
Few times in my life has someone come up and given me money that I didn't know.
One of the only times I've been given money by someone I didn't know too well was by a homeless person when he gave me $50.
The homeless people can hear God.
The poor can hear God.
The more desperate you are in this life, the more you depend in our God.
The more you suffer in this world the deeper your relationship can be with God.
When you've got a house and nice clothes and nice friends, nice relatives and you've got money, you haven't got much of a need for a deep and abiding relationship with Jesus Christ.
When Jesus isn't needed for you to get through a week often Jesus isn't the central focus of your life.
But hang around the poor, the maimed, the homeless and the desperate, they've got more of a life that is needful of someone like Jesus.
I encourage you.
This isn't just a parable just to listen to and then say that was a nice parable.
You can find homeless people at a soup kitchen.
You can find a homeless people through the Salvation Army.
You can find poor people through the Salvation Army.
There are poor people in your church.
There's a single mother in your church that does it tough.
There's people in your church who have too much of the week left, too much of a fortnight left, too much time between pay checks to the next pay check.
They have too many days left without money.
There are people in your church that are poor.
Invite them around for dinner.
Next time you going have a dinner party, invite some poor people.
You don't have to go and have a big party and invite a whole lot of strange poor and sick people.
Just invite one.
Like no one jumps into the deep end of the pool and starts to swim straight away.
People gradually get into a stream and gradually go out into the deep end until they feel safe, until they can swim.
Just start to invite one or two to your parties.
You might find it very interesting.
I've spent time on the streets.
I spent 6 months in a homeless hostel, officially homeless.
You'd be surprised how beautiful some homeless people are.
Don't be scared of inviting them into your house.
Don't be scared of loving the poor.
You can't be infected by a homeless person.
A homeless person isn't going to infect you with the spirit of homelessness.
A poor person isn't gonna rub off on you.
You're not gonna lose your prosperity by having a poor person in your house.
Go on.
I encourage you.
Take Jesus and his word.
Have a challenge.
Bring some challenge into your life.
Reach out with mercy and compassion and touch the broken hearted today.
He shares that we should not invite the rich or relatives or friends but the poor maimed and crippled.
In this touching teaching we see what Jesus means.
Luke 14:12-14.
"Then Jesus said to him who invited Him, "When you have a dinner or supper, do not ask your friends, or your brothers, or relatives, nor rich neighbors, lest they also invite you back, and you are repaid.
But when you give a feast, 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.
" In this discourse Jesus had just shared a parable saying when you go to a feast, don't go and sit at the most important place but sit at the least important place and then when the head of the supper comes in if you're someone important, someone that he likes, he'll invite you to the higher place.
Then Jesus went on with this parable and said when you have a feast, don't invite your brothers, your relatives, your rich neighbors, lest they also invite you and you'd be repaid.
But when you have a feast, the poor, the maimed, and the blind.
Now, is Jesus just playing semantics? Is Jesus making up things here? Is He saying things that are just too hard for us? There's one school of thought that says until Jesus had been resurrected on the cross, Jesus was still teaching both grace and the law.
And this parable just seems just too hard to obey.
Imagine having a feast, imagine having a party, not inviting any your relatives, your brothers or sisters, your friends, the rich, the people that you know but instead going out into the streets inviting the poor, the sick, the maimed, the homeless and all those sorts of people that you don't know and cannot repay you.
Jesus is very big on mercy and compassion.
If we were to see this parable in its true light, this is almost a parable reflecting what Jesus Christ did for us.
We were poor, we were blind, we were lost in sin when Jesus came and died for us.
We've been invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb.
We've been invited into relationship with the King of Kings.
And truly there's nothing we can do in return.
We've been invited into relationship, a lovely relationship with the Creator of the universe.
Sometimes, we look at a parable like this and we say that this is all too hard.
We can't have a party and invite people that we don't know.
How would my life look we ask ourselves if all I did was give party to strangers? How would I climb the social networks? How would I climb the social ladders in our society? How would I grow in influence? How would I be looked upon by my friends and my relatives if all I did was mix with the poor, the maimed, the homeless and the broken hearted? What would become of me? Can I tell you it's three to four times I've been sitting with a homeless person and the Spirit of Jesus has entered the homeless person.
And three or four times they've gone into a trance and Jesus has spoken direct to me face to face.
I've only had Jesus speak to me four times face to face and each time, it's been a homeless person that I've been sharing dinner with.
Each time they have gone into this trance and I've had a conversation with Jesus.
I'd say something the homeless person with Jesus voice would say something.
I'd comment, he'd comment.
One conversation went for about half an hour.
They were memorable moments.
People say all the time, "Would you like to meet Jesus on earth? I'd love to meet Jesus on earth.
" And every time I've met Jesus on earth, it's been through a homeless person and each time it's been through a homeless person I've been feeding.
A person I've been sitting down with.
For many who are reading this I might give you some added information.
These four times Jesus spoke through a homeless person were not the only four times I have been sharing a meal with homeless people.
I have done that hundreds of times.
I merely share this as an example of how blessed you can be if you mix with the homeless.
I've mixed in churches.
I've been in churches for many years.
I've never had anyone speak for 10 minutes and it be Jesus speaking through them.
I've never had a Christian speak to me for 10 minutes and it's been Jesus speaking.
But each time I've had Jesus speak face to face with me it is through homeless people.
On many occasions, I've spoken to people for 10 or 20 minutes and it's been Jesus speaking through me to them and that is through the gift of prophecy.
Sometimes in these occasions, I just let Jesus come right in to me and it's like he fully possesses my body and I just talk and I just hear the words coming out of my mouth but I don't form the words in my mind.
My experience with homeless people has been tremendous when it comes to fellowshipping with Jesus.
Why is it so hard for us to look at this? Imagine having a party.
Imagine having a 21st birthday party and going down to a homeless shelter and inviting 5 homeless people to your party and giving them a good table and showing them a good time.
If you had alcohol flowing and you had nice food and you could take them to the shops and buy them some clothes and bring them to the party.
You know, it'd be pretty hard just to pick up some homeless people and get them all prepared to go to a party.
You'd have to put some thought into it.
The homeless people would probably have to know you.
Do you know any homeless people personally? Do you personally know anyone that's homeless? Do you know any sick people, people who are maimed? Do you know anyone in a wheel chair? Do you know any poor people, people that couldn't afford to give you $20 or $10 back for inviting you to the party? Jesus is saying, show compassion and mercy in this life.
Give to people who can't afford to give back to you.
Give to one freely.
Freely give to people who can't afford to repay you back in any way in this lifetime and you'll be blessed.
You'll be blessed by God.
Do you want to be blessed by God? It's amazing to find how much some homeless people know about Jesus Christ.
It's amazing to find sometimes how passionate some of these people that are hard up are about Jesus Christ and the Jesus I love.
It's amazing.
Few times in my life has someone come up and given me money that I didn't know.
One of the only times I've been given money by someone I didn't know too well was by a homeless person when he gave me $50.
The homeless people can hear God.
The poor can hear God.
The more desperate you are in this life, the more you depend in our God.
The more you suffer in this world the deeper your relationship can be with God.
When you've got a house and nice clothes and nice friends, nice relatives and you've got money, you haven't got much of a need for a deep and abiding relationship with Jesus Christ.
When Jesus isn't needed for you to get through a week often Jesus isn't the central focus of your life.
But hang around the poor, the maimed, the homeless and the desperate, they've got more of a life that is needful of someone like Jesus.
I encourage you.
This isn't just a parable just to listen to and then say that was a nice parable.
You can find homeless people at a soup kitchen.
You can find a homeless people through the Salvation Army.
You can find poor people through the Salvation Army.
There are poor people in your church.
There's a single mother in your church that does it tough.
There's people in your church who have too much of the week left, too much of a fortnight left, too much time between pay checks to the next pay check.
They have too many days left without money.
There are people in your church that are poor.
Invite them around for dinner.
Next time you going have a dinner party, invite some poor people.
You don't have to go and have a big party and invite a whole lot of strange poor and sick people.
Just invite one.
Like no one jumps into the deep end of the pool and starts to swim straight away.
People gradually get into a stream and gradually go out into the deep end until they feel safe, until they can swim.
Just start to invite one or two to your parties.
You might find it very interesting.
I've spent time on the streets.
I spent 6 months in a homeless hostel, officially homeless.
You'd be surprised how beautiful some homeless people are.
Don't be scared of inviting them into your house.
Don't be scared of loving the poor.
You can't be infected by a homeless person.
A homeless person isn't going to infect you with the spirit of homelessness.
A poor person isn't gonna rub off on you.
You're not gonna lose your prosperity by having a poor person in your house.
Go on.
I encourage you.
Take Jesus and his word.
Have a challenge.
Bring some challenge into your life.
Reach out with mercy and compassion and touch the broken hearted today.
