YES, HE is Talking to YOU! (continued)
Love is the Fulfilling of the Law
“And he put forth a parable to those which were bidden , when he marked how they chose out the chief rooms; saying unto them, When thou art bidden of any man to a wedding, sit not down in the highest room; lest a more honourable man than thou be bidden of him; And he that bade thee and him come and say to thee, Give this man place; and thou begin with shame to take the lowest room. But when thou art bidden, go and sit down in the lowest room; that when he that bade thee cometh, he may say unto thee, Friend, go up higher: then shalt thou have worship in the presence of them that sit at meat with thee. For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted. Then said he also to him that bade him, When thou makest a dinner or a supper, call not thy friends, nor thy brethren, neither thy kinsmen, nor thy rich neighbours; lest they also bid thee again, and a recompence be made thee. But when thou makest a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind: And thou shalt be blessed; for they cannot recompense thee: for thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just” (Luke 14:7-14).
The Parable of the Wedding Feast II as we discussed it yesterday contains the heart of the Master’s teaching on being humble and being self-forgetful and selfless especially as it works out in our dealings with others. The more importance one places on his status in Life the more difficult it is to follow in Jesus words on these virtues and these ideas are the crux of this pair of parables that are told as one. Since the Master’s words give us this message hidden withing the parable, bringing back the saying of the Apostle Paul can help to make this clearer for us: “For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly” (Romans 12:3). Now we should not think that Paul is talking of being free from intoxicants but as in a sober manner; temperately; cooly; calmly; gravely; seriously1 which paints the picture of how we should view ourselves; humbly and without pride. While these ideas are not specifically hidden in this parable, they are not altogether evident either. Jesus stated reason for one to not choose “out the chief rooms” is that he would thereby avoid the embarrassment found when being asked to move lower. Conversely, the Master advised them to “go and sit down in the lowest room” so that, when asked saying “Friend, go up higher” he could take pride in having “worship in the presence of them that sit at meat with thee“.
Many may think that this parable is just this simple; a lesson on social rightness and on how get praise and avoid embarrassment. Jesus closing statement “For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted” however is a confirmation of our thoughts above and are the direct actionable words to all who have ears to hear. Be humble in all things; take not pride in your position or your stature and much like our Quote of the Day from yesterday be as Jesus is: “Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross” (Philippians 2:6-8). Our thoughts here should center on no reputation, form of a servant, humbled himself and obedient unto death as these ideals lend themselves to our theme. We ill discuss the other points at some later time. Let us look at Paul’s words:
- no reputation: No pride on one’s position or stature especially to use it to one’s advantage and to claim benefit from it before other men. This could mean anything from taking the front row seats at chruch because of being a great tither or taking opportunity to skirt the traffic laws because one is a policeman or perhaps related to one.
- form of a servant: This is a hard saying in all its respects but is one that the Master tells us frequently as His disciples. From His many words regarding this we know that it is not possible to be a disciple without being in the form of a servant. “If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will my Father honour” (John 12:26). Tying both these two thoughts together, servant and reputation, Jesus tells us “and whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant” (Matthew 20:27) and again “...he that is greatest among you shall be your servant” (Matthew 23:11).
- humbled himself: For this point the thoughts propounded in all the above also pertain; all this is interrelated as we see from this saying on the need to be humble and of no reputation and to serve “But ye shall not be so: but he that is greatest among you, let him be as the younger; and he that is chief , as he that doth serve” (Luke 22:26). We cannot forget that He also tells us this in regard to the Kingdom: “Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18:4). Also let us not forget the words of the Master when He washed the disciples feet: “For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you. Verily, verily, I say unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord; neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him. If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them” (John 13:15-17).
- obedient unto death: The actual wording for this as above includes reference to “the death of the cross” as if an addition to the first idea of “obedient unto death” and for our current purposes, this is the way we will take it. We should see this as the death of the carnal self, the death of the flesh. Now this may not be, at least according to the commentators, the intent of this text but we do know that Jesus did overcome the flesh and paid no heed to the carnal self; we also know that this is the great mission before each and every one of us. The writer of Hebrews puts Jesus life this way: “For as much then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. For verily he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham. Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted , he is able to succour them that are tempted” (Hebrews 2:14-18). Again, for our purpose today we should see in this the ideas that He came to Earth as a man,”like unto his brethren” who “suffered being tempted ” in order that he is able to “succour them that are tempted” and this of course is us. So we should see that in what the Master did, in His teachings and in His Life, that we have His aid and His assistance and most of all we have His example.
The second part of this entwined pair of parables (underlined part above) leaves off of speaking about being humble and, as we said yesterday, lacking pride and takes up the thought of why one may do a good work. Now the ideas of humble and pride are present in this saying and in our interpretation but these are not the overriding factors. The idea that we should see here is motive and those virtues in man that can purify his motives. In the former part of this parable we can see this idea of motive coming through in the Master’s comments; He is essentially giving instruction on how to best use one’s motivation while still avoiding having to “begin with shame to take the lowest room” or the opposite of having “worship in the presence of them that sit at meat with thee“. Either way the Master is playing on their motives and giving instructions on how to best use them. These men are told that if they do not want embarrassment and that if they do want the praise, this is how to best to accomplish these ends. Behind this all He is telling them, as we have discovered yesterday and above, that to be humble avoids this all and Jesus continues here giving some practical instruction regarding what our motivation should be albeit in parable form.
The points that we made about pride in the last post, though they did apply to a different parable, work as well here in this lesson from the Master but the greater part is in the attitude of ‘what’s in it for me’ which is so prevalent today and likely always has been. This is the greater notion of motive. If we, as the parable goes, invite those who invite us and who we believe may invite us again, then it can be seen that this is a motivating factor in who we invite and also in the why. This idea goes well with the other teachings from Jesus that we outlined yesterday and which we will repeat by name only today. In these sayings the motives may be a bit different, being wound up in pride for the most part, but in essence they are the same; in this is the Master’s point: that we do not do a thing for the reasons of what that thing will return to us. Jesus speaks of giving alms to be seen as a giver saying “do not your alms before men, to be seen of them“; He speaks of praying so that others know that this is what we are doing saying: “they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men“. Jesus also speaks of fasting in ways that show that off saying: “be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast” and He continues in telling the of the scribes and Pharisees how they do things to be noticed for doing them saying: “But all their works they do for to be seen of men“. As we noted, these are all things that are of a religious nature and we could say that this is where this all pertains but we would not be keeping with the general tenor of the Master’s teachings in saying so. The same theme is repeated above in our parable but without religious attachment. His sayings tell us that we should not do a thing for ‘what is in it for us’; whether it be a prideful reaction that we seek or to be recompensed for what we do.
The Master brings this point out in other ways as well regarding Love, lending and even saluting: “For if ye love them which love you, what thank have ye? for sinners also love those that love them. And if ye do good to them which do good to you, what thank have ye? for sinners also do even the same. And if ye lend to them of whom ye hope to receive, what thank have ye? for sinners also lend to sinners, to receive as much again” (Luke 6:36-40). Similar verses are in the Gospel of Matthew but with the idea of reward and the actual question posed of “what do ye more than others”. These say that: “For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same? And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so?” (Matthew 5:46-46). The message is not that there is no reward from men; just the opposite, that there is a reward but that this reward is not worth having in place of the ‘heavenly’ rewards gotten by having the right motive and selflessness and self-forgetfulness and for humility and lack of pride
In our parable above Jesus is tells us that it is from above and from within we will find the reward of doing for those who do not or can not do in return for us; the underlying principal in these other sayings is much the same as above in that the poor and the lame and the blind who can not recompense us are the more thankful than those who can. And this is the end result: “And thou shalt be blessed…….for thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just“.
The ending part of the verses from Matthew should be our guide to all things and should be our only motivation if our goal is to be in His Presence. Jesus gives us these words in the same ‘breath’ that He tells us about our motives for doing that we in the Gospel of Matthew above saying: “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect” (Matthew 5:48).
Note on the Quote of the Day
This daily blog also has a Quote of the Day which may not be in any way related to the essay. Many of these will be from the Bible and some just prayers or meditations that may have an influence on you and are in line with the subject matter of this blog. As the quote will change daily and will not store with the post, it is repeated in this section with the book reference and comment.
Leaving our Quote of the Day from yesterday as it is an important point to understand.
Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name (Philippians 2:5-9).
In our spiritual walk this must ever be our attitude as well. Obedience to God and to the God Within, taking no claim for the deeds of the lower self but attributing all to the Power of God.
- 1 Websters Revised Unabridged Dictionary, 1828 and 1913
