Reflective Bible Study

When reading this entry’s passage, I often wonder about the people who were originally invited. In each case, those who received an original invitation – which almost sound like an exclusive invitation, give an excuse and ask to be excused from attending the celebration. These original invitees were offered everything almost exclusively, but chose to reject the invitation, which was really also rejecting the king, in favor of doing their own thing.

Verses 5 and 6 tell us their response when receiving the king’s invitation: “But they paid no attention and went off—one to his field, another to his business. The rest seized his servants, mistreated them and killed them.”

The two possible responses from the king’s invitation are indifference and hostility.

Many of the original invitees were too interested in what they were currently doing to pay attention when the king called. When the call came in, they were not finished building their business, taking care of a client, saving enough to weather retirement, or with their goals-checklist – and they placed these things as more important than the king’s wedding banquet for his son. These original invitees lived like they were their own boss and like their personal priorities were their highest priorities.

Other original invitees hated the king, and so when the call came to them, they refused it simply because of who the king was. The passage also says that these haters mistreated the king’s servants, and some even went so far as to kill the servants who were sent to them. These original invitees picked themselves to be kings of their own life because they didn’t want to submit to the actual king.

In every case an invitation is given in this passage, there does not appear to be a cost involved. No one has paid to purchase a seat/plate at the king’s table, and this truth reveals something else that is interesting about human nature: We discount the value of free gifts we have received, regardless of their true, often priceless, value.

If the king in this parable represents God, then some of the elements in this parable become clear.

The first thing to become clear is that if God exists, then regardless of what we think, say, feel, or do, He is in control. There is nothing we can say/do that will remove Him from His position of authority. If God exists, then no amount of thinking He doesn’t exist will change this reality. Our belief is not stronger than God’s reality.

The next thing is that we can really have one of three responses to God’s invitation: We can reject the invitation like those who were hostile towards the king; we can ignore the invitation like those who had chosen other things to be higher priorities; or we can accept the invitation, leaving what we were doing for the higher priority of being with God.

Lastly, there are two ways we could understand the context of this parable: as a future invitation into heaven, or as an immediate invitation into a relationship with God today.

When Jesus returns, He will take us to heaven to be with Him, and I imagine there will be a huge welcome celebration and feast. It will be like the wedding between Jesus and “His bride” (a metaphor for His people). When Christ returns and calls His people to Him, there should be nothing that takes precedence over this call.

When we first learn about Jesus and about the sacrifice He made on our behalf, we also are given an invitation: We can choose to distrust God’s motives and hate Him because of something else that happened; we can choose to ignore or delay accepting the invitation because something else is more important to us; or we can accept the invitation and enter into a new life with Him. Other parts of the gospels tell us there is a celebration in heaven every time someone accepts Jesus’ invitation.

In either case, we have God’s invitation now, and what matters most is choosing to accept this invitation into our lives today.

Part way through Jesus’ ministry, He tells His disciples and those who were present a short illustration about how God accepts (or in this case does not accept) our prayers based on how we approach Him in prayer. In this illustration, the gospel of Luke tells us that Jesus directed it towards those in the crowd who “were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else.” (v. 9)

To this group of people, Jesus begins His parable by sharing someone who they can relate with: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’” (v. 10-12)

While nothing is mentioned in this parable that this self-righteous group of people prayed this type of prayer, chances are high in my mind that this sample prayer from the Pharisee in Jesus’ illustration was similar to what this group prayed. While nothing is technically wrong with anything described in the prayer itself, the tone of what the Pharisee shares is what God does not approve of. Giving thanks to God, fasting regularly, tithing, and living obediently are all noble things, but this Pharisee seems to think God doesn’t recognize these accomplishments – so he intentionally decides to share them with God in His prayer.

The Pharisee’s prayer is two relatively short sentences, and it includes four uses of pronoun “I”. Each of these four uses in this prayer asks God to look at how good, noble, and righteous he is. But God doesn’t need help seeing the good in our lives or the bad. God knows our triumphs and trials better than we know them ourselves, and nothing is a surprise to Him.

While a prayer of thanks is not bad in itself. However, in order for it to be productive, we must thank God for something He has blessed us with, and not simply thank Him for something we’ve done ourselves. A prayer of thanks should be a reminder of how God has helped us, and remind us of our place in God’s bigger plan; Our prayers are worthless if we simply thank God for something we are claiming responsibility for.

Praying like a Pharisee is trying to get God to acknowledge how good of a person we are – especially in comparison with someone else, and this type of prayer is never answered. Instead, when we give thanks to God, we should thank Him for the things He has blessed us with in a way that helps us remember our small part in His big plans related to saving people for eternity and in a way that genuinely is thankful for His help.

During the conversation Jesus has with His disciples on the night He was betrayed, we find a statement that does not make sense to those who don’t understand Jesus’ mission to earth. While there probably are many statements like this in the broader context of this conversation, one statement stands out as unique.

Possibly right as the disciples were about to leave the upper room on their way to the garden of Gethsemane, Jesus tells them, “However, I want the world to know that I love the Father and that I am doing exactly what the Father has commanded me to do. Get up! We have to leave.” (v. 31)

This statement is powerful in my mind because Jesus tells His disciples that He wants the world to know two things:

1. Jesus loves the Father (i.e. God the Father); and

2. Jesus did exactly what the Father wanted Him to do.

These things are easy for Christians and followers of Jesus to understand, but the world doesn’t see spiritual truth accurately.

While many living today believe that Jesus was a good person and that His life was cut short because He was betrayed, they cannot grasp someone choosing death and saying it was part of God’s plan. Many living today also cannot comprehend a person choosing to die in the place of someone who is ungrateful, and for people who hated Him and God.

This can extend forward to include us today. As believers and followers of Jesus, what would our lives look like if we chose to see everyone else (regardless of their beliefs, their religion, their skin color, their piercings, their tattoos, their country of origin, their background, their position, their view of God, and/or anything else that would separate us from them) as someone who Jesus died for?

Jesus died to save humanity, and the only thing stopping the world from accepting Jesus is that they don’t understand or don’t believe that they are included in those Jesus died for. Some people are hostile towards Jesus and God while others are simply skeptical and unbelieving. However, regardless of whether we were worthy of His death or not (hint: we weren’t), Jesus came and died for us.

Regardless of what anyone else says, no one living at any point in history (other than Jesus) was worthy to receive Jesus’ death for themselves. The big truth that unites all Christianity together is: We are unworthy while Jesus is worthy, God sent Jesus to take our place, and Jesus’ death on the cross makes a way for us to have a new life with God!

In this passage, as potential disciples give excuses for delaying to follow Jesus, Jesus gives one of His most challenging statements. Perhaps this is because I am an easily distractible person, or maybe it is because it is a challenging truth to really apply, but either way Jesus’ remark in this passage would be one of the top challenging statements if I were to write out a list.

After the third person has expressed interest in following Jesus, Jesus responds in verse 62 by saying, “Anyone who starts to plow and then keeps looking back is of no use for the Kingdom of God.”

In the context of this passage, the man had simply asked to go say good-bye to his family, but knowing Jesus, this request revealed a deeper truth about this individual, and Jesus responds to this underlying issue: commitment.

It is as though Jesus is saying, “Anyone who chooses to follow Me, but who keeps looking at what their missing out on is of no use to the Kingdom of God.”

Some people might think this statement means we should disconnect from those who are sinful in the world. If so, then this would be a very difficult challenge in today’s media-centered world.

However, I don’t believe that Jesus’ words mean that we should be disconnected from others, or that we shouldn’t be friends with those who think differently from us. Instead, this statement is like Jesus saying He wants us to be 100% committed to our future with Him, and to leave our past hurt, past mistakes, and past regret in the past.

Jesus’ words say that once we have chosen Him, there is no point in looking back at the past because the present and future are what matter most of all. The present and future are what hold our relationship with Him.

Also in this statement is the idea that we should not delay following Jesus. By saying, “I’ll follow Jesus after I do this, or after something happens,” we are really saying that Jesus is not the most important thing in our lives. If Jesus is not number 1, then we end up with divided focus and are “of no use to the Kingdom of God” and we are not guaranteed future moments in time to make that decision.

God calls us to be committed to Him first, and to focus on following Him above everything else. That is how we can be most useful to helping His Kingdom move forward.