A Way to the Top
Luke 14:1-14 (RCL 1, 7-14)
Tony’s Overview Video
How to Use
Preparing to teach
- Read the Bible Lesson by Tony Cartledge in this month’s issue of the Nurturing Faith Journal
- Watch Tony’s Video for this session
- Select either the Adult or Youth teaching guide and follow the directions
Click to read the Bible Lesson by Tony Cartledge
Key Text:
For all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.
Conversations can take unexpected turns. Have you ever been involved in a conversation that ended up in a totally different place than you expected? I can remember a time back in 1998, when the internet was in its infancy, poky dial-up modems were the rule, and Wifi was a dream, even in the city.
While visiting my parents in rural Georgia, my father and I were hanging around a local gas station while getting a tire repaired. My dad, who always kept an eye on local pastures, was talking to an elderly neighbor who raised chickens and cattle.
“Looks like you must’ve sold some of your calves.”
“Yep . . . sold ’bout a hundred head.”
“Which auction did you take ’em to – Washington or Thompson?”
Pause . . . “Sold ’em on the internet.”
I almost choked on my Diet Coke. That wasn’t what I expected to hear.
Today’s text involves one of many stories in which Jesus led a conversation in a completely unexpected direction.
A word for walkers (vv. 1-6)
This week marks the last lesson in a three-month “journey with Jesus” on his last trip to Jerusalem, a long section that Luke uses as a framework for some of Jesus’ most significant teachings. [DD]
As noted in the previous study, Luke 13:10-35 and 14:1-35 include several similar stories along parallel themes, and in the same order. Both begin with Jesus healing on a sabbath, followed by two parables about the Kingdom of God. [DD]
Last week we considered a story in which Jesus was teaching in the synagogue when he stopped to heal a woman who had suffered from a severely bent back for many years (13:10-17). This week’s text also takes place on a sabbath, but not in the synagogue: Jesus had been invited to dinner in the home of a local Pharisee. [DD]
Holding different opinions didn’t keep the Pharisees from being very curious about Jesus – and a prime way to spark conversation was to invite him to dinner.
The Jewish sabbath begins at sundown on Friday, so much of the day was devoted to cleaning the house and preparing an elaborate meal before “Shabbat” began, bringing a halt to work and often beginning with a synagogue service. Afterward, dinner could begin.
Jesus was one of a number who had been invited to dinner with a “leader of the Pharisees,” and the others “were watching him closely” (v. 1). Was it a trap?
They didn’t have to wait long. Even before arriving at the house, Jesus noticed a man on the path ahead who suffered from dropsy (v. 2). “Dropsy” is an old-fashioned term for edema or swelling of the arms and legs, often associated with congestive heart failure.
Knowing that they were watching, Jesus challenged the Pharisees and experts in the law who were in the party: “Is it lawful to cure people on the sabbath, or not?” (v. 3). Despite knowing the law backward and forward, they didn’t answer.
Jesus didn’t wait long for a response before he “took him and healed him, and sent him away” (v. 4). [DD]
Jesus then turned to a domestic situation to make his point, as he had done in the previous chapter. There Jesus had pointed out that those who criticized his sabbath healing did the work of untying their oxen or donkeys and taking them to water on the same day (13:15).
Here he asked: “If one of you has a child or an ox that has fallen into a well, will you not immediately pull it out on a sabbath day?” (v. 5).
Of course they would have, but they were unwilling to admit it: “And they could not reply to this” (v. 6). They could not reply without admitting to their own inconsistency.
A word for guests (vv. 7-11)
At dinner, Jesus took notice of how the guests sorted themselves. At such occasions, first century folk didn’t sit in chairs, but reclined on cushions around one or more low tables arranged so that diners could prop themselves on one elbow with their heads near the table and feet pointing away. Servers could then work from the inside.
Jesus noticed how people jockeyed for positions nearest the host, indicating higher status. He then began to teach the party a lesson in table manners, and what he had to say turned all their treasured customs upside down.
Jesus spoke first to the gathered guests (vv. 7-11), and then to the hosts (vv. 12-14), using their present situation as an object lesson. People tended to sort themselves out based on their levels of self-confidence or ambition, with social climbers striving for the best seats. Occasionally a more honored guest might come in, however, and the host would have to usher the upstart further back so the new guest could take the more prestigious place.
Jesus made the sensible observation that it’s better for guests to choose an unobtrusive place near the back. Then, if the host asked them to come up higher, they would gain honor rather than disgrace (vv. 8-10).
This was common-sense advice for savvy socializing, but Jesus was not simply offering clever counsel for getting to the head table. His point was that getting to the head table is not the point.
Those who concern themselves with being number one are focused on the wrong goal. In Jesus’ kingdom, such values are inverted: the goal is not to be number one, but to be numbered among those who are humble and willing to serve others.
“For all who exalt themselves will be humbled,” Jesus said, “and those who humble themselves will be exalted” (v. 11). Humility in heart and action draws us near to the master, but pride of heart that seeks pride of place separates us from God. [DD]
We recall that Jesus made this point more than once. When the disciples asked Jesus who would be greatest, he pointed to a little child and said “Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 18:4). Another time, when Jesus saw the disciples arguing about their relative positions, “He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, ‘Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all’” (Mark 9:35).
A word for hosts (vv. 12-14)
After speaking to the guests, Jesus also had a word for the hosts. He knew that first century social life revolved around a circuit of dinner parties. When a person invited someone else to a dinner, it was assumed that the favor would soon be returned. That was normal, accepted, customary. It was the way life was supposed to be.
But Jesus threw a curve ball at his hosts. He told them they should make a point not to invite relatives and friends who were obligated to return the favor, but to invite the kind of people who could never pay them back.
What kind of people were these? The poor. The crippled. The lame. The blind. The kind of people who, in Jesus’ day, struggled mightily because there were no government programs to provide for them. The Old Testament law taught that Israelite society was responsible for providing care to persons such as these, but that didn’t always happen, and when it did, it was often in a demeaning way.
Don’t just put a few shekels into the poor box, Jesus was saying. Invite them to your house! Let them sit at your table and eat from your fine china and use your silver. Don’t just pray for the poor or contribute to a social outreach program – share your own life with them. Share your house. Share your food.
And do this with no expectation of return. Do it for people who can’t pay you back. They can’t bring you any honor. But you will be blessed, Jesus said. “You will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous” (v. 17).
Again, we must understand that Jesus was not just teaching a different way to get eternal rewards. The point is that we don’t do these things to get rewarded. We do these things because that is what the righteous do. That is what people who understand and who follow Jesus’ ethics do. They love other people as they love themselves, and they show it by unselfishly helping others. This story is not about getting to the top: it’s about being like Jesus. [DD]
Jesus did not call us to lord it over one another, to climb the ladder of status, or seek to be Number One. He called us to serve one another, and in his own life he demonstrated what that was all about.
When none of the disciples would humble themselves to get out the bowl and towel that was customarily used to wash the feet of guests from the road, Jesus did it himself. He took bread and broke it and served it to his friends, saying “This is my body that is broken for you.” He took a cup and poured it and served it, saying “This is my blood that is shed for you.” And then he went out and allowed his body to be broken and his blood to be shed, not just for those disciples, but for every person who puts their faith and trust in him.
So it is that when we come to the Lord’s table, we serve each other. When we come to the Lord’s table, we come humbly, aware of our sins and shortcomings, aware that we have not earned our place at the table by virtue of our social status or career accomplishments or even points earned for goodness. We are welcome because we have trusted in Christ, who says to the most humble of us “Friend, come up higher.”
How are our table manners?
Adult Teaching Resources
Download the PDF of teaching resources for this lesson.
This PDF contains the Teaching Guide, Digging Deeper, and Hardest Question pages.
Read Scripture online: Luke 14:1-14
Youth Teaching Resources
Parent Prep
I’m often surprised by what students say. Sometimes, this is a positive thing and you get an insight into what bothers them or the depth to which they are thinking about things. At other times, when they say something you want to rush and put it back in their mouth for them. Whichever the case may be with your student, the most important thing is that you are listening; that you are present to be with them. To share lift with them. To want them to tell you what is on their mind. What they say is important, but being present means even more.
Additional Links/Resources
Read Scripture online: Luke 14:1-14
Download the PDF for youth teaching resources using the button below. This PDF contains the Teaching Guide for this lesson:
Video
Encourage youth to check out this video ahead of the lesson.
“Bad Table Manners” from King of Queens
via www.youtube.com
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