Having Jesus over for lunch can be hazardous to your perspective on life.
In this passage, Jesus is attending a Sabbath meal at the home of one of the "rulers of the Pharisees." Jesus no sooner sits down than he has three things to teach the Pharisees who invited him. The first comes without prompting. It is to clarify the purpose of the Sabbath. Now, correct me if I'm wrong; but I can't think of any situation where Jesus wasted a single breath giving credence to a single man-made tradition. In all four gospels, there is no evidence that Jesus came to bring reform to anything other than the very principles and statues that he commanded in the first place.
When Jesus says, "You have heard that...," he is doubtless opening a conversation that will lead to a new perspective on an old teaching. And although he doesn't use that phrase specifically in this passage, his method of teaching is precisely that. Implied in this first exchange is the introduction, 'You have heard that it is UNlawful to heal on the Sabbath.' It has been suggested by many that this is evidence of Jesus' redefinition of the Sabbath-- a premonition of its ultimate end at the cross. But this could hardly be the case if Jesus actually makes time on this particular occasion to change the Pharisaical perspective on one of his commandments.
A strong parallel to this first teaching is found over and over in the Sermon on the Mount where Jesus broadens and expands the prevalent understanding on two other of the 10 commandments-- murder and adultery. In each of these cases, he brings up an old commandment in order to give it new life and bearing on the present context of his listeners.
Now, Jesus takes up the Sabbath commandment, the fourth of the Decalogue which prompts the question of WHY he would do such a thing if his purpose was to repeal that requirement altogether. However, instead of rebuking their petty insistence on Sabbath observance, he broadens the application of the Sabbath to the realm of DOING rather than exclusively NOT doing. Again, this is parallel with his Sermon on the Mount treatment of murder and adultery where the POSITIVE obligations of loving and respecting others in the heart are added to the prohibitions against killing and fornication.
And Jesus is not going to merely comment about eating or socializing on the Sabbath. He is going to directly defend his people's right to expect health and healing from their Sabbath experience. Perhaps this is in response to something one of these teachers said in synagogue that morning. Maybe in the morning service, there had been some ghastly human tradition put forth as a precept of the Almighty. And unknown to them, the Almighty had been sitting in the congregation listening.
Needless to say, the burden to LIFT burdens is on Jesus heart after spending a morning with these self-proclaimed proclaimers of his law. Imagine living a spiritual life, informed only by the teachings of those who routinely "bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers." (Matthew 23:4)
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The second teaching relates not to something the Pharisees are notorious for teaching--as in their Sabbath restrictions--but rather DOING. Go to any Pharisee function and you'll have to get there early to sit anywhere near the front. I'm sure they didn't have handicapped parking spaces in Jerusalem, but if they did, you can bet the "Reserved for Pharisee" space was closer! How human, the desire to be first. Yet, how contrary to Christ himself. I can only wonder where Jesus was sitting as he teaches this. Maybe they have asked him to sit at the head table and that is why Jesus' teaching comes with the caveat that it isn't inappropriate to sit in a good place, it's just wrong to choose that place for yourself. In any case, the Jesus I know would have felt more comfortable eating with the kitchen staff than with the rulers who invited him.
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The final teachable moment of the day comes in response to a comment made by a Pharisee at his table. And it's precisely why I made the observation I did at the first: Having Jesus over for lunch can be hazardous to your perspective on life.
I have to feel for this guy. He is no doubt uncomfortable with all the teaching Jesus is doing. After all, Jesus ISN'T SUPPOSED TO BE TEACHING! THEY are the official teachers. As an informed Christian, I can attest to the fact that it is hard just LISTENING to someone else testify about Christ. So often we listen with little more than half of our brains, while the majority is processing what we're going to say next. Maybe I should have said, "Having a BLOG about Jesus may be hazardous to your perspective on life," because blogging is all about talking (or typing) what is in your head. And like all other human communication, it doesn't require much listening.
I'm guessing, though, that the man who made this comment was searching for what to say. He realizes that he is in dangerous waters. He was at the synagogue that morning and heard the teaching that Jesus is now responding to in his admonitions on healing and humility. At the very least, he is very familiar with the prevalent perspectives on these matters.
So he picks something safe. "Blessed is he who shall eat bread in the kingdom of God!" I can imagine the dance his guts are doing as he lets this pithy truism loose on his audience of esteemed fellow-scholars.
Instinctively, even subconsciously, every Pharisee knows by now that Jesus is not going to leave even mankind's most cherished daffodils unpruned. But he wants to have something to show for himself, on behalf of his spiritual pedigree. So he lets this one fly. And I can almost hear the pious 'amens' grunted around the room as other like-minded experts are quick to affirm his lofty sentiment.
And little exegesis is required to discover the bottom line of Jesus lengthy response: "For I say to you that none of those men who were invited shall taste my supper."
It turns out that Jesus has been planning a Sabbath luncheon, too. In fact, it has been in the works for several thousand years. And here are the invitees. He's surrounded by them. But they're not at HIS party. They're content with their own. And that's the rub. We can do and do and do and do as Christians, but unless we simply come to what we can't provide ourselves, we're left holding the bag.
"You're all at YOUR party," Jesus is saying, "but NONE of you are at MINE." Wow. Not exactly tactful, to say the least. But can you see the tears in his eyes as he drops his conclusion on them. Can you hear the scream of unsettling silence that settles over the room. Luke records no denouement, but simply moves on to the next incredible revelation born on another occasion, at another time, in another place. And so, like the gospels themselves, Jesus' words are left ringing across time--across millennia. Left to fall on the ears of those who might yet hear: do good on my Sabbath, live humbly, and please, PLEASE, accept my invitation.
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