Christian Living
Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner?
In Luke 7, Jesus is invited to the home of a Pharisee for dinner. Jesus accepts his invitation and joins the man and his friends for dinner.
In their culture it was customary for the host to provide certain amenities towards their guest, especially one as famous as Yeshua. Not really much more than one would expect today when invited to a friends home for dinner. A warm welcome, a handshake or even an embrace, a drink and a bathroom to "fix" yourself up.
To enter the home of a Pharisee, as the one in question, would have included a foot washing, oil for your sunburned head & a kiss, of which Jesus received none. The Pharisee was more interested in being known as opposed to knowing Jesus.
In today’s society we have very much been bitten by the popularity bug, just go to MySpace and read a few!
Say for instance if Billy Graham came to your home for dinner, what would you do? I can believe that most of the people whom I know and a good portion of the Northern Hemisphere would break out the good China and serve up some tasty vittles. The house would be clean as a whistle, a Christian radio station would be playing softly in the background and the Bible would be opened to a "favorite" passage. We would sit in humble silence as we served the man of God and waited for him to speak, hoping all the while that our crazy Aunt Sylvia would not choose this time to pop in and embarrass us all!
The event would go down in the family history as the time our close family friend Bill, came to dinner. All the while never actually knowing how “Bill” really felt about his experience at our house.
Although Jesus was not very welcome in this setting & dishonored to say the least, he never lets on nor does he seem upset about his circumstances. Instead he reclines at the table, with his feet behind him, and he eats what is put in front of him.
Speaking of eating what’s in front of you, I had a friend who came to the house one evening for a quick meal. I whipped up some sandwiches’ and set them on the table for all. My friend promptly looked between the bread, asked if I had some cheese and a frying pan and commandeered my kitchen to prepare himself several grilled cheese sandwiches. Needless to say he has not been asked back for dinner, not because I don’t like him, but I don’t know what to serve him….except Grilled Cheese.
Another interesting observation within this passage is the fact that people are standing around watching them eat. Kind of like a being in a very busy restaurant, sitting in the booth with the window at the front door. Not too comfortable.
It was customary for the rich & religious in this story, to allow the poor to quietly come into their home and observe how the other half lived, like Robin Leach. Don’t be so surprised, we do it too. It’s called cable TV!
So, they are half sitting, half lying on pillows on the floor eating, when a woman begins weeping on Jesus feet. His feet, crying on his feet! Has anyone ever cried on your shoes? I had someone sneeze on them once, it was gross.
Ok, let’s look at logistics; she would have to been on her knees immediately behind him, bent over as in prayer & weeping. So imagine, you have guests over for dinner, say a traveling religious dignitary who is quite famous, like Bill Graham, and your crazy Aunt Sylvia makes her entrance and begins weeping on your guests shoes. Very few of us would do nothing, and a few of us would be scrambling for the Video camera for a shot at 10 grand from Americas Funniest Home Videos. Yet I’m guilty of the same thing, how many times have I looked down my nose at some of my very own friends, the products of bad choices and environments and thought the same thing. “If only you knew who this person was.”
I’m also a little curious how the Pharisee knew she was a “Loose Woman” and another thing, how did she know her way around his house so well….Hmmm? Never mind.
There is a point to my rambling so please stay with me for a moment.
Knowing the mans thoughts, Jesus asks him a question to which he replies; “Tell me Teacher.” (Not sure how much sincerity is in his response but that’s not for me to say.)
So Jesus tells him a story of two people in debt, one greater than the other. Most of us know the story quite well, the Lender forgives them both and the one who has been forgiven much ends up loving much.
After hearing this passage preached many times it finally dawned on me who the two people in the story are! They are the very two people He is talking too. Duh!
The woman is the one who has just been forgiven much and the Pharisee is the one who has been forgiven little. Okay, so you already knew that, it takes me a little longer so bear with me.
The point of the story that I believe most of us miss is this, Jesus forgave the Pharisee and offered him the same salvation he offered to the woman. He overlooked His own dishonor; He overlooked His unwelcome, uncomfortable circumstance and offered salvation to His host. Jesus was never concerned about His comfort or what was on His plate! His concern was for people.
Jesus had just forgiven both of them and only one recognized that salvation had come.
This is a window into the heart of the Father; it is His kindness that leads us to repentance. Up to this point, the Pharisee’s religion had helped no one but himself. As a matter of fact, his religion had not only blinded him to the social ills of his day, it had blinded him to his own religion.
His religion had become his religion.
I had the honor this week of being invited to lead worship at a main-line denomination’s building dedication. This may not be a big deal to many of you, but I do come from a Charismatic/Pentecostal background. Sadly most of the religious people I know today would be very uncomfortable taking part in another denominations celebration, even though at the heart of most of our churches, there is a Cross and a Christ.
My point is this, God has a remnant. Only He knows what is going on in a person’s heart.
Don’t let your religious sensibilities and your traditions and your sacred cows become your religion. I heard a preacher say once: “Most times it’s not about being right or wrong, it’s about being good.”
How far are you willing to go to offer salvation to those around you? How kind are you willing to be? Are you willing to be dishonored? Unwelcome? Even ridiculed & mocked?
Don’t let your religion become your religion because you never know who may show up for dinner!
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