Luke 14 - Introduction

The Cost of Discipleship Luke Fourteen

Gathering around the table to eat often brings good fellowship and it also builds good memories. Most of us have many pleasant recollections of good times around a table at Thanksgiving or Christmas time. The events of Luke 14 begin around a meal table. "Jesus went into the house of one of the chief Pharisees to eat bread on the Sabbath day." Sadly this time around a meal table was a most unpleasant occasion. It was not a time of friendly conversation and laughter. It was a time of treachery as the self-seeking Pharisees tried to trap Jesus. Jesus silenced these men by asking, "Which of you shall have an ass or an ox fallen into a pit, and will not straightway pull him out on the Sabbath day?" Jesus revealed that these men were really hypocritical in their thoughts and actions. They were not keeping the Sabbath in the way they wanted others to keep it. He also rebuked the people at the table because they tried to get the chief seats at the table. He taught them that a person is exalted by humbling himself. Jesus also had a message for the host. He had only invited those who might repay him. Jesus said he would be rewarded by God when he invited those who could not give anything in return. In that group would be the poor, the crippled, the lame and the blind. One present at the meal said, “Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God." It was very disturbing to these Jews when Jesus told a parable that they had been invited to God's table but they made excuses and did not come. Then He said that "none of those men which were bidden shall taste of my supper." Luke 14 closed with a brief discussion about the cost of discipleship. Your allegiance to God must be complete; your allegiance must be total; your allegiance must be constant. You must give up everything you have to follow Jesus. Count the cost before you begin the journey.