Running Toward The Gospel Of "Hard" Things

This past week I taught at a local church on Luke 14:13ff, better known as the Parable of The Great Banquet.

J.B. Phillips brings alive this wonder-full story of Jesus:

“...Once  upon a time, a man planned a big dinner party and invited a great many people. At dinner-time, he sent his servant out to tell those who were invited, ‘Please come, everything is ready now.’ But they all...began to make their excuses. The first one said…‘I have bought some land. I must go and look at it. Please excuse me.’ Another one said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen and am on my way to try them out. Please convey my apologies.’ Another one said, ‘I have just got married and I am sure you will understand I cannot come.’ 

So the servant returned and reported all this to his master. The master of the house was extremely annoyed and said to his servant, ‘Hurry out now into the streets and alleys of the town, and bring here the poor and crippled and blind and lame.’ 

Then the servant said, ‘I have done what you told me, sir, and there are still empty places.’ Then the master replied, ‘Now go out to the roads and hedgerows and make them [all] come inside, so that my house may be full....” (Luke 14:13-23) 

There are multiple meanings to this text, but the dominant meaning is that the Kingdom of God is portrayed accurately, vividly, as a great feast -- attended not by those expected to come -- but the very people expected not to come -- the least, the lost and the lonely.

Contemporary church renewal literature connects this conviction to the missional requirement to reach our neighbors and neighborhoods.

For example, "The Growing Young" emphasis of the Fuller Youth Institute https://churchesgrowingyoung.com stresses that it is essential for churches, that indeed want to grow young, and not old -- to reset the 'church table' -- to not serve not primarily, the expected and status quo -- but indeed -- the marginalized and those that don't normally 'show up' in the sanctuary.

“…churches that grow young recognize the careful dance that values both fidelity to Scripture’s commands for holiness and knowing and graciously loving their neighbors. This dance affects how they serve, pursue social justice, help...[their people]...find their calling, interact with popular culture, and respond to heated cultural issues. Much more than developing detailed policies or releasing theological position papers, these churches train and infuse their...[people]...with an integrated discipleship that enables them to thrive in our complex world.”  https://joncoombs.com/2016/11/24/growing-young-be-the-best-neighbours/

Translated: we need to stop complaining about Alcoholic Anonymous messing up the fellowship hall -- and embrace Alcoholic Anonymous -- and countless other 'outcast' groups.

For years I attended the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, DC.  As might be expected, the prayer breakfast was attended by the elite:  powerful politicians -- well-connected businessmen -- charismatic entertainers -- international ambassadors.  But also -- the homeless and the poor of Washington, DC.   In fact, Doug Coe the organizer of the prayer breakfast for many years, intentionally seated at every table in the grand ballroom of the Connecticut Avenue Hilton Hotel, a least, lost or lonely person, who had been touched by one of the over 200 ministries of the International Foundation, the sponsoring agency of the prayer breakfast.   

Not surprisingly, at first, it was an awkward experience.  Imagine, an ambassador sitting beside a street-person!  But over time it was amazing, as Christ, become more real, as we were required to relate to each other, not through our position, status or resume -- but -- our common humanity as children of God.

Such a viewpoint means that we need to take God more seriously than the dominant culture around us. For the dominant culture around us, does not prioritize the marginalized -- but those who indeed do have lots of margin and wealth and status and 'goods.'

Thus, we need to 'up our game' with Jesus realizing that it's costly to share a church's 'banquet table' with unseemly people.  But as Jesus says later in Luke 14:

"...Anyone who comes to me but refuses to let go of [the safe and familiar, e.g.] father, mother, spouse, children, brothers, sisters—yes, even one’s own self!—can’t be my disciple. [Translated] Anyone who won’t shoulder his own cross [e.g. stomach some sacrfice] and follow behind me can’t be my disciple…“Is there anyone here who, planning to build a new house, doesn’t first sit down and figure the cost so you’ll know if you can complete it? If you only get the foundation laid and then run out of money, you’re going to look pretty foolish…“Simply put, if you’re not willing to take what is dearest to you, whether plans or people, and kiss it good-bye, you can’t be my disciple. (Luke 14:25-33, The Message) 

Frankly, any number of us, both as individual and churches are looking pretty foolish these days.  Rather than hosting great banquets, we're presiding over skimmy meals, with declining attendance.

The solution, for starters, is taking Jesus seriously, and embracing the gospel of costly discipleship -- and -- costly, missional invitation, to the outsider.

Again, "The Growing Young" emphasis of The Fuller Youth Institute says it well:

“...Following Jesus is costly, requires sacrifice, and invites us to actively participate in God’s kingdom. In fact, the church by its very nature is participatory, which means everyone shares the work. It’s a body (Rom. 12:5–8; 1 Cor. 12:1–31; Eph. 4:1–16), and every part needs to play its role in order to build up the whole. 

As indicated by Jesus’ command to both “follow me” and “take up your cross daily” (Luke 9:23), pursuing Jesus requires no less than everything, every day (Rom. 12:1). There’s nothing therapeutic about that call… 

...In short, [persons] in churches growing young aren’t running from a gospel that requires hard things of them. They are running toward it...” (emphasis added)  https://joncoombs.com/2016/10/26/growing-young-take-jesus-message-seriously/

Run toward the gospel that requires hard things!!!

Don't make excuses like the folks in the Parable of the Great Banquet.  Rather make plans to change your priorities, prioritizing what Jesus prioritizes:  the least, the lost, the lonely.

Some years ago, Joni Erikson Tada, of Joni and Friends, was preparing for her organization's Global Access Conference, an event gathering over 1,000 leaders in disability ministry from 54 countries. 

As Joni was planning this conference her team saw value in a contemporary rendering of Luke 14:13ff -- since that parable speaks so powerfully of inclusion for those not typically included. 

And so Joni's ministry approached renowned artist Hyatt Moore, asking if he would depict Luke 14:13 in a large, graphic way. As Joni tells the story...

"...Hyatt loved the idea. But he told us he would need to work from real life models. So we set about locating people with disabilities of different nationalities...[we found] a Filipino polio survivor on crutches, and a Korean quadriplegic in her wheelchair. We also found a paraplegic from Nigeria, and a Jamaican woman who was blind and used a white cane. We located a child with Down syndrome from China, and so many more. 

And what was really neat was they all came dressed in their actual national costumes. We gathered everyone together in front of a big long table spilling over with platters of meat and fruit, nuts and vegetables – it was, indeed, looking like a real banquet.

When everyone was posed in front of the banquet table, Hyatt snapped all kinds of photographs...[and then]...over the three and a half days of the Global Access Conference, Hyatt painted fast and furiously... 

...[Overall] it was...exciting to...look over the shoulder of this amazing artist to watch him [indeed] bring alive [Jesus' great banquet]..." https://www.joniandfriends.org/radio/4-minute/luke-14-painting/

[click on the video below to actually see this amazing depiction of the Great Banquet, unfold]

 We too are to bring alive Jesus' great banquet...

• as we run toward the Gospel of 'hard' things... 

• adopting a costly discipleship... 

• leaving the safe and familiar...

• filling our churches, not with the expected and best -- but the least, the lost and the lonely... 

Going out to the "...roads and hedgerows and [inviting all to] come inside -- so that [God's] house may be full (Luke 14:23)!!!