Now… in this passage in Luke, it is possible that Jesus was only addressing these instructions to the Pharisee and that he wanted this particular Pharisee to stop inviting his relatives and friends and start inviting poor people instead.
And it is possible that this command for us not to invite relatives and friends but instead to invite the poor could be read in the original Greek as “invite not only your relatives and friends, but also the poor.”
Whew… thanks for saying that and coming to my rescue. I was almost afraid that I was going to be faced with some big social changes in the days and weeks ahead…
If you thought anything similar to this last response, then you now know what it feels like for a "seeker" to get a “breath of fresh air” from a pastor or “Bible scholar” or friend who helps them “understand” what a passage isn’t saying and what it supposedly really means. Some folks after getting what feels like a “breath of fresh air”, push the thoughts and questions aside, and the questions never surface again, or at least not for a long time.
But for other folks, the thoughts don’t go away, and the questions linger…
-What if Jesus really wants me to get baptized?
-What if I am living in adultery?
-What if Jesus really wants me to cover my head?
-What if Jesus really wants me to take up the life of a “defenseless Christian”?
-What if Jesus wants me to start inviting the poor and the foreigner and the disadvantaged to my home instead of so many relatives and rich neighbors?
Learning to Read the Bible as a Seeker
Re: Learning to Read the Bible as a Seeker
2 x
A wee little man can’t say, I’m sorry. A big man owns his mistakes and apologizes.
A wee little man trusts himself and his own discernment. A big man is humble enough to know that he needs the counsel and input of others.
A wee little man trusts himself and his own discernment. A big man is humble enough to know that he needs the counsel and input of others.
Re: Learning to Read the Bible as a Seeker
What percentage of guests to your home are strangers, people of a different social circle, or folks who can’t return the favor?
Believe it or not, there are many Christians around the world who take this instruction from Luke 14 just as seriously as what Plain Anabaptists take the other scripture passages mentioned earlier. Children in these homes grow up assuming that inviting people who cannot return the favor is how all Christians should live.
Can you imagine with me how many people might now be in the Kingdom of God if every Mennonite, Amish, Hutterite, and Brethren family who emigrated to North America the last few centuries – and every one of their descendants – had made a direct application to this teaching of Jesus?
Can you imagine with me how many people might join the Kingdom of God in the next ten years if every Christian who makes luncheons, dinners, feasts, and receptions would invite more of the folks Jesus said to invite, and less of the folks Jesus said not to invite?
I am convinced that Plain Anabaptists have hosting skills that when coupled with strong community dynamics make a compelling outreach tool. Yet this powerful tool lies dormant in many communities. What if we leveraged our cooking talents and our hospitality in the direction that Jesus instructed? What if the guests around our tables included mostly handicapped, disadvantaged, lonely and poor people; strangers and others who cannot return the favor?
Believe it or not, there are many Christians around the world who take this instruction from Luke 14 just as seriously as what Plain Anabaptists take the other scripture passages mentioned earlier. Children in these homes grow up assuming that inviting people who cannot return the favor is how all Christians should live.
Can you imagine with me how many people might now be in the Kingdom of God if every Mennonite, Amish, Hutterite, and Brethren family who emigrated to North America the last few centuries – and every one of their descendants – had made a direct application to this teaching of Jesus?
Can you imagine with me how many people might join the Kingdom of God in the next ten years if every Christian who makes luncheons, dinners, feasts, and receptions would invite more of the folks Jesus said to invite, and less of the folks Jesus said not to invite?
I am convinced that Plain Anabaptists have hosting skills that when coupled with strong community dynamics make a compelling outreach tool. Yet this powerful tool lies dormant in many communities. What if we leveraged our cooking talents and our hospitality in the direction that Jesus instructed? What if the guests around our tables included mostly handicapped, disadvantaged, lonely and poor people; strangers and others who cannot return the favor?
2 x
A wee little man can’t say, I’m sorry. A big man owns his mistakes and apologizes.
A wee little man trusts himself and his own discernment. A big man is humble enough to know that he needs the counsel and input of others.
A wee little man trusts himself and his own discernment. A big man is humble enough to know that he needs the counsel and input of others.
Re: Learning to Read the Bible as a Seeker
The Cost of Discipleship…
Once the truth of scripture becomes clear to us, and we are ready to act on it, we will find some way to start applying it!
A person who decides to follow Jesus and obey Him starts taking steps toward getting baptized.
A person who decides to love his enemies may start looking for ways to bless his lifelong enemy.
A woman who decides to cover her head, may start putting something—a kerchief or scarf— on her head whenever she spends her daily time with God.
A person who can’t cook or doesn’t have a very big house finds some way to provide food for people and eat with them. Maybe they take dinner to the park and invite people to eat with them there. Maybe they buy bread and lunch meat and lettuce and chips and eat it with some mentally challenged folks. Maybe they take a homeless person to a restaurant and eat a bowl of soup together. Maybe they get take-out food to eat with elderly folks. (And don’t feel bad if you can’t put on a feast. Jesus’s instruction was addressed to someone who had the capability to put on feasts and dinners.)
Even if we don’t literally invite the poor, the blind and the maimed, but instead invite strangers, foreigners, the lonely, the disadvantaged (other groups of people who aren’t as likely to return the favor), our application of these verses is still going to have big changes for our social life going forward.
And before I go further, I need to insert here that this article is not about weary and worn women and girls being asked to do more cooking and hosting. Notice that Jesus did not address how much to host but who to host. However, if we do more hosting, we as men need to quit our projects earlier, roll up our sleeves and ask our wives what we can do to help that will assist them the most.
Once the truth of scripture becomes clear to us, and we are ready to act on it, we will find some way to start applying it!
A person who decides to follow Jesus and obey Him starts taking steps toward getting baptized.
A person who decides to love his enemies may start looking for ways to bless his lifelong enemy.
A woman who decides to cover her head, may start putting something—a kerchief or scarf— on her head whenever she spends her daily time with God.
A person who can’t cook or doesn’t have a very big house finds some way to provide food for people and eat with them. Maybe they take dinner to the park and invite people to eat with them there. Maybe they buy bread and lunch meat and lettuce and chips and eat it with some mentally challenged folks. Maybe they take a homeless person to a restaurant and eat a bowl of soup together. Maybe they get take-out food to eat with elderly folks. (And don’t feel bad if you can’t put on a feast. Jesus’s instruction was addressed to someone who had the capability to put on feasts and dinners.)
Even if we don’t literally invite the poor, the blind and the maimed, but instead invite strangers, foreigners, the lonely, the disadvantaged (other groups of people who aren’t as likely to return the favor), our application of these verses is still going to have big changes for our social life going forward.
And before I go further, I need to insert here that this article is not about weary and worn women and girls being asked to do more cooking and hosting. Notice that Jesus did not address how much to host but who to host. However, if we do more hosting, we as men need to quit our projects earlier, roll up our sleeves and ask our wives what we can do to help that will assist them the most.
2 x
A wee little man can’t say, I’m sorry. A big man owns his mistakes and apologizes.
A wee little man trusts himself and his own discernment. A big man is humble enough to know that he needs the counsel and input of others.
A wee little man trusts himself and his own discernment. A big man is humble enough to know that he needs the counsel and input of others.
Re: Learning to Read the Bible as a Seeker
Soon after moving to State College ten years ago, about fifty percent of our church at that time was raised Anabaptist and the other half was not. Most of the latter had no Christian relatives or friends outside of the church who appreciated their beliefs and with whom they could enjoy social times together.
When our first Thanksgiving and Christmas came around, those of us with Christian relatives all headed off to our hometowns for holiday gatherings with Christian family and friends.
Some months later we learned that those in our church without Christian family and friends felt rather deserted. Who were they supposed to spend Thanksgiving and Christmas with? As we listened to their hearts, it made a big impression on my wife and I, and we have treated most holidays differently in the years since then.
After all, we had lived in a community away from our relatives for a number of years and we knew what it was like to not attend family gatherings over some holidays. If you’ve never had such an experience, the feeling is hard to imagine. You could try skipping a family gathering some time over a holiday to see what it feels like, but you will hardly feel what they feel. After all, you already had an invitation, and you can always go to relatives’ houses another time.
When our first Thanksgiving and Christmas came around, those of us with Christian relatives all headed off to our hometowns for holiday gatherings with Christian family and friends.
Some months later we learned that those in our church without Christian family and friends felt rather deserted. Who were they supposed to spend Thanksgiving and Christmas with? As we listened to their hearts, it made a big impression on my wife and I, and we have treated most holidays differently in the years since then.
After all, we had lived in a community away from our relatives for a number of years and we knew what it was like to not attend family gatherings over some holidays. If you’ve never had such an experience, the feeling is hard to imagine. You could try skipping a family gathering some time over a holiday to see what it feels like, but you will hardly feel what they feel. After all, you already had an invitation, and you can always go to relatives’ houses another time.
2 x
A wee little man can’t say, I’m sorry. A big man owns his mistakes and apologizes.
A wee little man trusts himself and his own discernment. A big man is humble enough to know that he needs the counsel and input of others.
A wee little man trusts himself and his own discernment. A big man is humble enough to know that he needs the counsel and input of others.
Re: Learning to Read the Bible as a Seeker
So, if you decide to take up this calling of Jesus, I can almost guarantee that you will have relatives and friends and maybe even fellow brothers and sisters in the church who will not understand or appreciate your new choices and new values. You may even feel some rejection from them. (Jesus also faced rejection for doing what God wanted Him to do.) And… when you feel this rejection, you will be able to feel a bit of what new believers and seekers feel when they experience rejection from their relatives and friends. And remember… the rejection they feel is likely many times greater than the rejection or disapproval you face.
There are many more teachings commanded in the New Testament. If you are already practicing this teaching of Jesus from Luke 14, look for another instruction that you might have just been skimming over, and begin making direct application to it!
There are many more teachings commanded in the New Testament. If you are already practicing this teaching of Jesus from Luke 14, look for another instruction that you might have just been skimming over, and begin making direct application to it!
1 x
A wee little man can’t say, I’m sorry. A big man owns his mistakes and apologizes.
A wee little man trusts himself and his own discernment. A big man is humble enough to know that he needs the counsel and input of others.
A wee little man trusts himself and his own discernment. A big man is humble enough to know that he needs the counsel and input of others.
Re: Learning to Read the Bible as a Seeker
Some years ago, I attended a church in another state. And even though I don’t remember the name of the preacher that morning, he said something that has stuck with me ever since. His words have been a motto for me and helped shape my life focus.
His statement was something like this,
“There is much in the Bible that can be hard to understand. But I find that there is much in the Bible that is painfully easy to understand.”
What if each of us would focus our thoughts, our energies, our actions, and all of our life around the much in the Bible that is painfully easy to understand?
Is Luke 14:12-14 easy to understand? Are we willing to be a true seeker – and pay the cost?
His statement was something like this,
“There is much in the Bible that can be hard to understand. But I find that there is much in the Bible that is painfully easy to understand.”
What if each of us would focus our thoughts, our energies, our actions, and all of our life around the much in the Bible that is painfully easy to understand?
Is Luke 14:12-14 easy to understand? Are we willing to be a true seeker – and pay the cost?
Last edited by Ernie on Wed Dec 25, 2024 8:12 am, edited 1 time in total.
1 x
A wee little man can’t say, I’m sorry. A big man owns his mistakes and apologizes.
A wee little man trusts himself and his own discernment. A big man is humble enough to know that he needs the counsel and input of others.
A wee little man trusts himself and his own discernment. A big man is humble enough to know that he needs the counsel and input of others.
Re: Learning to Read the Bible as a Seeker
The End
2 x
A wee little man can’t say, I’m sorry. A big man owns his mistakes and apologizes.
A wee little man trusts himself and his own discernment. A big man is humble enough to know that he needs the counsel and input of others.
A wee little man trusts himself and his own discernment. A big man is humble enough to know that he needs the counsel and input of others.
Re: Learning to Read the Bible as a Seeker
Full article can be accessed here.
https://towardthebetter.org/wp-content/ ... eker-2.pdf
Other articles and recordings here.
https://towardthebetter.org/
https://towardthebetter.org/wp-content/ ... eker-2.pdf
Other articles and recordings here.
https://towardthebetter.org/
1 x
A wee little man can’t say, I’m sorry. A big man owns his mistakes and apologizes.
A wee little man trusts himself and his own discernment. A big man is humble enough to know that he needs the counsel and input of others.
A wee little man trusts himself and his own discernment. A big man is humble enough to know that he needs the counsel and input of others.
Re: Learning to Read the Bible as a Seeker
And now you are free to discuss! Thanks for waiting! 
3 x
A wee little man can’t say, I’m sorry. A big man owns his mistakes and apologizes.
A wee little man trusts himself and his own discernment. A big man is humble enough to know that he needs the counsel and input of others.
A wee little man trusts himself and his own discernment. A big man is humble enough to know that he needs the counsel and input of others.
Re: Learning to Read the Bible as a Seeker
I think it was Wayne in Maine who challenged me to adopt the attitude of an engineer when considering Jesus life and teaching. Theologians ask "What does it mean?", philosophers ask "Why did he say that?", but engineers ask "Where do I start, what resources do I have now?" without worrying as much about the implications or even if it can be done.
I often think of this when approaching Jesus' teaching. As far as inviting people who can't return the favor, I try to focus on starting in some way even if I can't do it perfectly or totally. My wife and I have a general understanding that we will do this so we don't necessarily check in first. It all works out.
I often think of this when approaching Jesus' teaching. As far as inviting people who can't return the favor, I try to focus on starting in some way even if I can't do it perfectly or totally. My wife and I have a general understanding that we will do this so we don't necessarily check in first. It all works out.
4 x