Why is Jesus so harsh?

Bill Lane asked me a great question after church on Sunday. Why is Jesus so harsh in Luke 14:25-27?
Elsewhere the Bible is clear that we should honour our father & mother, that husbands should love their wives as Christ loved the church etc. So why is he blunt to the point of contradiction here?
All the commentators agree that the point he's making is that our love for Jesus should be so great as to make our love for even our families pale by comparison. But why not say that? Why be so blunt?
In John 6:53-58, Jesus is similarly harsh - so much so that the disciples say, 'This is a hard (or 'harsh') teaching. Who can accept it?' And Jesus replies, 'Does this offend you? (lit. 'cause you to stumble')... the Spirit gives life, the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are s/Spirit and they are life.' (v63).
So I think the answer to Bill's question has to be something about the sheer weight of importance of our decision about Jesus. Jesus is speaking about things that are literally a matter of life and death - eternal life and eternal death. And the only deciding factor in this overwhelmingly important issue is our relationship and attitude to Jesus.
In today's world everything is simply a matter of personal preference and of so little consequence - Sony e-reader or Kindle? Spurs or Arsenal? Sainsbury's or Tesco? - and very few people ever have to take decisions that really matter.
If you watched Birdsong last night, you'll have seen how another generation had to make decisions that really did matter - life and death decisions. The main character, Stephen Wraysford, is told by his superior officer that he must take his men down into a tunnel under the German lines. The Germans burst through from their own tunnel. Wraysford is shot and nearly killed.
But we know nothing of important decisions like these. Jesus has to ram home the truth that he alone must be our God if we are to have life. To use the language of John 6, 'What must we do to do the work that God requires?' the people ask, 'The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent,' replies Jesus. And belief means uniting ourselves to the Christ who goes to the cross. Or in the words of Luke 14:27, 'Anyone who does not take up his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.'

A fitting tribute

If you're a Christian, then even if you don't know his name, John Stott will have almost certainly have influenced you and the ministry at your church - albeit indirectly.
The Lord took John Stott from this life last year, but his memorial service was held last week at St Paul's cathedral, attended by 2200 people. Stott's friend Timothy Dudley-Smith (former bishop of Thetford) prached a great sermon. Have a read: http://www.johnstottmemorial.org/media/

Luke 14 verses 15-24 Sermon audio

Luke 14 verses 15-24.mp3

Luke 14:1-14 Sermon audio

Luke 14 verses 1-14.mp3

Jesus' blunt words

Luke 14:15-24

It's not hard to sum up what Jesus was saying in this short story. But what he says is blunt. Very blunt.

So are you prepared for this?

Jesus is saying, 'Don't make excuses. Do not make feeble excuses for rejecting my invitation – they just make me angry.'

Now you might not expect Jesus to speak like that, so let's look carefully at what he really says and why he says it.

We begin by reminding ourselves of the scene:

Jesus is at the home of a senior religious leader. Some other Pharisees are there as well, and they're all watching Jesus and looking for a chance to catch him out – v1.

Then in v2, we hear that a man with a very obvious medical condition is there as well. And we suspect that there as a tactical manoeuvre – that he's been invited by the Pharisees as a test for Jesus to see if Jesus will heal the man on the Sabbath, breaking one of their many rules, and giving them an opportunity to discredit him.

Well, Jesus does heal the man, but, v5, he doesn't give the Pharisees a chance to criticise him because he turns the tables on them, revealing their hard-hearted, self-serving hypocrisy – they'd do anything to rescue their own son or ox on a Sabbath, but they won't lift a finger to help anyone else – all the time claiming that this is God's will.

Perhaps because he's embarrassed at the scene Jesus is making, the host invites them all to be seated – and suddenly it's as if someone's fired the starting gun for the final of the 110m high hurdles – dignity goes out of the window as they scramble for the best seats.

When Jesus sees this, he tells them a little story about people who take honour for themselves, and concludes, 'Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and anyone who humbles himself will be exalted.'

As if even that weren't enough, in v12, Jesus rebukes the host for inviting all his friends so he'll get a return invitation but ignoring the poor, crippled, lame & blind because they can't repay him.

So you can just imagine the atmosphere as the meal's served – a stunned, embarrassed silence engulfs the room. And then, in v15, perhaps to break the silence, one of the guests says to Jesus, 'Blessed is the man who will eat at the feast in the Kingdom of God.' And he's absolutely right! In the OT said that the future he had planned for his people would be like the most amazing, free banquet! God's people will feast on the superabundant blessing and love of God.

That's why hospitality is so important amongst God's people – as we eat together we get a foretaste of the new heavens & the new earth. But the question is, who will be at that great feast? Who will be in heaven? Who will be welcomed by God and who will be rejected?

Of course the Pharisees around the table assume that they, naturally, will be there. They've earned their place. They obey the rules.

So Jesus tells another parable. A story about a man who was preparing a great banquet – and he'd invited loads of people. When Jesus says that, the Pharisees all know what he's talking about – he's talking about God's plan for his great feast to which all his people were invited – and since they were the elite of God's people, they would, perhaps, have looked at one another and nodded knowingly.

So Jesus continues, 'At the time of the of the banquet, the man sent his servants out to tell those who had been invited, 'Come for everything is now ready! But they all alike began to make excuses.'

Just think about what Jesus has just said – people who have been invited to share in God's blessings, in his heaven, in his kingdom, in his eternal banquet are making excuses!
And their excuses are absolutely pathetic.

The first says, 'I've just bought a field and I must go and see it. Please excuse me.' OK. So there's a 2.5 acre field for sale in Sussex today for £39k, and you're saying you've spent that sort of money and you haven't even looked at it? Tell us another!

Another person said, 'I've just bought five yoke of oxen, and I'm on my way to try them out. Please excuse me.' So you've bought a 6 yr old John Deere tractor for £30k and you'd rather go and plough a field than come to the most incredible free banquet that you've ever been asked to?

Still another said, 'I've just got married, so I can't come'. Well, I know you want to fulfil your duty to your new wife, but honestly, can't you wait just a little longer?!

These excuses are just pathetic.

Every so often a good friend of mine would take me out for supper – it was a great arrangement – he earned at least 10x what I do, so he insisted that he would pay. So from time to time I'd get an email suggesting a few dates when we could meet up. Can you imagine the insult if I replied, 'Sorry, can't come, just got an allotment – must go & dig it. Sorry can't come, just bought new lawnmower, must test it.' (I'm not going to give a personal parallel to the last man's excuse!)

The bottom line of all these excuses is, 'Sorry, I'm too busy. Too busy doing things I'd rather do than coming to your banquet - they're more important to me that you are. Sorry mate, I've got better things to do than come to your feast.'

Well, once all the excuses have been made, the servants come back and report to their master.

When he hears the excuses people have been coming up with he becomes very angry, v21 – he'd made all these careful preparations, arranged everything perfectly, ordered in the best food & wine, booked a Michelin starred chef, decorated the house, paid the waiters – and you're too busy wandering round a field, trying out your new oxen or satisfying your lust with your wife! 

You can understand why the man wasn't too happy!

So and ordered his servants, 'Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame. Go and get the people who are despised by those I invited earlier.'

'Sir,' the servant said, 'what you have ordered has been done, but there's still room.'

'Go out into the roads and country lanes and make them come in, so that my house will be full. I tell you, not one of those men who were invited will get a taste of my banquet.'

Of course what Jesus is doing here is mirroring what's actually happening all around him.

The Pharisees are Jews – members of God's people who have been invited to the banquet. But they've all rejected the invitation because they've rejected Jesus and his kingdom of generous love.

So now Jesus turns his attention to the sick, the poor, the sinners of the Jewish nation – those who the Pharisees despise – and they accept him and his healing, life-giving blessing.

And when they've all come in, then he goes to the non-Jews – the Gentiles – and they are urged to come in – yes, yes – even you!

And the invitations will keep going out until the house is full. But those who rejected the invitation – 'none of them will get a taste of my banquet' says the man.

So, was I right to summarise this as Jesus saying, 'Don't make excuses. Do not make feeble excuses for rejecting my invitation – they just make me angry'? Surely that's precisely what Jesus was saying – and he says it today to each and every one of us here this morning.

This morning, I stand here as one Jesus' servants going out into the roads and country lanes, inviting you to come in and enjoy God's banquet. And the Lord God demands a response. What is your answer today?

You may think, 'I'm not ready to respond, don't rush me' – but that is a response. Just as the man who bought the oxen said, 'Not today', so you're saying, 'I'm not coming to your banquet today.' So your answer is no.

You may think, 'Life's just too full of urgent things to do to be thinking about religion. I know this is important, but other things are more urgent.' You are saying, 'No'.

There are only two responses to this invitation. Yes or no.

It's been said that busyness is the enemy of heaven. How true that is. Busyness with unimportant things means that thousands of millions of people will not enjoy God's feast but will be turned away from heaven.

Are you too busy for God?

Would you be too busy if someone offered you free tickets to see England at Twickenham or Wembley, or a 5* holiday in Australia, or dinner at Thackeray's?

If you've no excuses for things like this, why is it that you have so many excuses for Jesus Christ?

You cannot keep putting him off with feeble excuses.

Well, I told you that this was a blunt message this morning. But I hope you can see that I'm not exaggerating what Jesus himself was saying in this parable.

If you want to respond to him, please do talk to me or to a Christian friend.

A great way to respond would be to join our Simply Christianity course starting this week. And don't say you're too busy – your field will wait, your oxen will wait, and your wife's not going anywhere.