Welcome to this Daily PPJ devotional. Read Exodus 36, Ecclesiastes 12, and Luke 14. This devotional is about Luke 14, 33-35, but let's read all of Luke 14 at this time. One Sabbath, Jesus went to eat in the home of a leading Pharisee, and those in attendance were watching him closely. Right there before him was a man with dropsy. So Jesus asked the experts in the law and the Pharisees, is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath or not? But they remained silent. Then Jesus took hold of the man, healed him, and sent him on his way. And he asked them, which of you whose son or ox falls into a pit on the Sabbath day will not immediately pull him out? and they were unable to answer these questions. When Jesus noticed how the guests chose the places of honor, he told them a parable. When you are invited to a wedding banquet, do not sit in the place of honor, in case someone more distinguished than you has been invited. Then the host, who invited both of you, will come and tell you, give this man your seat, and in humiliation, you will have to take the last place. But when you are invited, go and sit in the last place, so that your host will come and tell you, Friend, move up to a better place. Then you will be honored in front of everyone at the table with you. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted. Then Jesus said to the man who had invited him, When you host a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or brothers or relatives or rich neighbors. Otherwise they may invite you in return, and you will be repaid. But when you host a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind, and you will be blessed. Since they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous. When one of those reclining with him heard this, he said to Jesus, Blessed is everyone who will eat at the feast in the kingdom of God. But Jesus replied, a certain man prepared a great banquet and invited many guests. When it was time for the banquet, he sent his servant to tell those who had been invited, come for everything is now ready. But one after another, they all began to make excuses. The first one said, I have bought a field and I need to go see it, please excuse me. Another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to try them out, please excuse me. Still another said, I have married a wife, so I cannot come. The servant returned and reported all this to his master. Then the owner of the house became angry and said to his servant, go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the city, and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame. "'Sir,' the servant replied, "'what you ordered has been done, and there is still room.' So the master told his servant, "'Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, so that my house will be full. For I tell you, not one of those men who were invited will taste my banquet.'" Now large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and he turned and said to them, If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. And whoever does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. Which of you, wishing to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost to see if he has the resources to complete it? Otherwise if he lays the foundation, and is unable to finish the work, everyone who sees it will ridicule him, saying, This man could not finish what he started to build. Or what king, on his way to war with another king, will not first sit down, and consider whether he can engage with ten thousand men, the one coming against him with twenty thousand? And if he is unable, he will send a delegation, while the other king is still far off, to ask for terms of peace. In the same way, any one of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple. Salt is good, but if the salt loses its savor, with what will it be seasoned? It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile, and it is thrown out. He who has ears to hear, let him hear. This is God's Word. The Pharisee who invited Jesus to eat in his home on this Sabbath day, according to verse 1, probably had no idea that his own sacred cows would be on the menu. A recurring theme in Luke has been what is permissible on the Sabbath. The Pharisees had very strict views on this subject, and Jesus challenged those views by healing a man on the Sabbath in verses 2 through 4, then pointing out their hypocrisy. They would help a child or an animal that is in a dangerous situation, or one that had an injury on the Sabbath, according to verse 5. But they were deeply offended when Christ healed a man who had been suffering for years. God is never offended when people do good and relieve the suffering of others on the Sabbath or any other day of the week. The intent of the Sabbath laws supersede strict interpretations of that law. That opening paragraph in verses 1 through 6 happened on the way to the Pharisee's house, before the meal even began. That is suggested in verse 1 where it says, Jesus went to eat. But it's confirmed in verse 7 by the fact that people were picking out places to sit, so the meal had not yet begun. Jesus turned his rhetorical attention to the issue of pride. noting how at wedding banquets, people assumed themselves to be the most honorable person in attendance. And they showed that by how they chose their seats. Jesus counseled people to go for the worst seat at the banquet in verse 10a. After all, it's better to be invited to move to a better spot than to be demoted to a lesser seat. This is one of the most practical things Jesus said that didn't have to do with direct moral or spiritual issues. He addressed a common life scenario in those times and gave very sage advice. While the situation Jesus described in verses 7 through 10 is far more mundane than the usual topics he taught about, the deeper issue was human pride, as we see in verse 11. Finally, Jesus addressed his host directly in verse 12 and instructed him to be more discriminating about who invited to dinner in verses 12b through 13. And that discriminating invitation is very different than what you might expect. Instead of inviting people he loved and liked, Jesus advised him to invite the kind of people who don't usually get dinner invitations, the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. This was about human pride, too. We like to spend time with people we like, friends who elevate our mood and even our status, and who might invite us to their homes as well. A party for the poor, however, doesn't appeal to us. But Jesus said we will be blessed, in verse 14a, if we befriend and include those who are low in social status. This blessing awaits us in the future, however, for Jesus said, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous, in verse 14b. So the blessing is on the other side of life. Passages like these indicate that pride was even more overt in Jesus' day than it might be in ours. We are the inventors of the humblebrag, after all. While we might be more subtle about our pride than the Pharisees and others in Jesus' day were, we still struggle with pride. It's nice to be noticed, so putting ourselves in a place where we're noticeable can be just as tempting now as it was in the wedding banquet Jesus attended. Likewise, we enjoy spending time with people who are like us. Verse 12 says your friends, your brothers or sisters, your relatives, and especially your rich neighbors. Again, that's all in verse 12. Jesus' confrontational style of speaking was designed to challenge our pride forcefully. Jesus wasn't saying we could never have our friends and family over for dinner, but his forceful way of speaking is telling us that we should intentionally befriend and include those who aren't usually coveted as friends. His teaching calls us to get over ourselves and look for ways to be a true, tangible blessing to others. So what might you do today, or this weekend, or next week, that would wound your pride, maybe, but make a real difference in the life of someone who has a real need? Think about that today, and I'll see you next time. May God bless you. Hope you have a great day today.