Sermon Tone Analysis

The fifty-third chapter of Isaiah describes Jesus Christ, the Servant of the Lord and Messiah, as “a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief” varón de dolores, experimentado en quebranto (v.

3).

The New Testament account of His life bears that out.

While Jesus wept (; ) and was grieved (; ), there is no indication in Scripture that He ever laughed.

He told many somber, sobering stories, and even used sarcasm, but there is no record that He said anything to elicit laughter.

The New Testament account of His life bears that out.

While Jesus wept (; ) and was grieved (; ), there is no indication in Scripture that He ever laughed.

He told many somber, sobering stories, and even used sarcasm, but there is no record that He said anything to elicit laughter.

The fifty-third chapter of Isaiah describes Jesus Christ, the Servant of the Lord and Messiah, as “a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief” (v.

3).

The New Testament account of His life bears that out.

While Jesus wept (; ) and was grieved (; ), there is no indication in Scripture that He ever laughed.

He told many somber, sobering stories, and even used sarcasm, but there is no record that He said anything to elicit laughter.

The New Testament account of His life bears that out.

While Jesus wept (; ) and was grieved (; ), there is no indication in Scripture that He ever laughed.

He told many somber, sobering stories, and even used sarcasm, but there is no record that He said anything to elicit laughter.

And yet the story He told in this text would surely have seemed like a joke to those who heard it.

They would have seen it as laughable, ludicrous, ridiculous, impossible, inconceivable; a joke without a punch line; an impossible scenario.

A great feast like the one of which the Lord spoke, given by a wealthy, prominent man, would have been the social event of the year.

For some, it might have been the highlight of their lives.

No one invited to such a banquet would have dreamed of refusing the invitation.

Nor would such an important person invite the dregs of society to fill his banquet hall.

Jesus was still at the Sabbath-day meal at the home of a Pharisee described in the previous chapter of this volume.

He had been invited in an attempt by the hostile Pharisees to trap Him into violating their man-made Sabbath restrictions by performing a healing (vv.

1–2).

But He turned the tables on them and exposed their hypocrisy, shaming them into silence (vv.

3–6).

Having silenced them, He then took the offensive and told a parable illustrating their duplicity, conceit, and hypocrisy (vv.

7–14).

The Lord had concluded His illustration with a reference to the resurrection and reward of the righteous.

The scribes and Pharisees understood that He was referring to eternal life, and challenging them to humble themselves to receive it.

Earning that resurrection was their supreme hope.

They believed that by enduring the minute prescriptions, deprivation, self-sacrifice, and rituals of their religious system they would gain eternal life in God’s kingdom.

In all false religions the promise of a good life in the future after death motivates people to put up with the restrictions and burdens imposed on them in this life.

Jesus was speaking in familiar terms because the Old Testament pictured the resurrection of the righteous as a magnificent banquet in the presence of God:

The Lord’s reference to the resurrection of the righteous as a banquet was not lost on the guests, who thought of that great future heavenly gathering.

That connection prompted one of those who were reclining at the table with Him to say in response, “Blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!” Bienaventurado el que coma pan en el reino de Dios.

This was a beatitude; a toast directed at himself and his fellow Pharisees, affirming that they will be among the blessed at the heavenly banquet in the kingdom of God.

It was not only a pronouncement of blessing on themselves, but also a scornful rebuke of the Lord’s declaration that they were too proud to enter God’s kingdom (cf.

14:11).

His words bounced off their confidence that their Abrahamic ancestry (cf. ) and adherence to the traditions, regulations, and rituals would secure a place for them at God’s banquet.

Not only did they fully expect to be at that heavenly feast, but also to be in the seats of honor.

The Lord of hosts will prepare a lavish banquet for all peoples on this mountain; a banquet of aged wine, choice pieces with marrow, and refined, aged wine.

And on this mountain He will swallow up the covering which is over all peoples, even the veil which is stretched over all nations.

He will swallow up death for all time, and the Lord God will wipe tears away from all faces, and He will remove the reproach of His people from all the earth; for the Lord has spoken.

And it will be said in that day, “Behold, this is our God for whom we have waited that He might save us.

This is the Lord for whom we have waited; let us rejoice and be glad in His salvation.”

(; cf. ; ; )

Bienaventurado el que coma pan en el reino de Dios.

The Lord of hosts will prepare a lavish banquet for all peoples on this mountain; a banquet of aged wine, choice pieces with marrow, and refined, aged wine.

And on this mountain He will swallow up the covering which is over all peoples, even the veil which is stretched over all nations.

He will swallow up death for all time, and the Lord God will wipe tears away from all faces, and He will remove the reproach of His people from all the earth; for the Lord has spoken.

And it will be said in that day, “Behold, this is our God for whom we have waited that He might save us.

This is the Lord for whom we have waited; let us rejoice and be glad in His salvation.”

(; cf. ; ; )

The Lord’s reference to the resurrection of the righteous as a banquet was not lost on the guests, who thought of that great future heavenly gathering.

That connection prompted one of those who were reclining at the table with Him to say in response, “Blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!”

This was a beatitude; a toast directed at himself and his fellow Pharisees, affirming that they will be among the blessed at the heavenly banquet in the kingdom of God.

It was not only a pronouncement of blessing on themselves, but also a scornful rebuke of the Lord’s declaration that they were too proud to enter God’s kingdom (cf.

14:11).

His words bounced off their confidence that their Abrahamic ancestry (cf. ) and adherence to the traditions, regulations, and rituals would secure a place for them at God’s banquet.

Not only did they fully expect to be at that heavenly feast, but also to be in the seats of honor.

Reina Valera Revisada (1960).

(1998).

().

Miami: Sociedades Bı́blicas Unidas.

This was a beatitude; a toast directed at himself and his fellow Pharisees, affirming that they will be among the blessed at the heavenly banquet in the kingdom of God.

It was not only a pronouncement of blessing on themselves, but also a scornful rebuke of the Lord’s declaration that they were too proud to enter God’s kingdom (cf.

14:11).

His words bounced off their confidence that their Abrahamic ancestry (cf. ) and adherence to the traditions, regulations, and rituals would secure a place for them at God’s banquet.

Not only did they fully expect to be at that heavenly feast, but also to be in the seats of honor.

Jesus always sought to shatter unwarranted religious hope, and never encouraged anyone’s false sense of security, so that arrogant, misguided assumption called for immediate and unmistakable correction.

Following His example is essential to all true evangelism.

Those with an unfounded assumption that they are headed for heaven need to know that they are fatally deceived.

To expect heaven while rejecting Jesus Christ and His gospel is the most deadly and serious of all false hopes (cf.

).

Jesus’ illustration and its application was a direct assault on the delusional self-confidence of the Jewish people, in particular the scribes and Pharisees.

It may be divided into four points: the invitation, the excuses, the inclusion, and the exclusion.

MacArthur, J. (2013).

(pp.

268–270).

Chicago, IL: Moody Publishers.

Body

Jesus was in the midst of a Sabbath dinner party that had grown quite intense.

The party became tension-filled from the moment Jesus stepped through the door because “he was being carefully watched” (v. 1) by the religious leaders who had been invited to the dinner for just that purpose.

And the tension escalated when he healed a man of dropsy (edema in modern medical terminology), then silenced his would-be critics with a deft question and an allusion to their own rabbinical practice of rescuing mere animals but not people on the Sabbath.

As if that were not enough, Jesus went on to criticize both the guests and the host—the guests for seeking the seats of honor, and the host for inviting only those who could return the favor.

Everyone in the room had been deliberately insulted by Jesus.

It is reasonable to imagine that in the silence no one was eating the sumptuous fare.

The party was becoming a disaster.

The host and his friends were silently enduring a theological meltdown.

They were mortified.

A quick-tongued guest then attempted to save the day with a pious exclamation.

The man’s words no doubt had a feigned earnestness to them.

The exclamation sounded good—but it was insincere.

Its pious language evoked everyone’s assent and a momentary hope of escaping Jesus’ onslaught.

The man’s statement mirrored the religious leaders’ corporate confidence.

In essence it meant, “Blessed are the likes of us who will eat at the feast in the kingdom of God.” “Amen!

Well said!

Now pass the condiments…”

“When one of those at the table with him heard this, he said to Jesus, ‘Blessed is the man who will eat at the feast in the kingdom of God’ ” (v.

15).

The man’s words no doubt had a feigned earnestness to them.

The exclamation sounded good—but it was insincere.

Its pious language evoked everyone’s assent and a momentary hope of escaping Jesus’ onslaught.

The man’s statement mirrored the religious leaders’ corporate confidence.

In essence it meant, “Blessed are the likes of us who will eat at the feast in the kingdom of God.” “Amen!

Well said!

Now pass the condiments…”

But their confidence was misleading, and Jesus could not let the exclamation pass—for their souls’ sake.

He knew that in their inmost being there was little desire for God’s kingdom, pious declarations aside.

So there at the Sabbath feast, with the religious leaders at the table, Jesus delivered the Parable of the Great Banquet to expose the true motivations and desires of the religious establishment.

Jesus’ tale issues a warning to every pious heart.