Parable of the great banquet

[Ben Collyer]

Hi all, Just reading the parable.

Luke 14:12-14

He said also to the man who had invited him, “When you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return and you be repaid.
But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind,
and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just.”

My commentary says:
It would be a grotesque error if one were to conclude that one should treat the handicapped with kindness so that one could receive a reward. That is the same calculating, selfish spirit which Jesus is criticizing. Rather, those who do not live in such a calculating way will paradoxically receive a reward. The rewards come to those who are not living for them.

Schreiner, T. R. (1995). Luke. In Evangelical Commentary on the Bible (Vol. 3, p. 826). Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House.

the commentary seems to suggest that in order to receive a reward in heaven for caring for the poor, lame and blind, we must perform the good deed without any desire or conscious awareness that what we are doing will be rewarded. is this true?

your thoughts please.

 

[Halbhh]

The right way is to do it from love, which is the central commandment being illustrated by this also. We invite those who cannot pay us back in any way, out of actaul love. Love for them, because we don't want them to be alone for instance. Now, actual love for others is something many of us can have more of than we already have been used to in the past by first doing the greatest commandment fully.

 

[~Anastasia~]

I agree with Halbhh. The correct motive is love.

I was taught by some of my former denominations - often - about expecting rewards. Now I don't remember why all that fuss was made. The truth is, if you are reward-motivated, you can't just tell yourself not to think about it. Resisting an idea ("don't think about an elephant") never works, and produces the opposite.

It takes time to be changed, but one can learn to do for the motive of love. We OWE love, because God has shown us love. Just as we ought to offer mercy, and forgiveness, because we have received mercy and forgiveness.

 

[Ben Collyer]

I agree with Halbhh. The correct motive is love.

I was taught by some of my former denominations - often - about expecting rewards. Now I don't remember why all that fuss was made. The truth is, if you are reward-motivated, you can't just tell yourself not to think about it. Resisting an idea ("don't think about an elephant") never works, and produces the opposite.

It takes time to be changed, but one can learn to do for the motive of love. We OWE love, because God has shown us love. Just as we ought to offer mercy, and forgiveness, because we have received mercy and forgiveness.

reformed theologians often say that heavenly rewards were given as a motivation.

question: if I see a street beggar and he asks me for a meal, and I have compassion on him and buy him a meal, but im reminded of the doctrine of rewards. does that mean my motive is wrong?

 

[Ben Collyer]

We are not dabbling on the edge of things. We are talking about the very center of motivation for Christian living. Jesus said, “When you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return and you be repaid. But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you.” And then he adds this: “For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just” (Luke 14:12–14).

Jesus didn’t add that last promise for nothing. It begins with the word “for” or “because.” You will be blessed in making sacrifices in this world to love others because you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just. He intends for that to be a motivation, an incentive, a strengthening

- John Piper

 

[~Anastasia~]

reformed theologians often say that heavenly rewards were given as a motivation.

question: if I see a street beggar and he asks me for a meal, and I have compassion on him and buy him a meal, but im reminded of the doctrine of rewards. does that mean my motive is wrong?

All I can tell you is that under some reformed theology and their descendants, I was often reminded of rewards and that was dangled as a motive.

Now, to be honest, I never think of it. It seems foreign. If we are going to be children of the God of the universe and all things are His ... do you suppose He will give special good things to some and withhold them from others in order to "reward" them? If so, what things?

If the idea is bigger mansions, or more crowns, or what have you - I submit that this represents a focus on the material. I honestly don't think that's what is going to concern us in the life of the age to come.

God Himself is our reward. The more we love in this life, the more we will be in His likeness, the closer our communion with Him.

But I don't even believe the next life is a static existence. Those who are more like Him won't be in a state that is impossible to achieve by those who are not perhaps so much like Him. I think they too will have the opportunity to grow in communion with Him as well.

And one won't be jealous of another.

This is not my mere supposition but the teaching of the ancient Church. IMO it fits much better with the nature of God, who is not limited. It is we who are limited, but He helps us. And He IS love.

 

[Doug Melven]

When I give freely to others expecting no reward, I am blessed.
There is a sense of freedom knowing that whatever I gave away did not have a hold on me and I am becoming more like Christ in learning to give as He gave.
And if you are giving to reap rewards in Heaven, you are showing where your focus is.
It is not on things of this world, but on Heaven where Christ is.