HOMILETICS. Vere. 1-24.-The great supper. The feast of which Christ was part:iking bad been carefully prepared, and was e.n event of some consequ"'llce in the town. This may be inferred not only from the tone of the Lord's remarks, but also from the intima- tions of the evangelists. Thus from ver. 12 it appears that the Pharisee had gatbcrtd together the elite of the place, along with his more intimate friends and his kimmen. From ver. 7 we learn that there had been an eager scramble on the part of the guestH for the chief places, the precedencies, and dignities. It was the observation ot' this which cal1ed forth the saying (ver. 11), "Whosoever exalteth himself shall be abaser\; and he that humb!eth himself shall be exalted." Notice, too, as proving the care which had been bestowed on the entertainment, that there was an understandin1; among the more prominent guests that the movements and words of the invited Prophet should be closely watched. In fact, the supper was a trap laid. To complete the scheme, e. man was introduced (ver. 2) who laboured under a severe illness- dropsy; a man whose presence might be a temptation to the loving-hearted Healer to violate the sacredness of the sabbath. Jesus, we are told (ver, 3), "answering," i.e. knowing the intention of the lawyers and Pharisees, put a question to them which revealed the thoughts of the heart, whilst it so vindicated his work of mercy that it reduced his bypocritical:friends to silence: "they could not answer him again to these things" (ver. 6). This great supper is the text of one of the most beautiful of our Lord's parables. The introduction of the parable is very simple. He had taught his host a lesson of charity (vers. 12-14), when one of the company, catching at the last clause, "recompensed at the resurrection of the just,'' and giving this the accepted Pharisee-meaning-a banquet at which the elect of the nation would sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (presuming, of course, that he would have a place at that banquet)-exclaims, "Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God" (ver. 15). "Yes," virtually replies the Prophet," only recollect that this kingdom of God is not the blessedness which you imagine; nay, since the call to it has beeu rejected by those who were bidden-i.e. the covenant-people-that call will be extended, in the fulness of its glory, to the publicans and sinners whom you reject-the people of the streets and lanes; it will be extended further still, even to the ignorant heathen- the people of the highways and hedges. For (representing in these words the giver of the festival)•• None of those men that were bidden shall taste of my supper" (ver. 24). Such was the primary application of the parable. In its details it is entirely within the circle of prophetic ideas. The supper is an Old Testament symbol of the day of Christ, the Messiah (see Isa. xxv. 6). The " many bidden" were those who, having Moses and the prophets, were possessors both of the Word heard outwardly with the ear, and of the grace through which it is grafted inwardly in the heart. 'l'he servant at the supper-time denotes that preaching of the kingdom which began with John the Baptist, and was carried on by our Lord and those whom " he sent before his face into every city and place, whither he himself would come." The excuses intimate the pleas on which the invited, with one consent, turned away from the call. And the further missions of the servant, first keeping within the city, to the streets and lanes, and, secondly, quitting the precincts of the city, to the highways and hedges, denote, as has been said, the inclusion of the excluded classes of the Jews, along with the Sama- ritans, and the bidding of the Gentiles to the light of the gospel. " I said," thus ancient prophecy expressed it (Isa. lxv. 1), "Behold me, behold me, unto a nation that was not called by my Name." Passing from the first relations of the parable to those which more directly concern us, every part of it is suggestive of some aspect of Christian truth or life. Notice three points- I. 'l.'nE HOSPI1'ALITY OF Gon. God is the Presence shadowed forth in the " man who makes the great supper." In the notion of such a supper we see the Divine hospitality. A supper carries with it the thought of an abundant provision, of satisfaction for all want of e.n infinite and various fulness. And is not this associated in the Scriptures with 'the very name of God? 'l.'ake, e.g., one of the most beautiful utterances of the PsRltcr, r~. xxxvi. 5-9. Indeed, the mRnifold revelation of God in nature! provi~ qence, grace, in the firmame11t above us, the earth around u~, the great and wide sea. 80 THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO BT, LUKE, [oH, xiv. 1-86.
our own c0nsciousn888, the Word who in the beginning was with God and wRs God- God him~olf in every form of his communication, is the exceeding joy of the pure in heRrt. .~is. ~eR.tn888 _is,. so hospit.abl~. It makes room for all our littleness and we11knesa m its lap to he. .As Faber, m , erses of sweetest music, baa sung- ., Thus doth thy grandeur ma.ke us grand ourselves: 'Tia goodness ma.kes us fear; Thy grea.tness ma.kcs us bra.ve, as children are When those they love are near. "Grcat God ! our lowliness takea heart to pla,y Beneath tbe shadow of thy state ; The only oomfort of our littleness Is tha.t thou art so great. " Then on thy gra.ndeur I will la,y me down ; Already life is heaven for me; No cradled child more softly lies tha.n I: • Come soon, Eternity.'"