The contrast between the two great subjects of Luke 14, is both instructive and solemn. The great supper which grace provides, and to which the most outcast ones are welcome, is followed by a proclamation very momentous, as to what is involved in following Christ in this day of His rejection. For the first, there is no claim, exaction, or demand whatever: for the other all must be abandoned and forsaken absolutely. Let us inquire as to the differences so markedly presented here. The supper is grace, the provision of the blessed God according to the largeness and ability of His heart: not only so, but in its costly and precious providing, it is the expression of His nature, so that therein is unfolded His own satisfaction and delight as well as the surpassing blessedness of that scene where every heart is satisfied with that which it is the joy of God’s heart to provide. It would be impossible to conceive anything more wonderful than this, it over-reaches all our narrow and contracted thoughts of His grace, and it rebukes our natural conception and ideas of God Himself. The one whose ejaculation of “blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God,” gave occasion to the blessed Lord to expound the supper, must have marveled at the magnificence of the scene described, compared with his own thoughts, but what is it to the soul now taught and led by the Holy Ghost to enter into it by faith? It never can be too earnestly insisted upon that it is not a part of grace, but the whole which is unfolded in the supper; it is not the mere relief of a sin-stricken conscience or a jaded heart, but the rich resources of a sphere where want is unknown. Oh the blessedness and satisfaction of lying down here and surveying the vastness of the love, which not only entitles us to all it provides, but makes us welcome even to share the deep and blessed joys of God Himself; where He has His own festivities.
It is sorrowful to see how this magnificence of grace is received by man: he has no taste for God’s supper, the old wine of nature is preferred to the new wine of grace, and as the one is cultivated, the other is refused. It is true the refusal is not couched in offensive terms, it is polite and refined enough, but it is notwithstanding a genuine and distinct refusal, and “I pray thee have me excused,” is a solemn commentary upon the word of God: “No man having drunk old wine straightway desireth new, for he saith the old is better.”
It is well to observe also, that not one of the good things of nature here named as reasons why the invited guests might fairly decline the invitation of grace, are bad things in themselves; they are not what are sometimes called unlawful things, on the contrary they are what may be termed good things, and herein lies the snare. Things bad and unlawful would be readily owned as such, and never for a moment placed in competition with grace, and its rich feast; but the sweets of nature, and its providing here named, are all the things which are lawfully open to man, but as the heart finds its treasure and object in them, Christ is superseded and set aside, there is no taste for the supper. May this have its weight with all our souls at this moment; the joys of nature have the tendency to distract the heart, and this distraction is the bane of real spirituality and heavenly-mindedness. To him whose heart is in the world, or whose exercises of soul to walk with God are not only on the surface, but scant and shallow, it may seem otherwise; but not to him whose eye is single, and whose heart above all desires to be in the secret of the Lord at this time. May the Lord teach His beloved people the surpassing delight and joy of this rich feast of His.
The next subject is discipleship; and here the contrast with the supper is immense; for clearly to follow Christ rejected, involves the breaking with everything; it is impossible to have two hearts, a heart for Christ, and for the world. The deplorable picture which is being presented at this moment is the effort of many to hold the world and Christ; may the Lord in His great grace open eyes to see the impossibility of it! Alas, discipleship as here unfolded is old-fashioned and out of date, and those who seek to follow in this path are reviled and aspersed by the half hearted and the worldling. The consecrating principle of grace spoken of here, salt, that holy separation unto God, alas! at what a discount it is, among the professed servants of Christ, and even among those who outwardly remain where it is evident their hearts and affections are not! What a description the Lord here gives of an unspiritual saint—salt that has lost his savor, and which is neither fit for the land, nor yet for the dung-hill, but men cast it out. May the Lord awaken up conscience among His people, that they may see the faith and claims of a rejected Lord and Christ amid the confusion and darkness of the present moment.