We live in a dark, fallen, confused and chaotic world. Darkness covers the Earth and a deep and profound darkness covers the peoples of the world. The powerful and destructive forces of Satan, sin and death have affected every aspect of who we are – our relationship to God; our relationships to one another; these overwhelming forces have corrupted our body, soul, spirit; mind, emotion and will. We desperately need redemption, but we can’t redeem ourselves from the corrupting forces of Satan, sin and death. We are in the greatest need of salvation, but we are totally incapable of saving ourselves!

Yeshua really is the sinless Son of God who alone can rescue us from our dilemma! He really is the mighty Immanuel – God with us! The Jewish Messiah really came from Heaven to Earth! He always did what was perfectly right. Everything He said and did perfectly pleased His Heavenly Father. He understood the mind of God, the will of His Father, the Torah of the Lord better than anyone else – better than any of Israel’s greatest sages, scholars, rabbis and Torah experts of His day – or any day.

When the long-awaited Messiah finally came, how did the religious leaders of the Chosen People respond to the Seed of the Woman? With recognition and acceptance and love and loyalty and faith? With cries of Baruch HaBa B’Shem Adonai? Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord? With joy and enthusiasm? No. With unbelief and rejection.

Why? Part of the reason was that in Messiah’s day, some of the teachings of Judaism had been corrupted. Some of the interpretations had deviated from true Torah, and Yeshua knew it. Some of the man-made traditions were wrong, and Messiah went against them. Theological error is very dangerous because if the truth sets us free from the destructive forces of Satan, sin and death, then error keeps us enslaved to those harmful powers.

In addition to the problem of embracing very serious theological errors, another problem was that some of the values of our people had become too materialistic. Messiah understood an overemphasis on materialism is bad, and He challenged those worldly values.

Messiah was very wise in Torah and graciously and lovingly tried to correct the errors of the Judaism of His day. But, instead of accepting and understanding and appreciating what Supreme Rabbi Yeshua was doing, many of the leaders resented Him for it. It wasn’t easy for the young rabbi from Nazareth to challenge the religious authorities and go against the majority of the nation, but for the sake of the truth and faithfulness to God and the benefit of people, Messiah did so – and He suffered because of it.

Messiah asks us to have the same attitudes He did, and challenge the theological and materialistic errors of our day, and be willing to go against the majority, and go against our religious and political leaders who are in error.

The Holy Spirit, speaking to us through His servant Luke, begins with yet another account of another controversy concerning the legality of miraculous healing taking place on the Sabbath. This incident occurred in the home of one of the leaders of the Pharisees.

It happened that when He went into the house of one of the leaders of the Pharisees on the Sabbath to eat bread, they were watching Him closely. And there in front of Him was a man suffering from dropsy (an abnormal accumulation of fluid beneath the skin, or in one or more cavities of the body). And Yeshua answered and spoke to the experts in the Torah and Pharisees, saying, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath, or not”? But they kept silent. And He took hold of him and healed him, and sent him away. And He said to them, “Which one of you will have a son or an ox fall into a well, and will not immediately pull him out on a Sabbath day”? And they could make no reply to this.

First, Messiah asked these religious leaders a question designed to get to the heart of the issue, and lead them to the right conclusion. The correct answer to His question is yes – it is legal, it is in keeping with Torah, to heal on the Sabbath.

Second, to show that Yeshua was right, God used His Son to immediately and fully heal the man, demonstrating God’s approval of Yeshua and that Yeshua’s teaching on this issue was correct.

Third, Yeshua gave further teaching to clarify the issue. Here is the argument of Israel’s Supreme Rabbi: If, on the Sabbath, human beings are willing to work in order to meet the needs of their animals or children who are in danger of harm, or to prevent them from suffering, it is right for Messiah to be used by God to meet the needs of human beings for healing. The human need to be removed from danger and to be alleviated from suffering is more important than a legalistic observance of the Sabbath.

Messiah and us – turning the world’s values upside down by purposely humbling ourselves

We need healing on the outside – physical healing, which one day Messiah will completely and eternally provide for all those who know who He is and join themselves to Him; and we need healing on the inside – mental and emotional and attitudinal healing – which Messiah also can provide.

Human nature has been deeply corrupted by the Fall. This is manifested in many ways. One of the ways we have been damaged is by having feelings of inadequacy. So often we feel so insecure. Frequently we don’t feel good about ourselves.

Maybe we don’t feel good about ourselves because we aren’t good! Maybe we feel inadequate – because we are inadequate! Maybe we feel inferior – because we are less than what we should be!

There are right ways to deal with these feelings of inadequacy and inferiority and insecurity and wrong ways to deal with them. Let’s start with the wrong ways: by comparing ourselves to others; by having unhealthy desires to be first; by trying to be seen as better than others and by putting ourselves above others.

We try to feel better about ourselves by competing with others in various ways. If we win some or all of the various competitions in life, then we think that we are better than others, and we feel good about ourselves.

We complete in many ways:

We compete to gain higher social status.

We compete for money and wealth.

We compete in our careers.

We compete for power and control over others.

We compete in the arena of looks – trying to make ourselves prettier, or more handsome than others.

We compete to gain more and better things – wearing more expensive clothes, driving a more expensive car, living in a bigger home, buying more expensive toys and gadgets and things.

We compete in sports and games and athletics.

We compete in the arena of education, to get higher grades, better test scores, and graduate from the most prestigious schools, receive academic degrees and honors. We want to be seen as brighter than others, smarter than others.

We want to come from what is considered the best family, the best people and the most prestigious nation.

There is even competition in the area of religion. There is competition for place and status within individual congregations. Often there is competition between religious leaders for status and influence.

In general, we want to be seen as better than others, as more important than others. We want to come before others, to be above others. If only we can get in that higher position, we think: I am not inadequate. I am worthwhile. My life is significant. I am important. I can feel good about myself.

Sometimes to raise ourselves up, we will put others down.

But, all these are the wrong ways to deal with our sense of inadequacy, and try and make ourselves feel good about ourselves. Yeshua wants to teach us the right way. Instead of comparing ourselves to others, and competing with others, and trying to raise ourselves up by putting others down, Yeshua teaches us to do the opposite! To raise ourselves up we must lower ourselves and raise others up!

And He began speaking a parable to the invited guests when He noticed how they had been picking out the places of honor at the table, saying to them, “When you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, do not take the place of honor, for someone more distinguished than you may have been invited by him, and he who invited you both will come and say to you, ‘Give your place to this man,’ and then in disgrace you proceed to occupy the last place. But when you are invited, go and recline at the last place, so that when the one who has invited you comes, he may say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher’; then you will have honor in the sight of all who are at the table with you. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted”.

The right way to feel good about ourselves is not by competing with others. It is not by putting others down.

If we get reconciled to the good God from whom the whole world is estranged – and that is the real source of all of our problems; if we get right with the Creator, and have genuine peace with God; if we know that Yeshua is indeed the only Savior and Redeemer; if we know that we are saved, and that we are approved of by the One whose approval really counts; if we know that God loves us and we are one of His beloved and precious children, and that we will live forever with Him; if we understand that God makes each individual as a unique entity, with his own special gifts and talents according to the will of the Creator – we won’t need to raise ourselves above others, or put others down, or climb over them, or stab them in the back to feel adequate and feel good about ourselves. Our security, our sense of well-being, our sense of self will be rooted and grounded in God and God’s love for us and His design and plan for us and His acceptance of us!

Then we will be free to raise others up; to love others, to help them reach their God-given potential. We won’t be threatened by them reaching their potential, and by the blessing of the Lord on them and by their successes.

Do you know that God really loves you? That you are loved, accepted, welcomed, honored by the Creator of all things? That you are precious to Him? That you are inherently valuable, because you have been made in the image of God, and are one of His exalted and eternal sons and daughters because of the redemption provided by the Messiah? That you are His special creation, with gifts and talents that He has given you?

Messiah and us – turning the world’s values upside down by making friends with those farther down the social and economic ladder

It is natural for us to want to be with those who are at the same or higher level on the social and economic ladder. It helps us maintain or increase our social and economic status. It is unnatural and less desirable to associate with those lower than us on the social and economic ladder. What benefits can we get from that? Yeshua addresses those wrong values as well.

And He also went on to say to the one who had invited Him, “When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, otherwise they may also invite you in return and that will be your repayment. But when you give a reception, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed, since they do not have the means to repay you; for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous”.

In our social interactions, we are to make special efforts to reach out to those who are at a lower level on the social and economic scale. They too are human beings, made in the image of God, and equally valuable to the Creator of all flesh. To the God who does not look at the outside, but at the heart, differences in social and economic status make no difference. Nor should they to us.

It is the poor and the needy who especially need our help. Since they might not be able to repay us for our graciousness extended to them in this world, the righteous God who is aware of all things, will repay us in the World To Come. Let that that knowledge, that faith, change our values and our motivations and who we make efforts to relate to.

Messiah and us – turning the world’s values upside down by understanding that many of the prominent religious people won’t be saved, while others will

When one of those who were reclining at the table with Him heard this, he said to Him, “Blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God”!

True! The problem is that those whom most of the people thought would be eating bread in the kingdom of God would not be enjoying the delights of that very real place, and many of those whom people thought would not enjoy eternal life, would eat bread in God’s Kingdom – and Yeshua knew it!

But He said to him, “A man was giving a big dinner, and he invited many; and at the dinner hour he sent his slave to say to those who had been invited, ‘Come; for everything is ready now’. But they all alike began to make excuses. The first one said to him, ‘I have bought a piece of land and I need to go out and look at it; please consider me excused’. Another one said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to try them out; please consider me excused’. Another one said, ‘I have married a wife, and for that reason I cannot come’”.

All of these people who had been invited to this big dinner, which took a lot of expense and preparation, and had been expected to come – developed other priorities. They dishonored the host who had graciously invited them, and they refused to come.

And the slave came back and reported this to his master. Then the head of the household became angry and said to his slave, ‘Go out at once into the streets and lanes of the city and bring in here the poor and crippled and blind and lame’.

Because the first group refused to come to the dinner, those lower down on the social and economic ladder, who were not originally invited to this nice dinner, were invited. But unlike the first group, they did not make excuses and refuse to attend. This second, poorer group came!

And the slave said, ‘Master, what you commanded has been done, and still there is room.’ And the master said to the slave, ‘Go out into the highways and along the hedges, and compel them to come in, so that my house may be filled.

This third group are those even lower down on the social and economic scale. They did not receive a mere invitation, but more forceful means were used to get them to come to the dinner. And, sure enough, they responded and came to the banquet in the great home.

Now Messiah gives us the point of the story: For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste of my dinner.

Yes, many people will enter the very real and wonderful and amazing and eternal kingdom of God. But, many of the Chosen People who seemed so religious, like the Torah experts and the Pharisees and the priests, who received the initial invitation, wouldn’t experience eternal life, because they wouldn’t humble themselves. They refused to recognize that Yeshua was the Messiah that God had sent and given His approval to.

But, many of the common people, who weren’t so religious on the outside, but who had simple faith, and believed in God and Torah, were able to understand that Yeshua was the Messiah, and humble themselves, and they would be saved.

And, many of those at the very bottom of the socio-economic ladder – sinners and tax collectors and prostitutes, who were able to recognize that Yeshua was the Messiah, and were willing to humble themselves and repent, would also be saved.

And, eventually, many of those very far from God and salvation – the uncircumcised, the despised Gentiles, would also enter into the glorious kingdom of God.

What makes the difference between salvation and damnation, life and death, Heaven and Hell? The willingness to humble ourselves. Coming to God on His terms – simple recognition that Yeshua is the Messiah and Lord and Savior and Immanuel – God with us. Is that you?

Many of the Jewish people who lived during the past 2,000 years are going to be very surprised, as they see the despised Messianic Jews and Gentile Christians being welcomed into the New Jerusalem, and themselves excluded!

And, many people who are alive today, who claim to be Christians, who may be baptized, and go to church, and pray and sing and worship, they too will not enter God’s wonderful and eternal kingdom, because their religion is not based on humility and repentance, and a real relationship with the living Messiah. Their religion is form over substance. They too have developed other priorities, and in essence they too, like the experts in Torah and many of the Pharisees of Yeshua’s day, have refused to come.

May God prevent that from happening to us, and enable each one of us to really know the Lord, and find our adequacy because of our relationship to God, and get the mental and emotional and attitudinal healing that Messiah provides, and reject the world’s corrupt values,  and humble ourselves, and lift others up, and reach out to all people, and bring the message of salvation and the love of God to rich and poor and Jew and Gentile, and eternally serve the Living Three-In-One God!