Who is the man that is afraid and whose heart is faint?

And 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. I ask you, consider me excused.’ And another one said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to try them out. I ask you, consider me excused.’ And another one said, ‘I have married a wife, and for that reason I cannot come.’ And when the slave came back, he reported these things 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 the blind and the lame.’

Luke 14:16-21

Introduction

This, the parable of the dinner, is one I thought I would avoid posting about. There is a lot of talk about who each set of guests might represent. Maybe the first set of guests are the religious leaders while the second are the sinners. Or maybe the first set of guests are the Jewish people and the second are the Gentile nations. It was a conversation I had no interest in inserting myself into, given there are volumes written on the subject by men much smarter than I am.

But something that struck me when reading through this parable today is the superficial parallel between the excuses given by the first invited guests and the allowed excuses to avoid wartime service given in Deuteronomy 20.

If you go out to battle

In Deuteronomy 20, conscription conditions are set forth for the newly inaugurated governance of the people of Israel. It begins with a strong exhortation to remember God’s faithfulness: “If you go out to battle against your enemies and see horses and chariots and people more numerous than you, do not be afraid of them; for Yahweh your God, who brought you up from the land of Egypt, is with you.” Immediately the people are commanded not to fear their enemies. The reason given is because God is with them. But then it continues to offer a list of reasons why someone might choose not to enter into battle:

The officers also shall speak to the people, saying, ‘Who is the man that has built a new house and has not dedicated it? Let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle and another man dedicate it. Who is the man that has planted a vineyard and has not begun to use its fruit? Let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle and another man begin to use its fruit. And who is the man that is engaged to a woman and has not married her? Let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle and another man marry her.’

Notice how two of the three excuses are nearly identical: 1) he has betrothed/married a wife; 2) he has planted/purchased a vineyard/field. But why are they considered valid in Deuteronomy as excuses for not going to war, but invalid in Christ’s parable? And what does war have to do with a dinner party?

None of those men who were invited

Not included in the header text is the conclusion of this parable, “For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste of my dinner.” There still remains a meaningful connection to Deuteronomy, because once a man has excused himself from service, he has self-selected his own removal from the witness of God’s faithfulness. Just as only 300 out of an initial 32,000 men marched with Gideon against the Midianites, only a small number of those invited to hear the gospel will eat the fruit of it (Matthew 7:14). And there is one valid excuse given in Deuteronomy which I left out above. That is, “Who is the man that is afraid and whose heart is faint? Let him go and return to his house, so that he might not make his brothers’ hearts melt like his heart.”

“But the people were commanded not to fear,” you might object. And you would be right. They were commanded not to fear. In Deuteronomy, God does not want unfaithful Israelites entering into a battle filled with fear of man rather than fear of God. As He demonstrated time and time again, God can destroy armies with 300 men (Judges 7), men wielding trumpets (Joshua 6), and even no men at all (2 Kings 19). And just as the fearful Israelites were precluded from witnessing God’s glory and faithfulness, so too are those whose fear of man outweighs their love for the gospel precluded from experiencing reconciliation to God by the blood of Jesus Christ.

So, Christian, when you go out to battle against your enemies, which are not flesh and blood but powers and principalities (Ephesians 6:12), and you see systems and governments and armies more numerous than you rallied against the name of Christ, do not be afraid of them; for the God who raised Jesus Christ from the dead, dealing the decisive blow to your greatest foes lives and is with you (Romans 8:11).

May the Lord bless you and conform you into the image of His Son.