Wheat and Oil

~Luke 16.5-8 So the shrewd manager called in each one of his master’s debtors. He asked the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’
“‘Nine hundred gallons of olive oil,’ he replied.
“The manager told him, ‘Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it four hundred and fifty.' . “Then he asked the second, ‘And how much do you owe?’
“‘A thousand bushels [about 30 tons] of wheat,’ he replied.
“He told him, ‘Take your bill and make it eight hundred.’
“The master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly.

If my calculations are correct 900 gallons of olive oil weigh about 6,840 pounds. I wonder why the price of 6,800 pounds of olive oil can be reduced by 50% while the price of 60,000 pounds of wheat can only be reduced by 20%. I would have thought the oil is more precious, therefore less likely to have a steep reduction in price. Hmmm.

Anyway, both the wheat and the oil appear to be commodities which are dealt with in large quantity.

Here's the Beef

~Luke 15:14-19 After [the wasteful son] had spent everything, there was a severe famine, and he began to be in need. So he hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.
“When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will go back to my father and say: Father, I have sinned . . ..’

What we learn about food here is that in our world, sometimes it doesn't grow, and sometimes people are desperately hungry. Jesus is well aware there are famines when the situation is so bad that a Jewish kid considers eating the lowest thing imaginable: pig slop. The Lord does not answer our "why?" here, but does show a positive result. Falling into hunger and failure brings this young man to the knowledge of his folly and the realization that his best course of action is to humbly return to his father and repent.

~Luke 15.22-24 “But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! . . .Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again....’

The New Testament doesn't have a lot of references to eating beef. I don't think it was a daily food like the oft-mentioned bread. But clearly here, beef is the "let's celebrate" menu item of choice. Good eating for special times--more desirable than eating goat, for example, which is part of the complaint below.

~Luke 15.28-29 “The older brother became angry and . . . answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you . . . . Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. ’

Even eating with them!

~Luke 15.1-7 Tax collectors and other notorious sinners often came to listen to Jesus teach. This made the Pharisees and teachers of religious law complain that he was associating with such sinful people—even eating with them!

It's bad enough that Jesus hung around with undesirable, sketchy (as kids might say nowadays) people, but the fact that he would eat with them apparently put the unacceptability of this behavior right over the top!

Why would who a person eats with be even more telling than who he generally associates with?

Salt 2

~Luke 14.34 “Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile; it is thrown out. Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.”

Today we hear far more about the dangers of too much salt than its benefits. Obviously God did not intend us to have so much of this stuff that we cause ourselves high blood pressure and other health problems. Salt has served people well as a preservative over the years, and in the right amounts it's a valuable flavor enhancer.

Looking more directly at the passage, I wonder, is it really possible for salt to lose its saltiness? I've never heard of that happening.

Some advice and a story from the dinner table in Luke 14

~Luke 14:2, 7- One Sabbath, ... Jesus went to eat in the house of a prominent Pharisee . . . .
When he noticed how the guests picked the places of honor at the table, he told them this parable: “When someone invites you to a wedding feast, do not take the place of honor, for a person more distinguished than you may have been invited. If so, the host who invited both of you will come and say to you, ‘Give this person your seat.’ Then, humiliated, you will have to take the least important place. But when you are invited, take the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he will say to you, ‘Friend, move up to a better place.’ Then you will be honored in the presence of all the other guests. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

Not a word about the food at this meal, but Jesus advises us as guests on choosing a seat at the table.

~Luke 14:12-13 Then Jesus said to his host, “When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or sisters, your relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, 14 and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”

Here's advice for the host on choosing guests for your banquet.

~Luke 14:15-24 ...one of those at the table with him ... said to Jesus, “Blessed is the one who will eat at the feast in the kingdom of God.”
Jesus replied: “A certain man was preparing a great banquet and invited many guests. At the time of the banquet he sent his servant to tell those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’
“But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said, ‘I have just bought a field,. .. . Please excuse me.’
“Another said, ‘I’m on my way to try out my new oxen.’
“Still another said, ‘I just got married, so I can’t come.’
“The servant came back and reported this to his master. Then the owner of the house became angry and ordered his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame.’
“‘Sir,’ the servant said, ‘what you ordered has been done, but there is still room.’
“Then the master told his servant, ‘Go out to the roads and country lanes and compel them to come in, so that my house will be full. I tell you, not one of those who were invited will get a taste of my banquet.’”

The Kingdom of God is like a banquet--plenty of good things to share as we rejoice together. Abundant good food is one picture of what God has waiting for us.

Of course we're your friends. We've eaten with you.

~Luke 13.22-27 Jesus went through the towns and villages, teaching as he went, always pressing on toward Jerusalem. Someone asked him, “Lord, will only a few be saved?”
He replied, “Work hard to enter the narrow door to God’s Kingdom, for many will try to enter but will fail. When the master of the house has locked the door, it will be too late. You will stand outside knocking and pleading, ‘Lord, open the door for us!’ But he will reply, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from.’ Then you will say, ‘But we ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets.’ And he will reply, ‘I tell you, I don’t know you or where you come from. Get away from me, all you who do evil.’

Although in other places the Bible makes it clear that we cannot earn our way to heaven, Jesus here expresses that he does expect us to "work hard" at living a Kingdom-worthy life.

The food thought here is that people consider eating with someone as confirmation of relationship. "Of course we're your friends! We've eaten with you."

Who could they be?

~John 10:16 I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd.

Who could these other sheep be? Could Jesus have appeared to American Indians as the Great Spirit? Could he have put in a run to beings on another planet?

Gotta wonder.

Bad day for a Pharisee

~John 9 No food here, but I love this story and can't pass it by without an entry.

Picture a typical Pharisee of first-century Jerusalem; let's call him Phari. He has already had several unpleasant run-ins with this insulting young upstart Jesus, and stories about miraculous things the guy has supposedly done have been circulating for over a year. Phari has had enough. This latest rave that Jesus healed a man born blind is so ridiculous that Phari decides to trouble himself to get to the bottom of it and show the uneducated crowds that they are being duped.

Unfortunately for him, the attempt does not go well, and once again Phari finds himself the object of snickers as he first questions the man born blind, then his parents, then the man again. In the end, all he could do was throw them all out of the temple in frustration. It's all there in chapter 9. Treat yourself!

Yeast 2

~Luke 13.20-21 He also asked, “What else is the Kingdom of God like? It is like the yeast a woman used in making bread. Even though she put only a little yeast in three measures of flour, it permeated every part of the dough.”

The Luke 12.1 reference to yeast was negative: hypocrisy spreads like yeast through dough. This uses the same spreading yeast to communicate how a tiny bit of the Kingdom of God can also spread far and wide to accomplish a good purpose. Yea!

Fruit tree

~Luke 13.6-9 Then Jesus told this story: “A man planted a fig tree in his garden and came again and again to see if there was any fruit on it, but he was always disappointed. Finally, he said to his gardener, ‘I’ve waited three years, and there hasn’t been a single fig! Cut it down. It’s just taking up space in the garden.’
“The gardener answered, ‘Sir, give it one more chance. Leave it another year, and I’ll give it special attention and plenty of fertilizer. 9 If we get figs next year, fine. If not, then you can cut it down.’”

God must love fruit. It's one of his big examples of how we are to live as his followers. Like a fruit tree, we are to bear fruit too. Our fruit may be good character traits (fruits of the Spirit) or other lost and hungry people shown the way to God's goodness and grace. Perhaps sometimes good deeds can be counted as fruit. A tree or a person that his not bearing fruit is not fulfilling its purpose.

Figs. I really should try one sometime.

the Serving Lord

~Luke 12.35-37 “Be dressed ready for service and keep your lamps burning, like men waiting for their master to return from a wedding banquet, so that when he comes and knocks they can immediately open the door for him. It will be good for those servants whose master finds them watching when he comes. I tell you the truth, he will dress himself to serve, will have them recline at the table and will come and wait on them.

What a picture! Coming from a wedding feast himself, the master of the estate will show appreciation to those servants who are ready and anticipating his return by--what else?--putting on an apron and serving them a meal.

On the other hand, as seen in the following verses, those who abuse their responsibility to feed others and abuse their own bodies with food and alcohol will be called to account.

~Luke 12.42-48 The Lord answered, “Who then is the faithful and wise manager, whom the master puts in charge of his servants to give them their food allowance at the proper time? It will be good for that servant whom the master finds doing so when he returns. I tell you the truth, he will put him in charge of all his possessions. But suppose the servant says to himself, ‘My master is taking a long time in coming,’ and he then begins to beat the menservants and maidservants and to eat and drink and get drunk. The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of. He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the unbelievers.