Luke 14:7-11 And he put forth a parable to those which were bidden, when he marked how they chose out the chief rooms; saying to them.… "When He marked how they..." The book of daily life was Christ's great text-book. What every man did, gave Him a subject; every word He heard started a novel theme. We poor preachers of the nineteenth century often cannot find s text, and say to one another, "What have you been preaching about? I wish I could get hold of another subject or two." Poor professional dunderheads! and the great book of life — joy, sorrow, tragedy, comedy — is open night and day. Jesus Christ put forth a parable, not after He had been shutting Himself up for a fortnight, and reading the classic literature of immemorial time, but "when He marked how they..." Keep your eyes open if you would preach well keep your eyes open upon the moving panorama immediately in front of you, omit nothing, see every line and every hue, and hold your ear open to catch every tone, loud and sweet, low and full of sighing, and all the meaning of the masonry of God. Jesus Christ was, in this sense of the term, pre-eminently an extemporaneous speaker, not an extemporaneous thinker. There is no occasion for all your elaborate preparation of words, if you have an elaborate preparation of yourself. Herein the preacher would do well, not so much to prepare his sermon as to prepare himself — his life, his manhood, his soul. As for the words, let him rule over them, call them like servants to do his behest, and order them to express his regal will. What sermons our Saviour would have if He stood here now! He would mark how that man came in and tried to occupy two seats all to himself — a cunning fallow, a man who has great skill in spreading his coat out and looking big, so as to deceive a whole staff of stewards. What a sermon lie would have evoked on selfishness, on want of nobleness and dignity of temper! How the Lord would have shown him how to make himself half the size, so as to accommodate some poor weak person who had struggled miles to be here, and is obliged to stand. I have been enabled to count the number of pews from the front of the pulpit where the man is. I paused there. My Lord — keener, truer — would have founded a sermon on the ill-behaviour. He would have spoken about us all. He would have known who came here through mere curiosity, who was thinking about finery and amusement, who was shopkeeping even in the church, buying and selling to-morrow in advance; and upon every one of us, preacher and hearers, lie would have founded a discourse. Do you wonder now at His graphic, vivid talk? Do you wonder now whence He got His accent Can you marvel any longer to what He was indebted for His emphasis, His clearness, His directness of speech, His practical exhortation? He put forth a parable when He remarked how they did the marketing, dressed themselves, trained or mistrained their families, went to church for evil purposes, spake hard words about one another, took the disennobling instead of the elevating view of their neigh hours' work and conversation. The hearers gave that preacher His text, and what they gave lie took, and sent back again in flame or in blessing. (Joseph Parker, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: And he put forth a parable to those which were bidden, when he marked how they chose out the chief rooms; saying unto them, |
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