"Parable of the Great Banquet"
Luke 14:15-24
Pastor John Bright
Luke 14 15 When one of those at the table with him heard this, he said to Jesus, “Blessed is the one who will eat at the feast in the kingdom of God.”
16 Jesus replied: “A certain man was preparing a great banquet and invited many guests. 17 At the time of the banquet he sent his servant to tell those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’
18 “But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said, ‘I have just bought a field, and I must go and see it. Please excuse me.’
19 “Another said, ‘I have just bought five yoke of oxen, and I’m on my way to try them out. Please excuse me.’
20 “Still another said, ‘I just got married, so I can’t come.’
21 “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.’
22 “‘Sir,’ the servant said, ‘what you ordered has been done, but there is still room.’
23 “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. 24 I tell you, not one of those who were invited will get a taste of my banquet.’”
Pause right there. Those words I just read; they were “Breathed by God”! God wants you to hear His Word right now! So, what is your response? Do you want to transformed by that Word or do you want to be informed about the words? You must choose.
&&&&&&&&&&&&
This past week my family was busy making plans for the holidays – Thanksgiving and Christmas. All those plans involve eating food. All those plans depend on when we can get the most people there. Can you relate?
We all have fond memories of family around a table of food!
Any time we have dinner at home it can be memorable. Last week, at the dinner table, Lynn asked me, "Are you even listening to me?" Now I think that’s a weird way to start a conversation if you ask me. 😊
So then, after dinner, she asked me if I could clear the table? I needed a running start, but I did it! 😊
That brings me to an important thing to remember when reading the Bible: whenever you see the word “all” in a scripture think of this… All means all and that’s all all means. It’s like a little tongue twister, but it is true. We usually look for some kind of exception to every rule. I always ask you to make a choice at the start of my teaching time, but a few folks have asked me, “Can’t I do both?”
While I’m covering these parables in Luke, I rely on the work of Dr. Harry Wendt. (The Parables of Jesus, 1997) We will be looking at parables for the next few weeks.
Set-up for the parable
Jesus is eating at the house of a Pharisee on the Sabbath. He heals a man and teaches about taking the lower place, not the higher. This is what leads to the response in v. 15 - “Blessed is the one who will eat at the feast in the kingdom of God.”
Background for this parable
Isaiah 25 “6 On this mountain the Lord Almighty will prepare
a feast of rich food for all peoples,
a banquet of aged wine—
the best of meats and the finest of wines.
7 On this mountain he will destroy
the shroud that enfolds all peoples,
the sheet that covers all nations;
8 he will swallow up death forever.
The Sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears
from all faces;
he will remove his people’s disgrace
from all the earth.
The Lord has spoken.”
(Remember - All means all and that’s all all means – we see the world “all” in there 5 times.)
This was a well-known passage to the Jews. Here, salvation is described as a great banquet to which God would invite all people and all nations – even the Gentiles (that’s us). That original understanding had been lost by Jesus’ day. It was replaced with the understanding that imperfect Jews and all Gentiles would be excluded. (p. 29)
What the man says in v. 15 is a standard blessing and it had a standard response – “O Lord, may we be among the righteous and be counted without blemish, worthy to recline with great men on that day.” (p. 31) Instead of this kind of reply, Jesus tells them a parable that throws open the invitation to all people… even us.
The parable
Any person in that day would assume the host of the party is a man of considerable wealth and power in the community. The ones he invites would be his peers and associates – there is no mention of family connections. In that day, having a large banquet would include two invitations. The first one allows the host to know how much meat to prepare so that none is wasted. At this first invite, you tell them you are coming. This is a matter of honor – if you say you are going, YOU SHOW UP! No ifs… ands… or buts.
Got it?
The second invitation comes on the day of the party. All you would know is the date – no time was given. Rather, when all is ready someone comes with the second invite. That’s what we heard in v. 17 “At the time of the banquet he sent his servant to tell those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’”
Now come the excuses. There will be three and these represent the whole group. Can you imagine a wedding where 100 people sent in the RSVP to attend? Then on the day of the wedding they start texting the bride making excuses. How would you look at those excuses?
Excuse One
‘I have just bought a field, and I must go and see it. Please excuse me.’
In the Middle East, you would not buy a piece of land without knowing it like the back of your hand. (p. 32) You would know what was all around it. Is there a well? Are there trees? What has been grown on the land? These would all be asked BEFORE the sale of the land.
Imagine a text on the day of the wedding that was like this excuse: I can’t come to the wedding. I have just bought a house and I need to go see what kind of neighborhood it is in. Would you be insulted by that? Here, the purchase is more important than the one hosting the party.
Excuse Two
‘I have just bought five yoke of oxen, and I’m on my way to try them out. Please excuse me.’
There were multiple ways to purchase plow animals back then, buy they all included an opportunity to see them in action. You wanted to actually see them working. This was especially important if they will be working together. NOBODY would buy a pair of oxen, much less 5 pair, without trying them out.
Here’s another text to the bride: I can’t come because I just bought 5 used cars by phone and I need to find out if they will start and if they are drivable. You going to buy that one? Again, it’s the purchase that is more important than the one hosting the party.
Excuse Three
‘I just got married, so I can’t come.’
This one is different because he is not saying he has somewhere to go. This time the excuse is having to stay home. Some look to this as being a wedding day. No Middle Eastern listener would assume that for they knew that two big events would never be planned in the same village on the same day. They would compete with each other. Some folks also try to make this excuse about something sexual. Men in that day would NEVER speak about their wives that way to another person. That stuff stayed at home – like this guy is trying to do.
The final text that came on the day of our imaginary wedding: I can’t come to the wedding because I have so many things to do with my boyfriend. Now, it’s another person that is more important than the one hosting the party.
The host in the parable
21 “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.’
22 “‘Sir,’ the servant said, ‘what you ordered has been done, but there is still room.’
23 “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. 24 I tell you, not one of those who were invited will get a taste of my banquet.’”
Just so you know – Jesus is the host and we are all being invited to the greatest buffet in the history of history. I’ve had some good times with family and friends at restaurants too. I went out last week to a restaurant and the waiter asked if I'd like to hear today's special.
I said “Sure.”
He said, “Today is special.” 😊
This was no laughing matter in the parable, but the host moves from anger to fixing the problem. He invites in the undesirables of that day – the outcasts of society that Jesus tried to be around. This brings us to several reversals that the Middle Eastern listener would never miss:
• The blind can’t examine land or fields
• The lame can’t test a team of oxen
• The poor would never be able to invite the host to a banquet – this connects us back to last week – “12 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. 13 But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, 14 and you will be blessed.”
These all come in but there is more room at the table. So now the servant is sent to two locations: roads and lanes. Roads connected towns so these could be folks they don’t even know. The lanes were where the locals traveled. And the servant has to convince them to come (compel) – why? They would not believe that a wealthy man would invite just ANYBODY. They could not repay him in any way. That verse is the end of the parable and the last verse for this morning is a comment from Jesus to them and to us - 24 “I tell you, not one of those who were invited will get a taste of my banquet.’”
I have been asked why we practice an open table for The Lord’s Supper in most Wesleyan denominations – like we do here – and the answer is this parable. Everyone is invited and God does not want our excuses. Remember, it’s not about YOU! It’s about the God of Grace who is big enough to receive each one of us right where we are. The end of this parable is a powerful reminder that if folks say they are not coming to the Great Banquet with Jesus at the end of time, the party will go on without them! Amen
TEACHING SHEET
"Parable of the Great Banquet"
Luke 14:15-24
Whenever you see the word “all” in a scripture think of this… All means all and that’s all all means. It’s like a little tongue twister, but it is true. We usually look for some kind of exception to every rule. I always ask you to make a choice at the start of my teaching time, but a few folks have asked me, “Can’t I do both?”
Background for this parable
Isaiah 25 “6 On this mountain the Lord Almighty will prepare
a feast of rich food for all peoples,
a banquet of aged wine—
the best of meats and the finest of wines.
7 On this mountain he will destroy
the shroud that enfolds all peoples,
the sheet that covers all nations;
8 he will swallow up death forever.
The Sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears
from all faces;
he will remove his people’s disgrace
from all the earth.
The Lord has spoken.”
(Remember - All means all and that’s all all means – we see the world “all” in there 5 times.)
Excuse One
‘I have just bought a field, and I must go and see it. Please excuse me.’
In the Middle East, you would not buy a piece of land without knowing it like the back of your hand. You would know what was all around it. Is there a well? Are there trees? What has been grown on the land? These would all be asked BEFORE the sale of the land. Here, the purchase is more important than the one hosting the party.
Excuse Two
‘I have just bought five yoke of oxen, and I’m on my way to try them out. Please excuse me.’
NOBODY would buy a pair of oxen, much less 5 pair, without trying them out.Again, it’s the purchase that is more important than the one hosting the party.
Excuse Three
‘I just got married, so I can’t come.’
This one is different because he is not saying he has somewhere to go. This time the excuse is having to stay home. Now, it’s another person that is more important than the one hosting the party.
The host in the parable, v.21-24
Just so you know – Jesus is the host and we are all being invited to the greatest buffet in the history of history. The host in the parable moves from anger to fixing the problem. He invites in the undesirables of that day – the outcasts of society that Jesus tried to be around.
Everyone is invited and God does not want our excuses. Remember, it’s not about YOU! It’s about the God of Grace who is big enough to receive each one of us right where we are. The end of this parable is a powerful reminder that if folks say they are not coming to the Great Banquet with Jesus at the end of time, the party will go on without them! Amen
