THE GREAT SUPPER—Luke: 14: 15-24
INTRODUCTION
In our last study, we found Jesus at the house of one of the rulers of the Pharisees... He had gone there to eat bread on the Sabbath- Luke 14:1 Watched closely by the lawyers and Pharisees who were present, Jesus healed a man with dropsy, and silenced their objections to Him healing on the Sabbath - Luke 14:2-6. Then noticing how they were choosing the best places to sit, Jesus taught the parable of "Taking The Lowest Place" to teach the importance of humility - Luke 14:7-11
It was on this same occasion that Jesus taught another parable... Known as the parable of "The Great Supper", it is recorded in Luke 14:15-24
Luke 14:15 when one of those at the table with him heard this, he said to Jesus, "Blessed is the man 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, ’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. ’2O"Still another said, ’I just got married, so l 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 stillroom. ’23 "Then the master told his servant, ’Go out to the roads and country lanes and make them come in, so that my house will be full. 24 I tell you, not one of those men who were invited will get a taste of my banquet’" We can immediately notice similarities between this parable and the parable of "The Wedding Feast", found in Mt 22:1-14. But these parables are not one and the same... The occasion is different, the parable of ’1The Wedding Feast" was actually told later in Jesus’ ministry, during His final week, and in the Temple
The parable of "The Great Supper" was told much earlier, and at the house of the Pharisee. The application is different. The parable of "The Wedding Feast" appears directed more to the nation of Israel as a whole, in rejecting the Son of the King - Mt 22:1-3
The parable of "The Great Supper" does not appear to have such a limited focus, thus its application may hit a little closer to home and since it "hits closer to home", we want to be careful to make whatever application of this parable we can. Let’s begin with some preliminary observations. As we analyse we must first look at the setting.
Again, Jesus is eating at the house of one of the rulers of the Pharisees, along with a number of lawyers and Pharisees - Luke 14:1-6. He had just told the parable of “Taking The Lowest Place" - Luke 14:7-6. He then tells His host that when he has a dinner or a supper, that he ought to invite those who cannot repay him- Luke 14:12-14. Jesus is not saying that we can "never have our friends, etc., over. He is in fact stressing hospitality towards those who cannot repay us in this life. In this case, spiritual food is more important than physical food. Jesus’ comments prompt a response from one who heard Him -
LukeI4: 15 "Blessed is he who shall eat bread in the kingdom of God! " It is more than likely that this saying was precipitated by Jesus’ reference to the being repaid at the resurrection of the just -LukeI4: 14. And it is this comment by the other guest that prompts Jesus to tell another parable...
"The language of Christ implied that God himself would feast those who feasted the poor, and this implication accorded with the Jewish notion that the kingdom of God would be ushered in with a great festival. Inspired by this thought, and feeling confident that he should have been part of the festivities, this guest exclaimed upon the anticipated blessedness."
(MCGARVEY)
THE PARABLE ITSELF...
A certain man gives a great supper and extends his invitation - Luke 14:16-17. However, those invited began to make excuses for there absence. One had bought a piece of ground, and said he must go and see it -Luke 14:18. Another had bought five yoke of oxen, and wanted to test them -Luke 14:19. A third said he had married, and could not come -Luke 14:20.The master, being angry, sends his servant to go out and invite others. At first, the poor, maimed, lame and blind (i.e., social outcasts) - Luke 14:21 but there is still room, so the servant is sent out again, to compel those among the highways and hedges to come - Luke 14:22-23. But those invited who made excuses would not taste of his supper - Luke 14:24. [Jesus does not explain the meaning of this parable, so we are left on our own. Here are some thoughts in regards to...
THE PARABLE APPLIED. WONDERFUL PROVISIONS FOR THE FUTURE
The great supper likely symbolizes the time after the resurrection - Luke 14:14-15 and as indicated above, the blessings of the kingdom of heaven in its eternal state are often depicted in the figure of great feast - Mt 8:11-12; Re 19:9. Paul writes of the wonderful blessings yet to come - Ep 2:7 and John writes of the vision he saw relating to these blessings - Re 21:1-7 9-12; 22:1-5- Whatever these symbols represent, who would not want to experience it?
NOT ALL INVITED WILL EXPERIENCE THESE BLESSINGS...
God has graciously extended the invitation of salvation, along with its future blessings, to many.[To the Jew first, and then to the Greek i.e. The Gentiles] - Ro 1:16. God certainly desires all to be saved, not wanting any to perish - 1 Ti 2:3-6; Ti 2:11; 2 Pet 3:9 and so the invitation has been made to all - Re 22:17 Sadly, though, many will not accept the invitation, making excuses instead. These excuses may involve things that within them are noble Such as business responsibilities - Luke 14:18-19. Such as family responsibilities - Luke 14:20 the problem is that priorities are misplaced, and one should not allow earthly matters to take priority over spiritual matters - Mt 6:33; Luke 10:38-42
THOSE WHO WILL EXPERIENCE THE BLESSINGS MIGHT SURPRISE US!
Many understand the parable to have initial reference to the offer of the gospel to Gentiles after its rejection by the Jews - e.g., Mt 21:43
Others see the reference to the offer of salvation to the publicans and sinners after its rejection by the religious leaders of that day e.g. Mt 21:31-32
Might we not make application to ourselves today? Many "in the church" often make excuses for not serving the Lord, as they should yet with a spirit of self-righteousness they expect to be" guests at the great supper". in the end, though, it will be the humble, often despised yet ever faithful, servants of the Lord who shall "taste my supper" - Luke 14:24
CONCLUSION
The Lord has certainly prepared a wonderful "supper", and has extended the invitation to all: "Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb." (Re 19:9) "And the Spirit and the bride say, ’Come!’ And let him who hears say, ’Come!’ And let him who thirsts come. And whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely." (Re 22:17) The danger is allowing the affairs of life to keep us from accepting this gracious invitation:
"But they all with one accord began to make excuses..." (Luke 14:18a) Are you prone to make excuses in responding to the call of the Lord? May the parable of "The Great Supper" serve as a warning to us all!
SERMON---THE GREAT BANQUET---Luke 14: 15-24
There is a tremendous emphasis on eating, drinking, and banqueting in the Gospel of Luke. In fact there are 32, that’s more than one per chapter. Every time you turn around in the Gospel of Luke Jesus is either talking about eating or he’s eating at somebody’s house somewhere! And it’s not a coincidence. It’s also not a coincidence that some of the most important teachings Jesus gives in Luke are set at dinner parties! Jesus tells a parable about a dinner while he’s at a dinner in the home of a prominent Pharisee. Have you ever been to a dinner and known that everyone there are watching you, it’s certainly not a comfortable feeling. Jesus doesn’t ease the tension in fact he makes it worse and all present were powerless to reply to his comments!
Pharisees didn’t associate with poor, crippled, lame, blind! They never appeared on Pharisee guest lists and by now the tension must have been unbearable. It was just then that someone blurted out, "Blessed is the man who will eat at the feast in the kingdom of God". This of course was a common Jewish belief about Heaven and was probably said to calm the atmosphere.
Once again Jesus has turned the tables on a situation that was stacked against Him in order to get people’s attention for the spiritual lesson He came to bring We see how Jesus exposes how the self righteous are blind to the true nature of the Kingdom of God. The only way to get ahead in the Kingdom of God is to loose all selfish ambition and let humility rule our hearts and minds. "Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and be who humbles himself will be exalted"
How do we get reward in the Kingdom Of God?
By not patting ourselves on the back about how charitable we are if our charity stops with the worthy. Not just talking about tossing some coins in the plate and hoping that some poor needy souls benefit from some of it; Talking about personally getting our hands dirty getting involved in knowing and helping such people (could be people who are poor and crippled and lame and blind physically or spiritually) Our presence into the Kingdom of God is only limited by how much we desire it! The self-righteous claim to be devoted to God’s kingdom, but they are blind as to its true nature and they desire many other things far more In one sense we are the crown of God’s creation -- a little lower than angels but destined for great things; in another sense when we look at our own resources apart from God we are little better than de-fenceless worms. Praise the Lord that the King of Kings is merciful to help worms like us. Maybe you’ve heard the story of the husband and wife who were discussing the possibility of taking a trip to the Holy Land: Husband: "Wouldn’t it be fantastic to go to the Holy Land and stand and shout the Ten Commandments from Mount Sinai?" The Wife answered wisely:
"Wouldn’t it be better if we stayed home, kept our mouths shut, and just obeyed them?" It’s easy for us to speak with admiration about spiritual truths; but often we are presumptuous in thinking that we are applying those same truths. We fail to own up to our failures - we don’t want to admit to others and ourselves how bad off we really are, we fail to give God’s grace and mercy its proper place We fail to understand God’s program for our temporary walk by faith That’s why we cry out to God: "That’s not fair" "I deserve better than this" "How can you do this to me?" When the issue is salvation, spiritual presumption is a deadly disease. You need to be sure that you’re not going to miss out on that pie in the sky when you die, these people had the wrong concept of God’s kingdom. So when they found it involved humility and suffering and sacrifice of earthly possessions to meet the needs of the unlovely, they suddenly were not interested When we are faced with the full brunt of Christ’s standards, where do we start to invent excuses for not following thru in obedience? There are some parts of Scripture where maybe we just have a suspicion that if we investigated more seriously we would find something we don’t like? Is our response to occupy ourselves with more secure pursuits? Do we really have a deep, desperate desire for God’s blessings or do we like other things more so that we don’t mind missing out on what God has for us?
As Christ looked at these first century Jews, He condemned every excuse for rejecting Him and the good news of the gospel as ridiculous! Cries of God in the OT where He describes Israel as a vine that He has planted and cultivated and expected to bring forth good fruit; but sadly turned out to bear nothing but thorns and rotten fruit; the fault was not with the vine-dresser
Feasting in The Kingdom Of God
The problem here is a basic lack of desire. These people will get what they want- they can have all the toys they can collect in this life; they can even have a great time making money and being successful; they can enjoy their wife and other relationships. (to some extent); but they don’t want the right thing so they will miss out on the indescribable blessings of God. John 5:39-40 "you diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life." It’s not enough to admire the precepts of the Bible; we must have a deep passion for the person of the Bible -- our Lord Jesus Christ We are commanded to work out our salvation with fear and trembling knowing that it is God who works in us to will and to do of His good pleasure Many people claim to admire the example of Christ. You tell them the Biblical parables like these we find in Luke 14 and they praise the wisdom of these words. But they are just as blind as the Pharisees to their own self-righteousness or lack of understanding or lack of interest in the reality of the kingdom.
He has prepared a table for us
The preparations are more than adequate; the Lamb slain for this feast is the precious Lamb of God Himself who shed His blood for our sins so that we might be forgiven and be able to feast with Him in the kingdom. All is far greater than anything we can imagine, so how can we reject a personal invitation to the most worthy event of eternal fellowship with our God and Creator and Redeemer
CONCLUSION:
You want to be great in the kingdom of God? Live a life of true humility and hospitality. Let’s pray that God would increase our deep desire for His standards and for His kingdom so that we would not be hypocrites who just admire His truth but fail see our need and apply it. We need our spiritual eyes opened to see where we are presumptuous or preoccupied with other things.
BEAUFORT RESTORATION MINISTRIES
E.W.Carey-Holt
