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Luke 14:12–24 (ESV)
12 He said also to the man who had invited him, “When you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return and you be repaid. 13 But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, 14 and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just.” 15 When one of those who reclined at table with him heard these things, he said to him, “Blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!” 16 But he said to him, “A man once gave a great banquet and invited many. 17 And at the time for the banquet he sent his servant to say to those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’ 18 But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said to him, ‘I have bought a field, and I must go out and see it. Please have me excused.’ 19 And another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to examine them. Please have me excused.’ 20 And another said, ‘I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.’ 21 So the servant came and reported these things to his master. Then the master of the house became angry and said to his servant, ‘Go out quickly to the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in the poor and crippled and blind and lame.’ 22 And the servant said, ‘Sir, what you commanded has been done, and still there is room.’ 23 And the master said to the servant, ‘Go out to the highways and hedges and compel people to come in, that my house may be filled. 24 For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste my banquet.’ ”
Excuses. Have you ever received one from someone who showed up late, didn’t follow through, or refused an invitation from you? Have you ever given one yourself? Have you ever been called out for giving a lame excuse?
In our passage, Jesus tells a parable in response to the man who boldly blurts out in verse 15, “Blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!”
The parable Jesus tells is regarding a golden invitation to attend a great feast given when the Messiah comes to usher in God’s salvation. It’s a conversation that has been going on for hundreds of years and began back with a prophecy from Isaiah in Isaiah 25:6-7. It’s an incredible prophecy for all people; however, in the intervening years between when Isaiah gave the prophecy and the arrival of Jesus the Messiah, the prophecy became exclusionary and was thought of as only for the nation of Israel. Isaiah’s vision and prophecy weren’t just for the Jewish people; they were for everyone, for everyone who would accept the golden invitation and simply come.
However, in the parable Jesus tells, those who were first to receive the invitation give absurd, lame excuses for not attending. In that context, the invitations were sent out well in advance, and the servant went out to tell people that it’s time, the feast is ready, come. However, each person offers a lame excuse that, in this context, is a personal insult to the host, which is why the host became angry. He knows what these excuses mean.
The host, of course, is the Lord, and the people who are invited initially said that they wanted to come, but when the time came for the banquet, they didn’t go, so for the host, their excuses are unexcused.
That’s when the host extends the golden invitation to everyone who will simply come regardless of status or circumstance, all are welcome as the host is relentless in His determination and limitless in his generosity.
It’s a deliberate image that Jesus paints of the servant being instructed to go out and invite to the banquet the very ones that Jesus had instructed the Pharisees to invite to their banquets back in verse 13.
However, the invitation extends even wider. Those who are in the highways and hedges are invited as well, with the clear point to mean the Gentiles, to people who are not Jewish. They, too, receive a golden invitation to feast at the Lord’s table.
The point of it all is that God will fill His banquet table with those who want to be with Him!
But here’s the thing that hits me most as I read this passage today. The parable doesn’t really end; it just stops with the command to go out and bring people in. That means that God is still seeking to fill His house, and you’re invited, and if you haven’t already done so, I urge you to accept that invitation.
If you have accepted the invitation, you have a great right and privilege to fulfill: to persuade others to receive the golden invitation, to come to the incredible banquet, and know the extraordinary love and grace of God that’s not only real…, it’s for them!
God bless you and know that you are constantly in my prayers!
Scott
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