Through his teachings and miracles, Jesus announced that God’s messianic banquet was about to be served. All may come and feast at the table of salvation in God’s kingdom.
Jesus describes him ministry as a wedding feast, with himself as the groom and the kingdom of God as a great banquet. All were invited, but some refused to come. Jesus is often portrayed as eating with diverse people, from despised tax collectors to pious Pharisees. Jesus also used imagery of feasting and banquets in his teachings and parables.
The Old Testament background to this feasting imagery is Isaiah 25:6, where God’s final salvation is described as a great feast for all people: “The LORD of Heaven’s Armies will spread a wonderful feast for all the people of the world. It will be a delicious banquet, with clear, well-aged wine and choice meat”.
Jesus’ public ministry marked the invitation to the banquet and its inauguration. Through his death and resurrection, he achieved salvation. All people can now come to God’s banquet table and receive the spiritual blessings of the kingdom. At the same time, this banquet awaits its final consummation in the future Kingdom, when Jesus’ disciples will “eat and drink at my table in my kingdom” and “will sit on thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel” (Luke 22:3).
This Messianic Banquet is our next two parables, the first being in Luke 14:7-14.
7 When he noticed how the guests picked the places of honor at the table, he told them this parable: 8 “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. 9 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. 10 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. 11 For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”
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. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”
In most of Jesus’ parables, he puts the burden on the listener to interpret it and figure out what it means in his life. However, in this parable, Jesus tells the listener how to behave. For Jesus to speak so plainly means he did not want anyone to miss the meaning, i.e., that humility really matters. Note though, that he presented his message in a very tactful way to his Pharisee listeners.
He told his listeners that he was speaking of a marriage feast, perhaps to avoid anything which might offend them by any air of direct reproof. This was actually nothing new as similar advice had already been given in Proverbs 25:6-7 – Do not exalt yourself in the king’s presence, and do not claim a place among his great men; it is better for him to say to you, “Come up here,” than for him to humiliate you before his nobles. But to this example from Proverbs, Christ adds and draws from it a general lesson of humility.
So then, why is humility so important to a Christian? The Bible has 106 stories emphasizing humility. Faith is featured in 104 stories, and love is featured only 47 times. Does this tell you something?
Humility may well be called the queen of the Christian graces. To know our own sinfulness and weakness, and to feel our need of Christ, is the very beginning of saving religion. In the kingdom of God, humility forms the foundation laid by Christ for which nothing else can supply.
Humility is a grace within the reach of every true Christian. Not everyone has money to give away. Not everyone has time and opportunities for working directly for Christ. We don’t all have gifts of speech and knowledge for preaching and teaching. We’re not all good managers or administrators. We can’t all heal. But everyone can demonstrate his commitment to Christ by his humility. If you can do nothing else, you can strive to be humble.
There is another important point in the parable (14:14b). The second point in this parable is the great importance of looking forward to the resurrection of the dead. Jesus says to the Pharisee who entertained Him, “The poor cannot repay you—you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.” Do we have to fear death like the Pharisee? No. Believing in Christ, we have nothing to fear. Our sins will not appear against us. The demands of God’s law were completely satisfied by his death on the cross.
So one must remember this, which can be considered now as a culturally ridiculous thought; when you are doing something for someone who cannot repay you, you should be doing this with not the thought of being repaid. Instead, you are doing this for the expansion of God’s kingdom. When you do things his way, He will repay you, for you will be part of the resurrected righteous whom he rewards on the day of judgement. Would you really want to trade momentary honor here for eternal glory there?