This week our parable is told right after last weeks’ parable, the lowest seat at the feast. In those days it was a common believe among the Jewish nation that only Jews would be invites to the heavenly feast. After Jesus told his previous parable, there was a comment from the crowd. In the next parable beginning in verse 15 of Luke 14, the comment from this person motive is not clear to us. Was he simply agreeing with Jesus, saying, “Amen”? Was he trying to draw attention to himself? Was he trying to defend the Pharisees and say it mattered not where you sat as long as you were included in the final banquet? This parable does not concentrate on this mans’ motive. Jesus remains center stage. Here is this week’s parable found in Luke 15:15 – 24, Invitation to a great Banquet.
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.’”
Before diving into the parable, we need to looks at a detail of this parable that could be missed from a lack of knowledge in regards to a great banquet during this era. Two invitations would have been involved. The first would have concerned reservations for the banquet and would have been given well in advance. The second invitation would have been given on the day of the banquet, announcing that the time for the banquet had come and everything is ready.
After the comment was made in verse 15, Jesus told this parable, also with a banquet theme. In verse 18 we can see the excuses being made. One need to ask if these are really good excuses. On the surface they seem to be but let us take a closer look.
The refusal of the first guest was polite and he asked the host to “please excuse me.” The initial invitation must have been accepted, but when this final invitation came, other interests took priority. His excuse was not valid. A person does not buy a field without first seeing it.
The second also asked to be excused. Again, the initial invitation must have been accepted, but other events in life seemed more important. He too did not have a valid excuse. Someone would not buy oxen without first trying them out. This is not a Costco return policy.
The third refusal was much ruder and asked no forgiveness. Some may have seen this as a legitimate excuse since the Old Testament exempted men from military service in their first year of marriage, but this feast was a local community event, not a distant war. Furthermore, in an Israelite village, a marriage and a great banquet would never be planned at the same time, so there was no real conflict.
All three are alike in that they put their interests first and would not impose upon themselves even the smallest sacrifice for another.
The host’s response was predictable: rage. He would so those people. The got no more second thoughts or additional invitations. They would not participate in his banquet. O out in the streets and get anyone you can get to come. Those people in rages invited as second thoughts are the very one Jesus had said to invite in his previous parable in verse 13. Inviting them robbed the host of any social standing in the community or with his family. He placed himself on the same social plane as the new invitees.
He could not immediately find enough of this class to fill his banquet hall, so he sent a send invitation. The upper class required two invitations to the banquet. The simple people on Jesus’ list came immediately. The second invitation was issued only in order to find more people. This may hint at a constant emphasis that Gentiles as well as Jews get an invitation to God’s banquet.
Common sense says that it just wouldn’t happen that the man’s invited friends would not accept his second follow-up invitation. But it becomes more clear in we look at the introductory and concluding verses (15 and 24).
In Verse 15, the man said, “Blessed is the one who will eat at the feast in the kingdom of God.” The parable is a continuation of this thought, i.e., Jesus is telling a story about the great feast in the kingdom of God, a feast at the end times.
This person just assumed he would attend this feast. He may have been distinguished, rich, and learned. His righteousness was held in high esteem (by other Jews). He was an heir to the covenant that God made with Abraham. The Jews were God’s chosen people. They were invited by Moses and the prophets to the great banquet. Of course he would eat at the feast of the kingdom of God.
Except for one thing. The covenant with Abraham, the exodus, and the messages from the prophets were just the first invitation. The second invitation came from Jesus. And it was this second invitation that many of the Jews rejected.
The Jewish leaders, the teachers of the people, totally absorbed as they were in earthly power and material things, would not comprehend or accept the doctrine of Jesus and so, by their own fault, they forfeited their share in the kingdom.
Gentiles (the rest of the world) will be invited instead. The invitation to the kingdom of God, to eternal salvation, is extended to all mankind. The table is plenty big. But God forces no one to accept the invitation. That’s your choice.
Have you accepted Jesus’ invitation to God’s banquet? Are you putting off this invitation with an excuse? It is that procrastinating, excuse-making spirit, which is always ready with a reason why Christ cannot be served today. Let the words of Jesus on this subject sink down into our hearts. Theft, infidelity and immorality, no doubt, kill their thousands of souls, but decent, plausible, smooth-spoken excuses will kill tens of thousands more souls. No excuse can justify a man in refusing God’s invitation, and not coming to Christ. This parable tells us that the time will come when God will withdraw his invitation and offer it to others, then it will be too late to get into the banquet.