The Parable of the Great Banquet (Luke)

The Gospel of Luke: Often thought of as a social Gospel as Christ shows particular attention to the plight of the poor. The Plight of the poor points us to the plight of the spiritually poor.

The poor where thought to be Outsiders, as where the gentiles. If the poor could inherit the kingdom of heaven so could the gentiles.

Chapter 14 is all about who gets places of honor at important banquet settings, Jesus is at a banquet telling people who to comport themselves at a banquet. Luke 14:7-11 Sit in a lower place at the banquet and don't assume status. Luke 14:12-14 talks about not having honorable guests at a banquet but about inviting the down trodden. By the time we get to 15-24 we see how the arriving kingdom of God is like a banquet that defies all expectations.

The intro: Jesus is telling his hosts of high status why the kingdom will be for people of low status, and someone says this almost as if to diffuse the tensions: Luke 14:[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!” (ESV)

Jesus seems to lean into the tension and hammer home his final point. He tells a longer parable.

Characters: We have the man having a banquet, we have the servants, we have the invited guests and then we have the replacement guests.

Rising action: We have the day of a wedding feast. In this time you would announce an engagement, the Bridegroom would prepare the home then the wedding would take place. So there were in effect 2 invitations.

[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.’

The invited guests all have an excuse as to why they could not make it.

Verse 18 (Cares of the world), Verse 19 (Deceitfulness of Riches), Verse 20 (Pleasures of this life)

Verse 21 Royal Overlords expected to be honored by the presence of the invited guests. It was a great insult to skip the event. In the Gospel of Matthew there is a severe punishment.

In Luke’s Gospel it gets right to the heart of it. They will have those often thought unworthy at the banquet, the poor (thought forsaken by God), the disabled (dis-fellowshiped in Lev.). Those who previously imagined they had some spiritual privileged are not at the banquet, but those on the margins are.

Verse 22 There is still room- the kingdom of God is not a 0 sum game there is still room

Verse 23: Those who lived on the highways and the byways where usually criminals who had devolved into banditry to survive. Active criminals hurting their fellow man. But the redemption of God is big enough for even them.

Verse 24: Those with privileged are now given there sentence...

The kingdom of God is for those who you would not expect.

There will be those who do not attend the feast of the Lamb at the end of all things, and those who do will do so by the sheer Grace of God.!

Application

Be careful believing in some sort of special allowance or connection with God aside from Grace. Your Sp. heritage, lineage or anything else does not guarantee a place at the banquet.

Excuses will not save you in the great judgement day. God I had so much to take care of I could not give my Sp. life its appropriate attention. I had so much wealth to manage I needed to give it all my attention. The pleasure of this life are from you God…These excuses have no weight in the kingdom of God.

Being a part of the kingdom of God is not a sign of some high status or lineage but a sign of humble origins. We do not deserve our spot in God’s family but we are given one by God’s grace.

There is no sin, no past so broken that we should feel unworthy of God’s love and care: Y E who do truly and earnestly repent you of your sins, and are in love and charity with your neighbours, and intend to lead a new life, following the commandments of God, and walking from henceforth in his holy ways; Draw near with faith, and take this holy Sacrament to your comfort; and make your humble confession to Almighty God, devoutly kneeling.

GRANT, we beseech thee, merciful Lord, to thy faithful people pardon and peace; that they may be cleansed from all their sins, and serve thee with a quiet mind; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen

ALMIGHTY God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who desireth not the death of a sinner, but rather that he may turn from his wickedness, and live; and hath given power, and commandment, to his Ministers, to declare and pronounce to his people, being penitent, the Absolution and Remission of their sins: He pardoneth and absolveth all them that truly repent, and unfeignedly believe his holy Gospel. Wherefore let us beseech him to grant us true repentance, and his Holy Spirit, that those things may please him, which we do at this present; and that the rest of our life hereafter may be pure, and holy; so that at the last we may come to his eternal joy; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

I could go on, Ill just say this if there is a seat for the people of high ways and byways there is room for you.

There will be those who do not attend the feast of the Lamb at the end of all things, and those who do will do so by the sheer Grace of God.!

Communion

We are about to start our communion rite. There are so many facets to the feast, one of them being that we remember that Jesus is the lamb sacrificed not on the altar but on the cross, not for the sins of one but for all. The sin of those who make excuses are cast onto his shoulders and he makes a way for us to come to the feast…any one weather the excuse maker, the lame the blind, the robber on the highway, all are welcome. But let me turn it over to St. John C and his Easter message he says it much more poetically than I.

Let all pious men and all lovers of God rejoice in the splendor of this feast; let the wise servants blissfully enter into the joy of their Lord; let those who have borne the burden of Lent now receive their pay, and those who have toiled since the first hour, let them now receive their due reward; let any who came after the third hour be grateful to join in the feast, and those who may have come after the sixth, let them not be afraid of being too late; for the Lord is gracious and He receives the last even as the first. He gives rest to him who comes on the eleventh hour as well as to him who has toiled since the first: yes, He has pity on the last and He serves the first; He rewards the one and praises the effort.

Come you all: enter into the joy of your Lord. You the first and you the last, receive alike your reward; you rich and you poor, dance together; you sober and you weaklings, celebrate the day; you who have kept the fast and you who have not, rejoice today. The table is richly loaded: enjoy its royal banquet. The calf is a fatted one: let no one go away hungry. All of you enjoy the banquet of faith; all of you receive the riches of his goodness. Let no one grieve over his poverty, for the universal kingdom has been revealed; let no one weep over his sins, for pardon has shone from the grave; let no one fear death, for the death of our Saviour has set us free: He has destroyed it by enduring it, He has despoiled Hades by going down into its kingdom, He has angered it by allowing it to taste of his flesh.

When Isaias foresaw all this, he cried out: "O Hades, you have been angered by encountering Him in the nether world." Hades is angered because frustrated, it is angered because it has been mocked, it is angered because it has been destroyed, it is angered because it has been reduced to naught, it is angered because it is now captive. It seized a body, and, lo! it encountered heaven; it seized the visible, and was overcome by the invisible.

O death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory? Christ is risen and you are abolished. Christ is risen and the demons are cast down. Christ is risen and the angels rejoice. Christ is risen and life is freed. Christ is risen and the tomb is emptied of the dead: for Christ, being risen from the dead, has become the Leader and Reviver of those who had fallen asleep. To Him be glory and power for ever and ever. Amen.

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