The Parable of the Great Banquet
Notes
Transcript
Opening Illustration
Opening Illustration
In 1884 a young man died, and after the funeral his grieving parents decided to establish a memorial to him.
With that in mind they met with Charles Eliot, president of Harvard University.
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Eliot received the humble couple into his office and asked what he could do.
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After they expressed their desire to fund a memorial, Eliot impatiently said,
“Perhaps you have in mind a scholarship.”
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“We were thinking of something more substantial than that...perhaps a building,” the woman replied.
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In a patronizing tone, Eliot brushed aside the idea as being too expensive and the couple departed.
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The next year, Eliot learned that this plain pair had gone elsewhere and established a memorial named Leland Stanford Junior University, better known today as Stanford.
They gave $26 million dollars!
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Beloved, sometimes we ignore an invitation to be part of something amazing...
Something that is far greater than we ever anticipated it to be.
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In 1885, the then President of Harvard University learned how costly his mistake had been the year before.
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Now, if you think it is bad to loose millions...
Then imagine losing eternal life and getting an eternity of suffering.
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That will be the topic of our message today.
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So, please turn your Bibles to the Gospel of Luke.
We will conduct our study in Chapter 14 and focus on verses 15 through 24.
Our message this morning is titled “The Parable of the Great Banquet.”
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As you are turning to our passage today please keep in mind this fact...
The illustration of eternal life...
The illustration of a saving relationship with Christ...
The illustration of eternal salvation...
In Scripture, we often see that illustration in the form of the Great Banquet which we will need to keep in mind as we conduct our study.
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So, this morning we will cover three main points:
1) The Context
2) The First Invitation
And...
3) The Master’s Response
Opening Prayer
Opening Prayer
Before we consider our text, please join me in prayer...
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Heavenly Father...
Great is Your Name and greatly should it be praised!
You are the Holy One...
The One whom the seraphim cry out is Holy, Holy, Holy!
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Help us remember this reality every moment of our life...
Help us to better understand that your holiness truly exceeds our finite understanding...
Help us to see more clearly the contrast of Your holiness and our sinfulness...
Help us to better appreciate Your mercy and grace...
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For You loved us when we were unlovable...
You loved us while we were Your enemies...
You loved us while we disregarded Your precious commands...
You loved us while we insulted Your Son...
You loved us while we scourged Your Son nearly to death...
You loved us while we drove the nails into the flesh of Your only Begotten Son...
And You loved us when we didn’t have a single righteous bone in our body...
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So, thank You, Heavenly Father for not giving us what we deserved...
Thank You for transforming our hearts...
Thank You for transforming our minds...
And thank You for not leaving us where You found us...
But instead You made us into a brand-new creation...
And You sent Your Holy Spirit to live in us so that we could start living righteous lives...
And Your Son’s righteousness was in turn imputed on us...
And now, when You look at us...
You only see Your Son’s righteousness which we ware as our new robe.
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And it is in Jesus’ name we pray all these things...
Amen.
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Let’s turn to our text for today:
Reading of the Text
Reading of the Text
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.’ ”
So, let’s look at our first point...
1) The Context
1) The Context
Verse 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!”
As usual Beloved, we need to look at the context...
So, let us go back all the way to the start of Chapter 14 for our setting has not yet changed since then...
And that setting is of Jesus having a meal at the home of a ruler of the Pharisees which is recorded in Luke 14:1-6, which says:
1 One Sabbath, when he went to dine at the house of a ruler of the Pharisees, they were watching him carefully.
2 And behold, there was a man before him who had dropsy.
3 And Jesus responded to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath, or not?”
4 But they remained silent. Then he took him and healed him and sent him away.
5 And he said to them, “Which of you, having a son or an ox that has fallen into a well on a Sabbath day, will not immediately pull him out?”
6 And they could not reply to these things.
So, the Pharisees tried to set a trap for Jesus...
There was a man with edema present which would normally never be the case as the religious elite looked down on those with any ailments...
Yet, instead of the religious elite trapping our Savior, something else when down...
Jesus rebuked the false teaching that the Pharisees held to which was just man-made doctrines and contrary to the Word of God.
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Then Jesus took the opportunity to teach the guests the meaning of true humility with His use of a parable which is recorded in Luke 14: 7-11, which says:
7 Now he told a parable to those who were invited, when he noticed how they chose the places of honor, saying to them,
8 “When you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, do not sit down in a place of honor, lest someone more distinguished than you be invited by him,
9 and he who invited you both will come and say to you, ‘Give your place to this person,’ and then you will begin with shame to take the lowest place.
10 But when you are invited, go and sit in the lowest place, so that when your host comes he may say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher.’ Then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at table with you.
11 For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
Beloved, Jesus made it clear to His audience that their obsession with status and rank was going to be their down fall unless they humbled themselves...
This would require repentance...
This would require seeking the things of God over the things of man...
And it would require to start seeing things with spiritual eyes instead of eyes of flesh.
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Jesus then turns His rebuke from those in attendance to the host...
Jesus focused on the selfish, man-centered, and worldly way people gave act towards others...
In Jesus’ day, most only showed hospitality to someone who could in return show them the same level of hospitality or more...
They where very hospitable to anyone who would raise their rank in society...
But Jesus said we are to show hospitality and serve those who can’t pay us back...
We see this recorded in Luke 14:12-14, which says:
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.”
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And it is at this very point that our narrative picks up...
So, let’s get back to our first verse of our passage in which Luke records and says:
“When one of those who reclined at table with him heard these things[that would be everything we just covered in Luke 14:1-14], he said to him[Jesus], ‘Blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!’”
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The Reformation Study Bible puts it this way regarding the statement by this man said to Christ:
“This pious and conventional utterance, perhaps meant to change the subject, is evoked by Jesus’ mention of ‘the resurrection of the just’ and expresses the sentiment that the kingdom of God belongs to a comfortably distant future.
Jesus’ parable of the great banquet dramatizes the reality that God’s invitation into His kingdom celebration is going out in the present, and no pretext for declining His urgent summons is an acceptable excuse.”
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So Beloved, this man, who was a fellow guest at this diner, he probably held the common view of the day that only Jews would be invited to the heavenly feast...
In fact, the underlying assumption of his remark is that especially the Pharisees and the religious elite of Jesus day will be the blessed at that table...
And you can bet that he was pridefully including himself in that list...
Yet, Christ saw this as yet another opportunity to teach on what God’s truth really had to say on this matter which was a far cry from the mentality of the people of the time.
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Jesus replied with another parable...
And this time the picture of it was focused on how many who think they will be included in the Kingdom of God would not be...
And the shocking fact that many of the Jewish outcasts and the Gentiles would be included.
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Likewise, The Baker Exegetical Commentary on Luke makes this great observation:
“Jesus makes the point that many in the nation will miss the opportunity to sit at the banquet table because they have priorities higher than responding to the host’s current offer.
Rejection means that the invitation goes to others, who will flock in.
The parable closes by noting that the original invitees miss the meal because they do not respond.
Ironically, those who seek the best seats will lack any seats at the most important occasion.
They will not be honored; in fact, they will be excluded entirely.
Those whom the leadership shunned will be at the most important meal in seats that the leaders thought were reserved for them.”
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With that, we get to the parable...
And that takes us to our second point.
2) The First Invitation
2) The First Invitation
Verses 16-20: But he said to him, “A man once gave a great banquet and invited many. 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.’ 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.’ And another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to examine them. Please have me excused.’ And another said, ‘I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.’
Now, to understand this parable properly, we need context...
And in this case we need historical context...
So, in the 1st century, guests for a wedding, which could last a full week, were pre-invited and given a general idea of the time...
Kind of like a Save the Date in our day but you gave your RSVP at that time...
Also, unlike modern invitations, however, the exact date and time would not have been specified due to the complexities of preparing the feast.
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You see Beloved, preparation for the feast in Jesus’ day required a count of the number of invitations accepted.
With the number of anticipated guests determined, the host is then able to determine what animal or animals is to be killed and cooked for the feast.
This was not possible without an accurate headcount ahead of time.
Additionally, guests also needed time to prepare themselves for a feast so getting a pre-invitation helped significantly.
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In fact, two invitations would have been involved in this process.
The first invitation or pre-invitation 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 was ready.
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So, the phrase in our passage that “everything is now ready” indicates that those invited by this second invitation have all previously accepted the first invitation as none is said to have declined.
However, on the day of the banquet, everyone made excuses why they could not attend...
This was very shocking...
Especially since in the 1st century to refuse an invitation at this stage shows an absence of courtesy, much like being a no-show after already responding positively to an RSVP in our day but it was a much bigger deal in Jesus’ day.
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You see, we must understand that the rules of hospitality were very important in the ancient Near East.
It would have been extremely rude to change one’s mind at the last minute and decline a previously accepted invitation.
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Now, this parable by our Lord has a deeper meaning than just understanding the surface level facts...
For example, the pre-invited guests or those who accepted the first invitation...
They refer to the people of Israel, who by the Old Testament had been told to be ready for the arrival of the Messiah...
They claimed to be eagerly waiting for the Messiah’s arrival...
But when He finally shows up, they reject Him!
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So, Jesus, uses the parable to teach His listeners...
Contrary to their expectations...
The guests invited originally will miss the banquet and will be replaced instead by “the poor and crippled and blind and lame” and the outsiders (the Gentiles) found in the “highways and hedges.”
As Matthew 8:11–12 says:
11 I tell you, many will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven,
12 while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
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In other words, Israel said yes to God’s original invitation, and no to the second invitation...
They said yes to God’s promises, but no to His Son...
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However, the spiritually bankrupt, destitute, and humble, symbolized by the town (the believing Jewish remnant) and highway (believing Gentiles) dwellers, will be included in the banquet.
These are repentant sinners, who acknowledge that they are unworthy to enter God’s kingdom...
These are the meek...
These are the broken hearted who mourn...
These are the humble...
These are the merciful...
These are the poor in spirit...
These are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness...
These are the pure in heart...
These are the peacemakers...
These are the ones who are persecuted for righteousness sake...
These are the ones Jesus calls blessed in His Beatitudes.
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However the religious elite...
They ignored the second invitation...
And they used any excuse they could find not to accept Jesus as the long-promised Messiah.
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So, in our parable, those initially invited to the great supper now are asking to be excused, one at a time.
They act separately, yet they act as if they were one.
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All the excuses smack of insincerity and are transparently dishonest.
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You see Beloved, one does not purchase property without seeing it first.
And since the purchase was already complete, there was no urgency.
The land would still be there after the banquet.
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Likewise, one does not purchase oxen without first testing them.
In fact, that this man was able to afford five yoke of oxen suggests that he was a reasonably wealthy man himself...
Surely one of his servants could have tested the oxen for him...
There was no good reason not to be at the banquet.
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Moreover, if the banquet is late afternoon or early evening, how can people inspect property or test oxen in the dark?
To be blunt, all the excuses were lame!
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Even the excuse of the man who was recently married...
In Jesus’ day, a man who had recently married was excused from business travel, or serving in the military, but there was no legitimate reason for a newlywed to avoid such a social engagement.
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The excuses vary, but the basic reason is similar, dealing with either financial or familial concerns.
The overall point that Jesus is painting is that something else is ultimately more important than attending the celebration.
So, even if the excuse seemed more legitimate, it did not matter...
We can’t put anything else in front of God...
We see this illustrated for us in those who made excuses with following Jesus as recorded in Luke 9:59–62, which says:
59 To another he said, “Follow me.” But he said, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.”
60 And Jesus said to him, “Leave the dead to bury their own dead. But as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.”
61 Yet another said, “I will follow you, Lord, but let me first say farewell to those at my home.”
62 Jesus said to him, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”
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So, in relation to Israel, they have put the business of everyday life ahead of the claims of God and His Kingdom...
They demanded a Messiah who would free them from Roman rule...
They demanded a Messiah who would bless them in a worldly way...
So, when Jesus arrived, they made any excuse not to follow Him...
And by rejecting the second invitation, they are therefore not worthy to enter the Kingdom of God.
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In the Gospel of Matthew, we see recorded another parable that Jesus gave that was very similar to the one in Luke, but the host was a king and the consequence of rejecting his invitation was devastating...
Just look with me at Matthew 22:1-7, which says:
1 And again Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying,
2 “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son,
3 and sent his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding feast, but they would not come.
4 Again he sent other servants, saying, ‘Tell those who are invited, “See, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding feast.” ’
5 But they paid no attention and went off, one to his farm, another to his business,
6 while the rest seized his servants, treated them shamefully, and killed them.
7 The king was angry, and he sent his troops and destroyed those murderers and burned their city.
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Next, we witness the spread of the invitation of the banquet...
And that takes us to our third and final point.
3) The Master’s Response
3) The Master’s Response
Verses 21-24: 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.’ And the servant said, ‘Sir, what you commanded has been done, and still there is room.’ 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. For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste my banquet.’ ”
The final section of our parable presents us with a prophecy of the extension of the Gospel to those the Pharisees thought were unworthy.
As theologian Darrell L. Bock says:
“Jesus’ current kingdom offer is in view here, an offer that culminates in the meal of God’s blessing.
Jesus does not postpone the banquet or withdraw the meal; he gets a new audience.
The time of blessing is now and continues into the future.
The ‘already’ and the ‘not yet’ merge in the decision about Jesus.
One can accept or reject the invitation, but in either case, the party is coming and it will not be rescheduled or postponed.”
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We mentioned it earlier but it is worth repeating...
The phrase the “poor and crippled and blind and lame” represent the despised Jews who are not able to observe the traditional laws of ritual purity (sometimes called “the people of the land”)...
Based on their appearance in society...
Based on their social rank in society...
They were just outcasts...
They were unclean...
But in reality...
They were the remnant of Israel...
The faithful ones who are not just the sons and daughters of Abraham by birth but also his spiritual descendants.
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The phrase “still there is room” shows that God is far more willing to save sinners than sinners are to be saved...
So, God extends His grace even more beyond the outcasts of Israel to those that Jews considered as unclean foreigners.
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Now, those those outside the city along the “highways and hedges” represent the Gentiles...
That would be anyone one outside the people of Israel...
However, they are also part of the remnant...
They may not be physical sons and daughters of Abraham by birth but they are his spiritual descendants.
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So, we are seeing with this parable that the Good News of Jesus Christ is meant to be shared with all...
Jews and Gentiles...
For God is no respecter of persons.
As Matthew 21:43 says:
43 Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits.
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Likewise, the New American Commentary on Luke puts it this way:
“The picture (and reality) parts of the parable flow as follows:
A great banquet was given (the messianic banquet/God’s kingdom had now come);
The invited guests refused to come (the Pharisees and religious elite of Israel rejected the Messiah and his teachings);
The outcasts of society were brought in as guests to the banquet (the least in Israel entered God’s kingdom instead of the religious elite);
And even more distant outcasts were brought in as guests (the Gentiles entered God’s kingdom instead of Israel).”
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The phrase “compel people to come” is not meant to compel people by force or violence, but by earnest persuasion.
In the past the command to make them had been used to justify forced conversions to Christianity.
One thinks of Emperor Theodosius the Great, who reigned between 379-395 AD.
His Edict of Thessalonica in 380 AD made Christianity the official religion of the empire.
But that was not all.
Christianity was also the only legal religion of the empire.
If one wanted to continue to be a part of the empire, then one needed to be a Christian.
So, with the mandatory requirement that citizens of the empire become Christians, more nominal Christians entered the visible church.
A nominal Christian is a “Christian” by name alone.
So, the power and the authority of the visible state-run church increased.
This eventually led to the false doctrines we now see in the Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Oriental Orthodox Churches where they claim to be just as authoritative and infallible as the Word of God.
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However, force is not what God calls us to use when spreading the Gospel...
But we are to be earnest and to persuade our hearers...
Reasoning from the Word of God!
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Why are we called to earnestly call other to the Good News of Jesus Christ?
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Well, let’s look at Matthew 22:8-14 for that other parable Jesus gave that was similar but the host was a king:
8 Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding feast is ready, but those invited were not worthy.
9 Go therefore to the main roads and invite to the wedding feast as many as you find.’
10 And those servants went out into the roads and gathered all whom they found, both bad and good. So the wedding hall was filled with guests.
11 “But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had no wedding garment.
12 And he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless.
13 Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot and cast him into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
14 For many are called, but few are chosen.”
This is a warning God gave people since the Old Testament...
Just look at this urgent warning found in Isaiah 65:12, which says:
12 I will destine you to the sword, and all of you shall bow down to the slaughter, because, when I called, you did not answer; when I spoke, you did not listen, but you did what was evil in my eyes and chose what I did not delight in.”
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In the face of this urgent and dire warning...
Look to this hope...
Also found in the Old Testament in Isaiah 45:22, which says:
22 “Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other.
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In the New Testament, Jesus shared this truth when He said this in Matthew 11:28–30, which says:
28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
Whether a Jew or a Gentile...
Whether rich or poor...
Whether male or female...
Whether young or old...
We as God’s ambassadors need to reach everyone with the Gospel message.
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We just have to deliver the message...
For we have a beautiful message to share...
As it says in John 5:24:
24 Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.
So, tell someone about Jesus...
Minister to their needs...
Disciple them if they are willing...
And remember...
God is the one who will deal with the heart in whatever way He sees fit...
We are just called to be faithful and share what the Word of God says.
Closing Illustration
Closing Illustration
So, as this message comes to a close...
I would like you to consider this:
Did you hear about the farmer who asked his neighbor if he could borrow a rope?
The neighbor said, “Sorry, I’m using the rope to tie up my milk.”
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“Milk?” said the farmer.
“You can’t tie up milk with a rope.”
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The neighbor replied, “I know, but when a man doesn’t want to do something, one reason is as good as another.”
The same truth applied to the things of God, too.
If someone loves their sin and refuses to change, then they will give any excuse not to follow the Lord...
Whether it sounds like a decent excuse...
Or if it is a ridiculously lame excuse...
An excuse is still an excuse and will not cut it with God!
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If you love others and want to see them come to a saving Knowledge of Christ...
Do not delay...
Today is the day for salvation!
Closing Prayer
Closing Prayer
Let’s pray...
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Heavenly Father...
If anyone hearing this message right now does not know You in a saving way...
Then open their eyes to see You clearly...
And to see truth found in the Scriptures.
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I appeal to Your Name’s sake!
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For those hearing this message who already know You...
Encourage us to continue to reach the lost...
For at one time we were blind, too...
But the Lord opened our eyes and removed our horse blinders.
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Again, I appeal to Your Name’s sake!
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It is in Jesus’ name we pray all these things...
To God be all the glory.
Amen.
