How to Act at a Banquet

Good morning! You can turn in your Bible to Luke 14.

We are going to talk this morning about how to act at a banquet. Have you ever been invited to something extravagant? Fancy? High-class?

I’ve only been at a few events like this in my lifetime. I’m just not very fancy. Can’t you tell? I like these events theoretically, but then I get there, and I question everything. Like, why do I need 2 forks? Katy reminds me, that one is for your salad and the other is for the main dish. All I can think about is how I don’t need 2 forks. I don’t eat salad. Salad is fancy.

Listen, I have no business telling you how to act at a banquet. I’m thoroughly unqualified. But in Luke 14:1-24, we are going to see that Jesus didn’t care so much about social and cultural norms. He was a homeless street preacher, yet he was invited to a banquet at a leading Pharisees home (v1). And these banquets were all about advancing yourself socially. They were all about honor and moving yourself up in the world. These banquets were a normal custom after synagogue worship. But guys like Jesus weren’t usually invited. He was invited because they wanted to test him.

And as we will see, Jesus is going to use the concept of a banquet to illustrate the values of God’s kingdom. He will demonstrate for us how to act at a banquet, specifically God’s grand banquet at the end of the age (Revelation calls it the Marriage Super of the Lamb).

We are going to see 3 things. 3 attitudes. 3 postures of the heart... that we must have if we want to partake in God’s grand banquet. 1) Be Generous 2) Be Humble and 3) Be Expectant.

Read with me Luke 14:1-6.

Let’s look at point one...

1) Be Generous (v1-6).

Jesus already caused a fuss over healing someone on the Sabbath. In Luke 13:10-17 Jesus healed a woman who had been disabled for 18 years. The problem? He did on the Sabbath. The leader of the synagogue was “indignant” (v14). Meaning he wasn’t just mad, he was “Big Mad” as the kids say.

Here in Luke 14 the controversy of healing on the Sabbath rears its head again. But on this occasion, the Pharisees were setting Jesus up. They wanted to see if he would violate their rules again. And what we find in Jesus is one who was always going to do the right thing.

Notice in v2, they were “watching him closely.” They were like watchdogs looking to trap him. They were looking for any flaw in his ministry.

And in front of Jesus was a man whose body was swollen with fluid (v3). Some of your translations say the man suffered with dropsy. The body swells due to excess fluid. Now, you might be thinking, “why is this man at a banquet that’s all about honor and prestige?” Your thinking is right. This man was a prop placed there by the Pharisees right in front of Jesus to see what he would do.

Now, it’s important to point out… Jesus didn’t have to heal this guy. Dropsy wasn’t a life-threating condition. It wasn’t an emergency situation. And that’s part of the problem the Pharisees have with Jesus. He was too good… too generous!

They weren’t opposed to people being healed, but the Sabbath day was just not the right day for it. Sabbath was reserved for honoring and revering God. Yet, Jesus demonstrates, if you fail to do good on any day of the week, you fail to understand the character and nature of God himself, and you fundamentally misunderstand his law. Jesus said:

Mark 2:27 CSB

“The Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath.”

What does he mean? The point and principle of the Sabbath was made for the benefit of mankind. To rest from work for the purpose of worshiping God. God knew we could not worship him rightly in our fallen condition if we are constantly working. There’s nothing in the law that prohibits doing what is good and right on the Sabbath.

That’s why Jesus “responded” to the law experts and Pharisees in v3:

Luke 14:3 CSB

“Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath or not?”

That’s the question. That’s the controversy. And how did they answer? V4 says, “they kept silent.”

In the face of silence, Jesus did what he came to do. The good, the right, the beautiful. He healed the man and sent him away. Why did he send him away? It was an act of kindness and mercy. He knew the man didn’t need to be center stage for a theological dog fight that really wasn’t about him. The story isn’t about the healing. It’s about the nature of our God.

We’ve known that Jesus has the power to heal. This story is about how we respond to God’s goodness. God’s generosity. God is always doing good because God is good. It’s his very nature.

Psalm 31:19 CSB

How great is your goodness, which you have stored up for those who fear you. In the presence of everyone you have acted for those who take refuge in you.

Psalm 34:8 CSB

Taste and see that the Lord is good. How happy is the person who takes refuge in him!

Psalm 86:5 CSB

For you, Lord, are kind and ready to forgive, abounding in faithful love to all who call on you.

So, it should be no surprise to us that Jesus would heal a man on the Sabbath day. It didn’t matter what day it was! There’s not a day of the week where God ceases doing good. And Jesus, like God the Father, is in the business of doing good, what is just and right, because he is generous.

That’s why Jesus asked the Pharisees in v5:

Luke 14:5 CSB

“Which of you whose son or ox falls into a well, will not immediately pull him out on the Sabbath day?”

And again, they fell silent. They had nothing to say… v6, “they could find no answer to these things”. They didn’t have anything to say because they knew they were wrong.

James 4:17 ESV

Whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.

That’s why they wanted to kill Jesus. He killed their ideas. He silenced them. A good debater can do that. It’s one of the reasons Charlie Kirk was murdered. He was brilliant in the art of debate. Our culture no longer values the art of good debate. Like Jesus silenced the Pharisees, Charlie silenced his critics. Those who claim, “my body my choice.” “Gender is fluid.” These claims fundamentally oppose God’s goodness in creation. And if you oppose God’s created order, you oppose God himself. Testimonies.

If you want to know who God is, first and foremost, you have to understand that he is good and generous. Only a person filled with sin and corruption can look at God and say, “your design in creation is cruel… it’s evil. I should be able to choose how I want to see reality.” That’s a very proud and prideful heart.

This leads to point 2...

2) Be Humble (v7-14).

Read v7-14.

If you want to know how to act at God’s banquet… in other words, if you want to know how to live in God’s world, you have to abandon worldly, foolish thinking. You have to take on what Paul calls in 1 Corinthians 2:16 “the mind of Christ.”

And what is the mind of Christ? We learn it in these instructions to the Pharisees. Specifically, v11. Jesus said:

Luke 14:11 CSB

“For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

That’s the underlying principle of Jesus’ teaching. There are basically 2 lessons here. Don’t seek honor for yourself (v7-10) and don’t only honor those who can repay you (v12-14).

Don’t seek honor for yourself (v7-10).

In v7 it says Jesus “noticed” how the Pharisees would choose the best places for themselves. They wanted the best seat at the table. The head of the table would have been the highest esteemed person, most often the host. In this case, it was the ruling Pharisee (v1). The guests would’ve sat in a U shape around the host. And the men of highest honor sat closest to the host. I guess if you were at the end seat, you had the least amount of honor.

So, you can imagine how awkward it would be if you showed up early and took a seat nearest the person of highest honor, but then, a more prestigious person shows up at the last minute. You have to get up and move sort of like moving around a row of people sitting in a pew! Rosa Parks?

The problems with this arrangement are many. Who determines what is honorable and dishonorable? What acts are more honorable than others?

But you know what the biggest problem is? It has to do with seeking honor for yourself. Receiving honor and exaltation is a deeply rewarding human experience when it’s deserved. High school and college graduation. Marriage. Having a child. Getting a promotion at work because you make your work environment better. These are deeply rewarding experiences. But here’s the thing about honor. You cannot take it for yourself. You will be humiliated. Humiliation happens when you don’t have humility.

Honor and exaltation are gifts. They are something given to you. You receive them. They are a grace. Honor is given to us; it is not to be grasped by us. This was a hard truth for the Pharisees to hear because they were professional self-exalters.

Having the mind of Christ is different. It’s all about humility and then exaltation. Flip over to Philippians 2 and listen to what Paul says. Read Phil 2:1-5 and then v6-11.

Honor and exaltation only come to us in that order. Like Christ, we humble ourselves and we let God exalt us at the proper time. Pause. Notice the second thing...

Don’t only honor those who can repay you (v12-14).

Look at v12.

Luke 14:12 CSB

He also said to the one who had invited him, “When you give a lunch or a dinner, don’t invite your friends, your brothers or sisters, your relatives, or your rich neighbors, because they might invite you back, and you would be repaid.

Jesus is speaking in hyperbolic language to make a clear point. You’re going to invite family and friends to parties. But that’s not true generosity. Real generosity is this: do something for people who can’t repay you. That takes humility. Be generous to others in the way God has been generous to you!

Here’s the thing. God has done something for us in Christ that we can’t repay. Sending his one and only Son to the cross to take our sin debt is radical generosity. And like Paul said, Jesus humbled himself to even death on a Cross. He didn’t use his position as the Son of God to advantage himself. He used his position to advantage us. That’s the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

And if you take on the mind of Christ, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous (v14). That’s heaven. That’s the grand banquet. That’s how the Pharisees envisioned heaven. We think streets of gold and pearly gates. The Pharisees saw a grand feast, and they believed they would be the most honored guests.

Jesus flipped their vision of heaven on its head. The grand banquet in heaven wasn’t for the most esteemed men on earth. Look at v13. It was reserved for the “the poor, maimed, lame, or blind” (v13). The kind of people the Pharisees should’ve been inviting to their banquets all along.

Now, you might not think of yourself as poor, maimed, lame or blind. But you should. Physically, you may be fine. But spiritually, apart from Christ, we are dead in our sins. And the third thing in this text will make no sense to you if you don’t understand your spiritual condition. Look at point 3...

3) Be Expectant (v15-24).

Read v15-24.

In response to Jesus’ teaching on humility, one Pharisee spoke up:

Luke 14:15 CSB

“Blessed is the one who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!”

Do you know what he’s saying? He not only expects to be an honored guest at the grand banquet in heaven, but he off-handedly dismissed what Jesus was saying. He was dodging the conversation. What Jesus said made him feel uncomfortable, so he tried to change the topic.

If you love people well, you don’t avoid awkward or difficult conversations. You will find that many people just want to dodge the conversation. They don’t want to talk about their troubled marriage, finances…

And often what happens, instead of turning to the Lord, people just persist in living troubled lives and they just make excuses for it.

Living expectant is the opposite of making excuses. If you are living expectant, you are eagerly awaiting the invitation to the grand banquet in heaven. The kingdom of God has gotten into you, and you are living the Spirit-filled life. You understand true generosity and humility.

In the parable, the host sent out invitations well in advance to the large banquet. That was the custom, similar to now. Like a wedding, you need to know how many people to prepare for. And I imagine, at first, the invitations were received with joy. The guests were excited for the big day.

But something changed in the course of time. The excitement waned. By the time the second invitation went out… the day of the banquet, everyone had an excuse as to why they couldn’t come.

The custom was usually this, you dropped whatever you were doing to attend the banquet! Because you were expectant. You knew the day was coming soon. Any serious business would have to wait.

That’s the irony of the 3 excuses. Who buys a field without inspecting it beforehand? The same is true of oxen. You don’t buy them without knowing full well what they are capable of. The only excuse that makes some sense is the guy who just got married. I imagine he didn’t tell his wife about the invitation. If she’s like my wife, she will find out. I would’ve gotten a stern talking to. New brides love to celebrate with others!

So, the host sends the servant out to the streets. And he compels the poor, maimed, blind, and lame to come in (v21). He had to compel them because they don’t think they belong. That’s gospel humility. And when the master learned there was still more room, he sent his servant back out but this time to the highways and hedges to bring in more people.

The master wanted a full house! And those who were originally invited, missed their chance. Jesus said, “For I tell you, not one of those people who were invited will enjoy my banquet” (v24).

What’s the point of this parable? On the one hand, it’s good news the master of the house wants a full house. On the other hand, there’s clear judgment was coming for those who scoffed at the invitation.

What’s this about? Luke is explaining to Theophilus in a parable why the Jews rejected Jesus as the Messiah and how that rejection ultimately led to the fall of Jerusalem in AD 70. The city was destroyed by Rome.

For the Christians in that time this was a major moment in history. Even for Gentile believers like Theophilus. They wanted to know why God rejected Israel. The answer: they weren’t generous to the poor, they were proud in heart, and they had more important things to do.

So, God made way for the Gentiles to come into the grand banquet. And it’s why you and I can have hope today that we too have been invited to this grand banquet. We are not on the outside, but we have been invited in.

Every time the gospel goes out, there’s good and bad news. Some people respond with joy, others harden their hearts. But there is hope. There’s always reason to be expectant.

In Acts 15 we learn that some who belonged to the Pharisees eventually came to believe that Jesus was truly the Son of God. So, don’t be discouraged.

God wants a full house! Let the gospel of Jesus shape your life. Let it make you generous, humble and expectant.

Let’s pray.