At the Table: The Great Banquet (P3)

The Great Banquet

Have you ever been invited to a gathering and instead of going, you decided that you would rather have bamboo shoot shoved under your fingernails then go?

So what do you do?

Because let’s be real you can’t say that right?

So what do you do?

You make up an excuse right?

What have been some of your excuses?

It is crazy to me that as people who want to be included we sure can be very selective on what we want to do, And who we want to do things with.

We pick and choose and then when someone does that to us, how do we feel?

Excluded?

Cheated?

Not wanted?

If you have done either of these you are a monster— JK!

If you have done either or both of these then you can relate to the message tonight.

If you recall the we are in a series called “At the Table.”

We are looking at this series because we believe that when Jesus sits down with us at the table lives will be changed.

The last couple of weeks we talked about two tax collectors that when Jesus come and sat across from them at a table their lives drastically changed.

And tonight we are going to look at a different story.

As this one is Jesus telling a parable.

Which is a made up story that shows spiritual morals.

But as Jesus is telling this story to the religious elites who are the ones that he is at the table with this time.

And Jesus does not pull any punches.

Now before I read our passage tonight.

I think it would be wise to tell you what is happening.

Jesus is at the house of one of the Pharisees.

Luke 14:1 CSB

One Sabbath, when he went in to eat at the house of one of the leading Pharisees, they were watching him closely.

And Jesus is being Jesus.

And it is the sabbath meaning that it was unlawful to do anything on the sabbath except to pretty much eat.

But did you catch the last part of verse 1?

“They were watching him closely.”

These guys who were with Jesus at the table where watching him to see if he would mess up and they think they got him.

Check this out.

Luke 14:2–6 CSB

There in front of him was a man whose body was swollen with fluid. In response, Jesus asked the law experts and the Pharisees, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath or not?” But they kept silent. He took the man, healed him, and sent him away. And to them, he said, “Which of you whose son or ox falls into a well, will not immediately pull him out on the Sabbath day?” They could find no answer to these things.

Jesus heals this guy and instead of the group being excited and pumped up like the crowds that Jesus normally was in.

It was silent.

What?

Not a word.

I want you to understand the group that Jesus is talking to here.

It is critical that you understand the group of people Jesus is eating with.

Jesus then proceeds to tell a story that shows humility, something that the Pharisees were not known for.

I mean dang Jesus— You sure know all the buttons to push here.

I don’t know if you would want to invite Jesus to your house for dinner.

I mean we all have the family that you would love to light up and speak truth to— but we don’t because we want to keep the peace.

Not Jesus— don’t get me wrong Jesus loves peace— But he also loves truth.

And I personally believe that Jesus is going to be honest and truthful no matter the sting it is going to cause.

So you can imagine what the room feels like here.

It is awkward.

It is quite probably.

I mean it is like your bro or sis who is dating someone and they just got into a heated argument in front of everyone and there is tension and someone in the corner of the room is covering their mouth and their is confusion and it is just awkward.

Do you know what I am saying here.

Are we all on that level of understand what is happening here?

Good— now lets keep diving into the rest of the text to see what else Jesus is going to say.

If you have your Bible we are going to be in Luke 14.

I’m going to read the passage and then we will jump into the points.

Luke 14:15–24 CSB

When one of those who reclined at the table with him heard these things, he said to him, “Blessed is the one who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!” Then he told him, “A man was giving a large banquet and invited many. At the time of the banquet, he sent his servant to tell those who were invited, ‘Come, because everything is now ready.’ “But without exception they all began to make excuses. The first one said to him, ‘I have bought a field, and I must go out and see it. I ask you to excuse me.’ “Another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I’m going to try them out. I ask you to excuse me.’ “And another said, ‘I just got married, and therefore I’m unable to come.’ “So the servant came back and reported these things to his master. Then in anger, the master of the house told his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the city, and bring in here the poor, maimed, blind, and lame.’ “ ‘Master,’ the servant said, ‘what you ordered has been done, and there’s still room.’ “Then the master told the servant, ‘Go out into the highways and hedges and make them come in, so that my house may be filled. For I tell you, not one of those people who were invited will enjoy my banquet.’ ”

The first point today is Jesus invites everyone but not everyone is coming.

Jesus invites everyone but not everyone will accept

First off I love the dude who is trying to break the tension.

The room is clearly tense and you have this one guy “bless is everyone who will eat bread in the Kingdom of God.”

Yet what this guy is saying is important and here is why.

He is talking about eating bread in the kingdom of God.

He is talking about the messianic banquet and it refers to participating in the resurrection of the righteous.

In other words the promise of salvation and eternal life.

While this may have been used as an effort to break tension here is the issue with this statement.

The man who made it was taking about a far off promise, a distant promise that is to come.

RATHER than as Jesus— the Messiah— had been teaching that the Kingdom of God was at hand.

He was teaching that this was a present reality about his coming.

Then Jesus begins with telling another story.

Let’s look back at verse 16

A man had a huge party and everyone he invited and they all said no thank you and come up with every excuse in the book.

I have a field I need to tend too.

I just bought 5 oxen and I need to examine them.

I just got married.

Here is why Jesus is telling this story.

Because someone spoke about the coming kingdom of God and the reality here is that not everyone is going to accept the free invitation.

Jesus is raising the question of who is going to be invited to the Kingdom of God.

and Jesus is actually being a little funny here, but these excuses are just ridiculous.

The OG audience would have found this funny until they realized that this is how Jesus see them treating God’s invitation to them.

God invited the Jewish people to the great banquet and many did not accept it.

I do not know about you, but if you were to survey 100 people and ask them if they want to go to heaven I think 100/100 would say yes.

Of course everyone wants to go to Heaven.

But not everyone wants to accept the invitation from God.

And when they are invited they give lame excuses as to why they can’t make it.

But don’t we do this?

Don’t we make excuses as to why we don’t follow God’s word?

Those who made the excuses are the same as excuses we make ourselves when it comes to following and obeying Christ.

“Therein lies the point of the parable, for even a good excuse for refusing the banquet is not good enough! From a divine perspective—and this is the perspective Jesus introduces us to in the parables—work, property, family, and even life itself are trifles in comparison to the incomparable and eternal kingdom of God. To refuse the kingdom on their account is sheer folly.”

James R. Edwards, The Gospel according to Luke, ed. D. A. Carson, The Pillar New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI; Cambridge, U.K.; Nottingham, England: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company; Apollos, 2015), 422.

We see the commands of God as say; I’m to young for that.

We say I could never go on a mission’s trip what would I eat.

We say I would rather have my preferences not your’s God.

What excuses are you making as to why you do not follow after Jesus with your whole heart?

I know for me, for the longest time it was sin that I buried deep down in my soul.

And I knew the closer I grew in my relationship with Christ, I knew that sin would be exposed and it was going to hurt when it came out, and it did.

But what about you?

What excuses are you making?

Maybe it is that you do not want to accept the free gift of grace that Jesus is offering you.

Or maybe you have but your life looks more like excuses rather than devotion.

Point one is that Jesus invites everyone but not everyone will accept.

Point two is that Jesus sits with those who are marginalized.

Jesus sits with those who are marginalized:

As Jesus continues this story I think that those around the table are seeing that Jesus is calling them out.

Recall that these are the religious elites.

They would be the ones expected to get an invite by the man or in this case by God to go to the great banquet.

But they made the excuses as to why they couldn’t.

So What does the man do, he invites others.

He tells his servant to bring the least of these

Luke 14:21–23 CSB

“So the servant came back and reported these things to his master. Then in anger, the master of the house told his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the city, and bring in here the poor, maimed, blind, and lame.’ “ ‘Master,’ the servant said, ‘what you ordered has been done, and there’s still room.’ “Then the master told the servant, ‘Go out into the highways and hedges and make them come in, so that my house may be filled.

Go and get the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame and bring them to this great banquet.

You notice that no one said no to the invitation here.

Jesus once again this is showing the religious elite there is more to the Gospel than just the kingdom of God.

There is more than just being religious.

The Og audience would have seen the comparison between Jews and the gentiles.

Remember if you were not a Jew you would be considered a gentile.

the Jews were consistently forsaking God— they were meant to be his people— to accept that invitation but they consistently rejected it.

Now as Jesus tells the story, you think as the master of the party, that if you got some people to show up you would count the loses and call it a success.

He is having his servants come back with all the guest they could find but there was still room.

But the man wants the house to be full.

The Gospel according to Luke A Lesson to Hosts (14:12–24)

The sorry response fuels his passion for a full house: scour the countryside, he demands, and “compel them to come in, so that my house will be full”

Jesus uses an interesting Word compel.

As in the servant were to compel the people to come.

This sound like an obligation but it is not.

You see these people unlike the first guest had no idea the party was tonight.

They were not invited.

So these servant were taking it up, trying to convince the outsiders to come in.

One of the commentaries puts it this way.

The Gospel according to Luke A Lesson to Hosts (14:12–24)

The use of “compel” reflects ancient Near Eastern practices, in which a resolute host takes the hand of a hesitant guest and ushers him or her personally into the house (Gen 19:3). It is an expression of compulsory benevolence (Gen 33:10–11), not wrath.

While the man kept looking for those who were lost, Jesus does this same thing.

Jesus was with those who were on the outside of society.

And he gave them a spot at the table.

What about you?

Do you give the time of day to people who are nothing like you?

The marginalized people of our society?

Not so that they can convince you to sin but that you can show them what it looks like to follow Jesus.

Point one: Jesus invites everyone but not everyone will accept.

Point two: Jesus sits with those who are marginalized.

Point three is: Jesus will reject those who reject Him.

Jesus will reject those who reject Him

Look at verse 24.

Luke 14:24 CSB

For I tell you, not one of those people who were invited will enjoy my banquet.’ ”

The story is over now and Jesus is concluding the story.

Remember it is all about the one guy’s comment that Jesus is responding here.

He is saying that all the people who were invited to the party and rejected the invite will not taste His banquet.

The elite who reject him will not be part of the resurrection of the saints.

They will not end up in heaven because they rejected the invitation.

The world, your friends, your family members are going to reject the Gospel.

They are going to reject salvation and they will not taste in the great banquet.

I know we always want to just talk about my best friend Jesus.

That he is so loving and caring and that He will just let us all into Heaven at the end of time.

While he is so love and so caring He is also just.

And those who reject Him- He will reject as well.

This does not make Jesus rude or mean.

Think about this— why would you want someone at your party who doesn’t want to be there?

You don’t— nobody does.

Jesus is loving and he gives a free gift and if we reject that there is not much more that he can do.

This leads us to you now.

What does it look like for us to say yes to Jesus?

For some it may involve us saying Yes to Jesus for the first time.

For others it may mean that we say Jesus to a calling that Jesus is placing on our lives.

What is Jesus calling you too?

Here is the deal I believe that He is calling everyone to something.

Following Christ is not a Spector sport— it not for fans— it is for those who want to and who are making a difference for the kingdom of God— so that we can all eat and drink in the Kingdom of God.

Let’s Pray