2 November 2021
15When one of those reclining with Him heard this, he said to Jesus, “Blessed is everyone who will eat at the feastc in the kingdom of God.”
16But Jesus replied, “A certain man prepared a great banquet and invited many guests. 17When it was time for the banquet, he sent his servant to tell those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’
18But one after another they all began to make excuses. The first one said, ‘I have bought a field, and I need to go see it. Please excuse me.’
19Another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to try them out. Please excuse me.’
20Still another said, ‘I have married a wife, so I cannot come.’
21The servant returned and reported all this to his master. Then the owner of the house became angry and said to his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the city, and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame.’
22‘Sir,’ the servant replied, ‘what you ordered has been done, and there is still room.’
23So the master told his servant, ‘Go out to the highways and hedges and compel them to come in, so that my house will be full. 24For I tell you, not one of those men who were invited will taste my banquet.’ ”
Jesus had just told his host that people should not host banquets and invite their friends who will invite them in return, a feast should be held for the poor and sick and lame. The man’s response is that everyone who is invited to the messianic feast that the Jews expected to be laid out for the faithful at the end of time, will be blessed. So, Jesus drives his point home.
In Jewish culture, of the time, banquet invitations would be sent out in advance; but the hour that the banquet was to be held was not known. On the Day a servant would go out and say that the hour has now come you are welcome to attend the banquet to which you have been invited. It would have been normal that people who had accepted the invitation, would have set the day aside and when summonsed be ready to attend. It would have been a great insult to have accepted the invitation and then when told that the hour is now, not be ready to attend immediately. We can see how clearly this story was aimed at the Jews who had been called to be a holy nation who had been invited to receive salvation. We can clearly see Jesus saying to us that have been Baptised and given assurance of salvation that we are the invited, and that we should be dressed and ready to attend the banquet at any given moment.
In light of verses 7 to 13 we should see that the banquet is not something that we should be looking towards as a moment to be exalted or as a self-serving gathering of the holy and a commendation for us who are saved, but as an opportunity to serve the poor and the unsaved. Jesus says that the outcome of our Messianic hope should not be self- glorification but service of God by caring for the outcast (sinner) the poor and the less fortunate. The real banquet is not about a holy huddle but about serving the blind, the prisoner, the outcast, the poor – all symbols of the lost.
We can see how Luke is continually emphasising Jesus’s teaching against a religion that is self- seeking. The banquet is not something that is just held for the righteous at the end of time; fellowship with Christ is achieved through the way that we live today, and hospitality is a key function of faith in Christ. This is a great challenge for us. It is human nature to want to surround ourselves with likeminded, respectable people who will uplift us and keeping good company is something that we see as important. Again, I remind us that we should not be dualistic in our thinking – Jesus is making a point not issuing a directive. Every week we gather at a banquet to receive the Holy Communion and it is a sacred event one which we prepare our hearts for and believe that we need to believe and have accepted Jesus and be seeking relationship with him to receive. But the outcome of that banquet should be that we love God more and receive more love with which to share with our neighbour.
Here Jesus makes the point, that he came to save the world, not just one or two people in it. Those who have received the privilege of knowing Him and receiving his teaching are not just to accept it for themselves, but to seek to share it with everyone. For the Jew you had to conform to their way of living to sit at the banquet. You had to “make the grade” to be acceptable. Here Jesus says that our manmade hierarchies of status in the Christian society, our self-righteousness has no place at His banquet.
I pray that you will be challenged by Luke’s portrayal of Christ as the one who came not to condemn but to save. In our own lives may we be focused on drawing people into the love of Christ in every way that we can. May we reach out to the lost and the ignorant and the broken and the wayward and those who need a saviour. May we be dressed and ready to share the peace, hope and joy of God whenever called to do so and not be preoccupied with self- serving activities.
But there is a second aspect to what this text speaks to, and it is mentioned throughout Luke’s Gospel. The banquet is not just an “up in heaven thing.” We are meant to be happy and joyful now. Too often Christianity is trapped in the don’t do this and don’t do that; and it seems that fun is not an acceptable thing in the Christian life. Jesus was known to be a person who enjoyed the fellowship of others in everyday activity. Jesus did not live in the synagogue he lived in the streets, in the everyday. He did everyday things. Jesus laughed and people laughed with him. They enjoyed life, Jesus was not and is not and does not want you to be a dull and sombre person. We are to be happy and joyful! We are to live in gratitude for God’s love and not in fear of his retribution. Today give yourself to joy. Share the joy of the Lord which is your strength with others, and love the world back to God.
Our God who has saved us is faithful and he will not fail us.
Pray for God to fill you with joy today and to lay a banquet so that you can share the love of God with all whom you meet.
