Luke 14:16-17 (ESV) 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.’
The way banquets worked in Jesus day was that the host sent out an invitation to his potential guests. The invitees were then required to either accept or reject the invite, so the host could properly prepare for the banquet. Finally, a messenger would be sent out on the day of the banquet to tell the guests that everything was ready. It would be considered very rude to not attend a banquet that one had accepted the initial invitation to. So, to properly understand this story, we must realize that those to whom the servant went had already accepted the invitation and were expected to attend.
Luke 14:18-20 (ESV) 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.’
However, surprisingly, everyone the servant went to remind had excuses as to why they could not come to the banquet. All of these excuses were really ridiculous when examined closely. You look at a field before you buy it, not after The same is true of the yoke of oxen. It would be highly unlikely that someone would have gotten married unexpectedly between the time the invitation was accepted and finally announced. These kind of excuses to not go to a free lavish banquet made no sense.
Luke 14:21 (ESV) 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.’
Understandably, the master, the host of the banquet became angry at those who had turned down his gracious invitation. As the banquet had been prepared and was ready, he wanted people to be able to enjoy it. So, he directed the servant to go out on the streets of the city and invite the poor, the crippled, bland and lame to come to the banquet.
Luke 14:22-24 (ESV) 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 banquet was not yet full, so the servant was now sent outside the city. To the highways and hedges where the homeless and the destitute lived. The servant was to compel them to come to the banquet. The Greek word for compel is a very strong word. It means to put pressure on, to force, to urge, to insist. Why? So that the master’s house would be full, the banquet would be complete. None of those who were invited but had excuses would have another chance to eat of the banquet. No excuses to God’s invitation
So, let’s unpack what this parable means for us today. The host of the banquet represents God. The banquet represents the great supper that believers will eat with Jesus in eternity. And we might say that the banquet represents the kingdom of God, which we begin to experience in this life. The first group of people that God invited all said they wanted to come. This would represent people today who want to go to heaven, just about everybody.
It would include many who have made some commitment to Jesus and consider themselves believers. Yet, when the call comes to actually participate in the banquet, to participate in the kingdom of God, they have excuses. The excuses are not bad things, not what we would consider sins. Yet the excuses show that these people’s values do not put the banquet, the kingdom of God first in this life. They value possessions and relationships above following Jesus and His kingdom.
So, the question we must ask ourselves this morning is are we like those in the first group? Do we have excuses whereby we ignore God’s invitation to seek His kingdom first?
The next group is the poor, crippled, blind and lame. These people do not have much in the way of worldly value. So, they gladly give that up in order to receive the treasures of the kingdom. The final group are those who live along the highways and the hedges. The homeless, those cast out of the city, those who have nothing in this world. They too, are happy to accept the invitation to God’s kingdom banquet.
The story makes clear that everyone in the world is invited to God’s banquet. Those who have the least in this world are always the most receptive to the Gospel. We must be careful to not let the things of this world lead us to make excuses to God’s invitation to us.
Those who accept God’s invitation become His servants. What does the servant do? He invites everyone to God’s kingdom banquet of eternal life. God calls each one of us as followers of Jesus to be His servants and invite everyone. If some are reluctant to accept, we must compel them to come in. We must insist, put pressure on, urge, force everyone to come to the banquet. Why? Because their eternal destiny is at stake.
Is someone was at the top of a bridge, looking to jump off to their death, how would you respond. You could compel them to change their minds and save their life. May God help us to have no excuses to God’s invitations and to be God’s servants to invite others.