Amy C Walters

The Parable of the Great Banquet | Luke 14:15-24

In this story, the guest list and the attendee list look totally different. When all of the guests refuse to come, the host doesn’t go out and beg them or sit alone at his party. Instead, he invites others who will actually value the invitation and come. Because having the invitation is not enough–you actually have to respond to it.

In this story, the list of invited guests and the reality of who shows up is quite different. The master of the house had invited many guests to his feast, but the people who actually showed up were totally different. 

First of all, everyone who had initially RSVPd “yes,” now reject the invitation and don’t show up. When the time comes to go to that feast, they’re occupied with other things. It shows that they actually don’t value the invitation. If they did, they would move heaven and earth to find a way to go. 

What, then, would we expect from the host when he hears all their responses? Maybe we picture him in the next scene, sitting by himself in an empty banquet room. It’s quiet, he’s kind of poking at his chicken dinner by himself. And nobody else is there. A really sad picture, right? That’s probably the Hollywood version of where this story would go.

Or maybe we think of him going out to the invitees and saying, “Let’s reschedule! Let’s find a time that works for you and we’ll just work around what you’re able to do. Or you could even just come late. Whatever works best for you.” 

In both of these scenarios, the host of the feast panders to the guests. He just really wants people to like him and come to his party. 

People often picture God that way. Many in our culture think of God as someone who’s really needy for our affection. Sometimes that’s even how we portray him when we are sharing the gospel. He needs us in his life. There’s even a popular worship song that says, “He didn’t want heaven without us.” 

How do people respond to a God like that? Maybe they become arrogant, thinking the invitation is all about them. “God wants me there because of how great I am. I fill a need in God’s heart.”

Or they take the invitation for granted. “Just being invited is enough. I don’t actually have to show up. God has invited me. He loves me. And so I can live the way I want without consequences.”

This is actually the attitude that we see from the Israelites throughout their history. If you read the prophetic books like Isaiah and Jeremiah, we see over and over again the Israelites thinking, “You know what, we’re God’s chosen people. Or we have the temple. Of course, he’s going to take care of us. He’s going to protect us. Nothing bad will happen to us. We can live however we want because we’re His people. So there won’t be any consequences.” They treat God as a genie in the bottle there to serve them.

This is actually the same kind of attitude that John the Baptist addresses in Luke 3:7-9. He tells them, “Don’t begin to say to yourselves that we have Abraham as our father.” Basically, we are descendants of Abraham so God must accept us. We have our invitation. We’re good. 

Instead, John the Baptist says, “I tell you, out of these stones, God can raise up children for Abraham.” So, yes, the Israelites have the invitation as children of Abraham, but they have to respond to it. And the response John calls for is repentance. 

So this parable does not go the way we would expect, with the host of the party begging his invitees. He doesn’t change the feast to be on their terms. Instead, he extends the invitation to those who will respond to it.

The host tells his servant to go out into the streets and the alleys of the city and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame. It’s really interesting because this is the same list that Jesus used in the previous passage, Luke 14:13, when he tells the host, “But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind.” Because those are the people that God invites.

And clearly people from this group respond, because the servant says to the master, “Actually, I’ve done that, but there’s still room.” So some from those groups have come; some of the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind. But there’s room for more.

This is a repeated idea in this parable. The servant says, “There’s room for more,” and then later the master says, “So that my house will be filled.” There’s this idea that there’s not going to be an empty seat at this feast.

The master sends the servant back out again, this time to the roads and the country lanes. He’s going further out, further afield, inviting those outside of the city to come. This is a picture of Gentiles being invited to the feast, being offered a place in heaven. 

As a Gentile, I love this, that the invitation has been extended to me. And if you are a Gentile, the invitation has been extended to you too. It’s not because we are great and God needs us at his party. It’s because he is great and generous and his house will be full. 

Jesus finishes this story by saying that not one of those who were invited would get a taste of the feast. But at the start of this passage in Luke 14:15, the man at the party says, “Blessed is the one who will eat at the feast in the kingdom of God.” He’s kind of saying, “Blessed are people like us. Clearly, we are those who will be at that feast.”

But actually, we see from the parable that those are exactly the people who reject the feast, who don’t go with the servant when he calls. Their mouths say, “Blessed are people like us who are invited,” but their actions say, “Blessed is God for having people like us to invite.” There’s an arrogance to it. But in that room full of Pharisees and religious people, not one of them was going to get a taste of the feast. 

Our key truth for today is that God will fill heaven with those who respond to his invitation.

Remember, this parable is a picture of heaven. Jesus depicts it as an incredible feast that God is preparing. It’s a place that we want to be. But just to get the invitation is not enough. We actually have to respond and go. So here are some implications of this key truth.

First, we must not take the invitation for granted. The Israelites and the Pharisees in particular took it for granted, assuming that their position as Israelites, as Abraham’s descendants, was enough, that they could live without consequences however they want to and still be welcomed with open arms. 

For us, we must not assume that our family’s good name or good deeds is enough, or our history in church is enough, or being baptized as a child is enough, or going to church is enough. To get to the feast, the people had to respond to the invitation. They had to be willing to let go of everything else and follow the servant to the master’s house. So don’t take it for granted. 

Second, we must be grateful for that invitation. We are not invited to the feast because we are so great, but because the master is so generous to extend the invitation to us. Be grateful to be included. 

Another implication is that we may be surprised at who is at the feast and who is not. Revelation 7 actually gives us a small glimpse into who will be in heaven, and that it’s going to include people from every tribe, every language, every people, every nation. People who look very different from us, who speak a language totally foreign to us. We’re all going to be there together. 

Finally, we need to live ready for the feast. We don’t know when it will be our time to go. And so we must live ready to meet the master of the house, not waiting until the last second to turn to him. Because we don’t know when the last second will be.