Luke 14:15-24 At this point in his ministry, Jesus
was teaching thousands of people—he was at the height of his popularity—and so
he was something of a local celebrity.
He was invited by
a ruler of the Pharisees to his home for a banquet—which is kind of an odd
thing for them to do because Jesus had been warning the people he taught about
the hypocrisy of their leaders. Woe to
the scribes and Pharisees! Watch out for
the leaven of the Pharisees which is hypocrisy!
And yet here Jesus
was, in this ruler’s home as his guest, surrounded by the very people he had
been criticizing.
Luke gives us the
reason for this odd scene: that the
ruler and the other Pharisees were watching him closely—trying to catch him, do
or say something wrong. But Luke tells
us that Jesus was also watching them—that he noticed how they chose the places
of honor for themselves.
Jesus used this
context to tell some stories about what life with God is really all about. He told them about a wedding feast where a
man chose the best place for himself only to have to move after the host came
and told him someone more important had arrived—that everyone who exalted
himself would be humbled and the humble exalted.
He told them that
rather than inviting family and friends to their banquets (people who could
repay their hospitality) they ought to invite the poor and the blind and the
lame because God would repay them in the end for their generosity.
Of course, Jesus
was not really telling them these stories to correct their boorish behavior and
give them social graces. Instead, he was
telling them about how the kingdom
of God
When one of those who
reclined at table with Jesus heard these things, he said to him, “Blessed is
everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom
of God
This is the
response that Jesus wants from all of us—yet it is the very thing we struggle
with.
Life with God is
about humility-- and yet we want to exalt ourselves above others. Life with God is about generosity towards
others-- but there’s a cost in that to us we don’t always like to pay. Life with God is about our hearts being right
rather than just looking good on the outside-- but we are experts at pious
facades.
Life with God is
different than the way the world works-- and there’s a cost to following Jesus--
but the blessings are worth it a thousand times over: forgiveness for our sins and the confidence
that God is with us and guiding us and the promise that there is life for us
after this life is done.
The blessings of
life with God in his kingdom are wonderful and life-changing and he invites us
to come to him and faith and take our place and receive his blessings:
Jesus 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.’
Throughout
the Bible—Old Testament and New—life with God is portrayed as a great
banquet.
It is no accident
that the central feature of the Old Covenant and the New Covenant is a
salvation meal: the Passover in the O.T.
and Holy Communion in the N.T. A banquet
is peace and plenty and God is the One who is the Host and he invites all
people to come and take their place at his table of salvation.
He is the One has
made it ready. He has sent his Son to
die on the cross, reconciling the world to himself. He is the One who raised Jesus from the dead,
promising life and salvation in his name.
And he is the One who issues the invitation.
Wherever and
whenever the Gospel is preached and the sacraments administered, there is God the
Holy Spirit, inviting all people to come and feast on the riches of his
bountiful love. And you would think that
every person who heard this invitation would accept it with joy and
thanksgiving and receive what he offers—but they don’t.
[Those invited] 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.’
This
list is not meant to be exhaustive-- but it captures the spirit of those who
refuse God’s invitation to come to his banquet of salvation. They reject God’s invitation because they
can’t be bothered--because they think little of the host--because they regard
the business of their lives more important than receiving God’s gifts.
They do it for
material reasons—always seeking after and concerned about things that will only
matter in this life. They do it for
relationship reasons—because the ones they love have no interest in the things
of God, neither do they.
But these reasons—these
excuses-- do not suffice when it comes to God’s invitation to have a life with
him.
Jesus said: you cannot serve God and money. Jesus said:
those who love family more than me are not worthy of me. And to
refuse God’s invitation to come to him and have a life with him is to lose
something much more precious than money or family—it is to lose one’s own life
for eternity under the wrath of God.
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.’
The
Good News of God’s invitation is that the poor and the obscure and the broken
are invited to his banquet as much as are the rich and famous. Such is his love for the world that his
gracious invitation to come and partake of the banquet of salvation goes out to
every person irrespective of who they are -or what they have -or what they have
done. God wants each person to have a
place at his table.
But to refuse his
invitation—to reject his salvation—to ignore his grace-- is to learn something
else that is also true about our gracious God:
that he is also a God of wrath who is angry with those who refuse to
have a life with him.
Those who think
that they can refuse God without consequences are deceiving themselves-- and so
the lesson for us from Jesus’ story is to take to heart God’s invitation right
here and now and receive the good things that he wants to give to us.
And the servant said,
‘Sir, what you commanded has been done, and still there is room.’ 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.
Not only does God call us into his kingdom to give us his
gifts—he invites us take part in making sure that others have a place at his
table like we do. You will notice that
it is the servant who actually issues the invitation.
The question for
us is this: can we answer the same as
the servant—that everything necessary has been done—that we have made sure that
everyone we know has received God’s gracious invitation?
The servant
thought he had and I believe that he answered that way fully believing that he
had. He wasn’t intentionally trying to
deceive the master. But the master asked
him to look again. He knew that there
were still plenty of folks who didn’t have a place at his banquet and he wanted
to make sure that they had every opportunity to come.
The challenge for
the servant—and the challenge for us—is to see things from God’s
perspective—that all people are welcome to have a life with God.
For the Pharisees
and the other religious leaders this meant that they needed to open their eyes
and see that God also loved the Gentiles—that God also loved those who had
failed miserably in life—that God also loved those who were, at that moment,
very far from him.
The master in
Jesus’ story wanted his house FULL and so does God want his kingdom full. The challenge for us is to look with fresh
eyes and see the folks around as objects of God’s redeeming love—no less than
we—no matter who they are, no matter what they have done, no matter how far
they are from the kingdom of God right now.
God invites all
people to come and have a life with him with the warning that those who reject
his invitation will never experience the peace and forgiveness and life that
Jesus came to give. For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste my banquet.
There
are many places where we can see ourselves in this story Jesus tells. Are our hearts as open and inviting as that
of the master who wants to make a place in his life for everyone-- or are we
closed off to people because of who they are—wanting to keep them at arm’s
length?
Are we that
faithful servant who makes sure that the master’s invitation goes out to all
people—doing our part in the mission of Jesus-- or are we content for others to
do that work and support that mission?
Are we those folks
who are too busy and too self-important to receive the gifts that God wants to
give? May God forbid that we find
ourselves there and there is no reason to find ourselves there!
The banquet of
life and peace is ready. Jesus has done
everything to set before us a feast of forgiveness. God invites us to come and have a life with
him.
Perhaps the most
important place to see ourselves in this story is that of the man at the
beginning of the story, who, hearing about all that Jesus offered, said in faith: Blessed
is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God
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