A man sitting at the table with Jesus exclaimed, “What a blessing it will be to attend a banquet in the Kingdom of God!”
Jesus replied with this story… (Luke 14:15-16)
The context of this story is important. Jesus was attending dinner at the home of a Pharisee. Most likely the man who made the statement was a Pharisee too. Jesus’ story appears a rather indirect answer to the man’s statement until you put all this together. We will look at this again at the end of this writing.
Jesus proceeded to tell a story about a man who prepared a great feast and sent out many invitations. When the dinner was ready, he sent out his servant to tell the invited guests, “Come, the banquet is ready.” But everyone he called had some excuse why they couldn’t come. When his master heard this, he told his servant to go back into town and invite the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame. And when he had done this he reported back that there was still room. Upon hearing this, the man said, “Go out into the country lanes and behind the hedges and urge anyone you find to come, so that the house will be full. For none of those I first invited will get even the smallest taste of my banquet.”
Now why did Jesus tell this story? Because He was in the presence of those who thought they were the first in the kingdom of God. If they were paying any attention at all, they would have realized they were the first ones invited to the banquet. And they would have been offended by this story, but that was surely nothing new for them and Jesus.
But I also think He told this story as an answer to the statement of the man at the table who was excited about joining that banquet in the kingdom of God.
I think Jesus was saying to the man and the other Pharisees:
Are you really wanting to share that banquet with the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame?
I bet you can’t wait to join all those people from the countryside and the byways and behind the hedges who didn’t even know there was a banquet.
Are these really the people you can’t wait to see in heaven—”uncircumcised scum” who know nothing about Moses and the law and the prophets?
Are you sure you want to go to this banquet?
It will be a noisy, smelly place.
Maybe you’d better stay home.
I’m sure you can come up with an excuse like the rest.
And before you get too smug about this—you who are reading this—be sure you realize that we are the nobodies who were brought to this table.
We’re the nobodies who got invited in because the first guests couldn’t come. And we won’t be able to fathom how we got a seat at this table.
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