Invitation to Come to The Great Banquet
November 2024
When you think of a feast or banquet, what do you think of? I think of a Thanksgiving or Wedding feast with family, relatives, and friends. Jesus tells us the story of the Parable of the Great Banquet about those persons who will eat at the feast of the kingdom of God. The banquet host says the guest list for the kingdom of God will look quite different than these dinner guests imagine. The invitation is extended to all but some will refuse to accept God’s invitation to come to the kingdom of God.
"Jesus replied: “A certain man was preparing a great banquet and invited many guests. At the time of the banquet he sent his servant to tell those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’ But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said, ‘I have just bought a field, and I must go and see it. Please excuse me.’ “Another said, ‘I have just bought five yoke of oxen, and I’m on my way to try them out. Please excuse me.’ “Still another said, ‘I just got married, so I can’t come.’ Luke 14: 16-20 (New International Version).
The way banquets worked in Jesus day was that the host invited 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. The banquet was ready, and the host sent his servant to contact each of the invited guests, telling them that all was ready and the meal was about to start (verses 16-17). One after another, the guests made excuses for not coming. One had just bought a piece of land and said he had to go see it (verse 18). Another had purchased some oxen and said he was on the way to yoke them up and try them out (verse 19). Another gave the excuse that he was newly married and therefore could not come (verse 20).
When the host of the banquet heard these flimsy excuses, he was angry. He told his servant to don’t bother with the guest list and go into the back streets and alleyways of the town and invite “the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame” (verse 21). The servant had already brought in the down-and-out townspeople, and still, there was room in the banquet hall. So the master sent his servant on a broader search: “Go out to the roads and country lanes and make them come in so that my house will be full” (verses 22-23).
The host which is Christ had prepared everything for the banquet. All the Lord was doing then was asking people to come. He wasn’t asking them to bring anything, he wasn’t asking them to pay for anything. Everything was prepared, everything was ready. In the same way, the gospel is God’s offer of grace and mercy and salvation, his invitation to come to the feast that he has prepared, and to come without bringing anything. It’s a free offer, and it’s an offer to come and receive of his gracious generosity, the rich bounty of his table.
Our Lord’s parable illustrates how hearers of the Word miss the opportunity for salvation, extended to all of God’s people. In this parable, the people outside the mainstream of society respond to Jesus’ loving invitation to them. Like the host in Jesus’ parable of The Great Banquet, God invites as many as are willing to come to eat at His Thanksgiving table to “taste and see that the Lord is good” (Psalm 34:3).
Yours in Christ,
Pastor Loreno R. Flemmings
