The Luke 14 Banquet

This amazing story and parable that is so easily over looked really stopped me in my tracks yesterday... I have been feeling a burden for our country and the Church as a whole for some time around this very topic.  I don't worry about the Church because Jesus promised it would not fall and in the Book of Revelation God is sitting on the throne.  Which means He isn't pacing, swaying and wondering if it is all going to work out.  I do not doubt Him at all... But I do feel burdened for Christians.  I feel like our world has tossed us in a pot of cold water and slowly started to turn up the heat and it is beginning to boil.  So I read this scripture below and I really felt a call to pray for Christians to not merely be Christians but to be Disciples.

Luke 14:7-33 (ESV) 

7 Now he told a parable to those who were invited, when he noticed how they chose the places of honor, saying to them, 8 “When you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, do not sit down in a place of honor, lest someone more distinguished than you be invited by him, 9 and he who invited you both will come and say to you, ‘Give your place to this person,’ and then you will begin with shame to take the lowest place. 10 But when you are invited, go and sit in the lowest place, so that when your host comes he may say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher.’ Then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at table with you. 11 For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

Jesus had been invited by a Pharisee to a banquet and as Jesus always did He never turned down a good meal and an opportunity to love people.  Earlier in the chapter Jesus was asked a question by the Pharisee and here He shifts His attention away from the Pharisee to the other guests at the banquet. Jesus speaks to those who are jockeying for the best seats at the table, who were more concerned about sitting in the right place than about being the right person. And Jesus warns them not to think so highly of themselves because eventually they will embarrass themselves.

12 He said also to the man who had invited him, “When you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return and you be repaid. 13 But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, 14 and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just.”

Now Jesus is going to address the host of this banquet. He tells him, don't invite those who have the ability to pay you back, or include you in their circle, or return the invitation. Rather when you have a banquet invite the nobodies.  If we chose to live this way we will be blessed because God has great concern for the poor, the crippled, the lame and the blind.  Proverbs 19:17 tells us, "Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the Lord, and He will repay Him for his deed." That sounds like a wonderful plan to me.

15 When one of those who reclined at table with him heard these things, he said to him, “Blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!” 

Then one of those invited to the party can tell that the conversation is getting a little tense and he tries to change the conversation to something else by basically saying, "We're all Jews.  Let's talk about something we can agree on. Let's talk about the the Resurrection."

16 But he said to him, “A man once gave a great banquet and invited many. 17 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.’ 

And Jesus begins to talk about and even greater party... an even greater banquet.  Now I realize the context of this story is this... The Great Banquet Jesus is speaking of is heaven... the kingdom of God... salvation... eternity.  And those invited to the party are the Jews.  They are the chosen ones invited to the party. And so the Master (God) sends and invitation to the guests (the Jews) and those invited begin to make excuses, "Sorry, I just don't have the time."

18 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.’ 19 And another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to examine them. Please have me excused.’ 20 And another said, ‘I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.’ 

They begin to make three excuses...

1.) Sorry, I can't accept your invitation Lord. I have to take care of my possessions.

2.) Sorry, I can't accept your invitation Lord. My job just won't allow me the time to seek you right now.

And lastly and probably my favorite excuse...

3.) Sorry, I can't accept your invitation Lord. I'm married you see... and my first priority is my spouse.

To the world this seem like good things... even honorable things. I mean family first right God? My marriage, my kids need to be first right God? But what happens next would shock most of our world.

21 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.’ 22 And the servant said, ‘Sir, what you commanded has been done, and still there is room.’ 23 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.24 For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste my banquet.’” 

The Master (God) of the house is angry. He had given those He invited such a great opportunity yet all they gave Him in return were weak excuses. Similar to the excuses "Church" people give God today. So the Master (God) does something unheard of... He invites the poor, the crippled, the lame and the blind to the banquet instead. Because He knows the poor won't be distracted by their material possessions. Because He knows those who are crippled will not be spending time harnessing oxen. The poor, the crippled, the lame and the blind would be so overwhelmed with gratitude by such an amazing opportunity and act of kindness and love. These people would not be distracted by possessions, vocations or affections. They wouldn't make ludicrous excuses, they wound't be sidetracked by the things of the world. Paul would address this same thought in his letter to the church in Corinth in 1st Corinthians 1:26, "For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth."


Because the Jew - those who had been invited initially, those who had the Prophets and the Pentateuch, those who had Jesus living among them presently had excuses, the gentile were invited! And as poor, crippled and blind as we are, we accepted the invitation gladly.


I think often we read parables like this from Jesus and we begin cheering Him on in complete agreement with Him, until we realize that "church people" are the modern day Pharisee's. We give Jesus the same excuses today in the church. "God, I'm sorry I would give to the church but we've got to save up for the future you know? I mean we have to save up for this big family vacation coming up in the summer. I would give but I can't cancel Netflix! What would my kids do without it? God I would serve You and your people but man I'm soooooo busy right now. I am slammed at work and I just can't seem to stay afloat." A good friend of mine told me today that when you used to ask people how they were doing they would always say, "Fine" or "Good". But in today's world you know what everyone says??? "Oh just busy." Then my favorite excuse... God I would come to church and serve but I'm a family man. Men.... we have to lead our families. In many of our families it is way past due for us to do a hostile take over and take back control of our family because for many of us our kids run the show. They are in 6 different sports leagues and we travel here and there and spend every night of the week at a sporting event or practice. We miss church, small groups, Bible studies so that our kids can be in sports. We spend thousands of dollars on sports leagues, equipment and shoes and then give God our leftovers. Acting as if robbing God is ok. We have to learn to "play the movie out" as Andy Stanley says. We think we are winning Dad of the year because we are at every sports event our kid has and we say things like, "I will always choose my kids first." To the world that is honorable... but it makes God angry! We pin on our #1 Dad pin because we are willing to skip church to take our kids to a game and we think we are choosing our kids. But the only problem is you are teaching your kids that they are more important to you than God. That sports and their happiness is more important than God. And that makes God angry!


Jesus goes on to tell those around Him at the banquet, "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple." Wow.... we have a hard time with this scripture. Did you know that there is a big difference between being a Christian and a Disciple? Disciple means disciplined one or one who is committed top the cause of the kingdom. In other words Jesus is saying, "You can't be My disciple if other affections have priority in your life." Our love for Christ has to be above our love for anyone else. We must count the cost, which is a total commitment to Christ... that is what He requires from His disciples.


There is always a great deal of misunderstanding concerning what it means to bear your cross. Jesus showed us what the cross is when He laid down His life in order that we could be lifted up. The cross is the way to which we die to self in order that others can be saved, helped, redeemed, and restored. And Jesus says we cannot be His disciples unless we are willing to lay aside our rights and preferences in order to see others do well.


When you bear or carry your cross it will always be...


1.) NOTICEABLE - People in all areas of our life should notice that we are carrying the cross of Christ. If you have a cross on your back it cannot be hidden.


2.) UNCOMFORTABLE - We often follow Jesus until it gets uncomfortable. We bend around crosses; crosses don't bend around us.


3.) PERSONAL - One person dies on one cross. Church, friends and family cannot carry our crosses for us.


4.) PERMANENT - Crosses imply a permanent death. So count the cost of following Christ.


5.) PUBLIC - Crosses were placed on roads where people would see them. Are people seeing your commitment to Christ?


My prayer is for the church to wake up from it's slumber before the world boils us alive and all thats left is a luke-warm remnant of "Christians"... God rise up true Disciples for your kingdom not just wordily people with a Christian name tag.