The Great Banquet

The tables are set. The lamps are lit. The bread is warm, and the meat is roasting. Everything is ready for the biggest party in town. There's only one problem. Nobody's coming.

Jesus has been invited to a Sabbath meal at the home of a leading Pharisee. All through dinner he's been talking about tables and guests. Don't rush for the best seat, he says. And when you throw a party, don't just invite friends and rich neighbours who can invite you back. Invite the poor, the disabled, people who can't walk, people who can't see. One of the guests calls out, “Blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!” And Jesus answers with a story.

“A certain man was preparing a great banquet, and he invited many guests.” The invitations went out ahead of time, and people said yes. Then, when the day comes and the feast is ready, the host sends his servant out with a second message for everyone on the list. “Come, for everything is now ready.” The ovens are hot. The wine is poured. The servant sets off through the streets to call the guests in.

But one after another, they start making excuses. The first says, “I've just bought a field, and I have to go and see it. Please excuse me.” The second says, “I've just bought five pairs of oxen, and I'm on my way to try them out. Please excuse me.” And the third? “I've just got married, so I can't come.” Many readers have noticed how thin those excuses sound. Who buys a field without looking at it first? Who buys oxen without trying them? Underneath, each one is saying the same thing. I'd rather not come.

The servant goes back and tells his master everything. And the master is angry. But he doesn't cancel the party. “Go out quickly,” he says, “into the streets and alleys of the town. Bring in the poor, the disabled, the blind and the lame.” Off goes the servant. Soon people are coming through the door who have never been invited to anything like this in their lives. They stare at the tables. They sit down, amazed. Somebody passes them the bread.

Then the servant comes back. “Sir, what you ordered has been done, and there's still room.” So the master says, “Go out to the roads and the country lanes, and compel people to come in, so that my house will be full.” The invitation travels further and further, out beyond the town, to travellers and strangers. And then the master says one last, sobering thing. “None of those who were invited will taste my banquet.” The door was wide open. The ones who said no chose to stay outside.

That second invitation was a real custom. A host would invite guests in advance, and then send servants to fetch them when the meal was ready. You can see it in the book of Esther, where the king's officials arrive to hurry Haman along to the banquet Queen Esther has prepared. So the guests in Jesus' story had already said yes. Backing out at the last minute, with the food hot on the table, was a public insult to the host.

The Great Banquet. You'll find it in Luke chapter 14, verses 15 to 24. God's table is set, and the invitation is still going out: to the streets, to the lanes, to people who never expected to be asked. There's room. So here's the question to carry with you. What excuses might keep you from saying yes to God's invitation, and who could you invite to come along with you?