URGE PEOPLE TO COME IN

URGE PEOPLE TO COME IN

Luke 14:15-24 NET.

¹⁵ When one of those at the meal with Jesus heard this, he said to him, “Blessed is everyone who will feast in the kingdom of God!” ¹⁶ But Jesus said to him, “A man once gave a great banquet and invited many guests. ¹⁷ At the time for the banquet he sent his slave to tell those who had been invited, ‘Come, because everything is now ready.’ ¹⁸ But one after another they all began to make excuses. The first said to him, ‘I have bought a field, and I must go out and see it. Please excuse me.’ ¹⁹ Another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going out to examine them. Please excuse me.’ ²⁰ Another said, ‘I just got married, and I cannot come.’ ²¹ So the slave came back and reported this to his master. Then the master of the household was furious and said to his slave, ‘Go out quickly to the streets and alleys of the city, and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame.’ ²² Then the slave said, ‘Sir, what you instructed has been done, and there is still room.’ ²³ So the master said to his slave, ‘Go out to the highways and country roads and urge people to come in, so that my house will be filled. ²⁴ For I tell you, not one of those individuals who were invited will taste my banquet!'”

We are continuing to study the commands that Jesus gave during his earthly ministry. We have traveled with Jesus and his disciples during his major evangelistic campaigns in Galilee and Judea. Now we are with them during the short – but very significant campaign in Perea – the region just east of Judea across the Jordan River.

Today’s command comes in the context of a parable, and that parable sounds very similar to the one I quoted last Sunday. But it is not the same parable. Last Sunday I quoted the parable of the wedding banquet which is found in Matthew 22. That parable was spoken by Jesus in Jerusalem during his final week before his trial and crucifixion. As we look at today’s text, you will find a few differences.

We read about a MEAL at a Pharisee’s house (15).

Let’s begin with the context. In Matthew 22, Jesus is teaching several parables in the temple courts at Jerusalem. But in today’s text, he has just been to the synagogue for a Sabbath service in Perea. A leader of the Pharisees in that village has invited him to come to his house for a meal. Prominent members of that local community were invited. These Pharisees and theologians were interested in what this wandering Rabbi had to say, so they were watching him closely to see if they could find some reason to discredit him.

An opportunity presented itself when a sick man entered the house. He had edema. That is a condition that is easy to diagnose since it causes parts of the body to swell up with fluid. This man was obviously ill and needed help. Unfortunately, he picked a bad day to ask for it. He came looking for healing on the Sabbath. Jesus wanted to heal him, but he also knew that if he healed this man, he would be challenging the theology of these men. They taught that healing was work, and no work could be lawfully performed on the Sabbath Day.

Jesus could have told this sick man to make an appointment for tomorrow, but he did not. He used this opportunity to challenge the doctrine of these theologians. He asked them if it was lawful to heal on the Sabbath. Not one of those religious experts opened his mouth. They may have felt embarrassed and angry, but they were not going to add insult to injury. They knew that Jesus had the power to heal that man, and if he did so, it would refute anything they had to say. They could argue doctrine all day long, but none of them could heal the man.

For a few moments, everybody looked at themselves. Awkward silence. Then Jesus grabbed this sick guy, and the very touch of the master’s hand was all it took. The man was miraculously healed in front of the whole crowd. This man had shuffled into that house with swollen limbs, but he walked away completely healed. As soon as he left, Jesus turned back to these theologians, and he asked them a question. He asked them to imagine if they had a son or even an ox and it had fallen into a well on the Sabbath Day. Would they immediately pull out their son or their work animal? Or would they wait a whole day to rescue the one who needed it? Once again, the theologians didn’t say a word.

Everybody was anxious to change the subject, so when the bell rang for the meal, each man scrambled for a place at the table. They had been watching Jesus closely to see what he was going to do. Now, Jesus watched them to see what they were doing. Each man spied out the room and carefully chose a place of honor. So, Jesus shared some advice with these men. He told them not to look for the best spots, because if they took a place of greater prominence, the host might ask them to step down to a lower place, and that would be embarrassing. He told them to humble themselves.

Then Jesus had some advice for the host of the meal. He told him that the next party he put on, instead of inviting a bunch of important people  — prominent members of that local community — he should invite people like the man who was just healed. He should invite the people who could not pay for the meal, people who could not walk, people who could not see. He told the host that if he did that, those people would not be able to repay him, but God would repay him on resurrection day.

Jesus was not the perfect guest for the meal that day. He had managed to insult and embarrass just about everyone there. But he made an impact for the kingdom of God at that meal.

We read about a FEAST in the future (15).

There didn’t seem to be a lot of casual conversation at the meal that day in Perea. The ones who had originally been watching Jesus closely were now aware that he was watching them closely, and they didn’t want him to catch them in another mistake. I can hear the cautious whispers. Then, somebody realizes that the whispers themselves are embarrassing. He felt he should say something out loud or else the silence would be unbearable. But, what to say? “I know”, he thought. “We are eating a meal, why don’t I say something about the Messianic Feast?”

The Messianic Feast was a very old doctrine in Judaism. The prophet Isaiah had predicted that when the Messiah came, he would hold a great feast. He wrote, “The LORD who commands armies will hold a banquet for all the nations on this mountain. At this banquet there will be plenty of meat and aged wine — tender meat and choicest wine. On this mountain he will swallow up the shroud that is over all the peoples, the woven covering that is over all the nations; he will swallow up death permanently. The sovereign LORD will wipe away the tears from every face, and remove his people’s disgrace from all the earth. Indeed, the LORD has announced it! At that time they will say, “Look, here is our God! We waited for him and he delivered us. Here is the LORD! We waited for him. Let’s rejoice and celebrate his deliverance!”” (Isaiah 25:6-9).

Over time, the Jews built up elaborate traditions and doctrines about that feast in the future. Even though Isaiah’s message clearly taught that all the nations would experience this feast, the theologians managed to change that. Popular opinion said that Gentiles would be excluded from the feast. But the Jews did retain two aspects of Isaiah’s prophecy. The feast would be a celebration of the Messiah’s deliverance, and that deliverance would include the fact that death itself would be ended permanently.

So, at the meal that day in Perea, this guest decided to break the awkward silence by saying “Blessed is everyone who will feast in the kingdom of God!”

We read about a BANQUET in a parable (16-24).

I’m sure at that point every eye in the house turned to Jesus to see what his reaction was going to be. Surely Jesus couldn’t find reason to react negatively to such a pious proclamation! He doesn’t denounce the statement. But he does take it as a cue to begin a little story.

The parable of the great banquet is the story of a man who decided to put on a feast of his own, and he invited a lot of guests to attend. Back in those days, you gave two invitations. The first invitation is the announcement that the banquet is being prepared. Then, when everything is ready, you send your servants out to contact the same people you invited, to tell them to tie on the feed bag.

But in Jesus’ story, when the servants went out to give the second invitation. Everyone rejected it and gave lame excuses. “I bought a field, and I need to go look at it” said one. Really? You don’t buy a field without looking at it first. That would be stupid. “I just bought five yokes of oxen and I need to examine them.” Really? You spent all that money on a team of animals, and you haven’t seen them in action? That is ridiculous. “I just got married and I cannot come.” Really? Nobody accepts an invitation to a banquet and then quickly gets married between the first and second invitations. What are you, an idiot?

The theologians at the meal in Perea are listening to the story as Jesus tells it and they cannot help chuckle at the humor. Finally, this young Rabbi is saying something that does not shame them. They are laughing at the joke, and then things get a little more somber as the story continues.

The master of the household discovers that no one is coming to his banquet. He is furious. He gives orders for his slaves to go to the streets and alleys and gather all the riffraff they can find. He empties the slums, the ghettos, and the quarters. When he still has room, he orders his slaves to go to the highways and country roads and pull in all the people travelling through from far away.

About this time, it is dawning on the theologians that Jesus had not changed the subject. He had advised them to invite the lowly to their parties. In his story, that is exactly what the master of the household did. But wait. They knew Jesus was not just telling an amusing story. His stories always had a point. The one who is going to put on the Messianic Feast is the Messiah himself. He’s not going to have all the prominent people at his feast because they have not responded to his invitation. They said they were going but then they changed their mind and gave stupid excuses.

So, one of the enduring messages we get from today’s passage is that there is going to be a great reversal. Lots of people who think they are going to be at the wedding celebration of the Lamb are going to be left out. Those originally invited will not taste the master’s banquet.

But there is a missionary challenge in the story Jesus told as well. The master of the household who is putting on the banquet is Jesus – the Messiah. But the slaves that the master sent out are the ones proclaiming the gospel and inviting the world to his coming feast. We are those slaves. We have been commanded to go get some guests for the party. If the original people invited refuse the invitation, we need to go into the streets and alleys. That is the task we call saturation evangelism. There will still be room, so we are to go to the highways and seek guests who are coming from far away. That is the task we call foreign missions.

We are to urge people to come in. That means pressing the invitation and not taking “no” for an answer. It means getting as many warm bodies into seats at the feast as possible. We have one job. We must convince a large crowd of people to stop making excuses and get into the feast.

This is the point where Jesus’ message applies not just to first-century Jews in Perea, but also to twenty-first-century North Carolinian Christians. We have a habit of targeting those who have already heard the invitation and have rejected it. They lied. They gave stupid excuses. The master tells us that if those prominent members of the community want to treat him that way, we need to reexamine our evangelistic strategy. We need to target the riffraff that we intentionally left off the list the first time. We need to shake the dust off our feet and go on to the next town. We need to give up some of our sons and daughters and grandchildren to go to Asia, Africa, and Europe to reach them for Christ.

Our mandate from Jesus is that we are to go into the world and preach the gospel to every nation. The easy part has been done. Most of our neighbors and family members have heard the gospel. Some of them have confessed faith in Christ. But we cannot help but notice some empty spots in these pews in which we are sitting. Now, we have a choice. We can sit back and wait for the feast. Or we can do what our Master has told us to do. There are still plenty of empty place settings at the banquet. Will we exert our energy looking for others to respond to our Lord’s invitation? That is what his servants do.

For further study:

Briscoe D. Stuart. Patterns for Power: Parables of Luke. GL Regal Books 1979. pp. 110-121.

Clements Roy. A Sting in the Tale. Inter-Varsity 1995. pp. 48-62.

Gire Ken. Instructive Moments with the Savior: Learning to Hear. Zondervan 1992. pp. 89-95.

Keddie Gordon J. He Spoke in Parables. Evangelical Press 1994. pp. 121-129.

Kistemaker Simon J. The Parables: Understanding the Stories Jesus Told. New paperback ed. Baker Books 2002. pp. 161-167.

Leman Derek. Jesus Didn’t Have Blue Eyes: Reclaiming Our Jewish Messiah. Mt. Olive Press 2004. pp. 76-79.

Ratzlaff Lydia Nelson. Jesus Said. Bruce Pub 1963. pp. 199-200.

Timmer John. The Kingdom Equation: A Fresh Look at the Parables of Jesus. CRC      Publications 1990. pp. 54-60.