Luke 14: 12-24
Guess Who’s Not Coming To Dinner?
12 Then He also said to him who invited Him, “When you give a dinner or a supper, do not ask your friends, your brothers, your relatives, nor rich neighbors, lest they also invite you back, and you be repaid. 13 But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind. 14 And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you; for you shall be repaid at the resurrection of the just.” 15 Now when one of those who sat at the table with Him heard these things, he said to Him, “Blessed is he who shall eat bread in the kingdom of God!” 16 Then He said to him, “A certain man gave a great supper and invited many, 17 and sent his servant at supper time to say to those who were invited, ‘Come, for all things are now ready.’ 18 But they all with one accord began to make excuses. The first said to him, ‘I have bought a piece of ground, and I must go and see it. I ask you to have me excused.’ 19 And another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to test them. I ask you to have me excused.’ 20 Still another said, ‘I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.’ 21 So that servant came and reported these things to his master. Then the master of the house, being angry, said to his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in here the poor and the maimed and the lame and the blind.’ 22 And the servant said, ‘Master, it is done as you commanded, and still there is room.’ 23 Then the master said to the servant, ‘Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled. 24 For I say to you that none of those men who were invited shall taste my supper.’”
In the previous parable our Lord Jesus had hinted at the danger of not partaking in the future life because the people were too proud. Now He makes clear that most of those present will not be there in the everlasting kingdom because they have refused the King’s invitation to join His family.
12 Then He also said to him who invited Him, “When you give a dinner or a supper, do not ask your friends, your brothers, your relatives, nor rich neighbors, lest they also invite you back, and you be repaid. 13 But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind. 14 And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you; for you shall be repaid at the resurrection of the just.”
The passage begins with Jesus suggesting to His host, the ruler who was a Pharisee (verse 1), that when next time he makes a supper or dinner he should not invite those who will return his invitation and thus recompense him for what he has done - For there is no goodness in that. It is simply a part of the social round. It may earn him a reputation as being a good host, but it will earn no plaudits from God.
We all need to be concerned for the poor and needy. Here the injunction is to invite the poor and needy to his table. I see some good things that people do in reaching out and inviting to their homes individuals that might not have anyone or any place to go to. Perhaps, you can think about doing similar especially during the holidays.
1. If you live near a military base perhaps you can invite a few of the soldiers to come to your house for a dinner.
2. Look around the church and see if you can spot some senior citizens or people who are loners and invite them over to dinner.
3. Go and feed some of the homeless on the streets.
4. Check on a women’s shelter and invite a mother and her children over to dinner.
5. Check with your church on some single people or mom’s with kids and invite them over to your house.
6. Take some food over to your local police department or fire company.
You can see that there are a lot of possible candidates.
We see in these verses also a deeper message and that is that many of those first invited, the religious Jews, who thought complacently that their place in God’s kingdom was secure, will not enter under either the present or the future Kingly Rule of God, because they have refused His invitation, while many from among the outcasts and the Gentiles will.
There are similarities between this parable and that in Matthew 22 which says, “And Jesus answered and spoke to them again by parables and said: 2 “The kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who arranged a marriage for his son, 3 and sent out his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding; and they were not willing to come. 4 Again, he sent out other servants, saying, ‘Tell those who are invited, “See, I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and fatted cattle are killed, and all things are ready. Come to the wedding.”’ 5 But they made light of it and went their ways, one to his own farm, another to his business. 6 And the rest seized his servants, treated them spitefully, and killed them. 7 But when the king heard about it, he was furious. And he sent out his armies, destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city. 8 Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy. 9 Therefore go into the highways, and as many as you find, invite to the wedding.’ 10 So those servants went out into the highways and gathered together all whom they found, both bad and good. And the wedding hall was filled with guests. 11 “But when the king came in to see the guests, he saw a man there who did not have on a wedding garment. 12 So he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless. 13 Then the king said to the servants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ 14 “For many are called, but few are chosen.”
The two parables indicate the flexibility of our Lord Jesus’ mind and His ability to adapt His stories so as to get over different points.
Now please note that our Lord Jesus is not discouraging family gatherings. He is rather using them to get over His point that the poor and needy should not be overlooked, and that what we do for them counts even more than what we do in this way for our families. We must remember that He had Himself attended many such gatherings.
If you would, please take a look at the Lord’s comment about, ‘The resurrection of the just [righteous].’ These are those who have walked rightly before God and are pleasing to Him. They are in the end ‘the righteous’ because they have been made righteous in Christ Jesus our Lord. Our Precious Holy Spirit teaches us this truth in these verses;
1 Corinthians 1, “30 But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God—and righteousness and sanctification and redemption—“
2 Corinthians 5, “21 For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”
15 Now when one of those who sat at the table with Him heard these things, he said to Him, “Blessed is he who shall eat bread in the kingdom of God!”
Someone present overheard what our Lord Jesus had said and piously and complacently declared, “Blessed is he who will eat bread within the Kingdom of God.” All present there hoped to do so and would have re-echoed his sentiment. All who heard it would nod agreement. They thought that even if no one else was there, they would be. But our Wonderful King and Ruler Jesus, Who was very much aware that not all of them would be there, issued a warning in the form of a parable.
16 Then He said to him, “A certain man gave a great supper and invited many,
So our Master Adoni Jesus spoke to them in a warning parable. The parable was about a man who made a great supper and invited many of those whom he thought were suitable. It was normal in those days, on such an occasion, first to issue the invitations in a general way without necessarily naming the exact date, and then to send a message to inform the guests once the feast was set up and ready. They in general had no calendars and diaries by which to remind themselves of such invitations.
What did the supper signify? The Messianic banquet was such a feature of belief in those days that we have little difficulty in seeing it as indicating the hope of salvation, and the need to come under the Kingdom of God where that salvation was worked out. Jesus would have associated this invitation with His proclaiming that ‘the Kingdom of God is at hand’. For that was why He had come.
Now a good question to consider is this, ‘who are these first invitees?’ Certainly they would include those present at the feast. The parable was told for them. But we must not limit it to them. The idea is not so much to identify a class of people as a type of people, those who would outwardly have professed that they would welcome the invitation, but in their hearts were not willing to do so. This went beyond the Scribes and the Pharisees. It represented all who gave the appearance of being ‘friends’ of God, but in fact were not so, as indicated by their refusal to respond to The Messiah, our Lord Jesus Christ. But it certainly included many of the Scribes and Pharisees as well. As with all His parables our Holy Lord Jesus left it open for men to apply as they would. Those who were guided by the Spirit would come through to the truth.
17 and sent his servant at supper time to say to those who were invited, ‘Come, for all things are now ready.’
We must also stop and ask, ‘who is the servant?’ We need look no further than the prophecy Isaiah. Look at what he reports in chapter 42 of his book, ““Behold! My Servant whom I uphold, My Elect One in whom My soul delights! I have put My Spirit upon Him; He will bring forth justice to the Gentiles. 2 He will not cry out, nor raise His voice, nor cause His voice to be heard in the street. 3 A bruised reed He will not break, and smoking flax He will not quench; He will bring forth justice for truth. 4 He will not fail nor be discouraged, till He has established justice in the earth; And the coastlands shall wait for His law.” 5 Thus says God the LORD, Who created the heavens and stretched them out, Who spread forth the earth and that which comes from it, Who gives breath to the people on it, and spirit to those who walk on it: 6 “I, the LORD, have called You in righteousness, and will hold Your hand; I will keep You and give You as a covenant to the people, as a light to the Gentiles, 7 To open blind eyes,
To bring out prisoners from the prison, those who sit in darkness from the prison house. 8 I am the LORD, that is My name; And My glory I will not give to another, nor My praise to carved images. 9 Behold, the former things have come to pass, and new things I declare; Before they spring forth I tell you of them.” 10 Sing to the LORD a new song, and His praise from the ends of the earth, you who go down to the sea, and all that is in it, you coastlands and you inhabitants of them! 11 Let the wilderness and its cities lift up their voice, the villages that Kedar inhabits.
Let the inhabitants of Sela sing, let them shout from the top of the mountains. 12 Let them give glory to the LORD, and declare His praise in the coastlands. 13 The LORD shall go forth like a mighty man; He shall stir up His zeal like a man of war. He shall cry out, yes, shout aloud; He shall prevail against His enemies.
18 But they all with one accord began to make excuses. The first said to him, ‘I have bought a piece of ground, and I must go and see it. I ask you to have me excused.’
The excuses are to some extent patterned on the excuses offered to Israel’s fighting men before they went to war, (excuses which were probably not intended to be taken up as an examination of them demonstrates. We learn about this in the book of Deuteronomy chapter 205 “Then the officers shall speak to the people, saying: ‘What man is there who has built a new house and has not dedicated it? Let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle and another man dedicate it. 6 Also what man is there who has planted a vineyard and has not eaten of it? Let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle and another man eat of it. 7 And what man is there who is betrothed to a woman and has not married her? Let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle and another man marry her.’
There it was a house, a vineyard and a wife that gave the excuse. Here it is a piece of land (which could be a vineyard), a yoke of oxen and a wife. In Deuteronomy they were probably excuses offered in order to enable the men to refuse them, which would then nerve them for the fight and remind them of what they were fighting for. But there is no hint of warfare in this passage, apart possibly from the fight of faith. But they still excuse themselves.
We can take the excuses as either artificial or genuine. If the former they were typical of the excuses people make when faced up with the truth of the Gospel, if the latter they are evidence of ‘the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches and the desire for other things’ that make the word unfruitful. But either way they were a deep insult. Only the most urgent of catastrophes could excuse not responding to such a final invitation when it followed one already given and technically, if not actually, accepted.
One of those invited excused himself, making as his excuse the fact that he had bought a piece of land and needed to go out and examine it. But all would know that he could have done this at any time, and that the evening was not the best time for such a venture anyway. His need to see it suggests that his agent had bought it for him. He is deliberately depicted as wealthy. But the idea is either that he was just making an excuse, or that he was too taken up with his possessions to be willing to forsake them in order to go to the supper.
Please look at the statement, ‘All with one consent.’ It signifies ‘unanimously’, although some have translated ‘all at once’, or immediately’. But the point is clear. All took the same view.
19 And another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to test them. I ask you to have me excused.’
The second of those invited excused himself, making as his excuse the fact that he had bought five yoke of oxen and needed to go and test them out. Again he was a wealthy man. A poorer man would be lucky to have one or two oxen. Again the oxen were bought on his behalf by his agent, and no doubt his final approval was needed. But again late in the day was not the best time to choose for the purpose. This too was clearly an excuse. He was too taken up with his occupation to have the time or the inclination to attend the supper. The warning here was of allowing our jobs and occupations to so possess us that they prevent us responding to God’s invitation.
20 Still another said, ‘I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.’
The third does not make excuses. He baldly rejects the invitation and states that as he is newly married he cannot be expected to leave his wife in order to attend the supper. His wife means more to him than the one who has invited him. And yet it is an excuse for if need arose, such as a summons from the king, or a fire on his farm, he would certainly be ready to leave his wife for an evening, or even more than an evening. His refusal was a great insult. There was really no excuse for his not attending. It indicated his contempt for the invitation.
21 So that servant came and reported these things to his master. Then the master of the house, being angry, said to his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in here the poor and the maimed and the lame and the blind.’
So the servant returns to his lord and informs him of what all the invitees have said, and the excuses that they have made. Then the master of the house was furious, and he commanded the servant to go throughout the city, and bring in ‘the poor and maimed and blind and lame’. He will hold his feast, which is already prepared, and he will make sure that he has guests. For these will be pleased to come to his supper.
22 And the servant said, ‘Master, it is done as you commanded, and still there is room.’
But the servant then informs him that he has fully obeyed his command, but although he has scoured the city he can find no more guests there, and yet not all the couches are filled. Note the emphasis on the obedience of the servant. His exertions are in total contrast with the ungrateful invitees who refused the final invitation.
This failure to fill up the couches at the feast was in indication of the multitudes that our Lord Jesus knew would yet enter His Kingdom. They would soon not be a little flock, for after those who were first called there would be room for many more.
23 Then the master said to the servant, ‘Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.
Then the lord tells his servant to leave the city and go out into the countryside. There in the highways and under the hedges he will find hungry men and women, for there were many such in those days, and he must use his full powers of persuasion so as to bring them to the feast, to fill up the empty places. The hedges are those that surround the properties of the rich men who have refused his invitation. These people are those ‘on the outside’, who would not have expected an invitation.
24 For I say to you that none of those men who were invited shall taste my supper.’”
The parable ends on the scary note that none of those first invited will taste of his supper. These words are addressed by Jesus to His hearers, as the plural ‘you’ makes clear. He is enforcing the application of the parable so that they will not overlook it, and letting them know that it is His Supper that is in mind where they may feast with Him.
As you know that there are today certain denominations that call themselves a Christian church but do not know the Lord Jesus Christ. His Spirit has long ago left theses churches. Like today’s bible teaching many, but not all people, have rejected the sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ, for social activities. In effect these people are going to be quite surprised when they are not invited to the Lord’s Supper. If you are in one of these dead churches and somehow you know it, then get out. There are some fine small churches that love the Lord Jesus and wait expectantly for His Second Coming.
