Sermon Central
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Parable Of The Great Banquet Series
Contributed by John Bright on Jun 22, 2023 (message contributor)
Summary: Working through the Gospel of Luke using consecutive expository preaching. Teaching sheet included at end of text.
"Parable of the Great Banquet"
Pastor John Bright
Luke 14 15 When one of those at the table with him heard this, he said to Jesus, “Blessed is the one who will eat at the feast in the kingdom of God.”
16 Jesus replied: “A certain man was preparing a great banquet and invited many guests. 17 At the time of the banquet he sent his servant to tell those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’
18 “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.’
19 “Another said, ‘I have just bought five yoke of oxen, and I’m on my way to try them out. Please excuse me.’
20 “Still another said, ‘I just got married, so I can’t come.’
21 “The servant came back and reported this to his master. Then the owner of the house became angry and ordered his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame.’
22 “‘Sir,’ the servant said, ‘what you ordered has been done, but there is still room.’
23 “Then the master told his servant, ‘Go out to the roads and country lanes and compel them to come in, so that my house will be full. 24 I tell you, not one of those who were invited will get a taste of my banquet.’”
Pause right there. Those words I just read; they were “Breathed by God”! God wants you to hear His Word right now! So, what is your response? Do you want to transformed by that Word or do you want to be informed about the words? You must choose.
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This past week my family was busy making plans for the holidays – Thanksgiving and Christmas. All those plans involve eating food. All those plans depend on when we can get the most people there. Can you relate?
We all have fond memories of family around a table of food!
Any time we have dinner at home it can be memorable. Last week, at the dinner table, Lynn asked me, "Are you even listening to me?" Now I think that’s a weird way to start a conversation if you ask me. 😊
So then, after dinner, she asked me if I could clear the table? I needed a running start, but I did it! 😊
That brings me to an important thing to remember when reading the Bible: whenever you see the word “all” in a scripture think of this… All means all and that’s all all means. It’s like a little tongue twister, but it is true. We usually look for some kind of exception to every rule. I always ask you to make a choice at the start of my teaching time, but a few folks have asked me, “Can’t I do both?”
While I’m covering these parables in Luke, I rely on the work of Dr. Harry Wendt. (The Parables of Jesus, 1997) We will be looking at parables for the next few weeks.
Set-up for the parable
Jesus is eating at the house of a Pharisee on the Sabbath. He heals a man and teaches about taking the lower place, not the higher. This is what leads to the response in v. 15 - “Blessed is the one who will eat at the feast in the kingdom of God.”
Background for this parable
Isaiah 25 “6 On this mountain the Lord Almighty will prepare
a feast of rich food for all peoples,
a banquet of aged wine—
the best of meats and the finest of wines.
7 On this mountain he will destroy
the shroud that enfolds all peoples,
the sheet that covers all nations;
8 he will swallow up death forever.
The Sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears
from all faces;
he will remove his people’s disgrace
from all the earth.
The Lord has spoken.”
(Remember - All means all and that’s all all means – we see the world “all” in there 5 times.)
This was a well-known passage to the Jews. Here, salvation is described as a great banquet to which God would invite all people and all nations – even the Gentiles (that’s us). That original understanding had been lost by Jesus’ day. It was replaced with the understanding that imperfect Jews and all Gentiles would be excluded. (p. 29)
What the man says in v. 15 is a standard blessing and it had a standard response – “O Lord, may we be among the righteous and be counted without blemish, worthy to recline with great men on that day.” (p. 31) Instead of this kind of reply, Jesus tells them a parable that throws open the invitation to all people… even us.
