Have you ever invited someone to a party and they have not shown up? How did you feel? Even still have you promised someone that you would show up and not done so? How do you think they would feel?
Just imagine if Youth Group put on a dinner and invited the whole church to come. We could have Rohan and Luke providing the entertainment, Laura and Tash could be the waiters, Janet and a few others cooking and even Joel standing at the front door asking people for money as they came in. Just imagine after all the effort put in to organise the hall, all the cooking and decorating no one shows up. How would we feel? What would we do with all that food?
Well this is the situation that Jesus is talking about in this passage. In the previous passages we find that Jesus has been invited to a prominent Pharisee’s house for a meal. During the meal Jesus told three parables. Jesus often told parables to give a message to those around him.
In verse 16 Jesus starts off his last parable by painting a picture of a man preparing a banquet for many people whom he had invited. It can be assumed that those he had invited had confirmed that they would be attending as the host was still preparing a place for them.
When the time came for the feast, the man sent his servant to tell those invited it was time to come but, as we see, they all had decided not to attend and made pitiful excuses.
The servant returns to his master with the bad news and, though angry, the man decides the banquet must go on. He sends his servant out into the town to invite the poor, the crippled, the youth, the blind and the lame. They accepted the man’s invitation and came to the banquet.
The servant, however, points out to his master that there is still room. The man then sends his servant out of the town to those in the outlying areas and invites them to come. The man wants his house to be full but he also points out that those whom he invited earlier will not be allowed into the banquet.
What is Jesus’ point? What is he trying to say? I mean this is a nice story but what is it all about? Let’s take a look.
Firstly, there is a comparison between the host and God the Father. Throughout the Old Testament God had invited Israel into a relationship with Him and to be part of his kingdom. So as the man had sent invitations out before his banquet, God had been sending invitations out since the beginning of creation.
Next we see that it was now time for those invited to come to the banquet so just as the man sent his servant, God sent His servant, Jesus, to tell Israel that it was now time to come to Him. The religious leaders of Israel, including those who Jesus is telling this story, seem to be who Jesus is referring to here.
However, as we see, those that are invited rejected the invitation and made some really dubious excuses. Let’s look at those given in the parable. The first invitee stated that he couldn’t attend because he had just bought a field and must go to see it. The second invitee stated that he couldn’t attend because he had just purchased five yoke of oxen and needs to try them out. The third invitee stated that he had just got married and therefore he couldn’t come.
Now, the third invitee seems to have a plausible excuse for not attending. Deu 24:5 states that a newly married man is free to spend one whole year at home so he can bring happiness to his new wife. The question is, is this a good enough excuse for God? I don’t think it would be.
Now the other two invitees, their excuses don’t quite add up.
Both of them seem to have made recent big purchases. The first a field and the second, five yoke of oxen. The problem with their excuses is that both men seem to have made these purchases sight unseen. Ask yourself this question, would you buy land or livestock sight unseen?
Jesus’ is trying to draw out that whom God chose had excuses, albeit weak excuses, for not joining him at the banquet table. Even today, we come up with excuses for not truly following God’s will for us. What are some excuses that we make for not following God?
Sport, friends, girls, fun all seem to stop us from truly following Jesus into a relationship with God.
As we see in the parable, the servant, hearing the excuses from those invited, comes back to his master and gives him the bad news that no one whom he invited will be attending. The host here does get a little ticked off. He has organised this banquet down to the finest detail and now those who he invited have ditched him.
He then orders his servant to go out into the town and bring in the poor, crippled, blind and the lame. These are the people often ignored by the general population but not by God.
It is the poor, the sick, the sinners whom God sent Jesus to minister to. After the Jews and the religious leaders rejected him, Jesus sought out those who needed the most help. What is also seen here is that no one comes to God’s banquet table unless Jesus (the servant) calls them in.
Moving on, after the servant brings in those from within the town he brings to his master’s attention that even though he did what his master had required, there was still more room.
The master then sends his servant out again. This time though, it is to those outside of the town limits. It is then that the master’s house may be filled.
This reflects the mission of Christ’s followers to those outside of the Jews. Jesus came to bring both Jew and Gentile into God’s family. Christians have an obligation to share their faith, especially to those who don’t know Christ.
In Rom 1:14, Paul writes “I am obligated both to Greeks and Non-Greeks, both to the wise and the foolish.” Further on in v16, “I am not ashamed of the gospel because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes; first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.”
Christ is for everyone and he is the only way to God’s banquet table.
Jesus finishes his parable with “I tell you, not one of those men who were invited will get a taste of my banquet.” This is a warning to those who continue to ignore God and his invitation that time will run out one day. If you haven’t accepted his invitation to the banquet table then you will not be allowed to sit at it when the time comes.
The saying “It is better late than never” does not apply here because late may be too late.
The choice is yours to make and it is better sooner than never.
