Luke 14:15-24

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Luke 14:15-24 (New International Version)

15When one of those at the table with him heard this, he said to Jesus, "Blessed is the man who will eat at the feast in the kingdom of God." 16Jesus replied: "A certain man was preparing a great banquet and invited many guests. 17At 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 make them come in, so that my house will be full. 24I tell you, not one of those men who were invited will get a taste of my banquet.'

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Vs 15: Why does the man say this? What does he mean? How does this relate to the previous passage? (he missed the point of the previous parable maybe? Was he still considering what is blessed, still considering himself and his own honor, or did he get the point, and did he mean that the one who’d focus was on the heavenly kingdom was the one who is truly blessed?)

Vs 16-17: Those who had been invited, in these time, would have been those who had already said that they were coming. Who is Jesus referring to here? Who has already been invited and agreed to come? (the entire tribe of Israel was supposed to be God’s people. They were the ones who had said they were his, especially the Pharisees, they should have been the ones hailing the coming of the messiah and serving God, that was supposedly the purpose of their lives)

Vs 18-20: They all make excuses, and fairly invalid ones at that. Nobody would buy a field without seeing it first for example. From our perspective it seems kind of dumb, they miss out on the banquet for nothing. (This reminds me of me. Many times I find myself making dumb excuses for not doing what God wants of me and not spending time with him, but the excuses are really dumb and flimsy, and they are often to avoid doing things that from a broader perspective will really make me happier)

Vs 21-24: The Sick and the strangers are brought to the banquet. Those who refused will not taste the feast. Who are the sick and the strangers here? (The sick are perhaps the Israelites that the Pharisees would have considered corrupted and evil, for example the tax collectors and sinners, the strangers is probably refereeing to the gentiles.) Why weren’t the sick and poor and the strangers invited to begin with? (I think they were, the distinction that the invited people who refused were people who had already said they were coming is important here. The Israelites were God’s chosen people, they had already agreed to come to God’s banquet. So the passage isn’t necessarily saying the others weren’t allowed to come to the banquet before, just that the Israelites were supposed to be coming, had said they were, they were supposed to be servants of God, and when it came down to it many of them refused) Isn’t it kind of harsh, you refuse to come and it’s done, you don’t get to come to the “Banquet”? (We have no right to be invited into God’s kingdom at all, and we are given one chance, one life on this earth in which to accept him and his invitation, his son Jesus. It isn’t harsh, it’s merciful that he would give us even that one chance, but that is all we get. Once we die there are no second chances, if we refused the invitation to God’s kingdom then we will NEVER taste his banquet, never see his kingdom, there will be no second chance. We aren’t even necessarily given an infinite number of chances here on earth. Consider the story of Pharaoh and the plagues. Time after time the bible says that Pharaoh hardened his heart, until finally at the end it says that God hardened Pharaoh’s heart. He had chance after chance to show mercy and accede to God’s will, but after refusing again and again God took that choice from him.)

[Boomerwang]

Good thoughts, Ben, I'll get back to you on this.

[Boomerwang]

Happy Gobble Day, folks! Remember to count your blessings.

On the side, one thing I am thankful for are FREE, forums (that are
LEGAL)! Hooray! And I am thankful for each and every one of you who
post here, as well as each and every one of you who support these
forums by checking them regularly. Whether you post or not, your
participation is appreciated and I hope it is blessing for you!


That aside.... my responses...


Re. "v.15": I dunno, I feel like the man just uttered an exclamation. I
don't think this is all there is to it, but I just can't shake the
feeling of how similar to Peter he seems - in the spur of an emotional
moment, he'll utter things, I guess.

Re. "v.16-17": From what I understand of historical culture in that
area, it was customary for two waves of invitations to be sent. The
first being an "fyi" and the second being a "we're ready - come!" In
this case I feel the original intended guests of the banquet could have
received the "fyi" and ignored it, and then outright rejected the
second "we're ready - come!" invitation through their various excuses.
My study Bible doesn't mention that an RSVP to the first invitiation
was required, nor was any affirmative response required, so if this
actually is the case (that they needed to RSVP to get the second
invitiation), I am currently not aware of it.

Re. "v.18-20": Very true! I'm learning the hard truth that "everything
pales in comparison to God," especially man's wisdom vs. God's wisdom.
It's a lesson I still personally find very hard to swallow, especially
because I do consider myself smart. (Maybe I should eat fewer Smarties
and more Dum-Dums)

Re. "v.21-24": Cool thoughts. I interpreted the sick and strangers as
being the Gentiles. It's like, God originally intended the feast to be
for the Jews first, but because the Jews rejected what He had to offer
(Christ), the invitiation has passed from the Jews to the Gentiles (can
anyone find this reference passage? about "passing from Jew to Gentile
- I remember it being in the Bible but not exactly where)

Yeah, I agree about the harshness aspect - as humans, in our sinfulness
we feel entitled to multiple chances and opportunities, when in fact we
deserve nothing. So anything that grants us something better than death
is a grace from God, even if it seems harsh. I think it's all about
frame of reference! (for us engineers/physicists out there, hehe)

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