Series Title: Parables of in Luke XV

Sermon Title: The Parable of the Great Supper

Passage: Luke 14:12-24 (cf. :1-14)

12 He said also to the man who had invited him, “When you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return and you be repaid. 13 But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, 14 and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just.”

15 When one of those who reclined at table with him heard these things, he said to him, “Blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!” 16 But he said to him, “A man once gave a great banquet and invited many. 17 And at the time for the banquet he sent his servant to say to those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’ 18 But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said to him, ‘I have bought a field, and I must go out and see it. Please have me excused.’ 19 And another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to examine them. Please have me excused.’ 20 And another said, ‘I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.’ 21 So the servant came and reported these things to his master. Then the master of the house became angry and said to his servant, ‘Go out quickly to the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in the poor and crippled and blind and lame.’ 22 And the servant said, ‘Sir, what you commanded has been done, and still there is room.’ 23 And the master said to the servant, ‘Go out to the highways and hedges and compel people to come in, that my house may be filled. 24 For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste my banquet.’” (Luke 14:12-24)

22 And again Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying, 2 “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son, 3 and sent his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding feast, but they would not come. 4 Again he sent other servants, saying, ‘Tell those who are invited, “See, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding feast.”’ 5 But they paid no attention and went off, one to his farm, another to his business, 6 while the rest seized his servants, treated them shamefully, and killed them. 7 The king was angry, and he sent his troops and destroyed those murderers and burned their city. 8 Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding feast is ready, but those invited were not worthy. 9 Go therefore to the main roads and invite to the wedding feast as many as you find.’ 10 And those servants went out into the roads and gathered all whom they found, both bad and good. So the wedding hall was filled with guests.

11 “But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had no wedding garment. 12 And he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless. 13 Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot and cast him into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ 14 For many are called, but few are chosen.” (Matthew 22:1-14)

Themes: Grace, Forgiveness, Judgment, Evangelism, Salvation, Calling, Total Depravity,

Election, Humility

Abstract: The invitation to life that Christ gives is an invitation to live the life that Christ lived.

Homiletical Outline:

Introduction:

Have you ever tried to tell someone something really important and they just wouldn’t get it?

 Baby announcement

My wife must have experienced something similar when she tried to tell me she was

pregnant. She came home from work with a small gift bag and handed it to me, while

recording my reaction on her phone. I had no clue what was going on. Someone a little faster

on the uptake would have figured it out immediately, but it wasn’t until I pulled out the

pregnancy test and stared at it that I began to understand.

There are lots of people who just can’t seem to understand.

 Steve Urkel “Go Home”

Perhaps no one typified this more than an old sitcom character from my childhood, named

“Steve Urkel.” Steve always seemed to come in at the worst time possible and wouldn’t take

a hint at all. The Winslows would have to yell at Steve to “Go home!” To which he would

finally reply, “I don’t have to take this, I’m going home!”

I’m sure we’ve all dealt with people like this, people who, no matter how hard you try, they just don’t understand what you’re trying to tell them.

Believe it or not, Jesus had to deal with this very same problem quite often. People who just couldn’t seem to understand what Jesus was trying to say because they thought they knew what Jesus was talking about. I can’t say that I blame them, because what Jesus had to say was so revolutionary.

Explanation:

But this very problem is what inspired Jesus to give the parable we will study today. We will look at:

1. Parable Explained

a. Invitation Extended

b. Invitation Excused

c. Invitation Expanded

2. Parable Applied

a. Invitation Confused

b. Invitation Accepted

c. Invitation Rejected

I) Parable Explained:

Let’s dive right into the parable that Jesus gives.

A) Invitation Extended (Luke 14:16)

In verse 16, Jesus starts the parable by introducing a host who wanted to throw a party.

16 But he said to him, “A man once gave a great banquet and invited many. (Luke 14:16)

A similar parable in Matthew gives the further detail that the party was actually a

wedding feast (Matthew 22:2).

Now in order for us to understand the details we need to understand a little something

about the way parties were thrown in Jesus’ days. They didn’t have phones, email, texts

or facebook invites, so when someone wanted to create an event, the first invitation was sent out to all people whom the host wanted there at the party. The invitation would be

given for a broad period of time, but the exact start of the party would not be announced,

since it would be difficult to nail such details down. The invitees would either accept or

reject the invitation. Then, when preparations were completed and the party was set to

begin, servants would be sent out again to summon those who had accepted the

invitation. These guests would then gather themselves and make their way to the party,

which would last for hours, sometimes days. Not everyone would arrive at the same time.

Conversation and food would be served to all the guests who arrived. But the party itself

wouldn’t go into full swing until the host and the guest of honor had arrived.

In this case, it would seem that the host invited many people, who all accepted the

invitation. It isn’t difficult to figure out who the host is. Like last week, the host can only

be God. Those that were initially invited would then be Israel. They readily agreed to the

terms of the party and eagerly awaited the time when the party would begin. The servants

who initially gave the invitation would be the prophets who spoke through the Old

Testament.

B) Invitation Excused (Luke 14:17-20)

But that’s where Jesus introduces the problem in the parable.

17 And at the time for the banquet he sent his servant to say to those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’ 18 But they all alike began to make excuses. (Luke 14:17-18a)

In this story, all the people who had agreed to come to the party came up with excuses as

to why they couldn’t come. The text is very emphatic on this point. It says that they

unanimously refused to come.

 Wedding Feast Can you imagine what this must have been like? Many of us here have gone through

a wedding, some of us are planning one, and some of us will be planning one at some

point. You send out invitations to all of your friends and you wait for their RSVP.

When you have a number for the guests, as a good host you plan and prepare a

banqueting hall, a space that could fit all of your guests. You plan and prepare

activities that you guests would enjoy. You plan and prepare a menu that your guests

would enjoy. You pour hours and hours of sweat and tears into it all.

I’m an awful planner. I’m so grateful my wife did all of the planning. I just did

whatever she told me to do. But imagine after all of that, after the banqueting hall has

been reserved, the tables set out, the entertainment gathered, the food laid out…

imagine that none of the guests show up. None of them! Every single one of them

prepares an excuse for you.

That’s the situation that Jesus paints for us. And what kind of excuses did these guests make?

The first said to him, ‘I have bought a field, and I must go out and see it. Please have me excused.’ 19 And another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to examine them. Please have me excused.’ 20 And another said, ‘I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.’ (Luke 14:18b-20)

The first one basically says that his work is keeping him away from the party. Now, remember that he accepted the initial invitation. But now that the time had come to join in, he says that he made a business transaction that requires his attention. Is this a valid excuse? Not as Jesus presents it. The field has been purchased. It will still be there tomorrow or the next day.

What about the second? He says that he just purchased some oxen. Basically, his excuse comes down to possessions. He just bought a new toy and he has to play with it. What about the third excuse? He says that his relationship commitments keep him from

coming. Does he really think that he could not invite his wife to come along?

You see, Jesus makes no comments about the validity or worth of any of the excuses

presented because in actuality, there is no excuse! No matter what excuse any of the

guests come up with, there is no excuse.

Israel agreed to enter into covenant with God when the talk was all about land and

blessings and nations and children and power and wealth. But when the time came for the

actual Promised One to appear and He appeared in a way they didn’t expect… Israel

rejected her King. What excuse could possibly be given? Did Israel not have enough

prophets? Did they not have the Word of God? Were there not enough miracles done?

Were there no who descended from above to give messages from God to them?

What possible excuses could be acceptable?

C) Invitation Expanded (Luke 14:21)

So what is the host to do? He has prepared a great feast, but none of those who were

invited wanted to come. Will he let all of it go to waste? Not at all!

21 So the servant came and reported these things to his master. Then the master of the house became angry and said to his servant, ‘Go out quickly to the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in the poor and crippled and blind and lame.’ (Luke 14:21)

Those that considered themselves worthy of the invitation to enter into the feast rejected

the invitation, so the great host sent out his servant to gather people who were not worthy

of it. There is a wonderful place that has been prepared. There is fabulous food that has

been laid out. There is excellent entertainment just waiting for people to partake in. This

host wants to show how great his feast is, so he sent out his servant to bring in all those

who were not normally welcome to events like this. When Israel rejected the King of Glory, what did God do? He called to Himself all sorts

of different people. When Jesus hung upon the cross, who was it that proclaimed Jesus?

Was it not the criminal on the cross, who claimed he deserved the punishment he

endured, but that Jesus didn’t? Who did Jesus select as His closest friends, if not the

lowest members of Jewish society; the fishers, the tax collectors, the women, the sinners,

the lame and blind and mute, the . Those who thought themselves righteous

had no need of a savior. So Jesus invited to Himself the sinners.

II) Parable Applied:

Sounds beautiful, doesn’t it? This is the , right? That Jesus came to invite us all, us

who are destitute, us blind and lame, us broken and bleak, to the greatest celebration in the

Kingdom of God. But here’s the thing. How quickly do we forget where we came from?

A) Invitation Confused (Luke 14:12-15)

For you see, the whole reason why Jesus told this parable in the first place was because

someone dining with Him failed to understand the parable He told beforehand. This was

the same party that Jesus was invited to last week, at the house of a ruler of the .

This was the same party where the guests were scrambling to honor themselves. Jesus

had just told an amazing parable to show us that we ought to be humble, truly humble.

Then He tells another parable.

12 He said also to the man who had invited him, “When you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return and you be repaid. 13 But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, 14 and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just.” (Luke 14:12-14)

After Jesus gives this parable, one which serves at once to show how God invites people, how we were invited and how we ought to invite others, one of the other guests responds

like this:

15 When one of those who reclined at table with him heard these things, he said to him, “Blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!” (Luke 14:15)

Jesus just finished talking about humility. Does this sound humble to you? Jesus just

talked about how God includes those who are rejected. Does this sound inclusive to you?

Jesus just talked about how we are the rejected ones. Does this statement sound like it’s

coming from someone who recognizes his rejected state? Jesus just commanded us to be like God, to do what God does and embrace the rejected. Does this sound merciful to you?

This guy did not understand Jesus’ point in the parables. He completely missed it. He did exactly the opposite of what Jesus was teaching. He raised his glass in a toast to all those self-important fellow Pharisees so secure in their own righteousness, that their place in the kingdom of God was secure. Who was he listening to?

But before we start raising our rocks to stone him, isn’t this us? When we think about salvation, what’s our immediate thought? Is it, thank God I’m saved? Is it, I’m so glad I found Jesus? Is it, well, when the world burns I’m not gonna be on it! When we see sin around us, do we turn our nose up and condemn the sin and sinner, clapping each other on our backs in congratulations for not being like the sinner? When we see tragedy do we not secretly thank God it didn’t happen to us? When we see injustice, do we not in our heart of hearts seek justice for it?

and Louise Turpin I can’t go into detail because I don’t want to add more infamy to their crime. I can

hardly stand to look at their picture. These “parents” failed every definition of what it

means to be parents. They don’t deserve to live. They don’t even deserve to die. I

burn with righteous indignation at them.

But… I find it so hard in this case to do what Jesus is telling us we ought to do here. I

am that Pharisee toasting himself and congratulating himself. I’m the one who failed

to understand Jesus’ parable. It’s exactly people like this that Jesus died for. It is

people like this that Jesus invited to His party. It’s people like this, the undeserving.

It’s for people like David and Louise Turpin. And it’s for people like Michael Moon

and Susan Park, for each one of you.

When we fail to see our own misery, when we fool ourselves into thinking we are above

others, when we extend wrath out to others when we have only received mercy, when we

cheer the oppression, not of the innocent, but of the guilty, when we wear our salvation

like a merit badge, like we earned it and we’re better than others who haven’t, we do

exactly what this Pharisee did. We have completely and entirely confused Jesus’

message.

 We are Steve Urkel

The reality is that we are the Steve Urkels of the Gospel world. We have to be told

over and over again. Sometimes, God has to use hardships to humble us, to remind us

again what the gospel is about. Like Carl telling Urkel to “go home, go home, go

home,” Jesus has to tell us over and over again that we are so fallen, but He is so

risen. Jesus didn’t invite the righteous into His kingdom. He invited the wicked. So if you’re

blessed enough to be in the Kingdom of God, to be invited to the party, it isn’t because

your righteous. It’s actually proof that you’re wicked, that you’re evil, that you really

really suck. I want us to really get this. We have to get this. We have to tell this to

ourselves over and over again. Every time we start to confuse the gospel again, we need

to tell it to ourselves again.

B) Invitation Accepted (Luke 14:22-23)

And now that we understand who we are in the story, now that we know that we are the

homeless and destitute who have been invited into the great party, what next?

22 And the servant said, ‘Sir, what you commanded has been done, and still there is room.’ 23 And the master said to the servant, ‘Go out to the highways and hedges and compel people to come in, that my house may be filled. (Luke 14:22-23)

The host wants the party to be filled. He wants even more undeserving idiots to fill the

immaculate banqueting hall with our foul stench. So what do we do? Having secured our

invitation to the party, we join in the work of the servant, to go out even further to invite

even more people in.

I have to pause a moment to address the word “compel.” This passage has been used,

horrendously, to justify the forcible conversion of people to Christ. This passage is not

talking about forcing anyone to come to a party they did not want to come to. If such

were the meaning, then it would make much more sense for the host to force the original

invitees to come to the party. Instead, the word means to insist. Those who heard that

they were invited would, both out of courtesy and out of disbelieve, refuse at first invite.

The servant was then to insist that they come, to convince them that the host was honest and genuine in their invitation. Because the mercy of the Father is so great that He wants

to fill His house with even more people. This is the will of God, the Host.

9 The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. (2 Peter 3:9)

The house is not full yet. There is still more room left. So the Lord wants us to go out and

invite even more people in, to extend out God’s mercy. And when all the inviting is done,

then we will be brought into the House of the Lord to dine with Jesus for all eternity at

the greatest party ever.

C) Invitation Rejected (Luke 14:24)

And what of those who rejected the invitation?

24 For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste my banquet.’” (Luke 14:24)

This is a practice that is common even now. After the party is over, some of the left-over

food is taken home by the guests. It’s not a burden for the host. There’s usually more than

enough, too much in fact. But here, God says there’s nothing left over for those who

reject the invitation.

For those in Jesus’ time who rejected Him as King, there’s nothing left for them. For

those in the early time of the church who rejected the message of Christ, there’s nothing

left for them. For any who hear the invitation of Christ who reject the call, there’s nothing

left for them.

I want to close with one last illustration.

 Rachael Denhollander on Larry Nassar

As many of you may know, Larry Nassar was sentenced this week for his horrendous

crimes. During the sentencing, many of the victims were allowed to give impact statements to the court on how Nassar’s crimes had affected them. 156 different women

came forward to offer their words. The final testimony came from the first brave woman

who came forward to start the entire investigation. During this 40 minute statement,

Denhollander went through in detail the acts that were perpetrated upon her person by

Nassar. She talked about the lasting emotional and psychological effects long after the

acts had been done. She talked about her earlier attempts to bring to light these acts and

how they were rebuffed. She addressed the institutions that ignored her and others

accusations and harbored this predator for nearly 30 years. Then, so closed with, what I

believe is the most accurate and eloquent representation of the Gospel I have ever heard,

more than from Keller or Piper, than from Lewis or Calvin or any other pastor or

theologian. I highly recommend that, if you get the chance, you listen to her entire

testimony. For now, let me play a clip of how she lived the Gospel in her tragedy (27:54-

29:50).

In our early hearings, you brought your into the courtroom and you have spoken of praying for forgiveness. And so it is on that basis that I appeal to you. If you have read the Bible you carry, you know that the definition of sacrificial love portrayed is of God himself loving so sacrificially that he gave up everything to pay a penalty for the sin he did not commit. By his grace, I, too, choose to love this way.

You spoke of praying for forgiveness. But Larry, if you have read the Bible you carry, you know forgiveness does not come from doing good things, as if good deeds can erase what you have done. It comes from repentance which requires facing and acknowledging the truth about what you have done in all of its utter depravity and horror without mitigation, without excuse, without acting as if good deeds can erase what you have seen in this courtroom today.

The Bible you carry says it is better for a stone to be thrown around your neck and you thrown into a lake than for you to make even one child stumble. And you have damaged hundreds.

The Bible you speak carries a final judgment where all of God's wrath and eternal terror is poured out on men like you. Should you ever reach the point of truly facing what you have done, the guilt will be crushing. And that is what makes the gospel of Christ so sweet. Because it extends grace and hope and mercy where none should be found. And it will be there for you.

I pray you experience the soul crushing weight of guilt so that you may someday experience true repentance and true forgiveness from God, which you need far more than forgiveness from me -- though I extend that to you as well.

Denhollander’s words are all the more impactful because they come not from deep

meditation and thoughtful exercise, but from painful realization in living out what is

being spoken. She gets it. She understands that our invitation to partake in grace was also

an invitation to practice it. She understands that there is no salvation any other way for

those who reject this absurd and scandalous grace. She understands the message Jesus

was trying to give in our parable today. Do you?

Conclusion:

I stand here today, as one invited to the party honoring Jesus Christ, having received the invitation from the nail-pierced hand of Jesus, to invite you to join me. To those who also have received and accepted the invitation from Jesus, I further invite you to join in the work of inviting even more people.

To those who have received such an invitation but who have yet refused, I ask you, what’s your excuse? Will you say that you haven’t heard the right sermon? You haven’t met the right pastor?

You don’t belong to the right church? You don’t feel it’s the right time? The right circumstance?

Do you have work that needs to be done? Do you have toys that need to be played with? Do you have relationships left to build? None of those are excusable excuses. Drop what you’re doing, and choose He who has chosen you.

To those who have never received such an invitation, I invite you to come to the party. Don’t come up with excuses. Don’t delay. Don’t be courteous. Don’t disbelieve the amazing grace God poured down for you in Jesus Christ. The party is not yet started; the invitations are still going out. If you are broken and beaten, that’s ok. That’s exactly who Jesus is looking for. Jesus died for your brokenness. Jesus died to save you, because you cannot save yourself. Come to the table and receive what Jesus has offered for you.

Exegetical Outline:

I)

Discussion Questions:

1.