The Great Banquet is the parable of a man who invited many,
and at the hour of the feast the invited began to make excuses.
I have bought a field.
I have bought five yoke of oxen.
I have married a wife.
The master said to the servant,
Go out quickly to the streets and lanes of the city
and bring in the poor and crippled and blind and lame.
Still there was room.
Go out to the highways and hedges and compel them to come in,
that my house may be filled.
None of those who were invited shall taste my banquet.
A guest at the table said, Blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God. Jesus answered with a feast that was already prepared and a guest list that would not come. The servant goes out at the hour: Come, for everything is now ready. That is the shock. The kingdom is not a vague someday they can pencil in after the farm, the team, and the wedding. It is ready now. The excuses are respectable. Land, livestock, marriage—good gifts treated as better than the host. None says the banquet is evil. They say it is inconvenient. Anger is the master’s right. Grace is his next move. The house will be full. The poor who could not repay a dinner, the people who were never on the first list, are brought from streets and from the edge of town. Compel here is urgent persuasion, not a sword at the neck. The first invited lose the taste they assumed was theirs. Luke has already shown Jesus at meals with Pharisees and with sinners. This story tells both tables why the room is changing.
Blessed is the one who eats bread in the kingdom
—
if he comes when he is called.
- Everything is now ready. Delay is refusal dressed as scheduling.
- The three excuses are ordinary loves made into last things.
- The master’s house will be filled. Empty seats are not his plan.
- The poor, crippled, blind, and lame are not a backup plan. They are the point of the second sending.
- Highways and hedges are farther still. Room remains.
- None of those who were invited shall taste it. Privilege unused becomes exclusion.
- Blessed is the eater who actually comes.
- The Invitation – Many called; the hour announced.
- Now Ready – The feast does not wait on the guests’ calendar.
- The Excuses – Field, oxen, wife—good things as rivals.
- The Anger – A host refused is not a small slight.
- The Streets – Poor and disabled brought to the table.
- The Hedges – Still room; go farther.
- The Sentence – The first list will not taste the meal.
- Luke 14:15-20 – “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!’ But he said to him, ‘A man once gave a great banquet and invited many. 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.” 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.” And another said, “I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to examine them. Please have me excused.” And another said, “I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.”’”
- Luke 14:21-24 – “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.’ And the servant said, ‘Sir, what you commanded has been done, and still there is room.’ 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. For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste my banquet.’”
- Luke 14:12-14 – When you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you.
- Matthew 22:1-10 – The wedding feast for the king’s son; first invited refuse; servants gather from the roads, bad and good.
- Isaiah 25:6-8 – On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food; He will swallow up death forever.
- Isaiah 55:1-2 – “Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters… Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread?”
- Proverbs 9:1-5 – Wisdom has slaughtered her beasts, mixed her wine, set her table; come, eat of my bread.
- Luke 1:52-53 – He has brought down the mighty and exalted those of humble estate; He has filled the hungry with good things.
- Luke 15:1-2 – Tax collectors and sinners were drawing near; Pharisees grumbled that He receives sinners and eats with them.
- Matthew 8:11 – Many will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.
- Revelation 19:9 – “Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.”
- Luke 9:59-62 – Let me first go and bury my father; let me first say farewell—no one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom.
- Matthew 6:33 – Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness.
- John 6:35 – “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger.”
- Zephaniah 1:7 – The Lord has prepared a sacrifice and consecrated His guests.
Come, for everything is now ready.
They all alike began to make excuses. A field. Oxen. A wife.
Go out quickly. Bring in the poor and crippled and blind and lame.
Still there is room. Go to the highways and hedges. Compel them to come in. My house shall be filled.
None of those who were invited shall taste my banquet.
Blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God—if he comes when the servant says now.
Do not let a good gift become an excuse. The table is set. The house will be full. Come.
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