"When one of those who were reclining at the table with Him heard this, he said to Him, "Blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!"" (Luke 14:15)
These words are found between two parables told by Jesus while He was dining at the home of a Pharisee. Let us look at what these parables can teach us two thousand years later.
Humble Conduct
In the first parable Jesus addresses our conduct when we attend a feast in terms of where we "sit." Jesus warns us that we should not seek to exalt ourselves, but rather to humble ourselves, for if we exalt ourselves, we will be humbled.
But this humility extends also to the host of the feast. Jesus encourages hosts to not invite people that can repay the hospitality, but rather those that cannot. He encourages us to invite the poor, the crippled, the lame and the blind. In a nutshell, those less fortunate than ourselves. In doing so, we will receive a reward in the future that is far greater than what we would receive today if we invited those who could repay us.
The Great Banquet
Following the words of the man in our verse above, Jesus goes on to tell the parable about a man throwing a great banquet, and He uses it as an illustration of salvation.
In the parable, the servant of the house is sent out to invite guests to the banquet, but each invited guest has an excuse not to attend. The first declines on the basis that he has purchased a field and wants to inspect it (14:18). The second declines because he wanted to test drive the five yolks of oxen he had just purchased (14:19). And the third declines due to the fact that he had recently married and wanted to be with his spouse (14:20). All of these seem to be legitimate reasons not to attend, but in terms of God's offer of Himself, He expects us to put Him first. Business, possessions and family come later.
Since the invited guests turned down their invites, the host sends out the servant to invite the poor, crippled, blind and lame (14:21). This group of people are more than willing to attend. But even after they had all come in, there was still room for more. Therefore the host sends out the servant again, this time to bring in anyone he finds so that there will be no room for any of the original people invited to suddenly change their minds.
Our Response
In both parables, we see the effects of man putting himself first. By exalting ourselves, we will be humbled, and by only doing things for those who can repay us, we end up losing out on the most important reward of all - eternal life. We also see that the effect of putting ourselves first by rejecting God's invitation to follow Him is that there will be no more room for us should we want to change our minds.
Truth be told, none of us deserve to attend the feast at all. We are all sinners who have fallen way short of God's standard (Romans 3:23) and as a result, we all deserve death. Yet God in His mercy and grace has offered us the gift of Salvation (Romans 6:23). He has invited all to be part of His Great Banquet.
The question that you need to ask is, what is your response to the invitation? Are you willing to drop everything in your life; work, possessions, family, in order to attend the Great Banquet? It does not matter whether you are currently a believer or not, we all have the same responsibility and need to answer this question honestly, for even as believers we can still put things before God.
Make today the day that you put everything in the world behind you, fix your eyes on Jesus, and enter His feast wholeheartedly. We have been given an awesome invitation. Let us not ignore it.
Just a Thought!
© 2012
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