Sunday, December 13, 2020
Luke 14: 16-24
Now in this parable, the feast represents heaven, including all the blessings salvation brings to us in this life. The man who made the supper represents God. The first group mentioned in the parable that use excuses to turn down the invitation are the Jewish people, to whom Jesus was first sent.
For instance, when Jesus sent out the twelve to minister in His name, He ordered them, “Don’t go to the Gentiles or the Samaritans” (Matt. 10:5 NLT).
Jesus was actually talking about priority in His ministry.
Romans 1:16 NASB
“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.”
Notes
So again, in Jesus’ parable the first group invited to the feast are Jews—and they come up with 3 flimsy excuses for why they can’t attend.
- The first excuse is from a man who says he’s bought some land and needs to go see it. So this man chose earthly possessions over the invitation.
- The second excuse is from a man who claims to have invested in some cows that he claims he must go and check out to make sure his investment was in good, healthy cows. So this man chose business and making money over the invitation.
- The third excuse is from a man who had just gotten married. So this man chose family and domestic interests over the invitation.
Luke 14:21 NASB
“‘Go out at once into the streets and lanes of the city and bring in here those who are poor, those with disabilities, those who are blind, and those who are limping.”
The servant then came to master of the feast and said, “‘Master, what you commanded has been done, and still there is room” (Matt. 14:22 NASB).
Notes
The message for us today is that, before Jesus returns to earth to judge the world, the invitation to the feast of salvation is still wide open! Still there is room!
In Revelation 21:15-17, an angel measures the city while John watches:
“The angel held in his hand a golden measuring stick to measure the city and its gates and walls. 16 When he measured it, he found it was a square as wide as it was long; in fact it was in the form of a cube, for its height was exactly the same as its other dimensions—1,500 miles each way. 17 Then he measured the thickness of the walls and found them to be 216 feet across.” (LB)
Notes
The parable is telling us that a partially filled heaven is not enough for God.
One man writes: “Our God, with his burning love for souls, will never bear to contemplate a half-empty heaven.”
So, on hearing that his house is only partially full, the Master responded: “Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled” (vs. 23 NKJV).
The “highways and hedges” is pointing to a yet lower class of people—to the tramps and the squatters who had no home—the homeless. The homeless of that time would sleep under the shelter of a hedge or fence, much like the homeless can be seen sleeping under bridges in our day. So, in the parable, these represent the spiritually poverty stricken Gentile world that Paul describes in Eph. 2: 12:
“…remember (talking to his Gentile converts) that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world” (NIV).
Notes
Now note with me, He uses the word “compel” which has an urgency to it.
—Urge them, press them, persuade them with great earnestness.
I close with Jesus’s own words at the end of the last book in the Bible, “Let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him come.” (Rev. 22:17).