Luke 14:16-24 – Invitation to the Kingdom

In Luke 14:16-24, Jesus continued with another parable to correct the Pharisees' wrong concepts concerning the Kingdom. He was responding to the man in verse 15, who said to Him, “Blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the Kingdom of God." The Pharisees believed that all Jews would be included in the future Kingdom because of their link to Abraham. In the custom of those days, an invitation to a banquet was usually given well in advance. Guests would then indicate their responses. On the eventual day of the banquet when everything had been finalized and prepared, a servant would again be sent to notify the guests to come to the banquet.

The Kingdom in this parable is represented by a banquet. God is the host. And Jesus the Messiah, is God's final messenger sent to announce the final invitation to the Kingdom. This parable implies that through His prophets, God had already sent out His invitation to the Jewish nation to enter His Kingdom. They had indicated their response to be at the dinner. But when the message from their Messiah had arrived and it was time to come to the banquet, they rejected the invitation. They would not come to the banquet. The host than directed that the invitation to go out to others, the outcast, the socially unaccepted and all others to come. These would be found at the banquet ultimately. The Lord Jesus made it clear that the inclusion to the Kingdom would be by response to the host's invitation. It was not decided by one's physical linage to Abraham.

To the Pharisees, their rejection of the invitation was an opportunity lost. By opting out of the invitation to God's eternal fellowship, they have rejected God's grace. Their absence in the kingdom would be their own making. They had chosen not to attend the banquet although they were the first to receive the invitation. Jesus made it quite clear that no man could enter the kingdom without accepting the invitation to come. And He also made it quite clear that anyone who remains outside, does so by his own obstinate choice of turning down the invitation. While a man may not be able to save himself, he could also choose not to be saved. The Jew's rejection had prepared the way for the invitation to be extended to others. Many of those who would finally be at the banquet were those least expected.

Sadly, we read of the many in the parable who had so many concerns that the Kingdom was not in the list of their priority. They preferred their investments (land), their careers (oxen), and earthly relationship (wife). These had crowded out their love for God.  Just as these had caused them to lose their focus, are they also the things that cause us to lose ours too? God's personal questions to each of us remains, "Do you want to attend my feast?" "Are the mundane things of life more important than Jesus?" These are questions that each one of us will be confronted with, individually and personally. What would be our response?