Secrets of the Kingdom: Invites Everyone

You've cleaned the house, put up the decorations, and prepared the food and drinks.  You've sent out lots of invitations.  But it's a few minutes before the party, and you're asking yourself, "What if nobody shows up?"  

That's probably happened to you and most likely people showed up.  But what if they didn't?  That's the theme of Jesus' parable of the banquet in Luke 14:15-24.  Jesus is eating dinner at the home of Pharisee.  The Lord mentions the resurrection of the end of the world.  One of the dinner guests expresses his confidence that he'll be at God's great banquet that will celebrate the beginning of his kingdom.  Jesus responds to him with a parable.

A man plans a party.  A great feast.  He sends out lots of invitations.  He sends his servant to tell those invited that the feast is ready.  But all those he invited refuse to come, giving lame excuses.  

The master is angry and tells his servant to invite the blind, the crippled, and the lame to the party.  When his servant tells him he's already done that, the master urges him to go out into the streets and the country roads, and invite everyone he can find.  Then he says that none of those he invited will taste his feast.  

It's not too difficult to figure out who represents whom in this parable.  The master is God.  The servant is the prophets.  The invited guests are people like the Pharisee.  The blind, crippled, and lame are Jews the fringes of respectable life, like tax collectors and prostitutes.  Those on the streets and country roads are Gentiles.  

Jesus was saying that people you think will be at the feast at the end of age may not be there, and people you don't think will be there will be.  The key isn't the goodness of those invited, but the acceptance of the invitation.  

The feast of the kingdom was in Jesus.  Rejecting him is rejecting God's invitation.

Accept the invitation to God's party.  Then become an inviter yourself!