The Great Banquet

The Great Banquet

Luke 14:15-17, NIV

When one of those at the table with him heard this, he said to Jesus, “Blessed is the one who will eat at the feast in the kingdom of God.” 16Jesus replied: “A certain man was preparing a great banquet and invited many guests. 17At the time of the banquet he sent his servant to tell those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’”

Setting the Scene

Apparently, one guest who overheard Jesus felt compelled to participate in the conversation. The man’s response literally means “Blessed is the one who will eat bread in the kingdom of God.” He picked up on two aspects of Jesus’ previous words: “feast” and “kingdom of God,” and combined them without mentioning the crucial point of immediate obedience to the rule of hospitality Jesus was teaching. But the statement was profoundly true. So rather than correct the man, Jesus responded with a parable that describes just how one might come to experience this blessing of eating at the great feast in the Kingdom of God.

This man, probably a Pharisee, shared an underlying view with Jesus about the reality of the Resurrection. But he was assuming that he and his Pharisee friends would certainly be counted among the righteous (Luke 14:14). The profound and volatile disagreement between Jesus and the Pharisees was not over the Resurrection and eternal life; it was over what made someone eligible for that privilege. Just as people today sometimes equate membership in a certain church with citizenship in the Kingdom of God, so the Pharisees assumed their ancestry and familiarity with God’s law automatically gave them standing with God. Jesus showed that this was not the case.

Jesus will end his parable with a devastating reference back to the man’s statement about those blessed to eat bread in the Kingdom of God: “I tell you, not one of those who were invited will get a taste of my banquet” (14:24, NIV).

Getting Personal

How often do you daydream about heaven? When you think about living in God’s presence, what kinds of images pass through your mind?

How confident are you that you will experience the blessing of sharing bread with Christ in God’s Kingdom?

One theme in the Gospel of Luke is the reversal of assumed outcomes. Jesus expressed it when he said, “For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted” (14:11, NIV). Even humility is not a way to earn heaven; humility simply rejects self-exaltation long enough to receive heaven’s blessings as a gift.

Talking to God

Your invitation to the table in heaven comes by God’s grace, not your own merit. Thank him again for his loving goodness that reaches out to you continually with generosity. Ask God to give you glimpses of what it might be like to live eternally in his presence.