Luke 14:16-24

Hospitality – As Universal as God’s

In response, perhaps, to the question raised above: In the Christian community, particularly when gathered for the Eucharistic dinner, who do/does the inviting? Luke added the following story:

Luke 14:16-24 - Parable of a Great Dinner

¹⁶ So he said to him, “A man was putting on a great banquet,

and invited quite a crowd.

¹⁷ When the time came for the banquet,

he sent his slave to inform those whom he had invited,

‘Come now, it is all ready.’

¹⁸ And one and all they began to make excuses.

The first one said, ‘I bought some land

and am anxious to go out and look it over.

I ask you, hold me excused.’

¹⁹ Another said, ‘I bought five yoke of oxen,

and I am going out to try them.

I ask you, hold me excused.’

²⁰ Another said, “I just married my wife.

That is why I cannot come.’

²¹ When the slave returned, he told it all to his master.

The house owner was angry, and said to the slave,

‘Go out into the squares and lanes of the towns

and bring home here the beggars, the crippled, the blind and the lame.”

²² The slave reported, ‘Master, I have done what you directed,

and there is still room.’

²³ The master then said to the slave,

‘Go out into the country roads and hedges,

and make them come in,

so that my home may be filled.

²⁴ For I assure you,

none of those fellows who were invited will taste my banquet.’”

The application of the story was left wide open. The two earlier stories gave little useful context to understand this one.

The reference to the country roads and hedges was to rural areas as distinct from the squares and lanes of the towns The spread of the net was universal. The phrase: the beggars, the crippled, the blind, and the lame connected the story closely with the previous one.

Among the issues are the following:

Who was the owner of the house?
What was to be understood by the great dinner?
Who were the original guests invited?
What was the significance of the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame?

The host, the house owner, would seem to have been God. The great dinner might then have been a reference to the eschatological meal foreseen by Isaiah, a promise of universal salvation for all peoples:

On this mountain the LORD of hosts will make for all peoples

a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wines,

of rich food filled with marrow, of well-aged wines strained clear.

And he will destroy on this mountain

the shroud that is cast over all peoples,

the sheet that is spread over all nations;

he will swallow up death forever.

Then the Lord GOD will wipe away the tears from all faces,

and the disgrace of his people he will take away from all the earth,

for the LORD has spoken.

It will be said on that day,

Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, so that he might save us.

This is the LORD for whom we have waited;

let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation. [Isaiah 25:6-9]

The original guests may well have been the Jewish People who failed to respond to the invitation issued by Jesus, God’s servant (or slave). The beggars, the crippled, the blind, and the lame may then have stood for all those normally marginalised by cultural and religious customs and specifically excluded from worship.

The great banquet may also have referred to the community of the disciples of Jesus, to which all were not only welcomed but urged to belong, irrespective of ethnic background or other irrelevant factors.

The dinner may also have had Eucharistic overtones for Luke’s cosmopolitan readers whose community celebrations themselves symbolised the universal salvation foretold by Isaiah, in which God wishes all peoples to participate.

The comment made at the end of the story: none of those fellows who were invited will taste my banquet need not be seen as an irrevocable edict, but a sad honouring of people’s free decisions. Until they changed their stance, they would continue to miss out on the good things God wished to share with all.

Next >> Luke 14:25-35