Luke 14:16-24

Luke 14:16

The Great Supper.

Note:

I. The feast. This is the Gospel which God has provided for mankind, sinners. It is a feast (1) in respect of the excellence of the provision which it sets before us; (2) in respect of abundance, for the supply is inexhaustible; (3) in respect of fellowship; (4) in respect of joy.

II. The invited guests. We have received the invitation. This, therefore, is not a mere matter of antiquarian interest, or of curious exegetical importance. It concerns our own spiritual and immortal welfare; for, though the invitation is given through the instrumentality of a servant, the preacher, it comes from the great God Himself, and on that account it is not to be trifled with or despised.

III. Look at the reception given by those first invited to the call which had been addressed to them: "They all with one consent began to make excuse." These excuses were all pretexts. Perhaps they deluded themselves into the belief that they were acting in good faith; but if they had gone deeper down into their hearts, they would have found that they were deceiving themselves, and putting forth as excuses things which, if they had been earnestly determined to go to the feast, would not have kept them for a moment.

IV. Those who persistently decline to come to the feast shall be for ever excluded from its enjoyment. The rejecters of Christ are themselves eternally rejected of Christ.

V. Finally, this parable reveals to us the fact, that, notwithstanding the rejection of this invitation by multitudes, God's house shall be filled at last. Heaven shall be fully occupied with God's redeemed people, and the saved shall not be few.

W. M. Taylor, The Parables of Our Saviour,p. 290.

References: Luke 14:16. Homiletic Quarterly,vol i., p. 201; Ibid.,vol. ix., p. 270; Clergyman's Magazine,vol. ii., p. 341; H. Calderwood, The Parables,p. 98; A. B. Bruce, Parabolic Teaching of Christ,p. 325.