Radical Stories in Luke

RSVP and Come to the Table

You are invited. We all are of course, but have you sent in your RSVP?

There’s a banquet being prepared, and a great feast is being planned.

In Luke 14:16-26, Jesus was at the home of a Pharisee when he told a parable about a man who prepared a great feast. When the time came for the feast, he sent his servant out to tell his guests, but some chose not to attend. They had excuses.
The problem with that is that in those times, after being invited to a banquet, people accepted or declined the invitation in plenty of time for the host to prepare the meal. The host would then prepare a meal and let his guests know when the time game to come to the feast.

These three men gave lame excuses to the servant. The first two apparently had money. The first bought land and needed to see it – though who buys land sight unseen? Poor excuse. The second had purchased five oxen and need to work them out (enough to work a large portion of land) – yet who buys oxen without having tested them first? And I am not sure about you, but I knew way in advance to when my wedding was, and I would have declined an invitation to something that would have coincided. However, the third man did not. These guys had responded to the invitation favorably the first time, but then changed their minds.

Excuses. Excuses. Excuses.

So the master told his servant to get the people who were poor and crippled in the streets. These are the same people Jesus told his host – the Pharisee – to welcome in verse 13. They were people who could not repay the man for his generosity.

But that wasn’t enough people, so the master sent his servant out again to compel the people to come from the country and enjoy the banquet. They were not people who necessarily deserved to be at the banquet – but they were invited anyway.

Then Jesus closes the parable by saying that none of the men who were invited but did not come “will taste of my banquet.” (14:24). The man is hurt by the rejection. In those times, to skip a banquet after you had already affirmed your presence was a slap in the face to the host.

Does this parable hit home to you?

Often, we come up with lame excuses to tell the Master as to why we are not attending to our service to Him. We, too, tell him we will be there or do that, but then we “need” to spend time tending to our land or our purchases or our schedule. We are “too busy” I guess. Excuses. Slap. Slap. Slap.

And yet, just like the master in the story, God is hurt by our rejection just the same.

God shows grace and mercy just like the master in the story. When those who were “supposed” to be a part of the banquet turned away, he invited the ones that were not supposed to be there – the blind, the poor, the sick, the lame. He welcomed the unclean, the commoners, the downtrodden. God welcomes US.

We don’t deserve to be there, but He invites us anyway.

And if we don’t take advantage of our invitation, we will be rejected just like the three who offered excuses. We will not taste of His banquet.

Second Peter says, “Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat.” (2 Peter 3:11-12)

How do we know we are in the midst of God? How do we know we are sitting at the banquet table? Jesus says in Luke 14:25-26:

“Now large crowds were going along with Him; and He turned and said to them, ‘If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple.’”

I hope and pray I live my life in a way that keeps me in the great banquet hall so that when the time does come, God finds me inside.

I’m reminded of a song:

“All things are ready, come to the feast! Come for the table now is spread.
Ye famishing, ye weary, come and thou shalt be richly fed.
Hear the invitation, come whosoever will
Praise God for full salvation, Come, whosoever will.”

Verse Three of that song is also appropriate for our discussion:

“All things are ready, come to the feast! Come, while He waits to welcome thee;
Delay not while this day is thine, tomorrow may never be.”

You are invited. We all are of course. The invitation was sealed one Friday, and the guestbook was opened three days later. Hear the invitation and come.


Father God, help me to walk in your way daily. Help me to love you more than anything else. Help me to discard of my excuses instead of my life with You.  May I remain at your table and not fall away so when the banquet begins, I am inside with You tasting your bountiful feast. Thank you for your blessings, and for your willingness to love me - a commoner. Through your Son who sealed the invitation I pray, Amen.

Joey Roberts
Stephenville, Texas