Luke 14:15 “ And when one of them that sat at meat with Him heard these things, he said until Him, “Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the Kingdom of God .”
Sunday dinner is the leading social event in the life of many families. Even in these days of mechanized living the gathering of the whole family for the Sunday repast is a happy and significant event. To me, as a preacher, the morning church service always seems like the Sunday spiritual dinner of the congregation, with all meeting together to feed on the Bread of Life. And like the paterfamilias in every home, I wish that all the children of God in this congregation could meet together, without a vacant chair or an absent brother. But that's just an idle wish. Even Jesus recognized this. We are faced with alibis, excuses and absences. We see the ingratitude of some men for the great gifts of God.
Our text speaks of a Sunday dinner held in the home of a Pharisees while our Lord walked the earth. He was an invited guest and partook of the meal with the Pharisee and his friends. But the friends of the Pharisee neglected the meal in order to watch with critical eyes the actions of Jesus. Then when the eating was finished, our Lord healed the dropsical man, told the parable of the chief rooms, gave advice on unselfishness to his host and finally spoke the famous parable of the Great Supper, the Gospel Banquet.
You know the story. A rich man prepared a fine banquet and when the hour of feasting arrived he sent forth his servant to notify the guests that they should come. But they all began to make excuses. One had just bought a piece of ground. Another needed to test a new yoke of oxen. Another had just been married and was unwilling to disturb his honeymoon. The servant returned and reported this ingratitude to the rich man. Angered, the Master sent him forth again, this time into the highways and lanes, to bring in the poor and the crippled and the blind. But there was still room. So again the servant went forth, this time to hail those who hid in the highways and hedges. These must have been men in hiding, hedge-robbers and tramps. They were welcome substitute guests, for the Master said “Compel them to come in.” The banquet hall was finally filled, but for those neglectful souls who made excuse the result was one of tragedy. “None of those who refused my gracious invitation shall taste of this Supper.”
We don't know what effect this parable had upon the spying Pharisees or upon the new friends of Jesus at that Sunday-dinner table. But we know that this great parable is a source of inspiration for many searching thoughts about the Christian life. It may be applied to the Jews of the time of Christ, or to the multitudes of the indifferent today. Let us consider a few phases of the story.
1. The Great Feast prepared for men
When the dinner guest, moved by the stirring discourses of Jesus, exclaimed in rapture “Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the Kingdom of God ,” he was echoing a teaching often spoken by Christ. To the Samaritan woman at the well, Jesus had given the startling assurance that He was the Water which could quench thirst forever. To the disciples, in the same incident, he revealed an inner source of strength, the “meat to eat that ye know not of.” On another occasion He said “I am the bread of life.”
All of these quotations can aptly be applied to the spiritual feast which God has prepared for men since the very beginning of time. The history of ancient Israel shows how God prepared this nourishment for the soul. The prophets of old proclaimed it and Jesus by His life and work brought it to completion. Then with the feast fully prepared, the dinner hour has come and the time is ripe for the wide invitation, “Come, for all things are now ready.” After centuries of preparation, through the voices of the holy prophets and by the greater voice of the Son of God, the call is sent forth and the invitation resounds in all the highways and byways of the world.
In the days when the Christian era was just beginning, the Gospel call rang clarion clear over the hills of Galilee . The person, the life and the work of Christ were awaiting acceptance. The Bread of Life was fully prepared to feed men's souls. It was ready then. It is ready now. The full and nourishing banquet of God is prepared. The courses are reconciliation to God, peace, new life, regeneration, eternal life. Then and now, all are invited; all nations, all ages, all races. The message of the Lord resounds, “Come!”
2. The Ungrateful Refusal
But history records to our chagrin that the hospitable host was rebuffed by his invited guests. “With one accord” they began to make excuse. The widely divergent tastes of these ungrateful rogues found at least one common ground. The Pharisees, the Sadducees, the Samaritans and all the other groups of Jewry met with accord in one thing; they all rejected Christ.
“O Jerusalem, how often would I have gathered you under my wing, as a hen gathers her chicks, and ye would not! ” Thus laments our Lord concerning the refusal of the so-called Holy City . Here was a great feast prepared; but the invited guests were all conspicuous by their absence. So the obvious order went forth from the host to his servants, when he commanded them to go forth and bring in a crowd. Anybody and everybody was an eligible guest. The imperative thing was to fill the house. Any hungry or thirsty soul, any wanderer, any straggler, any outcast was a welcome guest, if he came in humility and with gratitude.
Don't we often express ourselves in a similar way when some splendid dinner has been prepared in our homes? The good woman of the house sighs and says, “What a good dinner we have today! I wish somebody would stop in!” But in a more practical way, the disciples set forth to fill the Lord's house. A Samaritan woman of uncertain morals, a stranger from the coasts of Tyre and Sidon, the Greeks and gentiles all came and ate and were filled.
In our own time the alibis of rich man's fickle friends have a strangely familiar sound. The Gospel feast with its rich blessings is prepared and proclaimed. The word goes forth, “Come and partake now.” Thousands and thousands of ministers, missionaries and good Christian folk everywhere are spreading the kindly message of the Gospel. And the answers? Listen and consider if they don't sound like something you've heard before! “I have bought a new house and Sunday is the only day I have to work on it. I pray thee, have me excused.” “I have bought a new car and every Sunday I go out to test it. I pray thee have me excused.” I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.”
Dear friends, human ingratitude has changed very little in two thousand years. We hear the same excuses exactly, simply placed in a modern setting. We meet the same indifference. Is it any wonder, then, if the Master of the house becomes angry? Can even the patience of God be without limits?
Our age belittles the idea of Hell and of eternal punishment. We reason with ourselves and ask if it is possible that God would punish anyone so. But history plainly shows just how much our age and every age deserves that sort of punishment. There comes a time when it is too late to make excuse.
A student at Annapolis Naval Academy was ill and unable to pass his examinations. As a result, he was dismissed from the Academy. A friend, surprised, asked “Didn't they make any allowance for your illness?” To this the former midshipman replied “The Navy doesn't want excuses. It wants results.”
Perhaps that seems hard and unfeeling. Yet how important it is! Lose a battle, or lose lives in a submarine mishap, and excuses don't count .
God has a perfect right to demand our obedience. On His part we see perfect preparation and great sacrifice in order that all things may work for our good. Dare we refuse such an invitation?
3. The Tragic Results of Indifference
“None of those who were bidden shall taste of my supper.” God's invitation is for all people. It is freely given and freely to be accepted. When men disregard it, it is their own stubbornness and willful ways, their own indifference which is at fault. We read in Scripture, “Him that cometh to me shall I in no wise cast out.” But he who is invited and doesn't come -- that's a different story.
Never excuse or alibi yourself to God. The flimsiness of the excuses that are often made show them to be lies. The man with the oxen, or the acreage, or the wife, was in reality a man who felt no inner need for the feast and no gratitude toward the man who had troubled to prepare it.
The poor, the maimed, the blind, the sinsick and sorrow-worn, yes, our whole humanity needs the saving grace of Jesus Christ. Unfortunately, some feel so self-satisfied in their own security that they fail to realize their real needs until it is too late. Let us learn a lesson from them. Never make excuses to God. Never alibi and insult God by implying that He can't see through your veil. Let us always be faithful to Him in word and deed, and let us serve Him with joy and unselfishness, for “Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the Kingdom of God .”
AMEN