Look Closer, Part 9: The Parable of the Great Banquet

to a great banquet!

The Parable of the Great Banquet  LUKE 14:15-23

¹⁵ 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.”
       ¹⁶ Jesus replied: “A certain man was preparing a great banquet and invited many guests. ¹⁷ At the time of the banquet he sent his servant to tell those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’
       ¹⁸ “But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said, ‘I have just bought a field, and I must go and see it. Please excuse me.’
       ¹⁹ “Another said, ‘I have just bought five yoke of oxen, and I’m on my way to try them out. Please excuse me.’
       ²⁰ “Still another said, ‘I just got married, so I can’t come.’
       ²¹ “The servant came back and reported this to his master. Then the owner of the house became angry and ordered his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame.’
       ²² “‘Sir,’ the servant said, ‘what you ordered has been done, but there is still room.’
       ²³ “Then the master told his servant, ‘Go out to the roads and country lanes and compel them to come in, so that my house will be full.

The Prequel  LUKE 14:12-14

Then Jesus said to his host, “When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or sisters, your relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”

God’s party is the one we are (Luke 14:15) 

“At the very beginning, and all through the Bible, all through the stories about God and his people, there are stories about food, about all of life changing with the bite of an apple, about trading an inheritance for a bowl of stew, about waking up to find the land littered with bread, God’s way of caring for his people; about a wedding where water turned to wine, Jesus’ first miracle; about the very first Last Supper, the humble bread and wine becoming, for all time, indelibly linked to the very body of Christ, the center point for thousands of years of tradition and belief. It matters. It mattered then, and it matters now, possibly even more so, because it’s a way of reclaiming some of the things we may have lost along the way. – Shauna Niequist, Bread & Wine

All of life changed with — the bite of an apple

If you want to get to know someone more, you have to show up

When we say no , it’s easier to say no

“God never meant man to be a purely spiritual creature. That is why He uses material things like bread and wine to put the new life into us. We may think this rather crude and unspiritual. God does not: He invented eating. He likes matter. He invented it.”  – C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

1 Corinthians 11:23-26
For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

Say yes for .

Small Group Questions

1. Have you ever been to a really great dinner party? What did you eat? Who was there? 
2. Do you more naturally say yes or no to a social invitation? Why is that? 
3. Do you feel like you consistently say yes to spending time with God? In what ways could you say yes more often? 
4. Can you imagine any ways that your life would be impacted today by spending more time with God right now? What would that look like? 
5. How can we pray for you right now and throughout week?