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Author: Stephen Weller
659 words, 3 minutes read time

Who Should Be Invited?

Scripture: Luke 14:12-14

In the previous section Jesus used a parable of a wedding feast to teach about humility. With this lesson we begin a new section, covering the parable of the great banquet.

^{Lk 14:12} “He said also to the man who had invited him, “When you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers [and sisters] or your relatives or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return and you be repaid. ¹³ But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, ¹⁴ and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just.”’

Jesus turns to the man who had invited him and teaches using a parable about who should be invited to dinners or banquets. It is natural to “invite your friends or your brothers [and sisters] or your relatives or rich neighbors” because it produces a comfortable enjoyable environment. Jesus is not saying that these people mentioned should not be entertained, they should, but usually it results in them inviting us back to their events, resulting in a closed group of people fellowshipping together.

Jesus is teaching the principle that Paul speaks of in Philippians 2:4 ESV: “Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.” Paul says further in Romans 15:2 ESV: “Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up.” The goal in mind is “for his good, to build him up.” What might that good be? In 1 Corinthians 9:19 that good is that we “might win more of them” and in 1 Corinthians 10:33 it is “that they might be saved.”

Who might this neighbor be that Paul speaks of? A certain lawyer stood up one day and desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” Jesus then answers his question with the parable of the good Samaritan (Luke 10:25 – 37). The neighbor that Jesus speaks of here, that we are to love as our self, is “the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind.” They have needs to hear the gospel and to have fellowship with those who are believers.

In reaching out to these, one will be blessed because they will be unable to repay us for our kindness to them. Jesus says that we will be repaid at the “resurrection of the just.” Jesus also said, “And whoever gives one of these little ones even a cup of cold water because he is a disciple, truly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward.” (Matthew 10:42 ESV).

This parable, the parable of the great banquet, illustrates the need to reach out to those who are physically impaired and economically deprived. A fitting illustration to close this lesson with is given by Jesus in Matthew 25:34 – 36 ESV: ³⁴ “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. ³⁵ For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, ³⁶ I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’”

Conclusion

It is easy to have good times with family and friends, but when Jesus instructs us to reach out to the outcast it may produce a feeling of discomfort and in our western culture it has become easy to look the other way. Following Jesus is not an easy life because bearing a cross like he did implies a great deal of discomfort, even suffering, along the way.