Parable · Luke 14:15-24

The Great Banquet

Invited guests all make excuses, so the host fills the table with strangers off the street.

Also called The Great Supper, The Invited Guests

The point

The excuses are all reasonable. A field, some oxen, a new marriage. That is what makes it sting.

15When one of those reclining with Him heard this, he said to Jesus, “Blessed is everyone who will eat at the feast in the kingdom of God.”

16But Jesus replied, “A certain man prepared a great banquet and invited many guests.

17When it was time for the banquet, he sent his servant to tell those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’

18But one after another they all began to make excuses. The first one said, ‘I have bought a field, and I need to go see it. Please excuse me.’

19Another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to try them out. Please excuse me.’

20Still another said, ‘I have married a wife, so I cannot come.’

21The servant returned and reported all this to his master. Then the owner of the house became angry and said to his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the city, and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame.’

22‘Sir,’ the servant replied, ‘what you ordered has been done, and there is still room.’

23So the master told his servant, ‘Go out to the highways and hedges and compel them to come in, so that my house will be full.

24For I tell you, not one of those men who were invited will taste my banquet.’”

Berean Standard Bible, public domain. Read the whole chapter

Using this at church

For a newsletter or sermon notes

The parable of the Great Banquet, explained in plain words. The invited guests make excuses, so the host invites strangers. https://freescripture.org/parables/great-banquet/

Lines for the next eight Sundays, on Digital Lutheran Church