The Parable of the Great Banquet (Luke 14:16-24)

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The Excuse

 

Have you ever made an excuse? The year I entered university, 1994, was truly the year of a singer named Kim Gun-mo. With his dark complexion and unique look, this artist released a song that marked a new chapter in Korean music. That song was titled "Excuse" (핑계). If you walked down a busy street, every store was playing it. So, even without trying, you naturally memorized the tune.

The song, which begins, "Even now, you're making an excuse with a story I can't understand~," was a reggae-style melody unfamiliar to Korean people before then. The lyrics essentially convey this message:

Even now, you're making an excuse with a story I can't understand.

*Don't make that excuse to me. Put yourself in my shoes. Can you smile if you were me right now? You said you’d teach me how to be alone, a phrase tossed out like a serious joke. In a bouquet of baby's breath, a hidden letter only has the two letters for 'Goodbye' deeply carved. I never thought you’d leave me this easily, with me completely unprepared. You’re making an excuse, saying you’ll teach me sad love.

*Repeat

I never thought you’d leave me this easily, with me completely unprepared. You’re making an excuse, saying you’ll teach me sad love.

In short, the lyrics describe a lover making an incomprehensible excuse while announcing a breakup. What is the most crucial reason why a man and woman break up? While various excuses can be given, love has ultimately faded. But rather than causing pain by stating that truth, they find other excuses, like "my parents object," or "I have to go study abroad." Ultimately, the core reason is, "I don't love you anymore!" Therefore, an excuse is a 'fabricated reason'conveniently given when one can't bring themselves to state the true refusal. The irony is that the other person usually knows it's just an excuse.

We often make such excuses in our spiritual lives. Today, I want to talk about this tendency to make excuses.

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Do Not Take the Place of Honor

 

Jesus first taught about the attitude of those invited to a banquet: to humble oneself. Everyone wants to sit in the place of honor, as it suggests they are the most esteemed person at the feast. The places are determined by the nature of the event and one's relationship with the host. A wedding feast should center on the bride and groom; a birthday party on the person celebrating their birthday.

Jesus advised that when invited to a feast, we should not immediately take the place of honor, but rather the lowest seat. Why? Because if the host asks us to move up from the lowest seat, we are honored and recognized. But if we assume a place of honor and are asked to move down, it is shameful.

He also taught about whom to host. Naturally, people tend to favor those of high social standing or those who can reciprocate the favor. This is the way of the world. However, Jesus tells us to bless those who cannot repay us. If we serve those who cannot repay, our reward comes from God. If we only host those who can repay, the reward stops there, coming only from them.

In response, a person dining right next to Jesus exclaimed, “Blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!” And so, Jesus shared the Parable of the Great Banquet.

Through this parable, we gain several spiritual insights. First, God desires the banquet of His Kingdom to be abundant. As the Greek word 'mega' implies, God is a God of plenty, who pours out blessings beyond measure. The Kingdom of God is not a meager feast; it overflows.

Second, the Kingdom banquet is not just future-tense, but present-tense. The text says the feast is already prepared: “everything is ready.” Jesus consistently described the Kingdom not as a place we go to only in the future, but as something we experience in the here and now. Therefore, the Kingdom is prepared right here, right now.

Third, God is inviting many people to this Kingdom. God desires many to come and participate in this heavenly feast. So, He sends out His servants to invite them.

 

The Refusal of the Original Guests

 

What happened next? Although invited to the feast, the guests all unanimously declined to attend. But they didn't just decline; they had excuses. Their reasons were:

• "I have just bought a field, and I must go and see it."

• "I have just bought five yoke of oxen, and I must go examine them."

• "I have just gotten married, and therefore I cannot come."

How do we perceive a banquet? Is a feast truly that important? For example, would someone skip work for a banquet? Would a husband defy his wife's wishes to attend a feast? Would a merchant close a thriving business just for a banquet? No. Because in the minds of most people, a banquet is an optional event—you can go or not go. People view work and school as mandatory, but the Banquet is not seen as an absolute necessity. That is why we nod our heads, recognizing that the excuses made by the original guests sound plausible.

The problem, however, lies in who hosted the banquet and for what purpose. If ordinary people threw a party, the guests might deliberate. But if the President prepared a formal dinner and invited you, would you not attend? Would you refuse because your spouse said not to go? You would likely postpone any other important appointment to attend that dinner. It would be the opportunity of a lifetime—a chance to meet high-ranking officials and those who shape the world. Therefore, when weighing the importance of the feast versus one's job, we focus on who the host is.

So, what does it mean that these people are making excuses and not coming? They perceive the feast as not important enough to attend. If the feast held any true significance for them, they would have dropped everything else. Instead, they believed this banquet had little meaning for their lives. That's why they used the field, the oxen, and their wife as excuses to reject the invitation.

What was the host's reaction? Jesus tells us He was angry. Imagine hosting a great banquet, sending out invitations, and having no one show up; the host would naturally feel insulted.

The host then decided to offer the banquet to others. He commanded his servants: “Go out quickly to the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in the poor and crippled and blind and lame.” That’s right. The host commanded them to bring in those whom no one pays attention to. Who are these people? “The poor,” “the crippled,” “the blind,” and “the lame.”

We learn one crucial fact here: The Kingdom of God is unpopular among those who have the means to buy fields, oxen, and get married. Why? Because they already possess and enjoy something of this world. Jesus said in Mark 10:23, “How difficult it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!” This statement should strike us as very serious, because “those who have wealth” could apply to all of us. The fact that it becomes even more difficult for those with greater riches can even drive wealthy people away from the church.

So, are you among the wealthy? I am wealthy. I have more riches than people living in certain poor nations in Africa. None of us here could truly be called poor, because America is one of the wealthiest nations. Specifically, our area—Covington, Maple Valley, and Black Diamond—is among the more affluent neighborhoods in the US. If this is true, the conclusion is that fewer people in this area might enter the Kingdom of God. Why? Is it because God discriminates against the rich? No. As we see in the text, the initially invited guests all had possessions. Therefore, God does not discriminate simply based on whether one has possessions or not.

What, then, is the decisive factor in entering or not entering the Kingdom of God? It depends entirely on how highly they value the Kingdom banquet. Paul confessed in Philippians 3:8, “Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him.” Paul states that he considers everything he possessed as dung (or rubbish) for the sake of gaining Christ. To put it dramatically, the rich are essentially embracing things that God regards as rubbish. The famous parable tells of a rich man who died and begged to bring his gold to heaven. He dragged it laboriously to the gates, only for Peter to ask, "Why did you bring road paving material with you?" The point is that while the rich are seen as possessing something valuable by the world's standards, in God’s Kingdom, those things are treated as worthless.

Where, then, lies the problem with those who rejected the feast? They have the critical problem of not being able to find any joy in the Kingdom of God’s feast. Conversely, those who possess nothing can readily participate in that joy, as the feast is their everything.

We must adopt a clear attitude toward the wealth we acquire in this world. Will we regard all these things as rubbish, or as something more important than the Heavenly Feast? Even if someone is poor now but considers the wealth they lack to be more important than the Heavenly Feast, it will be difficult for them to enter the Kingdom of God. However, if someone is wealthy now but considers their possessions to be as worthless as rubbish, would they not eagerly participate in the Heavenly Feast?

Generally, those with much wealth tend to neglect the Kingdom of God, and those who possess nothing in this world tend to value it highly. But remember, this is not a fixed formula. The important thing is what we prioritize, not whether we have much or little wealth. The four types of people described earlier—the poor, crippled, blind, and lame—have the advantage of seeing the value of the Kingdom more easily because they have little hope in this world. But those who have possessions keep making excuses while rejecting the Heavenly Feast.

So, how much is the Kingdom of God truly worth? It is so valuable that the host is not ashamed to compel even strangers to come and participate in the feast. Therefore, the host does not want the valuable feast to have empty seats. He commands, “compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.” In the past, the church taught this meant unconditionally bringing people into the pews for worship—a call to evangelism. That is not entirely wrong. However, the true meaning is to show us just how valuable the Kingdom is. It is rare for someone who has not experienced or known this Kingdom to seek it out voluntarily. Someone must repeatedly and intentionally tell them about it. They must taste the food to know how delicious the bread of the Kingdom is.

Last week, we had a PK (Pastor's Kids) gathering. I had eaten so much at Deacon Cho Hyun-soo’s house that I didn't even want to look at the food prepared there. But Seo In-soon tasted the food and strongly urged everyone nearby to try it, saying it was delicious. I truly didn't want to eat, but because she insisted so strongly, I tried it. And indeed, it was a truly delicious meal.

It is our mission as Christians to strongly urge those surrounded by the rubbish of this world to experience the joy of the Kingdom of God's Heavenly Feast. While this may not be entirely reduced to church attendance, it is clear that we must experience the Kingdom of God right now.

My beloved First Love Church members!

Are you one of those who make excuses and refuse to participate in the Kingdom of God's feast? How can you tell if you are? If you consider the joy of making money, or the joy of being recognized by the world, to be more important than the joy of attending Sunday worship, hearing the Word, praising and pleasing God, and fellowshipping with believers, then unfortunately, you are very likely to be among those who reject the joy of the Kingdom of God. You will naturally make excuses like "I have to take care of worldly affairs" and refuse the feast.

Friends! The joy and peace that God gives are things the world cannot provide. The Kingdom of God's feast is not a future event; it is the joy, peace, and glory given to us in the present. This must be experienced. And for those who have experienced it, it must continually fill your hearts. Isn't it a sorrow that so many Christians experience this grace once, then lose it and follow the world again? How many of our dear members, who once had the hot conviction that they could lose everything for the joy and deep emotion of meeting Jesus, now have hearts hardened like stone, unable to enjoy the Heavenly Feast? The joy of the Kingdom of God is the true joy, and the peace of the Kingdom of God is the true peace. We must eat the bread of that joy and peace.

May your participation in the Heavenly Feast be filled with the overflowing joy and peace of eating its bread, I pray in the name of the Lord.