3.15 The Great Supper
XV. THE GREAT SUPPER.
Luke 14:16 - Luke 14:24. This parable probably belongs to the time when Jesus was journeying from Galilee to Jericho. While at table, on a Sabbath, in the house of one of the rulers of the Pharisees, He said to His host: “ When thou makest a dinner or a supper, do not invite thy friends, nor thy brethren, nor thy kinsfolk, nor thy rich neighbours, lest haply they invite thee in their turn, and thou thus receive a recompense. But when thou makest a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind; and thou shalt be blessed, because they have nothing to give thee in return; for thou shalt be 172 THE PARABLES OF JESUS recompensed in the resurrection of the just.”
One of His fellow-guests, hearing Him speak these things, said to Him: “ Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God!” Jesus then spoke the parable. A certain man made a great supper, and invited many; and he sent his servant at supper-time to say to them that were invited: “ Come, for all things are now ready.” Thereupon they all began with one accord to make excuse for not accepting the invitation: one, because he had bought a field and must needs go out to see it; another, because he had bought five yoke of oxen and was about to go to make trial of them; a third said: “ I have married a wife and therefore I cannot come.” The servant returned to his master and informed him of his ill success, whereat his master, being angry, bade him go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in the poor and maimed and blind and lame. The servant obeyed, and then came and told his master that there was still room. The latter in consequence commanded him to go out to the highways and hedges, and compel those whom he would find to come in, so that his house might be filled, THE PARABLES OF JESUS 173 adding that not one of those who had been invited should taste of his supper. When treating of the parable of the Marriage of the King’s Son (Matthew 22:2 - Matthew 22:14), we spoke of the strong resemblance which it bears to the one under consideration, of the points of difference between them, and of their relation to each other. There is no need to go over the same ground again. The exclamation of the guest, “ Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God!” which gave occasion for the parable, showed plainly the materialistic ideas of the Kingdom which the Jews had formed. Jesus, wishing to correct the erroneous belief of those who sat at table with Him, that it was the peculiar and exclusive privilege of the Jews to share in the Kingdom, spoke the parable which illustrates the truth which He had already formulated in the words, “ Many shall come from east and west, and shall lie down with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of Heaven; but the children of the Kingdom shall be cast out into the outer darkness.” The man who made the supper represents God; the supper itself stands for the Kingdom of God. By His 174 THE PARABLES OF JESUS prophets, whose line ended with the Baptist, He had called the leaders and other repre sentative men of the Jews to the Kingdom before its actual appearance; and when all things were ready, and the Kingdom was about to be proclaimed, He sent His servant to summon them to come. In St. Matthew we find a plurality of servants, while here there is only one, whom we take to represent Our Lord: in the Old Testament the Messiah is often styled the Servant of Jahweh. The various pleas on which those who had been invited excuse themselves from coming reveal their lack of spirituality, and their enslavement to the things of earth and of sense. Not one of them accepts the invitation, and this agrees literally with the Gospel history, where we look in vain for a single one of the leaders of the people taking his stand definitely and boldly on the side of Jesus. The men of power and influence having declined the call, the servant is despatched to bring in from the streets and lanes the poor and the physically defective, by whom we are to understand the common people. These do not appear in numbers sufficient to fill the hospitable house, THE PARABLES OF JESUS 175 and so the servant is once more sent out, this time to the highways and hedges, where the poorest of the people take refuge, with a command to compel those whom he would find to come in. The heathen are here represented; for though Our Lord did not call them personally to the Kingdom, He did so after His death by the agency of His Apostles. The word “ compel “ is not to be so pressed as to imply that violence should be brought to bear upon men to cause them to believe. No one can believe on compulsion: faith must be a free act. The word signifies “ persuade strongly “ or perhaps “ summon.” We can picture to ourselves those poor vagabonds and outcasts unwilling to appear in their misery in such a house and on such an occasion. The parable closes with the sentence of final and definite rejection pronounced against those who were the first to be called to the Supper, “ I say unto you that not one of those men that were called shall taste of my supper.”
Though the servant alone is addressed, the plural is used, an indication that in the mind of the Evangelist the reality here displaces the figure for which it stands. The fulfil- 176 THE PARABLES OF JESUS merit of the prophecy, for such the sentence virtually is, is seen in the definite rejection of the Jews as a people or nation, and the call of the Gentiles to take their place.
TAGS: [Parables]