The Table is Set [1-18-26]

January 18, 2026

Luke 14:12-24

“The Table is Set”

We know that Jesus cried. John’s gospel has the shortest verse in Scripture:

“JESUS WEPT.”

Jesus cried. Later in Luke, we learn that Jesus weeps over Jerusalem. So we know Jesus cried.

We’re never specifically told that Jesus laughs. He uses humor. In his parables. In his interactions with people. We’ve already seen how he used a reference for Herod that carried the same meaning as calling someone a jackass. There is humor in the gospels, although nothing is specifically said about Jesus laughing. Or telling a joke or two. There can be humor without joke-telling.

The set-up for today’s passage begin with verses twelve through fourteen:

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 or your relatives or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return and you be repaid. But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just.”

There’s always at least one joker in every gathering. Remember, Jesus is with religious and community leaders at a meal. Accepted customs and practices are in place for these kinds of gatherings. Who is in. Who is out. Specifically defined and followed protocols.

What Jesus describes in these initial verses is far from typical and accepted protocol. No person of influence, standing, or prestige would ever do what Jesus describes. Never. Ever.

That’s why we get verse fifteen:

When one of those who reclined at table with him heard these

things, he said to him, “Blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!”

The guy thinks Jesus is joking around. So he’s joining in the fun.

That attitude is corrected with verse sixteen:

But he said to him, “A man once gave a great banquet and invited many.”

Jesus is quick to move past the snark in the man’s quip. You might as well read it as, “Ignoring his attempt at humor, Jesus said…”

The Parable of the Great Banquet is not a joke in search of a punchline. It’s about what is most important in life:

“A man once gave a great banquet and invited many. And at the time for the banquet he sent his servant to say to those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’ But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said to him, ‘I have bought a field, and I must go out and see it. Please have me excused.’ And another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to examine them. Please have me excused.’ And another said, ‘I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.’ So the servant came and reported these things to his master. Then the master of the house became angry and said to his servant, ‘Go out quickly to the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in the poor and crippled and blind and lame.’ And the servant said, ‘Sir, what you commanded has been done, and still there is room.’ And the master said to the servant, ‘Go out to the highways and hedges and compel people to come in, that my house may be filled. For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste my banquet.’”

The first thing you might want to write down is the main idea found in today’s story:

BY THEIR OBSESSION WITH WORLDLY AFFAIRS, SOME WILL BE LOCKED OUT OF THE GREAT BANQUET.

Woe to the person who shows contempt to the Host of the Great Banquet.

First, the custom.

Only important, influential, and well-placed people received invitations to huge banquets. It was an opportunity to rub elbows with those who were thought highly of and who thought highly of themselves.

The invitation went out, and you either accepted or declined. Once accepted, the full number of those attending could be tallied up, and food preparation commenced.

Once food preparation began, there was no turning back. It was an involved, labor intensive, non-refrigerated process. Cancelling after accepting would be a waste of labor and food.

So, when you say you’re going…you better show up.

Here’s a break-down of the excuses given in the parable. All of them are weak and lame. Remember, they all had already accepted. Don’t you hate it when someone does something like that?

Excuse #1:

“I have bought a field, and I must go out and see it. Please have me excused.”

Inspection normally occurs long before purchase. It would be like saying, “I just bought a house over the phone. Now I must go and check it out and the neighborhood.”

Excuse #2:

‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to examine them. Please have me excused.’

Again, you would never buy five yoke of oxen sight-unseen. With two oxen per yoke, that’s ten in total. This excuse would be like calling your wife, cancelling dinner, because you bought a car over the phone, and are now going to see what kind it is and if it even starts.

Excuse #3 is the lamest of all:

‘I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.’

Here’s what this clown is saying. He is so crude. He’s basically saying he needs to stay home in order to fulfill the commandment to be fruitful and multiply. What makes this crude comment worse is he doesn’t even ask to

be excused. He simply tells the host what he’s going to do. Yikes.

Here’s where all of this is leading. Eternal life…the Great Heavenly Banquet…has nothing to do with good works or position or reputation or standing in the community. It has everything to do with the invitation from a Sovereign God. God doesn’t care about position or power or good works or prestige or the kind of person people think you are. None of that matters. All that matters is God’s choosing to save you…to invite you to the Great Heavenly Banquet. Will people accept the invitation?

Contrast that with the way most people think today. A majority of self-identified Christians believe salvation involves earning their way into heaven through good works. Most people, regardless of their religious affiliation, expect to go to heaven through good works.

That’s the way most people think. Good people go to heaven. And I’m a good person. I try to be as moral as possible. I’m good at heart. At least I’m not like…and you can fill in the blank. I think I’ve done enough to get a

seat at the Great Banquet in Heaven. This is how most people think.

Praise God we’re not most people. We’re devoted followers of Jesus Christ. We study, learn from, believe, and trust in God’s Word. Amen?

God saves. God does the calling. Here’s the best part. The second half of verse twenty-one tells us:

‘Go out quickly to the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in the poor and crippled and blind and lame.’

Jesus makes a beautiful point. The verb translated as “bring in” means that more than invited, they are “led in.”

They are not simply invited. They are not coerced or forced. They are led in. By a gracious hand. By a loving host. By a thoughtful Lord. No one is too sullied…too wretched…with too horrible a past…to not be counted as a friend at table with Jesus. As Revelation 19:9 says:

And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These are the true words of God.”

We are worthy to attend the Great Heavenly Banquet because God, in Christ, brings us in. That’s all that’s to it. We hear it in verse twenty-three. God wants His house to be filled. So all of us…the dregs and the outcasts… the losers and the sinners…the weak and the worried…are invited in. There’s always room for more.

I don’t know about you, but that fills me with joy and makes me exceedingly glad.

Which leads us to the last piece of the parable.

Nowhere in the parable does Jesus say the invitation makes good works or good behavior meaningless. These things do matter. Jesus says as much in verse thirteen…invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind. Caring for all people is essential to the gospel. Simply remember that God makes the first move. It’s God who invites. It’s God who saves. And then we do good works. Our good works are in response to what God has done for us in Jesus Christ. We love because we have first been loved.

Which is why we love what Paul says in Galatians 5. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control pour out of our lives because we have been invited to the Great Banquet. We do these things as an expression of joy; of thanksgiving for what God has done for us in Jesus Christ. We joyfully express gratitude to the God who chose to save us.

The sad thing is that the ones who make excuses are simply people not interested in the message of Jesus Christ or in Jesus Christ himself. They simply don’t care. And so the parable ends with the harsh reality:

“None of those men who were invited shall taste my banquet.”

What a horrible place to be. When you breathe your last, to be standing outside the banquet because you rejected the invitation. We can’t even begin to imagine.

Here’s the last, and most important thing you might want to write down:

JESUS IS TALKING ABOUT HEAVEN.

We’re kind and we’re generous and we’re loving and we help others and we’re forgiving and we’re filled with joy not so Jesus will invite us to the banquet but because Jesus has invited us to the banquet. It’s as simple as that. Get that right, and you’re sitting at table with Jesus.

I love how Isaiah 25:6-9 puts it:

On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples

a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine,

of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined.

And he will swallow up on this mountain

the covering that is cast over all peoples,

the veil that is spread over all nations.

He will swallow up death forever;

and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces,

and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth,

for the Lord has spoken.

It will be said on that day,

“Behold, this is our God; we have waited for him, that he might save us.

This is the Lord; we have waited for him;

let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.”

I love that. “Let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.” That’s it. Anyone

who rejects Jesus Christ will never experience the Great Heavenly Banquet. As Charles Spurgeon proclaimed:

It is a glorious gospel - the feast is good. He is a glorious king - the Host is good. He is a blessed Savior - he is good. It is all good, and you shall be made good too, if your souls accept the invitation of the gospel which is given to you this day. "He that believeth… shall be saved: he that believeth not shall be damned." "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved." The Lord send his Spirit to make the call effectual, for his dear Son's sake. Amen.

And together, the elect of God, sitting at the Great Banquet, say:

SOLI DEO GLORIA…

To the Glory of God Alone