Luke 14:15

Here is another discourse of our Saviour's, in which he spiritualizes the feast he was invited to, which is another way of keeping up good discourse in the midst of common actions.

I. The occasion of the discourse was given by one of the guests, who, when Christ was giving rules about feasting, said to him, Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God (Luk 14:15), which, some tell us, was a saying commonly used among the rabbin.

1. But with what design does this man bring it in here? (1.) Perhaps this man, observing that Christ reproved first the guests and then the master of the house, fearing he should put the company out of humour, started this, to divert the discourse to something else. Or, (2.) Admiring the good rules of humility and charity which Christ had now given, but despairing to see them lived up to in the present degenerate state of things, he longs for the kingdom of God, when these and other good laws shall prevail, and pronounces them blessed who shall have a place in that kingdom. Or, (3.) Christ having mentioned the resurrection of the just, as a recompence for acts of charity to the poor, he here confirms what he said, "Yea, Lord, they that shall be recompensed in the resurrection of the just, shall eat bread in the kingdom, and that is a greater recompence than being reinvited to the table of the greatest man on earth." Or, (4.) Observing Christ to be silent, after he had given the foregoing lessons, he was willing to draw him in again to further discourse, so wonderfully well-pleased was he with what he said; and he knew nothing more likely to engage him than to mention the kingdom of God. Note, Even those that are not of ability to carry on good discourse themselves ought to put in a word now and then, to countenance it, and help it forward.

2. Now what this man said was a plain and acknowledged truth, and it was quoted very appositely now that they were sitting at meat; for we should take occasion from common things to think and speak of those heavenly and spiritual things which in scripture are compared to them, for that is one end of borrowing similitudes from them. And it will be good for us, when we are receiving the gifts of God's providence, to pass through them to the consideration of the gifts of his grace, those better things. This thought will be very seasonable when we are partaking of bodily refreshments: Blessed are they that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God. (1.) In the kingdom of grace, in the kingdom of the Messiah, which was expected now shortly to be set up. Christ promised his disciples that they should eat and drink with him in his kingdom. They that partake of the Lord's supper eat bread in the kingdom of God. (2.) In the kingdom of glory, at the resurrection. The happiness of heaven is an everlasting feast; blessed are they that shall sit down at that table, whence they shall rise no more.

II. The parable which our Lord Jesus put forth upon this occasion, Luk 14:16, etc. Christ joins with the good man in what he said: "It is very true, Blessed are they that shall partake of the privileges of the Messiah's kingdom. But who are they that shall enjoy that privilege? You Jews, who think to have the monopoly of it, will generally reject it, and the Gentiles will be the greatest sharers in it." This he shows by a parable, for, if he had spoken it plainly, the Pharisees would not have borne it. Now in the parable we may observe,

1. The free grace and mercy of God, shining in the gospel of Christ; it appears,

(1.) In the rich provision he has made for poor souls, for their nourishment, refreshment, and entertainment (Luk 14:16): A certain man made a great supper. There is that in Christ and the grace of the gospel which will be food and a feast for the soul of man that knows its own capacities, for the soul of a sinner that knows its own necessities and miseries. It is called a supper, because in those countries supper time was the chief feasting time, when the business of the day was over. The manifestation of gospel grace to the world was the evening of the world's day; and the fruition of the fulness of that grace in heaven is reserved for the evening of our day.

(2.) In gracious invitation given us to come and partake of this provision. Here is, [1.] A general invitation given: He bade many. Christ invited the whole nation and people of the Jews to partake of the benefits of his gospel. There is provision enough for as many as come; it was prophesied of as a feast for all people, Isa 25:6. Christ in the gospel, as he keeps a good house, so he keeps an open house. [2.] A particular memorandum given, when the supper time was at hand; the servant was sent round to put them in mind of it: Come, for all things are now ready. When the Spirit was poured out, and the gospel church planted, those who before were invited were more closely pressed to come in presently: Now all things are ready, the full discovery of the gospel mystery is now made, all the ordinances of the gospel are now instituted, the society of Christians is now incorporated, and, which crowns all, the Holy Ghost is now given. This is the call now given to us: "All things are now ready, now is the accepted time; it is now, and has not been long; it is now, and will not be long; it is a season of grace that will be soon over, and therefore come now; do not delay; accept the invitation; believe yourselves welcome; eat, O friends; drink, yea drink abundantly, O beloved."

2. The cold entertainment which the grace of the gospel meets with. The invited guests declined coming. They did not say flatly and plainly that they would not come, but they all with one consent began to make excuse, Luk 14:18. One would have expected that they should all with one consent have come to a good supper, when they were so kindly invited to it: who would have refused such an invitation? Yet, on the contrary, they all found out some pretence or other to shift off their attendance. This bespeaks the general neglect of the Jewish nation to close with Christ, and accept of the offers of his grace, and the contempt they put upon the invitation. It also intimates the backwardness there is in most people to close with the gospel call. They cannot for shame avow their refusal, but they desire to be excused: they all apo mias, some supply hōras, all straightway, they could give an answer extempore, and needed not to study for it, had not to seek for an excuse. Others supply gnōmēs, they were unanimous in it; with one voice. (1.) Here were two that were purchasers, who were in such haste to go and see their purchases that they could not find time to go to this supper. One had purchased land; he had bought a piece of ground, which was represented to him to be a good bargain, and he must needs to and see whether it was so or no; and therefore I pray thee have me excused. His heart was so much upon the enlarging of his estate that he could neither be civil to his friend nor kind to himself. Note, Those that have their hearts full of the world, and fond of laying house to house and field to field, have their ears deaf to the gospel invitation. But what a frivolous excuse was this! He might have deferred going to see his piece of ground till the next day, and have found it in the same place and plight it was now in, if he had so pleased. Another had purchased stock for his land. "I have bought five yoke of oxen for the plough, and I must just now go and prove them, must go and try whether they be fit for my purpose; and therefore excuse me for this time." The former intimates that inordinate complacency in the world, this the inordinate care and concern about the world, which keep people from Christ and his grace; both intimate a preference given to the body above the soul, and to the things of time above those of eternity. Note, It is very criminal, when we are called to any duty, to make excuses for our neglect of it: it is a sign that there are convictions that it is duty, but no inclination to it. These things here, that were the matter of the excuses, were, [1.] Little things, and of small concern. It had better become them to have said, "I am invited to eat bread in the kingdom of God, and therefore must be excused from going to see the ground or the oxen." [2.] Lawful things. Note, Things lawful in themselves, when the heart is too much set upon them, prove fatal hindrances in religion - Licitus perimus omnes. It is a hard matter so to manage our worldly affairs that they may not divert us from spiritual pursuits; and this ought to be our great care. (2.) Here was one that was newly married, and could not leave his wife to go out to supper, no, not for once (Luk 14:30): I have married a wife, and therefore, in short, I cannot come. He pretends that he cannot, when the truth is he will not. Thus many pretend inability for the duties of religion when really they have an aversion to them. He has married a wife. It is true, he that married was excused by the law from going to war for the first year (Deu 24:5), but would that excuse him from going up to the feasts of the Lord, which all the males were yearly to attend? Much less will it excuse from the gospel feast, of which the other were but types. Note, Our affection to our relations often proves a hindrance to us in our duty to God. Adam's excuse was, The woman that thou gavest me persuaded me to eat; this here was, The woman persuaded me not to eat. He might have gone and taken his wife along with him; they would both have been welcome.

3. The account which was brought to the master of the feast of the affront put upon him by his friends whom he had invited, who now showed how little they valued him (Luk 14:21): That servant came, and showed his lord these things, told him with surprise that he was likely to sup alone, for the guests that were invited, though they had had timely notice a good while before, that they might order their affairs accordingly, yet were now engaged in some other business. He made the matter neither better nor worse, but related it just as it was. Note, Ministers must give account of the success of their ministry. They must do it now at the throne of grace. If they see of the travail of their soul, they must go to God with their thanks; if they labour in vain, they must go to God with their complaints. They will do it hereafter at the judgment-seat of Christ: they shall be produced as witnesses against those who persist and perish in their unbelief, to prove that they were fairly invited; and for those who accepted the call, Behold, I and the children thou hast given me. The apostle urges this as a reason why people should give ear to the word of God sent them by his ministers; for they watch for your souls, as those that must give account, Heb 13:17.

4. The master's just resentment of this affront: He was angry, Luk 14:21. Note, The ingratitude of those that slight gospel offers, and the contempt they put upon the God of heaven thereby, are a very great provocation to him, and justly so. Abused mercy turns into the greatest wrath. The doom he passed upon them was, None of the men that were bidden shall taste of my supper. This was like the doom passed upon the ungrateful Israel, when they despised the pleasant land: God swore in his wrath that they should not enter into his rest. Note, Grace despised is grace forfeited, like Esau's birthright. They that will not have Christ when they may shall not have him when they would. Even those that were bidden, if they slight the invitation, shall be forbidden; when the door is shut, the foolish virgins will be denied entrance.

5. The care that was taken to furnish the table with guests, as well as meat. "Go" (saith he to the servants), "go first into the streets and lanes of the city, and invite, not the merchants that are going from the custom-house, nor the tradesmen that are shutting up their shops; they will desire to be excused (one is going to his counting-house to cast up his books, another to the tavern to drink a bottle with his friend); but, that you may invite those that will be glad to come, bring in hither the poor and the maimed, the halt and the blind; pick up the common beggars." The servants object not that it will be a disparagement to the master and his house to have such guests at his table; for they know his mind, and they soon gather an abundance of such guests: Lord, it is done as thou hast commanded. Many of the Jews are brought in, not of the scribes and Pharisees, such as Christ was now at dinner with, who thought themselves most likely to be guests at the Messiah's table, but the publicans and sinners; these are the poor and the maimed. But yet there is room for more guests, and provision enough for them all. "Go, then, secondly, into the highways and hedges. Go out into the country, and pick up the vagrants, or those that are returning now in the evening from their work in the field, from hedging and ditching there, and compel them to come in, not by force of arms, but by force of arguments. Be earnest with them; for in this case it will be necessary to convince them that the invitation is sincere and not a banter; they will be shy and modest, and will hardly believe that they shall be welcome, and therefore be importunate with them and do not leave them till you have prevailed with them." This refers to the calling of the Gentiles, to whom the apostles were to turn when the Jews refused the offer, and with them the church was filled. Now observe here, (1.) The provision made for precious souls in the gospel of Christ shall appear not to have been made in vain; for, if some reject it, yet others will thankfully accept the offer of it. Christ comforts himself with this, that, though Israel be not gathered, yet he shall be glorious, as a light to the Gentiles, Isa 49:5, Isa 49:6. God will have a church in the world, though there are those that are unchurched; for the unbelief of man shall not make the promise of God of no effect. (2.) Those that are very poor and low in the world shall be as welcome to Christ as the rich and great; nay, and many times the gospel has greatest success among those that labour under worldly disadvantages, as the poor, and bodily infirmities, as the maimed, and the halt, and the blind. Christ here plainly refers to what he had said just before, in direction to us, to invite to our tables the poor and maimed, the lame and blind, Luk 14:13. For consideration for the countenance which Christ's gospel gives to the poor should engage us to be charitable to them. His condescensions and compassions towards them should engage ours. (3.) Many times the gospel has the greatest success among those that are least likely to have the benefit of it, and whose submission to it was least expected. The publicans and harlots went into the kingdom of God before the scribes and Pharisees; so the last shall be first, and the first last. Let us not be confident concerning those that are most forward, nor despair of those that are least promising. (4.) Christ's ministers must be both very expeditious and very importunate in inviting to the gospel feast: "Go out quickly (Luk 14:21); lose not time, because all things are now ready. Call to them to come today, while it is called today; and compel them to come in, by accosting them kindly, and drawing them with the cords of a man and the bands of love." Nothing can be more absurd than fetching an argument hence for compelling men's consciences, nay, for compelling men against their consciences, in matters of religion: "You shall receive the Lord's supper, or you shall be fined and imprisoned, and ruined in your estate." Certainly nothing like this was the compulsion here meant, but only that of reason and love; for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal. (5.) Though many have been brought in to partake of the benefits of the gospel, yet still there is room for more; for the riches of Christ are unsearchable and inexhaustible; there is in him enough for all, and enough for each; and the gospel excludes none that do not exclude themselves. (6.) Christ's house, though it be large, shall at last be filled; it will be so when the number of the elect is completed, and as many as were given him are brought to him.

Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Luk_14:15

Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God.

Unreal winds

There are a great many ways of turning a conversation when it happens to be suggestive of disagreeable truth, or to convey advice which we should prefer not to take, or to reveal to us points in our character which we should wish to keep hidden, even from ourselves. But of all the various devices resorted to for this purpose the pious ejaculation is usually the most successful, as well as by far the easiest. If it fail to change the subject, it at least causes an awkward pause, after which there is a fair prospect of an altered tone in the general talk.

I. GLANCE AT THE SCENE. The Saviour had been putting some pointed questions respecting personal religion to His host and fellow-guests. Feeling that things had gone far enough in their present direction, and yet that by no possibility could exception be taken to anything that had been said, the guest introduced to our notice in the text attempts to dismiss to heaven those heavenly things which are not easily acclimatised to earth; to project into the future those very excellent things which were felt to look best at a distance; to refer the whole subject to another world, and to change the venue, as I believe lawyers would say, by a formal remark--indisputable but unpractical--Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God.

II. Let us see HOW THIS SPEECH WAS MET. All unreal ejaculations are evasive, self-deceiving (like Balaams), or procrastinating; or all three. The ejaculation of the text was most likely all three. It was certainly evasive. And the Saviour met it by pointing out that the blessedness which the speaker, and others like him, professed to desire, was precisely that from which they were most ready to excuse themselves the moment it was offered to them; that the kingdom of God was something present, and not something merely future; that they could enjoy what they professed to regard as its blessings now; but that there were many other things which for the time being they very decidedly preferred.

III. NOW WHY DID HE WHO WOULD NOT BREAK THE BRUISED REED OR QUENCH THE SMOKING FLAX THUS DISCOURAGE THOSE WHO WERE SAYING WHAT WAS VERY GOOD? I should say, He did not discourage otherwise than by suggesting that they should weigh the import of their words and test their reality. By thy words, said our Saviour, thou shalt be justifed, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned. He did not mean, of course, that we shall be judged by these alone; but that they will be taken into account. And for a moment, drawing away our thoughts from our bad words, let us ask ourselves whether our good words may not prove, after all, the more condemning, and waft over ages and ages, as the verdict of the Most High, the echo of His words by Isaiah long ago, This people honoureth Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. (J. C.Coghlan, D. D.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Luk 14:15. When one of them that sat at meat heard these things, being touched therewith, he said, Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God — Blessed is the man who shall live in the time of the Messiah, and share the entertainments he will prepare for his people, when these virtues of humility, condescension, and charity shall flourish in all their glory. To eat bread, is a well-known Hebrew phrase for sharing in a repast, whether it be at a common meal or at a sumptuous feast. The word bread is not understood as suggesting either the scantiness or the meanness of the fare. “The kingdom of God, here, does not signify the kingdom of heaven in the highest sense, but only the kingdom of the Messiah, of which the carnal Jew here speaks, according to the received sense of his nation, as of a glorious temporal kingdom, in which the Jews should lord it over the Gentile world, enjoy their wealth and be provided with all temporal blessings and delights, in which they placed their happiness.” — Whitby. Thus also Dr. Campbell, who assigns the following reasons for understanding the expression in the same light: “1st, This way of speaking of the happiness of the Messiah’s administration suits entirely the hopes and wishes which seem to have been long entertained by the nation concerning it. 2d, The parable which, in answer to the remark, was spoken by our Lord, is on all hands understood to represent the Christian dispensation. 3d, The obvious intention of that parable is, to suggest the prejudices which, from notions of secular felicity and grandeur, the nation in general entertained on that subject; in consequence of which prejudices, what in prospect they fancied so blessed a period, would, when present, be exceedingly neglected and despised; and, in this view, nothing could be more apposite, whereas there appears no appositeness in the parable on the other interpretation;” that is, on understanding the kingdom of God, in the preceding remark, as signifying the kingdom of future glory.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

CRITICAL NOTES

Luk_14:15. Blessed is he.—The recompense at the resurrection of the just (Luk_14:14) suggested to this guest a great banquet in the kingdom of the Messiah at which the faithful Israelite would sit down in company with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob (cf. Luk_13:28). He extols the greatness of the privilege. Christ warns him and the others, in the parable that follows, that the privilege will by no means be so generally recognised or embraced by the Jewish people as was commonly thought. There seems to be nothing especially vapid or affected in the exclamation of this guest. Eat bread.—See on Luk_14:1.

Luk_14:16. A certain man.—The giver of the feast represents God. A great supper.—“The kingdom of God, the feast of fat things in Isa_25:6; completed in the marriage supper of the Lamb, but fully prepared when the glad tidings of the gospel were proclaimed” (Alford). Bade many.—I.e., the Jewish nation, especially the religiously-minded among them—rulers, Pharisees, and doctors of the law—those enjoying highest religious privileges. The invitation was given through Moses and the prophets.

Luk_14:17. Sent his servant.—As was usual in the East (cf. Mat_22:3-4). If the servant is to be identified with any one historical person, it can only be with Christ Himself; but John the Baptist, the Apostles, and others after them, delivered a message like this. All things.—“All” is not in the original, but may fairly be inserted, as it is implied in the sense of the passage.

Luk_14:18. And they all.—The underlying idea is that but few of the Pharisaic class responded to Christ’s invitation. One consent.—“Consent” is also inserted by the translators; it might have been equally well rendered, “with one voice.” All are worldly-minded, though each has his different preoccupation, and expresses himself differently in asking to be excused. All, by alleging excuses, admit that they feel they are under a kind of obligation which they choose to set aside. Go and see it.—Rather, “go out [into the country] and see it” (R.V.). I must needs go.—The reply is still a courteous one, the excuse being pressure of business.

Luk_14:19. I go to prove them.—No necessity alleged, but simply the fact that he is going; he has made plans which he will not alter. Still, he feels that some excuse is needed for his conduct.

Luk_14:20. I cannot come.—Abrupt refusal, without any attempt at excuse. His “I cannot” is equivalent to “I do not want.” According to the Mosaic law (Deu_24:5) a newly married man was free for a year from military service; but exemption from the hardships of war is a very different thing from slighting the claims of friendship. “Commentators usually dwell upon the weakness of the excuses offered. So far from that the first two reasons are very plausible, and the last very strong. And why? They seem to have been purposely made as strong as such reasons ordinarily are, in order to show that no reasons of any kind will be admitted as valid by the heavenly Inviter, who enjoins us first (i.e., above all) to seek His kingdom and righteousness, and allows of no plea for neglecting that duty” (Bloomfield).

Luk_14:21. Go out quickly.—No time is lost, either in the parable or in fact, in finding fresh guests. Streets and lanes of the city.—The city still, among the Jews. The poor, etc.—Publicans, sinners, and harlots; lost sheep of the house of Israel. The guests at the banquet correspond to those described in Luk_14:13.

Luk_14:22. Yet there is room.—“Both nature and grace abhor a vacuum” (Bengel).

Luk_14:23. Highways and hedges.—Outside the city; this refers to the calling of the Gentiles. Compel them.—By moral suasion: had physical force been permitted, why should those who had first refused have been left to themselves? The word “compel” no doubt refers, in the first instance, to the circumstances of the parable: the time was short, the banquet could not be deferred, and the master was anxious for every seat to be occupied. Of course it has its spiritual counterpart in the earnestness with which zealous servants of Christ will press the claims of the kingdom of God (cf. 2Ti_4:2).

Luk_14:24. For I say unto you.—Here Christ speaks in His own person, half continuing the parable and half expounding it. For “you” is in the plural, while in the parable the master has been giving commands and directions to one of his servants.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Luk_14:15-24

The Feast Refused.—Pious sentiment is cheap, and many a man who has little other religion has his mouth full of beautiful speeches about the desireableness of heaven. Jesus seems to have detected the false ring in this seemingly devout aspiration, and therefore to have met it with this story of the refused feast, which warns the speaker and others to be sure that they are not excusing themselves from a banquet for which they profess to long.

I. The preparation of, and invitations to, the feast.—The use of this emblem to denote spiritual blessings is rooted in Old-Testament prophecy (Isa_25:6; Isa_55:1-3). It is a “great” feast, both in regard of the rich and satisfying food and of the ample room. It provides “enough for each, enough for all, enough for evermore”; it meets all the hunger and need of the soul. The preparation of the feast, and the invitations, cover a long time—the whole past ages of Israel’s history, during which law, and sacrifice, and prophecy, had been aiming to make men ready for receiving the kingdom, and had been summoning them to partake of its blessings. A second invitation was given in the preaching of John the Baptist, of our Lord Himself, and of the apostles during His life. The fact of a more pressing summons being sent at the moment of readiness marks the solemn significance of the hour at which He was speaking. His coming makes “all things ready,” and is the critical moment to which all the ages have been tending. Present decision was called for, and not pious platitudes. We, too, have to learn the awful importance of the present moment, and to beware of losing the awakening consciousness of that in smooth generalities about any future. How we behave to God’s invitation, that peals in our ears to-day, settles how we shall fare in the future.

II. The astonishing unanimity of refusal.—In ordinary life people would scramble for invitations to such a grand feast, especially if a great man gave it. But the improbability of the incident is the very point of it. “They all with one consent.” This is the miserable strangeness of the fate of God’s invitations to the highest good. No others are treated so. Mark the increasing rudeness of the speakers. The first pleads a “must needs”; the second merely states his intention—“I go”; the third bluntly says, “I cannot,” and omits the courtesy of asking to be excused. The true lesson from all three is, that innocent and right things keep men away from the gospel feast, and that, however different the objects which are preferred to it, the spirit which prefers them is the same. These excuses do not cover all the reasons—which are excuses only, and not reasons—for refusing the feast. But they suggest that by far the most common is some form or other of preferring the poor delights of time and sense, and they prepare the way for the stringent requirements, in Luk_14:26, of giving up all to be a disciple. There was no real incompatibility between the true enjoyment of farm, merchandise, or wife, and accepting the invitation; nor is there any between discipleship and the fullest use and truest enjoyment of earthly good; but the incompatibility is made by our false estimate of these. Because we put them first, therefore they shut us out from the feast. Put it first, and it does not shut us out from them.

III. The needy who do not refuse.—Note—

1. The action of the giver of the feast. His settled purpose that some shall partake of it is not to be foiled. God’s provision shall not be wasted, and if it be refused by some foolish souls who prefer husks to bread, and leeks and garlic to manna, the tables shall not stand without guests. The Divine mercy is not to be thwarted, but, with persistent variation of direction, works on to its end undiscouraged. True, the structure of the parable required the second invitation to appear as an afterthought; but that does not detract from the wonderful representation it gives of the inexhaustible patience and unwearied, continuous invitation of the master of the feast.

2. The success of the second invitation. The recipients are still in the “city.” They are the same classes as Jesus had just bid His hearers ask to their feasts (Luk_14:13). They have no farm or oxen to see after. In the historical application they represent the “publicans and harlots,” the outcast classes who hung on to the theocracy, but, though Jews by descent, were scouted by the class to whom Jesus was speaking. In the wider reference they are the people who know their own needs, and have found themselves to be hungry and poor, having infinite need of salvation, and nothing of their own to win it with. “Yet there is room.” How that hints of the boundless spaces in the festal halls, of the ample provision for all!

IV. The invitation extended and made more urgent.—The vagrants who house in the fields and under the hedges are further down in misery than the poor in the city. Historically they represent the Gentiles outside the polity of Israel, and it is in accordance with the spirit of St. Luke’s gospel that this transference of the offer of salvation to them should have been recorded by him. But the representation embodies the great truth of which that transference was but an exemplification; namely, the destination of the gospel for all, and its special mission to the lowest. The increase in urgency corresponds to the distance from the banquet and the degradation of the invited. First the message was a simple “Come”; then it was to be a “Bring” them in; and now it is, “Constrain them.” The pleading earnestness increases with the need and the sense of unfitness for so great an honour. Complacent indifference, which made sure of a right to eat bread in the kingdom, and would give up nothing for it, was left alone; but poor wretches, who could scarcely believe that the feast was meant for them, were prayed with much entreaty to receive the gift. How grand and wonderful a view of the Divine longing to bestow blessings lies in that word, given as the motive of the host’s command, “that my house may be filled!” God cannot be satisfied with empty spaces at His table. He does not rest till all the ample spaces are crowded with “the great multitude, which no man can number,” so all-embracing is His love, so strong His desire to impart the bread, enough and to spare, which He has prepared for all the hungry. Historically, the closing threat foretells the exclusion of the Israel of that day as a whole from the feast, but it does not necessarily imply that individuals who separated themselves from the mass, and changed refusal into acceptance, should be debarred access to it. No threatenings are unconditional, and no refusal need be final. Acceptance is always possible, and no refusal need be final.—Maclaren.

SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON Luk_14:15-24

Luk_14:15. “Blessed is he that shall eat bread.”—This guest seems to have formed an erroneous idea of the nature of the kingdom of God:

1. He evidently regarded it as affording privilege, rather than as imposing obligations.

2. He thought that, as a Pharisee and an Israelite, he was sure of entrance into it.

3. He thought of that kingdom as belonging to the future, and as having little bearing upon present conduct. The sentimental guest flattered himself that he appreciated the good things of the kingdom; and Christ, knowing how apt men are to deceive themselves in such matters, went on to show him how little reliance is to be placed on the interest in things Divine which he and others took credit for.—Bruce.

An Unexceptionable Remark.—As a saying, the guest’s remark was unexceptionable. But as he uttered it, it was only a mere pious remark. He was not a true disciple of Jesus, and had probably no intention of becoming one, so he was one who would never eat bread in the kingdom of God, since he was determined not to accept the invitation to the marriage-supper of the Lamb.—Hastings.

“Blessed is he.”—The words sound like those of Balaam, “Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his”. (Num_23:10), a wish only to be safe and happy at last, while rejecting all present invitation to turn to God and live.

Feeble Excuses.—

I. The spiritual provision.—It is abundant, gracious, glorious.

II. The wide invitation.—There is room for many. Many must come.

III. The feeble excuses.—

1. Worldliness of spirit.

2. Absorption in commercial pursuits.

3. Relative obligations.

IV. The angry host.—Displeased because His generosity is not appreciated. Because He has given the strongest proof of His goodness. His displeasure is irreconcileable.—Stevenson.

Excuses.—They are typical excuses.—

1. Cares of wealth.

2. Pursuit of wealth.

3. Attractions of earthly ties.

II. None of them is a good reason for refusal.

III. In each case what caused refusal was nothing wrong in itself.

The Invitation Refused.—The power of mental pre-occupation in producing indifference or aversion to the doctrine of the kingdom Jesus illustrates in a popular manner in the parable of the Great Supper. The forms of preoccupation therein mentioned are such as are most suited to parabolic narration—such, namely, as arise from the business and pleasures of ordinary life. They are not the only forms, or even the most important, or such as beset the class of men represented at the dinner-table when the parable was spoken. The pre-occupations of the wise and learned were of a more dignified and respectable character.—Bruce.

Near the Kingdom, but Not In It.—Christ spoke the parable to point out the difference between being invited to enter the kingdom and being in it, and to show that the invitation will only aggravate the doom of those who refuse to comply with it. He intends to teach the Jews, and through them to teach us, that those who are near the kingdom may in the end come short of it—that those who stand high in spiritual privileges may be excluded—may exclude themselves—from the kingdom of God.—Arnot.

The Gracious Character of the Kingdom.—The parable teaches that the kingdom of heaven is not for the full, but for the hungry. Everything in it is significant of grace:

1. The selection of a feast as an emblem of the blessings promised implies that they are a free gift from God.

2. The behaviour of those invited first—being full, they despise the Divine gift.

3. Those who are empty and destitute value it.

4. The avowed motive of the repeated invitations—that the house may be filled.—Bruce.

Luk_14:16. “A great supper.”—The kingdom of heaven

(1) Satisfies those who hunger and thirst after righteousness.

2. It brings joys beyond compare.

3. It brings all who believe into holy fellowship with each other.

A Fit Emblem.—The blessings of salvation are in Scripture fitly compared to a feast—

I. Because of their rich variety and abundance.

II. Their suitableness to our spiritual wants.

III. The high satisfaction and enjoyment which they yield.

“Many.”—I.e., the whole Jewish people—by the Baptist, by His apostles, by His disciples, and by Himself.

Luk_14:17. “His servant.”—The office of summoning the world to enter the kingdom of God is one, and the commission to all those who hold it is the same; hence, but one servant is spoken of. This unity of teaching and preaching is the holy inheritance of the Church from her one Lord.

“For all things are now ready.”—A suggestion of the splendid abundance of the feast prepared.

The Nominally Religious.—It is implied that these men had tacitly, or in some other well-understood way, accepted the first invitation. They gave no intimation that they intended to decline—they gave the provider of the feast reason to expect their presence. They were, therefore, representatives of those who were nominally, but not really, the people of God. They were within the reach of privileges which they did not value, and were understood to be well-disposed towards God, until their true character was revealed by their being asked to make a decisive choice between God and the world.

Luk_14:18-20. Worldliness of Spirit.—The temper of these self-excusers is threefold; the excuses themselves are threefold; their spirit is one. The first alleges a necessity—he must go and see his land; the second not so much as this, only his own plan and purpose; the third not so much as either of these, but rudely asserts, I cannot (i.e., I will not) come. All are detained by worldliness, in however varied forms.—Alford.

Innocent, but Fatal.—Land—oxen—a wife;—all innocent; perhaps all needful; all certainly fatal. They loved them too much, or the gospel too little. Their love for them was perhaps not excessive; it might have been but little; but, at all events, their love for the gospel was less. Or their love for the gospel might have been great, very great; but their love of the world was greater. Still, it all came to one and the same end for God will not have a divided heart. It is the choice of the two which is presented at all times. To have married a wife was provided for in the law as a sufficient plea not to go forth to war; but the gospel is higher in its requirements. “He that loveth wife or children more than Me, is not worthy of Me.”—Williams.

Ever-Recurring Forms of Danger.—It may be observed that in describing the reception which the gospel would meet with, our Lord mentions the very things which He notices in speaking of the old world and of Sodom. He omits all mentions of their great crimes, but chooses out, for their resemblance to the last day, points innocent in themselves, but of an absorbing worldly nature. In the days of Lot, which are likened to the end of the world, “they bought and sold” (chap. Luk_17:28)—as here the excuse is, “I have bought oxen, and I go to prove them.” In the former, “they planted, they builded”—as here the plea is, “I have bought a field; I must needs go to see it.” Again, in the days of Noah and of Lot “they married and gave in marriage”—and the gospel in the parable is rejected, because “I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.” The same things, therefore, are true of the days of the Son of Man, as appears from Scripture; whether we speak of Christ’s final coming, or of the Christian dispensation generally.—Burgon.

The Thorns which choke the Word.—The three excuses answer to the three things which are said to “choke the Word” in the parable of the Sower (Luk_8:14)—“the care of this world,” “the deceitfulness of riches,” and “the pleasures of this life.”

Different Degrees of Contumacy.—One may trace here a rising scale of contumacy:

1. The first of these guests would be very glad to come, if only it were possible, if there was not a constraining necessity keeping him away.

2. The second alleges no such constraining necessity, but is simply going upon sufficient reason on another errand.

3. The third has engagements of his own, and declares outright, “I cannot come.”—Trench.

Hindrances to Faith and Obedience.

I. “The lust of the eye and the pride of life” too often detain men from Christ.

II. In some cases the business and cares of life have the same effect.

III. In other cases it is the pleasure of the world that is a hindrance.

The Excuses Frivolous.—These various excuses are all frivolous; they simply veil a disinclination to come to the feast. For all these persons had been informed of the coming feast, and could have chosen another day for attending to the various concerns which they now plead as excuses.

Luk_14:18. Spiritual Possessions, Occupations, and Joys.—All these excuses had been anticipated and refuted by our Lord’s teaching that there is another field for which we ought to sell all and buy it (Mat_13:44)—another plough to be followed (Luk_9:62); and now He teaches that there is another marriage-feast to be preferred before all earthly nuptials—a marriage-feast in which the soul is not only a guest, but is espoused as a bride to Christ (2Co_11:2).—Wordsworth.

“With one consent.”—One motive inspired them all: indifference towards, or dislike of, him who had invited them.

“To make excuse.”—By so doing they acknowledge their obligation to appear at the feast. In like manner comparatively few of those who lead irreligious lives repudiate religious obligations, however poor the excuses may be which they bring forward to excuse their neglect of them.

“Have me excused.”—“Me.” Whatever may be the case with others, who can and ought to come, I am obliged to ask thee to excuse me.

Luk_14:20. “A wife.”—Marriage—the closest and most sacred of all ties—here stands for all earthly ties; just as oxen and land stand for all worldly goods and possessions whatsoever. “Surely he takes the text in too large a sense, that, because it says ‘a man shall leave all and cleave to his wife,’ therefore he shall leave God. It is but the father and mother on earth, and not the Father of heaven, that for her we may forsake” (Feltham).

“I cannot come.”—“The persons mentioned before excused themselves civilly. This man bluntly declares ‘he cannot come.’ Some damn themselves in a rude and brutal, others in a civil, well-bred manner” (Quesnel).

His language is all the more brusque because he is assured that he has a more plausible and adequate reason for refusing the invitation than others.

Luk_14:21. Angry.—The dislike or hatred which lay beneath the excuses calls forth anger on the part of the master. Cf. 2Sa_22:27 : “With the froward Thou wilt show Thyself unsavoury.”

“Streets and lanes.”—Still within the city, so that by the class here summoned we are to understand the outcast classes among the Jews, as distinguished from the Pharisees and scribes to whom the invitation was naturally first addressed, and who had as a class rejected it.

“The maimed, the halt, and the blind.”—“The maimed,” whom no woman would marry (Luk_14:20); “the halt,” who could not follow the plough (Luk_14:19); “the blind,” who could not see fields or anything else (Luk_14:18).—Bengel.

Luk_14:22. “Yet there is room.”—

1. A word of encouragement to those who desire, but have not ventured to come in.

2. A summons to fresh zeal on the part of those charged with the duty of bringing in guests.

Luk_14:23-24. Unlikely Guests.

I. The guests, brought in from the highways, and hedges, and lanes, may in the first intention, represent the spiritually-neglected Jewish populace, as opposed to the self-satisfied scribes and Pharisees.

II. The principle involved is; the kingdom and its blessings are for the hungry anywhere and everywhere; there is plenty of room, and I will have my house full.

III. The probable application is: privileged Israel self-excluded by her indifference; unprivileged heathendom rendered eligible by destitution.—Bruce.

Luk_14:23. “Highways and hedges.”—Those in the heathen world needing, and many of them longing for, salvation.

As Luk_14:21 is the subject of the first part of the Acts of the Apostles (chaps. 1–12, the conversion of the Jews), so Luk_14:22-23 contain that of the second part (chap. 13 to the end, the conversion of the heathen).—Godet.

The Need for Haste.—The time was short, and the master of the house could not wait; therefore he bade his servant urge these new guests to fill the house without delay.

“Compel.”—Use so much zeal and importunity that they may feel constrained to come in (2Ti_4:2).

Force and Persuasion.—The two kinds of compulsion are illustrated in the history of St. Paul. Saul as a persecutor compelled men and women to return to or to remain in the Jewish fold; as a servant of Christ he strove to urge and persuade his hearers to enter the Christian fold.

Timidity Overcome.—The poor out casts would doubtless naturally be timid about entering the rich man’s house; they would scarcely dare to accept the invitation. A friendly compulsion is necessary in their case. Those really unwilling to come—the guests first invited—are not compelled to attend the feast.

Inducements to Accept the Invitation.—Inducements to persuade acceptance of the gospel invitation:

1. Your naturally miserable and perishing condition.

2. The consideration that “all things are now ready.”

3. That many guests have entered.

4. That “yet there is room.”

5. That rejection of the invitation now means exclusion from the feast of heavenly glory hereafter.

“Filled.”—The great love of God desires a multitude of guests; not a seat that is prepared is to be allowed to remain vacant. The number of the elect is proportioned beforehand to the riches of the Divine glory, and this can only find complete reflection in a certain number of human beings. The invitation will therefore last, and consequently the history of our race will be prolonged, until that number is reached. Thus it is that the Divine decree is reconciled with human liberty. The number of those saved is, comparatively to the number of those called, small, no doubt; nevertheless, in itself, the number of the saved is great.—Godet.

“That my house may be filled.”—He has so made provision that He must have people that eat, drink, and are merry, though He should make them out of stones.—Luther.

Spiritual Wretchedness not a Ground of Safety.—However, let it be well observed that to be in a spiritually wretched state does not confer a favour, or imply safety. These men were saved, not because they were spiritually very low, but although they were spiritually very low; they were saved, although the chief of sinners, because Christ invited them and they came at His call. The more moral, and more privileged, who were first invited, would have been as welcome and as safe if they had come.—Arnot.

Luk_14:24. “For I say unto you.”—In matter of form these words belong to the parable, but no doubt the look and manner of Jesus, as He put this threat in the mouth of the host whose invitation had been so indifferently treated by the guests first summoned, made those present feel that He and they were the type of persons really meant.

“My supper.”—Our Lord half passes from the parable and speaks words which seem to express His own decision rather than that of the giver of the feast. By so doing He warns His hearers of the risk they were running in rejecting Him—they were acting like those who had excluded themselves from the feast. “My supper, to which I not only invite you, but which I, as the Son, with the Father, have Myself prepared for you!”

The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.

2. The Parable of the Great Supper (Luk_14:15-24)

(Luk_14:16-24, Gospel for the 2d Sunday after Trinity)

15And when one of them that sat [reclined] at meat [at table] with him heard these things, he said unto him, Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God.16Then said he unto him, A certain man made a great supper, and bade [invited] many:17And sent his servant at supper time to say to them that were bidden [invited], Come;for all things are now ready. 18And they all with one consent began to make excuse. The first said unto him, I have bought a piece of ground, and I must needs go and seeit: I pray thee have me excused. 19And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen,and I go to prove them: I pray thee have me excused. 20And another said, I havemarried a wife, and therefore I cannot come. 21So that servant came, and shewed his lord these things. Then the master of the house being angry said to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor, and themaimed, and the halt, and the blind. 22And the servant said, Lord [or, Sir], it is doneas thou hast commanded, and yet there is room. 23And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house maybe filled. 24For I say unto you, That none of those men which were bidden [invited] shall taste of my supper.

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

Luk_14:15. One of them that reclined at table with Him.—Since, besides Jesus and His apostles, no poor had been invited, this was without doubt one of the rich friends of the Pharisaic host, whose remark gave the Saviour occasion for delivering the Parable of the Great Supper. “The peculiar exclamation, and the exact connection of the following Parable with it, and with all that precedes, speak for the originality of the whole representation in the most decided manner.” (Olshausen.) That the form of the exclamation in and of itself “does not allow an inference of Pharisaical and carnal confidence in reference to future participation in the kingdom of God” (Lange), must unquestionably be conceded. The exclamation is intelligible enough. Ἀρτον φάγ. is, 2Sa_9:7-10, used of entertaining at a royal table. The various reading ἄριστον for ἄρτον is certainly spurious, see De Wette, ad loc., and φάγεται is to be taken as Future. But the question is still difficult respecting the disposition in which, and the purpose for which, this remark was uttered on this occasion. If we had met this man in another circle, and if the Saviour had answered him in another way, we could then suppose that here the holy temper of Jesus had communicated itself to this guest, and, with Bengel, explain, “Audiens eoque tactus.” But in the way in which the remark appears in this connection, the exclamation seems to sound more pious than it really was, and not even to have an equal value with the enthusiasm of the Macarizing woman, Luk_11:27. We find therein a somewhat unlucky attempt, by an edifying turn, to make an end to a discourse which contained nothing flattering for the host, and might perhaps soon pass over to yet sharper rebuke of the guests. With worldly courteousness he seeks, therefore, to go to the help of the Pharisee who had invited him, and to draw off the threatening storm. The parable, however, shows that the Saviour did not by any means let Himself be brought off His course by an interjectional utterance; since He, in other words, answers him to this effect: “What advantage can it be that thou, with all thy seeming enthusiasm, praisest the happiness of them that sit at table in the kingdom of God, if thou, and those like thee, although you are invited, yet actually refuse to come!”

Luk_14:16. A certain man.—Upon the distinction in connection of this parable with that of the Royal Wedding, see Lange on Mat_22:2-14. On the comparison it appears that the latter, which is portrayed in much stronger colors, belongs to a later period of the public life of the Saviour, when the opposition between Him and His enemies had declared itself yet much more strongly.

A great supper.—The occasion for the representation of the kingdom of Heaven under this image, was given the Saviour spontaneously by the remark of His fellow-guest, and by the feast of the Pharisee. In other places also, e. g., Mat_8:11-12, He makes use of the same imagery. Great this δεῖπνον may be named, as well on account of the abundance of the refreshing viands, as on account of its being intended to be celebrated by many. The first invitation here designated was that through the prophets of the Old Testament generally; while by the πολλοί we can understand no others than the Jewish nation in general. Although the Saviour does not expressly add this, yet it results from the nature of the case that we have to understand this first preliminary invitation as unconditionally accepted by those invited.

Luk_14:17. And sent his servant.—Δοῦλος stands here by no means collectively for all the servants (Heubner), but has reference very definitely to one servant, the vocator (Grotius), who, according to Oriental usage, repeats the invitation so soon as the feast is prepared, not in order to inquire again whether the guests will come, but in order to make known to them when they should appear. The here-indicated time coincides with the fulness of time, Gal_4:4, while the servant can be no other than the Messiah, the עָבֶד יְהוָֹה of Isaiah. He makes known to Israel that the blessings of the kingdom of Heaven, from this instant on, are attainable for them, and that in such wise, that they have nothing else to do than to come, to take, and to eat.

Luk_14:18. Ἀπὸ μιᾶς, some supply γνώμης, others, ὥρας, φωνῆς, ψυχῆς, αἰτίας. The first, doubtless, deserves the preference, although in any case what is meant is self-evident. The motives which they adduce are indeed different; but in this they all agree, that they take back again the word that they have given.—Make excuse.—Beg off, deprecari. Those invited acknowledge themselves the necessity of an excuse in some manner plausible, and thereby indirectly establish the fact that they were under obligation to appear.

Bought a piece of ground.—Whoever finds it unreasonable that the yet unviewed field was already bought, need not hesitate to conceive the matter thus: that the purchase was not yet unconditionally concluded, and that at this very moment it depended on the viewing whether he should become definitive possessor of it.—Must needs.—In courteous-wise the invited guest will give the servant to understand that to his great sorrow it is entirely impossible for him to do otherwise. He begs that he may be held excused, that is, “That he may stand to him in the relation of a person released from his promise.”

Luk_14:19. Five yoke of oxen.—To this invited guest, as to the first, earthly possession stands in the way of becoming a participant of the saving benefits of the kingdom of Heaven. We regard it as somewhat forced to view in this invited guest the love of dominion as intimated, typified in the swinging of the whip over his team of oxen. No, the first and second are so far in line with one another as this, that with both, earthly possession, as with the third sensual pleasure, becomes the stone of stumbling. But if there yet exists a distinction between the first and second, it is probably this, that the man with the field is yet seeking to acquire the earthly good, while the man with the oxen is thinking of still increasing that which is already gained. The first is the man of business,5 whose only concern is to bring what he has just bought into good order; the other is the independent man, who will see himself hindered by nobody; who says to one, “Go, and he goeth,” and to the other, “Come, and he cometh,” into whom something of the refractory nature of his oxen has passed over, and who has no mind to be incommoded by anybody. His tone is less urbane than that of the first; he does not beg permission to go, is not merely minded to do this, but is already at that moment actually going. ΙΙορεύομαι—“I am going even now.” So says he, already on the point to start, and has only just time to add: “I beg thee,” while he already desires to be with his oxen.

Luk_14:20. I have married a wife.—The third excuse appears to be the most legitimate, on which account, therefore, it is delivered in the tone of self-confidence which does not even account an excuse as necessary. According to the Mosaic Law, Deu_24:5, the newly-married man was free for a year from military service, and it therefore appeared that it could not be demanded from this man that he should leave his young wife. If, however, one would believe on this ground that his excuse was valid, then holds good the cutting remark, than which nothing can be better: “Very often do exegetical pedants weary themselves to make reasonable that which in the Gospels is designated as foolish.” (Lange.) At all events the invitation to the feast had been already accepted before the celebration of the marriage, and so the marriage set him free, it is true, from the burden of military service, but not from the enjoyment of social intercourse. In case of need he might have brought his young wife also with him; and if she did not wish this, then here, also, the saying, Mat_10:37, held good. Very rightly says Stier: “Of hindering by the state of marriage generally (I have married!) there is no mention, but of the first heated wedding delight, as the type of all carnal pleasure.” No wonder that the vocator accuses to his Lord this self-excuser no less than the two others.

Luk_14:21. Into the streets and lanes.—The second class of the invited must still be sought out within the city. From this appears, that we have here to understand Jews, not proselytes from among the heathen (Lisco). The Saviour has the publicans and sinners in His mind, comp. Luk_7:29; Mat_21:32, the poorest part of the nation, the same whom the Pharisee, Luk_14:12-14, should have invited to his festal board. From this it becomes at the same time evident that by the first invited, Luk_14:17, who begin to excuse themselves ἀπὸ μιᾶς, not the people of Israel, but the representatives of the Theocracy, the Pharisees and scribes, the Ἰουδαῖοι of John were spoken of, to whom, by Divine order, and of right, the invitation had been officially given, and who for their very office’ sake were under obligation to take due notice thereof. From these who were now invited in their place, no excuses, as from the first, were to be feared; the blind had no field to view, the lame could not go along behind his oxen, the maimed had no wife who would have hindered him from coming; only the feeling of poverty could have held them back; but this feeling also vanishes, since they must be in a friendly way led in by the servant.

Luk_14:22. Sir, it is done.—We must agree with Meyer when he draws attention to the fact that the servant had by no means, according to the ordinary explanations, again gone subsequently to the second command, and now had again returned. “No, the servant, rejected by the former invited guests, has, of himself, done what the lord here bids him, so that he can at once reply to this command: ‘It is done,’ &c. Strikingly does this also apply to Jesus, who, before His return to the Father, has already fulfilled this counsel of God known to Him.” According to this explanation the parable is then also the faithful reflection of the reality, and says in other words the same which Luk_7:29-30 expresses. Very delicate is the trait that not the lord the servant, but on the other hand the servant brings the lord to take note of the room yet remaining. So great was the feast that, although many had excused themselves, and not a few had been brought in, there was still abundant room for others. Even so in striking manner a strong impulse of delivering love for the salvation of publicans and sinners is brought to manifestation in the “Go out quickly,” which ταχέως is omitted with the following command, Luk_14:23, because the labor of grace among the χωλοί, &c., of Israel was limited to a very brief time; while on the other hand the vocation of the Gentiles was to extend itself over many centuries.

Luk_14:23. Into the highways and hedges.—Here indeed the longers for salvation and the wretched among the heathen, are indicated; Mat_22:9; Eph_2:12. “Sœpes mendicorum parietes.” Bengel.

Compel them to come in.—The use is well known which has been made of this expression, to justify the compulsion of heretics. There is scarcely however any need of remark that none other than the moral compulsion of love is justified. So did Jesus also compel His disciples to go into the ship, Mat_14:22; Mar_6:45, certainly not with physical force; Peter also compelled the Gentiles, Gal_2:14, to ἰουδαί̈ζειν, exclusively by the power of his example. Not the way and method in which Saul was zealous for Judaism, but that in which Paul was zealous for Christianity, must be the type for the servant of God who will accomplish the “compelle intrare” in His spirit. The house must be filled, with such as are not dragged or carried in, but such as are by the power of love moved voluntarily to enter in.

Luk_14:24. For I say unto you.—It is a question whether we have hereto understand the words of the lord of the servant (Bengel, Grotius, Olshausen, De Wette, Meyer), or whether we have before us the words of the Lord Jesus Himself (Kuinoel, Paulus, Stier, &c). For the first view this speaks, that Jesus in the parable is not represented as Lord, but as servant, Luk_14:17, and that the δεῖπνόν μου in His mouth sounds somewhat hard; but in favor of the other there are, the solemn tone of the assurance and the ὑμῖν, since in the parable itself there is not found the slightest intimation of the presence of several servants, to whom this word could be addressed. We, for our part, choose the latter; and, far from regarding the form of the parable as having in the slightest degree lost anything by this transition from the image to that which it denotes, since the parable undoubtedly can without difficulty be regarded as concluded in Luk_14:23, this change of the speaker is to us a beauty the more. Suddenly, we might almost say involuntarily, the Saviour betrays His design, and expresses without concealment His self-consciousness, as it lay at the bottom of the parable. In view of the calling of the Gentiles, there opens before His spirit the noblest prospect; so much the more painfully, on the other hand, does Israel’s reprobacy touch Him, so that He suddenly lets fall the veil which hitherto concealed the truth in the words of the parable. “Unfaithful ones,” will He say, “My supper it is whereto ye are invited; I, who invited you, was at the same time He in honor of whom it has been given; but ye will through your own folly receive no place thereat!” It is as though the truth had become to the Saviour too mighty for Him to conceal it longer in figurative speech. Thus at the same time is the whole discourse at the table concluded in worthy-wise, with a self-testimony of Jesus; and in view of the slight echo which this must have found in a circle like this, it may not surprise us if we meet Him immediately after again on His journey.

DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL

1. The comparison of the Kingdom of God with a δεῖπνον is very especially fitted to set forth the peculiar nature of this kingdom, on its most attractive side. It is a kingdom of the most perfect satisfaction, of the most blessed joy, of the most noble society. So much more unpardonable and senseless, therefore, the behavior of the first invited.

2. In a striking way there is depicted to us, in the image of the householder, the reciprocal relation which exists between the Divine wrath and the Divine love. The freer, more unrestricted and more urgent the invitation was, to so much the more vehement anger is the love from which it sprung moved; but this anger leads again to new and yet more intensified revelation of love, which at any price will see its glorious goal attained. “He has therefore so made provision that He must have people that eat, drink, and are merry, though He should make them out of stones.” Luther.

3. The representation of the Saviour as a servant who invites to the feast of the kingdom of Heaven, is at the same time, considered in the light of the Old Testament, one of the most beautiful testimonies of Jesus to Himself, comp. Pro_9:1-5; Isa_55:1-2.

4. The vocation to the Kingdom of God appears here as one meant in earnest; the anger of the householder would otherwise be incomprehensible: as an urgent one; no means must be left untried that the house may be filled: but for that reason, at the same time, as one, the inexcusable rejection of which prepares for the stubborn refusers unutterable misery. It remains a decretum irrevocabile, that such shall not taste of the Supper.

5. This parable contains an important instruction for all messengers of the Gospel. They have, with all the urgency of love, to invite, without excluding a single one who does not exclude himself. They have to prepare themselves for manifold opposition; but also in all to direct themselves after the commandment of their Lord. If they are repelled, they can with confidence complain of it to Him, and never are they to give themselves over to the thought that there is for any one no more room; and if they are only conscious that in the urgency of their love they avail themselves of no impure means, they have little occasion to fear going too far in this, comp. Luk_24:29; Act_16:5; 2Ti_4:2.

HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL

To declare blessed and to be blessed are two very different things.—One can scarcely utter a great truth, without himself being of the truth.—Happy is he that eats bread in the Kingdom of God; he finds, 1. Full satisfaction; 2. joy; 3. society.—The great feast in the kingdom of Heaven: 1. Hospitably prepared; 2. urgently offered; 3. unthankfully rejected; 4. now as ever standing open.—Many are called but few are chosen.—The course of the history of the Kingdom of God, 1. Before; 2. during; 3. after, the appearance of Jesus.—Many that are first shall be last, and many that are last shall be first.—The vocation to the Kingdom of Heaven: 1. A comprehensive; 2. an actual; 3. an urgent; 4. a strongly-binding, vocation.—The sweet message of the New Covenant: 1. Already all things are prepared; 2. already all things are prepared; 3. all things are now prepared; 4. already all things are prepared for him that will only come.—The art of excusing one’s self: 1. An old art, Gen_3:7-13; Genesis 2. a universal art; 3. a good-for-nothing art.—The excuses: 1. Their outward differences; 2. their inward agreement.—The excuses: 1. Abundant in number; 2. nothing in value; 3. pernicious in results.—The more or less courteous form, in which we withdraw ourselves from the fulfilment of our vocation, changes nothing whatever in the essence of the matter.—“I cannot,” an euphemism for, “To tell the truth, I will not.”—The anger of love, love in anger, comp. Rev_6:16.—Yet there is room! This saying: 1. A judgment upon those who should have come but would not come; 2. an attractive voice for those who indeed long, but do not venture, to come; 3. a rousing voice for the servants never to give up their invitation, but rather to extend it as widely as possible.—Yet there is room: 1. In the visible church; 2. in the invisible fellowship of the saints in the many mansions of the Father, Joh_14:2.—The prerogative of the servant who can ever say: “Lord, it is done as Thou hast commanded.”—The vengeance of the householder who sees his first invitation rejected: 1. The guests whom he calls; 2. the entertainment which he offers; 3. the number which he will see brought together.—The mournful consequences of not accepting the joyful message: 1. One robs himself of the most glorious privilege; 2. draws on himself the anger of the Lord; 3. sees others go in his place.—The command of the householder, the ground of all domestic and foreign missions.—Whoever has once stubbornly shut himself out, remains shut out.—Compelle intrare; use and abuse of this word, degree and limit of the constraint of love.

Starke:—Hedinger:—Wishing and commanding accomplish nothing in religion; doing and fulfilling is the will of God, Mat_7:21.—Canstein:—The vocation of God is so general, that as well the reprobate as the elect are included therein.—God’s Supper has its fixed hour; at that hour must those invited come.—Quesnel:—Too much leisure and too much business are both dangerous to the attainment of salvation.—The holy bond of marriage, which should be a help to salvation, is often a hindrance to the same.—Servants of God and Jesus always go on in their office with God for a counsellor.—What is despised, foolish, and vulgar before men, on that God confers the greatest honor.—Nova Bibl. Tub.:—From the apostasy of the Jews, life has come to the Gentiles, Romans 11.—Canstein:—God will finally in His turn despise those that have despised Him.

Heubner:—The immeasurable love of God, and the scornful ingratitude of the world.—The loss of the time of grace brings everlasting loss.—Man has no one to accuse but himself, if he is not saved.—The Divine call to salvation.—The truth: God earnestly wills our salvation.—Lisco:—Love of the world a hindrance to salvation for many that are called to the kingdom of God.—Arndt:—Earthlymindedness: 1. As to its nature; 2. as to its relation to the kingdom of God; 3. as to its blindness; 4. as to its punishment.—Zimmermann:—Christianity, the religion of the poor, for: 1. It makes the poor rich; 2. the spiritually sick well; 3. the spiritually blind to see.—Dræseke:—Yet there is room. This is a summons, a. to the poor that they take comfort; b. to the faithful that they gather themselves together; c. to the sinners, that they be converted; d. to the good, that they distinguish themselves (!!!); e. to the despised, that they rise up; f. for the late born, that they believe themselves not neglected.—Ahlfeld:—The Great Supper of the Lord: 1. Wherein it consists; 2. how the Lord invites thereto; 3. the excuses; 4. the bitter fruit of the excuses.—Burk:—The straightforward behavior of a faithful and honest servant of God, who invites to the kingdom of heaven.—Fuchs:—Come, for all things are ready! 1. The entertainment; 2. the entertainer; 3. the entertained.—Petri:—What should move us to come when God calls: 1. The greatness of His grace; 2. the earnestness of His invitation.—Uhle:—The cheerful and the stern side of Christianity.—Krummacher:—Why not to Christ? (Sabb. Glocke, V. 2.)

This Pericope is exceedingly well adapted also for preparation for the celebration of the Holy Communion, in particular,—also for ordination and installation sermons of Ministers of the Gospel.—Finally also for missionary occasions.

Footnotes:

[5][Dr. Van Oosterzee has added this English phrase to the German original; and as our language affords the best term for this character, it would seem that our race is most exposed to the temptation here described.—C. C. S.]

Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

THE MARRIAGE SUPPER

Luk 14:15-24. “And a certain one of those sitting along with Him, hearing these things, said to Him, Happy is every one who eats bread in the kingdom of God!” Jesus and His disciples preached the kingdom of God all the time, in contradistinction to the law and the prophets of the old dispensation. While the precepts of the latter were extensively formal, ritualistic, and symbolic, the doctrines of the former were purely spiritual, appertaining to experimental salvation and practical godliness. This man at the table who thus responded to Jesus was evidently wrought upon by the Holy Spirit, and favorably disposed with reference to the preaching of Jesus, having come to the conclusion that it is very nice and desirable to enjoy a place in the kingdom of God.

“And He said to him, A certain man made a great supper, and called many.” This is the gospel call given to all, from Abel down to the latest posterity, whether by the written Word or the Holy Ghost, who is practically the incarnate Word, being the Spirit of Jesus. “And he sent his servant at the hour of the feast to say to those who had been called, Come, because all things are now ready.” This refers to the epoch of our Savior’s coming into the world, when He sent John the Baptist to invite the people, who had been called by all the prophets of all ages, to come at once to the supper. O what a pity that the high priests and Pharisees did not lead the way! In that case all Israel would have followed, as a flock of sheep will follow their leaders. Hence the awful responsibility they incurred by rejecting the Savior. The prophets, patriarchs, martyrs, and saints, under the leadership of the Holy Ghost, in the good providence of God, had labored four thousand years to get everything ready. A strange influence at that time had settled down upon all nations, impressing them that the Christ of Jewish prophecy was at hand. The polytheistic idolatries had expended their forces, and were everywhere waning. The profound philosophy of Greece and Rome, the mythology of Egypt, and the deep, metaphysical lore of India, had all exhausted their resources, and signally failed to expound the important problems of man’s origin and destination, and satisfy the longings of the immortal soul. The whole Gentile world was ripe for the Messianic advent. If the Jews had received their own Christ (as they certainly would have done if their preachers and ruling elders had led the way), turned evangelist under the Great Commission, and peregrinated the whole world, the nations would have fallen in line with paradoxical unanimity, inundated the world with the glory of God and actually have brought on the millennium in the early centuries of the Christian era.

“They all, from one accord, began to make excuses. The first said to him [i. e., John the Baptist], I have purchased a farm, and I have need, having gone out, to see it; I entreat thee have me excused. And another said, I have bought five yokes of oxen, and I go to prove them; I entreat thee have me excused. And another said, I have married a wife, and on this account I am not able to go.” This catalogue of excuses belongs primarily to the high priests and Pharisees, who led the way in the rejection of Jesus; but secondarily to all the people in the world, in all ages, who hear the gospel and decline its overtures of mercy and grace. They all have their excuses. Examine these three. Does a man go to see a farm after he has bought it or before? Does he not test the oxen before he makes the purchase? And as to the man who had married a wife, why not take her along to the wedding supper, a place to which young brides are very fond of going? The solution of this matter is plain and simple. The very inconsistency of these answers shows falsehood on the front, as well as preposterous nonsense. Now, while these three excuses are ostensibly destitute of truth and sense, yet they are as good as any sinner can make for rejecting the kingdom of God and staying with the devil, under the liability of dropping into hell every moment. These excuses are a fair sample of the very best which the most intelligent sinner can make for staying away from God and rejecting salvation.

“And the servant coming, proclaimed these things to his lord. Then the landlord, being angry, said to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and lead hither the poor, maimed, blind, and halt.” City here means Jerusalem, including all the cities of Israel and intervening territory. When the rulers rejected Christ, the proclamation was carried to the common people, and especially to the thousands of poor invalids which Jesus healed. O what a flood of converts to His ministry came by way of His physical philanthropy! In connection with the personal ministry of Jesus, the twelve apostles, the seventy evangelists, and many others whose names are in the book of life, and the three thousand converted in the morning of Pentecost and the five thousand in the afternoon, and the swelling tide of gospel grace and sanctifying fire which rolled in heavenly billows from the Pentecostal scene of Mount Zion in all directions, inundating the whole country, we find a wonderful influx into the kingdom, consisting almost exclusively of the poor and the unfortunate, as the leading clerk and popular rulers had already rejected Him, and actually put Him to death.

“And the servant said, Lord, it is done as you commanded, and yet there is room. And the Lord said to the servant, Go out into the roads and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.” This is the call of the Gentiles, when the apostles, pursuant to the Great Commission, divided up the whole world among them James the First, at an early day, being decapitated by Herod Agrippa in Jerusalem; James the Less suffering martyrdom in Jerusalem, at a later date, by precipitation from a pinnacle of the temple; Matthew, taking Ethiopia; Mark, Egypt; Matthias, Abyssinia; Thomas, India; Jude, Tartary; Andrew, Armenia; Philip, Syria; Paul, Asia Minor and Europe; Peter, Rome; John, Lydia; Simon Zelotes, the British Islands, — all of these pushing the battle in their various fields, like cyclones of fire, till bloody death set them free, thus booming the whole world with a gospel earthquake, everywhere shaking down the time- honored temples of idolatry, and flooding the nations with heavenly light.

“For I say unto you, that no one of these men who have been called shall taste of my supper.” This is the death-knell of the high priests, Pharisees, and leading officials, who received the first invitation and obstinately rejected it, even imputing the miracles of Jesus to the devil, thus grieving away the Holy Spirit, crossing the dead-line, wrapped in the black delusions of diabolical intrigue, and sealing their doom in endless woe. Beware how you reject the offers of gospel grace, lest you fall into this black catalogue of irretrievable reprobacy! You see, in the above quotation, we are commanded to go out and compel them to come in. The persecutors who have murdered God’s saints by millions were always fond of quoting this, claiming that Jesus had sent them out to compel the heretics to come in, thus making it an apology for wholesale murder. It does not mean physical compulsion, as they construed it, from the simple fact that the gospel is not a physical transaction, but purely spiritual, simply involving the conclusion that we are to do everything in our power, by prayer, appeal, exhortation, argument, tears of sympathy, and deeds of mercy, to bring people to Jesus and get them saved. You also find in the above Scripture the statement, “The Lord being angry.” N.B. — It is impossible for God to be angry in the human sense, as He has no evil tempers nor passions to arouse. The anger of God is simply holy indignation against everything wrong. In this sense, Paul says (Eph 5:26), “Be ye angry, and sin not;” i.e., indulge freely the holy indignation which the Holy Spirit has given you against all evil, compromising with no sin, in thought, word, or deed, nor anything whatever out of harmony with God’s sweet will.

William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

14:15-24 This parable portrays what was happening in Jesus’ ministry. The rich, powerful, and elite rejected Jesus’ invitation to God’s salvation banquet and would be shut out. Meanwhile, poor people and outcasts responded to the invitation (see also 1:52-53; 6:21, 25; 10:15; 18:14).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Luk 14:15. Ἀκούσας, having heard) and having been touched thereby. [However one feels inclined to suspect, that something of a worldly character crept into His thoughts concerning the kingdom of GOD.—V. g.]—μακάριος, blessed) Alluding to the μακάριος, blessed, in Luk 14:14. Often this epithet includes in its signification the idea of something that is rare and uncommon. Comp. Luk 14:24. It is not enough to pronounce godly men ‘blessed;’ but each must exert himself for his part to the best of his ability. Comp. the following verses: also ch. Luk 13:23-24.—φάγεται) shall eat.—ἄρτον) Many read ἄριστον; but the reading ἄρτον is better established, especially as there is joined to it the verb φάγεται, which is more appropriate to ἄρτον, than ἄριστον: comp. Luk 14:1 [φαγεῖν ἄρτον].[146] However at that time it seems to have been the ἌΡΙΣΤΟΝ, prandium, breakfast or luncheon, the early meal: see note on Luk 14:12. On that account it is worthy of the greater attention that in the parable set before them in Luk 14:16, it is a δεῖπνον, cæna, supper (our late dinner), which is specified.[147]

[146] All the oldest authorities have ἄρτον. None but inferior uncial MSS. ἄριστον.—E. and T.

[147] No doubt alluding to the coming marriage supper, at the end of the day of the present last dispensation; 1Co 10:11, at the end, Rev 19:9.—E. and T.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Luk_14:15. To the idea of the ἀνάστασις τῶν δικαίων is very naturally linked in the case of this fellow-guest the thought of the future eating (φάγεται, future) with the patriarchs of the nation (Mat_8:11; Luk_13:28 f.; Bertholdt, Christol. § 39) in the (millennial) Messianic kingdom about to be set up. This transporting prospect, in which his mistaken security is manifested, compels his exclamation.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Luk 14:15-24 . The great feast ( cf. Mat 22:1-14 ), very naturally introduced by the pious reflection of a guest whose religious sentiment had been touched by the allusion to the resurrection-felicity of the just. Like many other pious observations of the conventional type it did not amount to much, and was no guarantee of genuine godliness in the speaker. The parable expresses this truth in concrete form, setting forth that many care less for the Kingdom of God and its blessings than they seem to care, and teaching that these will be offered to those who do care indeed.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

4 th. Luk 14:15-24.

The conversation which follows belongs to a later time in the feast. Jesus had been depicting the just seated at the Messiah’s banquet, and receiving a superabundant equivalent for the least works of love which they have performed here below. This saying awakes in the heart of one of the guests a sweet anticipation of heavenly joys; or perhaps he seizes it as an occasion for laying a snare for Jesus, and leading Him to utter some heresy on the subject. The severe tendency of the following parable might favour this second interpretation. In any case, the enumeration of Luk 14:21 (comp. Luk 14:13) proves the close connection between those two parts of the conversation.

Vers. 15-20.— ῎Αρτον φάγεσθαι (fut. of φάγω) merely signifies, to be admitted to the heavenly feast. There is no allusion in the expression to the excellence of the meats which shall form this repast (Luk 14:1).

Jesus replies, “Yes, blessed; and therefore beware of rejecting the blessedness at the very moment when thou art extolling its greatness.” Such is the application of the following parable. The word πολλούς, significant of numerous guests, Luk 14:16, is sufficiently justified when applied to the Jewish people alone; for this invitation includes all divine advances, at all periods of the theocracy. The last call given to the guests (Luk 14:17) relates to the ministries of John the Baptist and of Jesus Himself. It cannot be proved that it was usual to send a message at the last moment; but the hour was come, and nobody appeared. This touch brings out the ill-will of those invited; there was no possibility of their forgetting. The expression, all things are ready, describes the glorious freeness of salvation.

The excuses put forth by the invited, Luk 14:18-20, are not in earnest; for, warned as they were long beforehand, they could have chosen another day for their different occupations. The choice made, which is at the bottom of those refusals, betrays itself in the uniformity of their answers. It is like a refrain (ἀπὸ μῖας, understand: φωνῆς or γνώμης, Luk 14:18). They have passed the word to one another. The true reason is evidently the antipathy which they feel to him who invites them; comp. Joh 15:24: “They have hated both me and my Father.”

Frédéric Louis Godet — Commentaries on Luke, John, Romans, and 1 Corinthians — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1870s–1890s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

when one . . . heard . . . he said, Blessed, &c.--As our Lord's words seemed to hold forth the future "recompense" under the idea of a great Feast, the thought passes through this man's mind, how blessed they would be who should be honored to sit down to it. Our Lord's reply is in substance this: "The great Feast is prepared already; the invitations are issued, but declined; the feast, notwithstanding, shall not want abundance of guests; but not one of its present contemners--who shall yet come to sue for admission--shall be allowed to taste of it." This shows what was lacking in the seemingly pious exclamation of this man. It was Balaam's, "Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his" (Num 23:10), without any anxiety about living his life; fondly wishing that all were right with him at last, while all heedless of the precious present.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 15. That shall eat bread in the kingdom of God.] This is spoken in conformity to the general expectation of the Jews, who imagined that the kingdom of the Messiah should be wholly of a secular nature. Instead of αρτον, bread, EKMS-V, more than one hundred others, with some versions and fathers, read αριστον, a dinner. This is probably the best reading, as it is likely it was a dinner at which they now sat; and it would be natural for the person to say, Happy is he who shall dine in the kingdom of God. It does not appear that there was any but this person present, who was capable of relishing the conversation of our Lord, or entering at all into its spiritual reference.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(15) Blessed is he that shall eat bread . . .—The form of the exclamation was obviously determined by the words which our Lord had just spoken. It may have been a more or less familiar formula among devout Jews who expected the coming of the Christ. It may have embodied some recollections of the great discourse at Capernaum (Joh_6:26-59). On the whole it seems more natural to see in it a burst of honest, unwonted enthusiasm, kindled by sympathy with what our Lord had said, than to regard it as spoken hypocritically, with a view to drawing from His lips some heretical utterance that might ensure His condemnation.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

15-21. The Refused Banquet; a Lesson to a Guest.

15. when one of them that sat at meat with him heard these things] He may have wanted to diminish the force of the rebukes implied in the previous lessons by a vapid general remark. At any rate, he seems to have assumed that he would be one of those who would sit at the heavenly feast which should inaugurate the new aeon, and from which, like all Jews, he held it to be almost inconceivable that any circumcised son of Abraham should be excluded. Hence the warning involved in this parable which was meant to prove how small was the real anxiety to accept the divine invitation.

shall eat bread in the kingdom of God] Almost the same words occur in Rev_19:9. The Jews connected the advent of the Messianic

Kingdom with banquets of food more delicious than manna, the flesh of Leviathan, and the bird Bar Juchne.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Then said he unto him,.... That is, Jesus, as the Syriac, Persic, and Ethiopic versions express it; he said to the man that was so affected with the happiness of such that shall share in the provisions of the Messiah's kingdom;

a certain man made a great supper: by which is meant not the Lord's supper, which was not as yet instituted; nor the supper of the Lamb, which will be at the end of the world; but the Gospel dispensation, which was now taking place, and the provisions of it in the word and ordinances: and which is called a "supper"; because made in the end of the world, in the last days: and a "great" one, because of the maker of it, the King of kings, and Lord of lords; and the matter of it, a variety of rich provisions, a feast of fat things, an entertainment consisting of the greatest dainties, and most delightful food; and on account of the number of the guests invited, all people, every creature, to whom the outward ministration of the Gospel comes; and those who are properly guests that come, are a great number which no man can number; as well as because of the cost and charges of it to the maker, though it is all free to the guests; and likewise because of the circumstances of exceeding great joy and pleasure that attend it; to which may be added, the long duration of it, even from the first to the second coming of Christ.

And bade many. This first bidding more especially respects the Jews, who are said to be "many", in reference to the promise made to Abraham, that his seed should be as the stars of the heavens, and as the sand of the sea; and to set off the magnificence of the feast; and in distinction from all the world, and every creature, which were afterwards put into the Gospel commission: a foundation was laid for this supper in eternity, in the purposes, counsel, and covenant of God; and many prophecies concerning it were given out from the beginning; and sacrifices and ordinances were instituted, as emblematical of it, and to lead on to it, and give notice of it.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

15 And when one of them that sat at meat with him heard these things, he said unto him, Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God.

Ver. 15. Blessed is he, &c.] This man seems to have "tasted of the good word of God, and of the powers of the world to come," Heb 6:5. Happy he, if he fed heartily thereon. This, saith Luther, is sancta crapula.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God - The kingdom of God here means the kingdom which the Messiah was to set up. See the notes at Mat 3:2. The Jews supposed that he would be a temporal prince, and that his reign would be one of great magnificence and splendor. They supposed that the “Jews” then would be delivered from all their oppressions, and that, from being a degraded people, they would become the most distinguished and happy nation of the earth. To that period they looked forward as one of great happiness. There is some reason to think that they supposed that the ancient just people would then be raised up to enjoy the blessings of the reign of the Messiah. Our Saviour having mentioned the “resurrection of the just,” this man understood it in the common way of the Jews, and spoke of the special happiness which they expected at that time. The Jews “only,” he expected, would partake of those blessings. Those notions the Saviour corrects in the parable which follows.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Whether this person had any gross conceptions of the kingdom of God, as a state of external happiness, and sensible satisfactions, I cannot say (though it be the opinion of some valuable interpreters): he might mean no more than, Blessed is he that shall come to heaven, and enjoy the celestial pleasures and satisfactions there; for that blessed state is called the marriage supper of the Lamb; and Christ spake to his disciples in this dialect, when he spake of drinking wine with them in his kingdom. But this passage both lets us know the good influence of spiritual discourse, to set the tongues of others on work, and also it lets us see what good meditations may be founded almost upon any subjects, if we have any heart thereunto. This gives our Saviour an occasion to put forth the following parable.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

15. One of them—Hearing that at the resurrection of the just the feast of the bountiful host will be repaid, one of the guests present, expecting that he would enjoy that higher feast also, utters an ejaculation upon the blessedness of such a lot.

Eat bread—The figure under which the Jew expressed the bliss of the Messiah’s glorious kingdom.

Kingdom of God— By this the Jew meant a resurrection kingdom, when Messiah should come. Our Lord shows the ejaculator, that the feast of the true Messiah is the very feast which he and his fellow-guests are rejecting.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Vers. 15-24. In reply to an observation of one of the guests, Jesus relates the parable of the great supper, in which he shows how few really cared for the joys of God"s kingdom in the world to come.

And when one of them that sat at meat with him heard these things, he said unto him, Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God. One of those who were partaking of the banquet, and had witnessed the whole scene, now speaks to the Stranger Guest. He had looked on the miracle performed for the afflicted man: he had heard the wise words spoken by the Galilaean Rabbi; he had listened to the gentle and yet pungent rebuke to the Pharisee for his ostentatious hospitality to the rich and great; he had marked the quiet reminder as to the many sufferers who really stood in need of the viands so plentifully spread for those who wanted them not; he had been specially struck by the mention of the recompense which the just who remembered the poor would receive at the resurrection. This quiet observer, noticing that the Master"s remarks were touching upon the recompense of the just in the world to come, now breaks in with a remark on the blessedness of him who should eat bread in the kingdom of God. The words do not seem to have been spoken in a mocking spirit, but to have been the genuine outcome of the speaker"s admiration of the Guest so hated and yet so wondered at. There is, no doubt, lurking in the words a certain Pharisaic self-congratulation a something which seems to imply, "Yes, that blessedness to which you, O Master, are alluding, I am looking forward confidently to share in. How happy will it be for us, Jews as we are, when the time comes for us to sit down at that banquet in the kingdom of heaven!"

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

kingdom

See note, (See Scofield "Mat 6:33").

The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The Great Supper.

The invitation:

v. 15. And when one of them that sat at meat with Him heard these things, he said unto Him, Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God.

v. 16. Then said He unto him, A certain man made a great supper and bade many;

v. 17. and sent his servant at supper time to say to them that were bidden, Come; for all things are now ready.

One of the guests at the feast of the Pharisee was deeply impressed by the words of Christ, and especially by His allusion to the happiness which would be the lot of those that would be included in the resurrection of the just. The consummation of such glory filled him with a deep and ardent longing for the blessings which might be expected up in heaven. His remark may have been due mainly to the enthusiasm of the moment, but it served to call forth a very beautiful parable from the Lord. Blessed is he that eats bread in the kingdom of God, in the time of the fulfillment of the Church of Christ in heaven, where all those that have been accounted righteous will eat of the eternal pleasures and drink of the water of life, world without end. Jesus, in answering upon this exclamation, addressed Himself primarily to the speaker, but also to all the rest that were gathered about the tables. A certain man, a man of means and influence, as the story shows, made a great feast, prepared a supper of unusual magnitude. Great this feast was, as well on account of the abundance of refreshing foods as on account of the fact that it was intended for many guests. In accordance with the elaborate plans of the host, many were invited; the first invitation went out to a great number of people. When the time of the feast had come, the master of the house sent out his own servant, trusted and faithful, to give the customary second reminder or repetition of the first invitation. It was an urgent call: Come, for now are ready all things! The guests were asked to come to the feast prepared for them, and at once, for everything was now in readiness for them.

Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

One of them that sat at meat with our Saviour in the Pharisee’s house, hearing Christ speak of being recompensed at the resurrection of the just, repeated that known saying among the Rabbins, Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God: that is, who shall be partakers of the joys of heaven. Here upon Christ utters the parable of the marriage supper, recorded here by St. Luke, with small variation from that which was delivered by St. Matthew, Mat 22:1-14

The first intention of our Saviour in that parable seems to be this, to set forth that gracious offer of mercy and salvation which was made by the preaching of the gospel unto the Jews, and to declare God’s purpose of receiving the Gentiles into the fold of Christ, upon the Jews despising and rejecting that inestimable favor. But besides this, it has an aspect upon us Christans, who have embraced the doctrine of the gospel.

Here note, 1. That the gospel for its freeness and fullness, for its varieties and delicacies, is like a marriage supper:

1. It does create the same religion between Christ and believers, that marriage does between husband and wife.

2. It entitles to the same privileges that a conjugal relation does; to the same endearing love and tenderness, to the same care, protection, to the same honor, to the same happiness.

3. It obliges to the like duties, namely, unspotted love and fidelity, cheerful obedience to his commands, reverence to his person, submission to his authority.

4. It produces the same effects; as the effect of marriage is increase of children, so the fruit of the gospel is bringing many sons to God.

Note, 2. That gospel invitations are mightily disesteemed; they made light of the invitation, and offered frivolous excuses for their refusal of it.

Note, 3. That the preference which the world has in men’s esteem, is a great cause of the gospel contempt; one had purchased a piece of ground, another had bought five yoke of oxen.

Note, 4. The deplorable sadness of their condition who refuse, upon any pretence whatever, to comply with the gospel tender of reconciliation and mercy: The king was wroth, pronounced them unworthy of his favor, and resolved they should not taste of his supper; but sends forth his servants to invite others to his supper.

Note, 5. The notion under which the Gentiles are set forth unto us, such as were in lanes, streets, and highways; that is, a rude, rustic, and barbarous people; whom the Jews despised, yea, whom they held accursed; yet even these are called accepted, while the Jews, the first intended guests, are excluded by means of their own contempt.

Note, lastly, the means used to bring in the Gentiles to the gospel supper: Go and compel them to come in; not by violence, but persuasion; by argumentation, not compulsion: the plain and persuasive, the powerful and efficacious preaching of the word, with the motions and influences of the Holy Spirit, are the compulsions here intended: not external force, not temporal punishment, nor outward violence. "No man ought by force and violence to be compelled to the profession of the true faith," says Tertullian.

Observe here, how vainly these words are brought to prove, that men may be compelled by the secular arm to embrace the Christian faith.

This appears,

1. From the nature of a banquet, to which none are compelled by force, but by persuasion only.

2. From the scope of the parable, which respects the calling of the Gentiles, who believed by the great power of God.

William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

15–24. A certain man gave a great supper. This parable was spoken in reply to the remark in verse 15, and shows that the world is not ready to “eat bread in the kingdom of God.” Compare Matt. 22:1–14. Come; for all things are now ready. The second invitation, which it is the usual course to give in the East. John bade all get ready; and the Gospel of Christ bade all to come. Such is still the Gospel message.

Began to make excuse. The excuses show that they did not wish to be guests. The first said. The first pleads landed property; the second, business; the third, social considerations; none of them good excuses.

Go out quickly. To another class of persons. The first, who despised the invitation, are now rejected. The Jews are primarily meant. The poor, the maimed, etc. An abundant class in the East, a country destitute of alms-houses and hospitals. These probably represent the publicans and sinners.

Go out into the highways and hedges. Far away—to the Gentiles. Compel them to come in. Use the constraining power of the love of the gospel.

None of those men which were bidden. They were excluded by their own act. They had refused to come. The stubborn Jews missed the slightest taste; so do all like them.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

General Information:

One of the men at the table speaks to Jesus and Jesus responds to him by telling a parable. (See: Parables)

one of them who sat at the table

This introduces a new person. (See: Introduction of New and Old Participants)

Blessed is he

The man was not talking about a specific person. AT: "Blessed is anyone" or "How good it is for everyone"

he who will eat bread

The word "bread" is used to refer to the whole meal. AT: "he who will eat at the meal" (See: Synecdoche)

But Jesus said to him

Jesus begins telling a parable. (See: Parables)

A certain man prepared a large dinner and invited many

The reader should be able to infer that the man probably had his servants prepare the meal and invite the guests. (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)

A certain man

This phrase is a way of referring to the man without giving any specific information about his identity.

invited many

"invited many people" or "invited many guests"

When the dinner was prepared

"At the time for the dinner" or "When the dinner was about to begin"

those who were invited

This can be stated in active form. AT: "those he had invited" (See: Active or Passive)

translationWords

bless

bread

kingdom of God

servant

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

15–24. THE REFUSED BANQUET; A LESSON TO A GUEST

15. ἀκούσας δέ τις τῶν συνανακειμένων ταῦτα. He may have wanted to diminish the force of the rebukes implied in the previous lessons by a vapid general remark. At any rate, he seems to have assumed that he would be one of those who would sit at the heavenly feast which should inaugurate the new aeon, and from which, like all Jews, he held it to be almost inconceivable that any circumcised son of Abraham should be excluded. Hence the warning involved in this parable which was meant to prove how small was the real anxiety to accept the divine invitation.

φάγεται ἄρτον ἐν τῇ βασιλείᾳ τοῦ θεοῦ. Almost the same words occur in Rev 19:9. The Jews connected the advent of the Messianic Kingdom with banquets of food more delicious than manna—the flesh of Leviathan, and the bird Bar Juchne.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

15-24.] Parable of the Great Supper. One of the guests takes this literally, and imagines the great feast to which the Jews looked forward to be meant. He spoke as a Jew, and probably with an idea that, as such, his admission to this feast was sure and certain. Our Lord answers him by the parable following, which shewed him that true as his assertion was, (and He does not deny it,) the blessedness would not be practically so generally acknowledged nor entered into.

The Parable, whatever analogy it may bear with that in Mat 22:1 ff., is wholly different from that in many essential points.

15.] φάγεται is a well-known future, contracted from φαγήσεται: see reff.

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

15-24. The Parable of the Great Supper. The identity of this with the Parable of the Marriage of the King’s Son, often called the Parable of the Wedding Garment (Mat 22:1-14), will continue to be discussed, for the points of similarity and of difference are both of them so numerous that a good case may be made for either view. But the context, as well as the points of difference, justifies a distinction. The parable in Mt. is a comment on an attempt to arrest Christ (21:46), and tells of rebels put to death for insulting and killing their sovereign’s messengers; this is a comment on a pious remark, perhaps ignorantly or hypocritically made, and tells of discourteous persons who, through indifference, lose the good things to which they were invited. It is much less severe in tone than the other; and even in those parts which are common to the two has very little similarity of wording.

15. τις τῶν συνανακειμένων. “The resurrection of the just” suggests the thought of the Kingdom, and this guest complacently assumes that he will be among those who will enjoy it. With this introductory incident comp. 10:25-30, 12:13-15, 15:1-3.

φάγεται ἄρτον. A Hebraism: comp. ver. 1; 2Sa 9:7, 2Sa 9:10; 2Ki 4:8, etc., and see on ver. 8. It points to the Jewish idea that the Messianic age will be inaugurated by a banquet and will be a prolonged festival (Isa 25:6). The reading ἄριστον (A H M S U V Γ) is a mere corruption of ἄρτον.

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Blessed. See on Mt 5:3.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.