The End Time Bible Commentary

In the parable of the Narrow Door in the previous chapter, Jesus answered the question, "Will only a few be saved?" He went on to talk about the great end-time banquet in the kingdom of God, as prophesied in Isaiah 25:6-9. His response implied that many from the believing community who appear to be saved, will in fact be thrown out and excluded. So he has already partly answered the question of whether people make it into heaven or not? Here in this chapter, Jesus is a guest at a banquet hosted by a leader of the Pharisees (v1). He turns the occasion into a series of living parables.

Parable of Seats at a Banqueting Table (v7-14)
In this parable, Jesus addresses the question of rewards for those who are saved and do make it into heaven. He pictures people arriving for the banquet and taking their seats at the table. The guests represent people who are saved, for they attend the end-time banquet. In first century Judea, it mattered where you sat at a banqueting table. The host sat at the head of the table, and the most honoured guests sat closest to him. Jesus says not to choose the place of honour, because a more distinguished guest might have been invited. You will feel publicly humiliated if asked to move, and by that time you will have to take the least important place as all the others will have been taken. Instead, Jesus says to choose the least important place. When the host sees you sitting there, he will move you to a better place and you will be honoured in front of everyone. Jesus explains his point in verse 11, "For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted".

At one level, Jesus is giving proverbial wisdom about the importance of humility and how it may benefit you in this life. But ultimately he is talking about its benefits in the age to come. Jesus is more likely to reward us with a position of honour in the age to come if we have lived humbly in this life. Those who have chased after positions of honour or power are likely to be humbled.


Parable of the Host of a Banquet (v12-14)
Jesus then uses the host of the banquet as another living parable. He says that when you host a banquet, you should not invite people who are able to invite you back, for then you will already have received your reward. Instead, you should invite the poor, the crippled, the lame and the blind. They cannot afford to invite you back, but instead 'you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous'. This is similar to the principle of storing up treasures in heaven rather than on earth (Matthew 6:19-20). Also, relating this parable to the judgment of the sheep and the goats, the poor, the crippled, the lame and the blind relate to 'the least of these brothers or sisters of mine' (Matthew 25:40).

The phrase 'resurrection of the righteous' is a significant one (v14). Today, Christians often talk about 'the Rapture', which gets its name from the word for 'caught up' in 1 Thessalonians 4:17. According to Paul, the resurrection of the righteous occurs first, and it seems from his description that the rapture of living believers follows immediately afterwards. If that is true then they are effectively the same event. 'Rapture' is not a word anyone would have used before Paul's description of it, so Jesus refers to this event as 'the resurrection of the righteous'. Jesus associates this event with the end-time banquet, which in turn he associates with the judgment of believers. Whether these four events all occur as part of the same event, or whether there are gaps of time between them is debatable. In Revelation, the announcement of the wedding celebration (i.e. the banquet) comes just before the battle of Armageddon (Revelation 19:6-9). Perhaps we should understand this as the announcement that the time has come, like when the invitations are sent out, but that there is still some time before it starts. The resurrection of the righteous and the judgment are both placed after the battle of Armageddon, at the beginning of the Millennium (Revelation 20:4-6). In that passage, the resurrection of the righteous is called 'the first resurrection'.


The Parable of the Great Banquet (v15-24)
While Jesus is still at the Pharisee's banquet, one of the guests says, "Blessed is everyone who will feast in the kingdom of God!" By this he is referring to the end-time banquet prophesied in Isaiah 25:6-9. Jesus responds with yet another parable about a banquet. By doing so, he is returning to the question of who will be invited and who will go to heaven, so-to-speak.

This same parable is recorded in Matthew 22, where Jesus describes it as a wedding banquet for the king's son. Luke's account omits that detail, and just describes it as a man giving a great banquet (v16). But we can be sure this is talking about the same occasion that is called the 'wedding celebration' in Revelation 19:7.

In this parable, the host represents God. The guests who receive the original invitations represent the people of Israel, or more specifically, the leaders of Israel (this becomes clear later). The slave who gives out the invitations represents anyone who proclaims the message of the Gospel. One by one, the invited guests make excuses as to why they cannot come (v18-20). The excuses are all of a kind such that they could have come, but attending the banquet was clearly not a high enough priority, and they each chose not to. The host of the banquet is understandably insulted and furious. So he sends his slave out again to invite the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame instead (v21). These represent the kind of people who responded positively to Jesus' ministry. They were still Jews, but not the leaders of the Jews. The leaders received invitations in the first place but declined to come. The slave then tells the host that his orders have been carried out, but there is still room for more guests (v22). So the host sends his slave out a third time because he wants his house to be full. In other words, God wants as many as possible to be saved. This time he sends him to the highways and country roads to invite anyone and everyone. These guests represent the Gentiles. The host then declares that not one of those who were first invited (and by implication turned down the invitation) will taste his banquet. Jesus was warning the Pharisees that their salvation was at stake if they rejected his message.

This idea that the Jewish leaders' rejection of Jesus made room for the Gentiles is continued by Paul in Romans 9-11. Paul uses a different metaphor to explain the same idea. He likens the people of Israel to branches on a vine. Some of these branches (not all) are broken off, and in their place branches of a wild olive are grafted in. The wild olive represents the Gentiles. After saying this, Paul warns the Gentiles not to boast or see themselves as better than the Jews. For he warns that the Jewish branches will one day be grafted back in, and that if the Gentile branches should boast they also risk being broken off (Romans 11:17-24).


Counting the Cost
This chapter ends with Jesus talking about the cost of following him. Having likened the Gospel to an invitation to a banquet, the Gospel sounds easy and attractive. Jesus wants to point out that it is not so easy to be one of his disciples. In particular, he focusses on our attitude to possessions, saying, "…not one of you can be my disciple if he does not renounce all his own possessions" (v33). In the parable of the banquet, Jesus addressed the issue of priorities. The invited guests chose not to come because it was too low on their list of priorities, and they were more concerned about their possessions. One had bought a field, and another some oxen. Another had found himself a wife. I don't think Jesus meant literally that every Christian must give away all their possessions. He uses hyperbole to make his point that the Gospel must be a disciple's highest priority.