The Parable of The Great Supper (Luke 14:15-24)

“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. But he said unto him, A certain man made a great supper; and he bade many: and he sent forth his servant at supper time to say to them that were bidden, Come; for all things are now ready. And they all with one consent began to make excuse. The first said unto him, I have bought a field, and I must needs go out and see it; I pray thee have me excused. And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them; I pray thee have me excused. And another said, I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come. And the servant came, and told 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 maimed and blind and lame. And the servant said, Lord, what thou didst command is done, and yet there is room. And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and constrain them to come in, that my house may be filled. For I say unto you, that none of those men that were bidden shall taste of my supper.”

It is my belief that this parable refers primarily to the marriage supper of the Lamb. If you study the parables of the Lord carefully especially His parables which refer to the marriage supper (The Ten Virgins), it becomes apparent that not all believers will be at the wedding feast. Also there will be varying positions at the feast, the virgins, the friends of the Bridegroom, and the bride.

This parable specifically deals with qualifications to be a guest at the feast. These would also be prerequisite qualifications to be part of the bride.

We see first that many are invited, but they refuse. In a different though similar parable in Matthew 22, verse 18 says that those bidden were not worthy. They judged themselves unworthy, by their bad response to the invitation.

Here we see three basic reasons people will not be at the marriage supper of the Lamb.

1. An inordinate love for material possessions

The first man had just bought a field and his pleasure in possessing it was greater to him than any benefit he could gain from leaving it to attend the supper. There are many Christians, whether consciously or unconsciously, who choose this very choice. If your best life is truly what you have now, then you have no reason to desire the marriage supper of the Lamb. Indeed, you cannot with any sincerity pray, “even so come quickly, Lord”, because it would destroy all your earthly prosperity which you now enjoy. One could even argue quite plausibly, that if you really do have your best life now, than since heaven is infinitely better than the best the earth can offer, it means you are not headed there. The wicked can have their best life now, because no matter how difficult their life is here, it is a picnic compared to what awaits them in the hereafter. However, no matter how glorious or good, or blessed our life here is as a Christian, we have a better more glorious life awaiting us in heaven. If we focus on the fleeting earthly one, we might just miss the eternal one.

2. An inordinate preoccupation with business

The second man wanted to test his yoke of oxen. He was a classic workaholic. His only satisfaction in life came from his work, he had just obtained the new equipment his business needed to really expand and he could not wait a single minute to begin to use it. God commends hard work, but not as an end to itself. It is not the work we do, or even the quality of it per se, but the one for whom we work that sanctifies a work. If we work to feel a sense of accomplishment and achieve a sense of self-worth, we are on shaky ground. If, however, our hard work is done unto the Lord, He is our source of self worth. Really, all three of these wrong responses come down to the issue of idolatry and finding our sense of belonging and self-worth in something other than God.

3. An inordinate love for human companionship

The last man in the parable placed human affection above the invitation to the supper. This as the other two previous excuses is a perversion of that which God created as good, through making a god out of it. Humans were created as social creatures and there is no blessing like a godly family stirring each other up to follow the Lord. This power when used in the opposite way is extremely detrimental. The very blessing of human fellowship, then becomes a snare and a trap. It is well known that cults usually gain and manipulate people through a sense of belonging and acceptance. If we seek the praises of man instead of the praises of God, we will assuredly not taste of the supper.

I think one of the best examples of a couple that chose to put God first comes from the early days of the China Inland Mission. Hudson Taylor had only very recently begun the mission and had been offered 2 free passages to China on which he was going to send two men. One of them backed out at the last minute. He needed someone to use the ticket and the only man available was George Crombie, who was going to be married shortly to Anne Skinner, they had then planned to make the voyage on their honeymoon. In those precarious days, there was no telling how long she would have to wait to follow him if he went or even any guarantee that they would ever see each other again in this life. When they saw the telegram, Anne said to George, “Go, George and let the world see that you love the Lord Jesus more than me.” He left and God made a way for her to follow him a couple of weeks later.

It is no mere coincidence that this parable is immediately followed by Christ’s command to count the cost. If we are to be blessed to eat bread in the Kingdom of God, we must not allow any of these three things which are in themselves good to have an inordinate place in our hearts, lest they rob us of the eternal blessing.