He [Jesus] said also to the man (Pharisee) who had invited Him, “When you give a dinner or a banquet…invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind…and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you.
Luke 14:12-24
Jesus is still at the dinner to which the Pharisee had invited Him and Jesus tells another parable to His host and the other Pharisees attending the dinner. Jesus had observed who the Pharisee host had invited to the dinner, other Pharisees. So, Jesus prefaces His parable by telling the host that those in attendance are now obligated to invite the host to their house for dinner. But, to be “blessed” and “be repaid at the resurrection of the just,” the host should invite those people who have no possibility of fulfilling any obligation to anyone, the poor, blind, lame and, crippled. Then, Jesus tells of a man who gave a huge banquet and invited as many friends and neighbors as he could to attend. The servant, also, brought guests who were “poor and crippled and blind and lame” into the banquet. The invitees, each, made excuses for not attending the banquet. Today, one might describe these excuses as “lame!” So, the man, having already prepared the banquet, was angered by the invitees’ excuses and, he sent his servant out again to “compel” other people to come in to fill his house for the banquet. The man, further, told his servant that “none of those men who were invited shall taste my banquet.” Jesus ended His parable and we have no Scriptural reaction/response to Jesus’ parable by the Pharisees who heard it. The Pharisees were a very religious people. But, religion is NOT what God is seeking from humanity. In the Garden of Eden, before the fall, Adam and Eve walked and talked with God everyday, in the cool of the day. God had a relationship with Adam and Eve until they violated God’s command for them to not eat certain fruit from certain trees. This sin against God broke the relationship they had with God and God has been seeking to restore His relationship with humanity since. In Old Testament times, there were a few who were described as “walking with God.” But, in the fullness of time, God sent His Only Begotten Son to gather the “lost, lame, blind, crippled, poor” to become participants in His Great Banquet at the end of the age and to enjoy Him throughout eternity! Come, enter into a relationship with our Savior and Lord and be eternally blessed in Heaven.
Source: S C Ball March 3, 2023
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