14:15–17 One of those present at the dinner, upon hearing Jesus’ discourse about places of honor at a meal, exclaims that those privileged to enjoy the messianic feast in the kingdom of God are blessed indeed. Isaiah anticipates this eschatological feast: “On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine, of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined” (Isa. 25:6; cf. Luke 13:29). The man is certainly right in saying that those who eat at such a banquet will be blessed, as John affirms: “Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb” (Rev. 19:9). But Jesus tells a parable to show that appearances are deceiving, that many in Israel do not really think it a blessing to be invited to the feast.

In the parable, a rich man prepares a great banquet and invites many. The rich man here stands for God, who has invited Israel to partake of the eschatological banquet. When the time of the feast arrives, all those invited are summoned. “Double invitations were customary among the upper class when they were entertaining” (cf. Est. 5:8; 6:14), and “the guests who accepted an invitation are honor-bound to attend when they are informed by the servant that the meal is ready.”165 This is probably a reference to Jesus himself, who called Israel to come to the party; his eating with tax collectors and sinners anticipates the heavenly banquet (cf. Luke 5:17–26).

14:18–20 Those who are supposedly so interested in the banquet find all kinds of pretexts in order to avoid coming. Some interpreters argue that they are merely late in coming to the banquet, but in truth they decline to come at all.166 The first person is more interested in the field he has just bought, saying it takes precedence over the feast. The second says he truly want to come, but he has just purchased “five yoke of oxen” and must test them to see if the purchase was warranted, and thus he cannot come either. The third also begs to be excused since he has just gotten married, perhaps appealing to the law that excuses a man from military service in the first year he is married (Deut. 24:5). But Jesus emphasizes that the kingdom is more important than any family relationship (Luke 14:26; 18:29; cf. 1 Cor. 7:33). And in any case this is a banquet, not a war!167 We see that possessions, finances, and family are more important to these people than the banquet is. These words are applied to Israel, or perhaps particularly to religious leaders who claim to have such a desire to see the kingdom come.

14:21–22 When the homeowner learns from his servant of the responses, he is incensed that those who have claimed to be interested in the banquet have no actual interest in coming. Thus he sends his servant to the streets and lanes of the city in order to bring in the poor, the disabled, the lame, and the blind. These inducted guests represent the tax collectors and sinners in Luke’s Gospel (3:12; 5:27–32; 7:29, 34; 18:9–14; 19:10). We have seen that Jesus has come to herald the gospel to the poor (4:18; 7:22; 16:22; 21:1–4), that the poor are blessed (6:20), and that he heals the sick, the crippled, and blind (4:18, 38–40; 5:17–26; 6:1–11, 17–19; 7:1–17, 21–22; 8:40–56). The poor, the sinful, and the despised in Israel have been brought in, but there is still room in the banquet for more. Garland points out that Jesus includes here those excluded by the Qumran community (1QSa II, 5–22), those who could not participate in the holy war (1QM VII, 4–6), those who could not offer God’s food on the altar (Lev. 21:17–23).168 The Qumran text 1QM VII, 4–6 stands out by way of contrast:

No one crippled, blind or lame, nor a man who has a permanent blemish on his skin, or a man affected with ritual uncleanness of his flesh; none of these shall go with them to battle. All of them shall be volunteers for battle, pure of spirit and flesh, and prepared for the day of vengeance. Any man who is not ritually clean in respect to his genitals on the day of battle shall not go down with them into battle, for holy angels are present with their army.

14:23–24 The master is not finished filling the banquet hall. He tells his servants to find the most disreputable people of all, those standing around in the highways and near fences, who are begging for assistance and known as vagabonds.169 “The areas outside the city would have been inhabited by outcast groups (ethnic groups, tanners, traders, beggars, prostitutes), who required access to the city but were not allowed to live in it.”170 The servants are to compel them to come to the banquet, which means that they are “resolutely urged to come. They must be convinced it is a genuine invitation and not a cruel prank or an attempt to subjugate them further.”171 On the other hand, those originally invited to the banquet will not enjoy the wonderful meal. Many of those in Israel, especially religious leaders, who claim to love the kingdom so dearly will be excluded from the banquet. This is not to say that all are excluded. In Acts 6:7 many priests are reported as submitting to the faith. Still, many in Israel refuse to come to the party, finding other things to be more interesting.