Jesus continued to use the meal in the Pharisee's house to teach about the messianic banquet and the kingdom to come. He had taught the importance of humbling oneself to participate (vv. 7-11) and had justified that requirement (vv. 12-14). Now He invited His hearers to humble themselves so they could participate and warned those who rejected His invitation of their fate.
14:15 The fellow guest who voiced this comment appears to have understood that Jesus had been talking about the kingdom and not just about social propriety. Alternatively his or her comment may have been simply a pious reference to the kingdom, but this seems unlikely. The speaker seems to have assumed that he or she would be one of the blessed referred to. The speaker may have intended to correct Jesus' implication that some of those present might not participate (vv. 13-14; cf. 13:28-29). Jesus used the comment as an opportunity to clarify who would participate. A similar though obviously different parable occurs in Matthew 22:1-14.
14:16-17 In the parable the host corresponds to God, and the servant (Gr. doulos) is Jesus. The people invited were the Jews primarily. In Jesus' day a banquet took a long time to prepare.336Likewise God had been preparing His messianic banquet for centuries.
14:18-20 Those invited refused to participate. They tried to excuse themselves by giving acceptable reasons for not attending the banquet. The three excuses Jesus cited are only representative of many others that other invited guest undoubtedly gave. One man begged off on the ground that he had recently become the owner of some real estate and needed to tend to it. Apparently he was proud of his position as a land-owner in his community. Another person with new possessions expressed his greater interest in them than in the invitation. The fact that both of these men inspected their purchases after they bought them shows their love of them since they would undoubtedly have also inspected them before buying them. A third man cited his recent marriage as his excuse implying that pleasure was more important to him. These individuals represent the many who had declined to accept Jesus' gospel invitation for similar reasons.
14:21-22 The host legitimately felt angry in view of his gracious invitation and sacrificial preparations. Rejection constituted a personal insult. He decided to open the banquet to anyone who would come, not just the people who considered themselves the privileged few who were the most obvious choices (cf. Rom. 9:4-5). These people correspond to the religious leaders of Jesus' day. The other people the host included correspond to those in Jesus' day whom the self-righteous Jews regarded as deficient including the publicans, the sinners, and the Gentiles (cf. vv. 2-4, 13). Even though many of the needy responded there was still plenty of room at the banquet table.
The streets (Gr. plateia) carried all manner of people, and the lanes or alleys (Gr. rhyme) were where the lower elements of society felt more comfortable.337The servant's commission was urgent because the feast waited for guests.338Note that Jesus now described the host as "master"or "lord"(Gr. kyrie) hinting that God is in view.
14:23-24 The host then sent his servant farther out into the countryside to find guests wherever he could. Those taking refuge against the hedges, fences, and walls (Gr. phragmos) would have been people who were especially destitute and needy. Compelling (Gr. anagkazo) did not involve forcing them against their wills but urging them to come. It manifested "an insistent hospitality."339These people doubtless represent the remainder of humankind living far from the site of the banquet (i.e., Jerusalem). They are the spiritually needy, Jews and Gentiles alike, both in Jesus' day and in the ages that followed before the banquet begins at the commencement of the Millennium (cf. 13:28-30). None of those who received initial invitations but declined the host's gracious offer would enjoy the banquet (cf. 13:34-35).
Thus Jesus' correction of the original comment (v. 15) affirmed that those who would eat bread in the kingdom would be the objects of God's favor and therefore happy. However they would be those who responded to God's gracious invitation that He extended through His Servant Jesus, not those who anticipated the banquet but refused the invitation. This parable would have helped Jesus' original disciples appreciate their privilege and the urgency of their mission. Likewise Luke's original readers and all subsequent disciples should learn the same lesson. The parable contains a revelation of God's program through the church that Israel's rejection of her Messiah and God's consequent postponement of the kingdom made necessary (cf. Rom. 11).
