The Great Banquet (Linton Hall Sermon)
September 8, 2024

The Great Banquet (Linton Hall Sermon)

Passage: Luke 14:14-24

Luke 14:12-24 CSB - He also said to the one who had invited him, “When you give a lunch or a dinner, don’t invite your friends, your brothers or sisters, your relatives, or your rich neighbors, because they might invite you back, and you would be repaid.13 On the contrary, when you host a banquet, invite those who are poor, maimed, lame, or blind.22 “‘Master,’ the servant said, ‘what you ordered has been done, and there’s still room.’23 “Then the master told the servant, ‘Go out into the highways and hedges and make them come in, so that my house may be filled.24 For I tell you, not one of those people who were invited will enjoy my banquet.’”14 And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you; for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”15 When one of those who reclined at the table with him heard these things, he said to him, “Blessed is the one who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!”16 Then he told him, “A man was giving a large banquet and invited many.17 At the time of the banquet, he sent his servant to tell those who were invited, ‘Come, because everything is now ready.’18 “But without exception they all began to make excuses. The first one said to him, ‘I have bought a field, and I must go out and see it. I ask you to excuse me.’19 “Another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I’m going to try them out. I ask you to excuse me.’20 “And another said, ‘I just got married, and therefore I’m unable to come.’21 “So the servant came back and reported these things to his master. Then in anger, the master of the house told his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the city, and bring in here the poor, maimed, blind, and lame.’

Observation + Interpretation + Application

OBSERVATIONS:

I. THE GRACIOUS INVITATION

16 Then he told him, “A man was giving a large banquet and invited many. 17 At the time of the banquet, he sent his servant to tell those who were invited, ‘Come, because everything is now ready.’

II. THE PREPOSTEROUS REJECTION

18 “But without exception they all began to make excuses. The first one said to him, ‘I have bought a field, and I must go out and see it. I ask you to excuse me.’

19 “Another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I’m going to try them out. I ask you to excuse me.’

20 “And another said, ‘I just got married, and therefore I’m unable to come.’

III. THE UNEXPECTED GRACE

21 “So the servant came back and reported these things to his master. Then in anger, the master of the house told his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the city, and bring in here the poor, maimed, blind, and lame.’
22 “‘Master,’ the servant said, ‘what you ordered has been done, and there’s still room.’
23 “Then the master told the servant, ‘Go out into the highways and hedges and make them come in, so that my house may be filled.

IV. THE SHOCKING CONSEQUENCE

24 For I tell you, not one of those people who were invited will enjoy my banquet.’”

INTERPRETATIONS

INTERPRETATION 1

We understand: the host is God. That the banquet is heaven. And that there is an invitation here. An invitation to the eternal banquet. To salvation. Heaven.

INTERPRETATION 2

The invitation is extended even to the least likely… by God’s grace.

INTERPRETATION

I am the least likely.

APPLICATIONS