GOSPEL STUDY: Compel them to come.
Pentecost 15, 9/5/10.
Prepared by Achile Bourquin
We are continuing in Luke 14 this week. As Jesus dines with the Pharisees, He teaches a parable about a man giving a dinner; "And he invited many" (Luke 14:15-24). Scripture quotations are taken from the New American Standard Bible.
Luke 14:15-24: Jesus is eating with the leaders of the Pharisees on a Sabbath (vs. 1). Like all Pharisees, these leaders imagine themselves to be the most excellent of holy people, the most pious of the pious. One of them exclaims, "Blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God", meaning, of course, himself and all those like himself (vs. 15). Jesus knows things to be quite different. He knows that the true Bread of the kingdom of God is before them now, and these Jews refuse to eat it. We should note a similar parable in Matthew 22:2-14. Matthew's account is directed more toward the needs of Jewish readers, while Luke's account is directed more toward the needs of Gentile readers.
Rather than commend the Pharisee for his spirituality as he desired, Jesus tells a parable, "A man was giving a big dinner" (vs. 16). The "man" represents the heavenly Father. Down through the ages, the Father has labored to prepare a spiritual banquet for fallen humanity, a banquet of the richest food and costliest drink, the very Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. This banquet is seen in the sacrifice of Abel, the saving ark of Noah, the bread and wine of Melchizedek, the manna of Moses, and the offerings and sacrifices of the temple. David spoke of it, "You prepare a table before me; my cup overflows" (Psalm 23:5f). Isaiah also, "The Lord of hosts will prepare a lavish banquet for all peoples on this mountain" (Isaiah 25:6f). The heavenly Father has "invited many" to this banquet down through the ages; "Ho! Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; You who have no money (no merit, no worthiness) come, by and eat. Incline your ear to Me, I will make an everlasting (Gospel) covenant with you" (Isaiah 54:1f, adapted).
"And at the dinner hour (when the fullness of time had come) He sent His slave (Jesus) to say to those who had been invited (especially the Jews), ‘ Come; for everything is ready now'" (vs. 17). We think of Christ's preaching, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand, repent and believe the Gospel" (Mark 1:15).
"But they all alike began to make excuses" (vs. 18); for they saw nothing in the feast more desirable than what they already had, nor were they willing to part with what they had as the invitation required, nor did they have any reverence for the host, and indeed, despised his goodness and liberality (Edersheim). The first one said to him, "I have bought a piece of land, and I need to go look at it; please consider me excused". Another one said, "I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to try them out; please consider me excused". Another one said, "I have married a wife, and for that reason I cannot come" (vs. 18). We should consider the figurative meanings of these excuses. Martin Luther and St Augustine suggest these mean, the Jewish nation (the land), their religion (cattle sacrificed), and their comfortable living (wives); "They desired not this supper, and preferred their kingdom, priesthood, and houses, rather than the Gospel" (Luther). In the end they lost it all. Theophylact (11th century bishop) suggests they mean, the wisdom of the world (land), material possessions (oxen), and love of pleasure (wives). "It is truly base and shameful that people who were created for a heavenly life, should be under the influence of such brutish stupidity, as to be entirely carried away by earthly things" (Calvin's Commentary). As Jesus said in another place, "They are choked with worries and riches and pleasures of this life; and the desires for other things (Luke 8:14, Mark 4:19). When offered the pure gold of the eternal Gospel, they opt to keep their worthless temporal trinkets instead; "They worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator" (Romans 1:25).
"And the slave (Christ) came back and reported this to his master. Then the head of the household became angry" (vs. 21). The Heavenly Father is angry with those who reject the free offer of His grace as presented in the Gospel. "Thus Christ lectured this sharp doctor and his associates at the table, and showed them how they stood before our Lord God, namely, that God was angry at them, and would look for other guests" (Luther). "He said to his slave, ‘Go out at once into the streets and lanes of the city and bring in here the poor and crippled and blind and lame". This first group is called "from the city", meaning those under God's law, i.e. the Jewish nation. When the high and mighty of Jewish society rejected the Gospel, Jesus called the spiritually poor, crippled, blind, and lame from among the lowly, uneducated Jewish people. Of such stock were the Apostles, the disciples, both men and women, and all the multitude of sinners that Jesus befriended. As Jesus said, "The poor have the Gospel preached to them" (Matthew 11:6). Paul says, "Consider your calling, there are not many wise, not many mighty, not many noble; but God has chosen the foolish things of the world, the weak, the base, and the despised God has chosen" (I Corinthians 1:26f, adapted).
And the slave said, "Master, what you commanded has been done, and still there is room". And the master said to the slave, "Go out into the highways and along the hedges, and compel them to come in, so that my house may be filled". This represents the calling of the Gentiles, who are from the "highways and hedges" of the world (Luther, Calvin, Theophylact). "To compel them to come in", means simply to preach and teach the Gospel with fervent power, emphasizing both repentance from sin and faith in Christ. This parable itself is a good example of a "compelling" Gospel message; emphasizing the stern judgment against those who reject the Gospel, and the wondrous Gospel supper of free grace offered to all, Jew and Gentile, rich and poor. Peter's sermon on the Day of Pentecost is another good example; clearly defining the people's sin until they cry out in anguish, "What must we do to be saved?", and then declaring the promises of free forgiveness of sin through Christ (Acts 2:22f). To "compel people" is to preach upon sin and judgment in such a manner that people are shaken from their complacency at the prospect of the divine wrath, at which point the comforts of the Gospel can be presented; "Constrain and urge as much as possible both by holding forth the divine wrath for the wicked and grace for the faithful" (Luther). Such preaching is nearly nonexistent in our world today, and thus, few are converted.
Jesus concludes, "For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste of my dinner" (vs. 24). What terrible judgment Jesus proclaims against those who reject the Gospel invitation. And yet, this verse is also part of the Gospel banquet we are to eat, drink, believe, and preach. Next week, Luke 15:1-10.