“The Story of the Great Banquet Found in Chapter 14 of Luke verses 7-15,” by Andrew J. Schatkin

“The Story of the Great Banquet Found in Chapter 14 of Luke verses 7-15,” by Andrew J. Schatkin

My dear Christians and non-Christians, and you of all faiths and thoughts and all views and opinions, I bid you and ask you to join with me in another voyage of intellectual discovery where those who may wish to engage in critical thinking and do not engage in and accept media lies, falsehoods, political code words, and hype can join in the effort to gain truth and facts amid the barrage of corruption and virtual darkness we are confronted with and befuddled and made effective fools of. I welcome you in this quest and task of attaining and coming to know intellectual honesty and honest discernment. Join with me in this voyage of discovery to get at and find what is valid and authentic in the world of confusion and to come with me in tearing apart he curtain of lies and darkness that hides from us what is truth and facts.

Today I will seek to interpret the well-known Parable of the Great Banquet and set about to gain and present an understanding comprehension and grasp of the meaning of this most familiar parable and I do so with hesitation and of course humility knowing when I seek to know and understand the words and events in the life of Jesus I do so well aware of my limited human mind as I seek to unravel the words of the eternal god the savior and redeemer of the world as he speaks to us from his holy word and from the mansions and precincts of heaven in the company of the holy trinity and all the angels and archangels in heaven beside him and all sharing the joy and love of heaven.

The gospel passage from Luke is as follows: “Now he told a parable to those who were invited when he marked how they chose the places of honor saying to them, ‘When you are invited by anyone to a marriage feast do not sit down in a place of honor lest a more eminent man than you be invited by him and he who invited you both will come and say to you Give place to this man and then you will begin with shame to take the lowest place. But when you are invited to and sit in the lowest place so that when your host comes he may say to you friend ‘go up higher then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at the table with you.’ For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled and he who humbles himself will be exalted. He said also to the man who had invited him, ‘When you give a dinner do not invite your friends or your brothers or kinsmen or rich neighbors lest they also invite you in return and you will be repaid. But when you give a feast invite the poor, the lame the blind and you will be blessed because they cannot repay you. You will be repaid at the resurrection of the just.’”

The story has two parts. In the first passage, the quality of humility is placed before us. We are told in the meal and banquet involved to take the lowest place and then you will be asked by the host to go up higher. The message that in god's economy and thinking taking the path of humility in this heavenly banquet will result in our being raised up to the joy and eternal love of heaven. Jesus tells us here that a life led in humility will bring us to heaven and Christ not a life of egotism arrogance and seeking to raise ourselves above others.

The second part of the parable follows this first part in thinking and intellectual thrust. Jesus says when you give a dinner, do not invite the top and the perceived best and superior and people you wish to perhaps cultivate to who you are most comfortable and with and who you think may benefit you whether friends brothers relatives or rich neighbors who you may hope will invite you in return and who you hope to be repaid by, but invite the poor, the lame, and the blind, and you will be blessed because they cannot repay you and you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just. There are two keys to understanding what Jesus is driving at. First is that it is the poor, lame, and disabled, perhaps viewed with contempt in much of the world, Jesus makes clear it is these that are the true people of god and the focus is on their salvation; it is these in poverty and the underclass and the poor and those suffering in illness that god treasures and in their lives they are the chosen by god, not the wealthy and kinsmen and relatives that have no need of this meal whereas the poor and other. Jesus mentions they are in need of the food in this banquet and it is they who should be helped and given the invitation. Finally, Jesus stresses that in the loving act of inviting the poor to the banquet you do this without being repaid which doubles the act of love and charity here and Jesus assures that in the day of the resurrection you will be paid with the gift of love, joy, salvation, and eternal life with Christ. Jesus tells us here that he will not be fooled with self-promotion. Jesus speaks of friends at the meal who will come to one another's aid, stressing the reason for inviting these friends is in the hope of some sort of gain as opposed to the poor and ill from whom will gain nothing.

As for inviting the poor, lame, and blind, there is good reason to believe that in Jesus’s time and in Luke’s time, these people were ignored and spurned by both Palestinian Jewish society as well as Greco-Roman society. In verses 12-14, the use of the term ‘resurrection of the just’ means the righteous will be repaid who have shared with the needy and disadvantaged the goods of this world food and raiment.

This ends my attempt at explanation and interpretation of this parable and I have the great hope that I have shed some light on the words and thoughts of Jesus and do urge you all to return to the biblical text and read and reread these words of thoughts of the son of god and savior of the world and the king of creation.