What is the message behind the parable of the 'dinner guests' in the reading of Luke 14 15-24?

Answer 1

This is a great story where the Guests represent our excuses- One was working new ox, one was looking at new land and one was just married-
The dinner table represents an invitation from our Heavenly Father and His Eternal Kingdom
The Guests refusing the party are our excuses as to why we don't accept Christ-
The key phrase in Luke 14:23 is when He said go into the Highway and the Hedges,
He is asking the servant to go to the poor, riffraff, outcasts, prostitutes, tax collectors and invite them-
The closing note is this-24 'For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste of my dinner.'"
Those that refuse the Gift of Eternal Life will never get to inherit the Kingdom of God.

Another perspective:
This parable (like many others) has multiple applications; a broad one (a "lesson for the ages") and a more specific one, tailored not to the gospel reader, but to those who were present at the time Jesus spoke. The great overall lessons of the parable are twofold: (1) that the barriers that would hinder man's approach to God were being taken out of the way by Christ; and (2) that only by accepting His invitation can one attend the Master's "great supper."

Luke 14:15 - Now when one of those who sat at the table with Him heard these things, he said to Him, "Blessed is he who shall eat bread in the kingdom of God!"

This statement was probably spoken in a smug, self-satisfied manner by one of the dinner guests in the chief Pharisee's home (v.1). His high opinion of himself and the other religious leaders present (made obvious by his assumption that they would "eat bread in the kingdom of God") provided the catalyst for Jesus' teaching.

In the specific application, the elements of the parable (v.16-24) are as follows:

Luke 14:16 - Then He said to him, "A certain man gave a great supper and invited many,

The "certain man" represents God.
The "great supper" represents God's kingdom, which was "at hand." ( See Matthew 3:2; 4:17; 10:7)
The invitation represents the gospel.

Verse 17 - and sent his servant at supper time to say to those who were invited, 'Come, for all things are now ready.'

The "servant" represents Christ.
That "all things are now ready" meant that the time had come for the earthly advent of the kingdom - Christ's church, the establishment of which was imminent (see Colossians 1:13).

Verse 18a - But they all with one accord began to make excuses.

The "excuse-makers" represent the scribes and Pharisees of Jesus' day. They were the Jewish religious elite, and the very ones present to hear the parable.

Verse 18b-20 - The first said to him, 'I have bought a piece of ground, and I must go and see it. I ask you to have me excused.' And another said, 'I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to test them. I ask you to have me excused.' Still another said, 'I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.'

The excuses themselves represent the scribes and Pharisees' refusal to accept Jesus (and John the Baptist before him) as representatives of God's will.

(The exceedingly lame nature of the excuses offered would be darkly humorous if they weren't so sad. If you put them in modern terms, it would be like saying, "I've bought land and I need to go see it," or "I've bought a car and I need to go test-drive it." No one buys land sight unseen, or buys a car without test-driving it first! The third excuse came closest to a legitimate reason, as newly married Jewish men were excused from military service for the first year of their marriage, but this didn't excuse them from social obligations - thus, this third excuse carries with it the idea of bending a commandment to suit ones personal desires (a practice at which the Pharisees were experts). The idea is clear - whatever their excuses were, the simple fact was that they just didn't WANT to attend, because other things were more important to them.)

Verse 21 - So that servant came and reported these things to his master. Then the master of the house, being angry, said to his servant, 'Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in here the poor and the maimed and the lame and the blind.'

The "poor, maimed, halt and blind" living in the "streets and lanes of the city" represent the religious outcasts of Jewish society...the everyday Jews with no power or privilege. These "publicans and sinners" were considered beneath notice by the Jewish elite, and were the very people who the Pharisees criticized Jesus for "hanging out" with (Luke 15:2 - And the Pharisees and scribes complained, saying, "This Man receives sinners and eats with them.").

It's also significant that, by Mosaic law, any physical deformity - even temporary ones, such as scabs or broken bones - prevented a Levite (a member of the priestly tribe, descended from Aaron) from approaching an altar to offer sacrifices, thus distancing them from a vital element of their worship (see Leviticus 21:18-21). This is one reason that Jesus had such great concern and showed such love and tenderness to those who were thus afflicted. The fact that they were now invited to the supper represents the removal of such a barrier to their approach to God and His kingdom, and is exactly the kind of thing Paul was talking about when he wrote in Colossians 2:14 - having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.

Verses 22, 23 - And the servant said, 'Master, it is done as you commanded, and still there is room.' Then the master said to the servant, 'Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.'

Those along the "highways and hedges" (v.23) represent the nations of the Gentiles, to whom the invitation went out only after all those within the "city" were invited. (Romans 1:16 - For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.)

Verse 24 - 'For I say to you that none of those men who were invited shall taste my supper.'

"Those men" (now barred from the supper) reflects directly back onto the excuse-makers.

Thus, the conclusion of the teaching as it applied to those in the audience: specifically, that the self-righteous rejection of Jesus by the Jewish elite would result in their exclusion from the kingdom and the extension of the invitation to others. Ultimately, the invitation is extended to ALL - but only those who accept the invitation as offered will "taste the supper" - which is to say, enter into God's kingdom.

The broad lesson to the modern reader is this: there is no good excuse for rejecting the gospel of Christ, and by such a rejection, one is forfeiting the opportunity to inherit eternal life.

Luke 13:28 - There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, and yourselves thrust out.

Luke 18:17 - Assuredly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it.

[All quotes from NKJV]