Title: Fill My House! (Luke 14:16-24)
“The master said to his servant, “Go out into the roads and hedges, and compel them to bring them in and fill my house, I tell you, not one of those whom I had invited before will taste my banquet.” (Luke 14:23~) 24)
Today's text This parable in Luke 14 was taught by Jesus and is called “the parable of the great banquet.” In this parable, the owner of the banquet is God.
The topic of today's Word is the heart of God who, as the owner, prepared a feast for us. The heart of God is the heart of love. Love is the desire to give, the desire to be together, and the desire to live together. This kind of God's heart is shown in today's text as a feast. The content is that a certain owner does not enjoy the feast alone, but invites many people to eat, drink and have fun together. This owner's invitation is not to prepare any bribes or bring anything. Just come to the party and have fun together. However, he discovers that there is pain in the love that the owner wants to have a feast and enjoy together. Because it was rejected. It is truly painful to be rejected by love. This is why the landlord is outraged.
If you look at the words of Matthew 22, where the parables like the one in the text are recorded, it says that they slaughtered cattle and fattened animals and had everything ready. In other words, the party was ready, so all you have to do is come and enjoy it together. Even though I earnestly invited him like this, people did not pretend to listen. However, the text shows the love of the master who does not give up on the feast until the end, and the endless love that tries to complete the feast that has already started no matter what. This is the one-sided grace of God's love for man.
There are no conditions for this calling. There is no other meaning than sharing the joy with the host who made the feast. It doesn't ask for targets or qualifications either. There are no obligations and no burdens. However, this earnest invitation from the owner is rejected by the people. There is nothing more offensive than a well-prepared invitation being rejected. In Palestine, when someone throws a feast, the date is announced long in advance and an invitation is sent. But the time was not announced. When that day came and everything was ready, the servants went out and invited the guests who had been invited in advance. It was a grave and serious insult to the person who arranged the feast to accept the invitation in advance and then decline it on that day.
If you look at the words of Luke 14:18, today's text, the reasons for refusal are all in agreement. The owner of the house prepares a perfect feast with all the best, and first invites the people living in the castle to “come”. These are the Jews. But it doesn't come. It doesn't look at the heart of its owner. Regardless of how upset they might be, everyone agrees to decline. “I have bought a field, and I must go out to see it, so please forgive me.” “I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to test it. The Old Testament says, “If a man takes a new wife, he shall not send her out into the army, and shall not entrust her with any duties” (Deuteronomy 24:5).
But what are these three representative men talking about? Everyone is thinking of me as one. I'm only talking about my own circumstances. Rather, it is, in a softer way, “Excuse me.” They never think about the host who hosts the feast and invites them. It's not that I don't understand the heart of the owner, but that I can't respond to the invitation with my thoughts and circumstances. That's where the problem lies. To respond to the invitation of the master, I must first forget any plans or thoughts about myself. You must distinguish between what is more important and what is less important. And we must accept the invitation itself with gratitude, considering the hard work, heart, and circumstances of the host who invited us. This is the right heart of those who respond to the invitation.
Guests flock to the famous banquet house. The first thing to consider when planning to get your children married is to check the wedding venue seating. The problem is that you have to think first about the number of guests you can attend. The important thing is just that the house for the party has so many guests that there is not enough food. In any case, it is the heart of the host who held the feast to hope that many guests will come.
There is a sculpture of a rose wreath to the right of the door of a cathedral in Milan, Italy. At the bottom there is an inscription, “Everything that pleases us is momentary,” and at the bottom left is a fragment of a cross of thorns that reads, “All that troubles us is momentary.” And above the door is the inscription, "Nothing is more important than eternity." There are many good things in a person's life. But the best thing is. It is a life that responds to God's request to leave behind the pleasures of worldly moments and invites us to the eternal heavenly feast.
Jesus has a great and deep interest in “my house,” the church. When the Jews defiled the temple in Jerusalem by making it a den of merchants, Jesus drove them out and declared, “My house is the house of prayer for all people.” He is giving the clear word that the temple, that is, the church, is “my house.” And today he tells us to go out first to fill this house. It's about finding people to invite. And he compels them to bring them. It is to spread far beyond the fence or the enclosed wall and force everyone to be brought in. Finally, he commands, “Take men and fill my house,” that is, “make it full.” The reason is that the house of feast the Lord has given is always full of people and should be enjoyed together.