Part 3 12 Then said he also to him that bade him, When thou makest a dinner or a supper, call not thy friends, nor thy brethren, neither thy kinsmen, nor thy rich neighbours; lest they also bid thee again, and a recompence be made thee. 13 But when thou makest a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind: 14 And thou shalt be blessed; for they cannot recompense thee: for thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just. 15 And when one of them that sat at meat with him heard these things, he said unto him, Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God. 16 Then said he unto him, A certain man made a great supper, and bade many: 17 And sent his servant at supper time to say to them that were bidden, Come; for all things are now ready. 18 And they all with one consent began to make excuse. The first said unto him, I have bought a piece of ground, and I must needs go and see it: I pray thee have me excused. 19 And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them: I pray thee have me excused. 20 And another said, I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come. 21 So that servant came, and shewed his lord these things. 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 hither the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind. 22 And the servant said, Lord, it is done as thou hast commanded, and yet there is room. 23 And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled. 24 For I say unto you, That none of those men which were bidden shall taste of my supper. The next 12 verses of this chapter outline a parable that Jesus puts forth to the one who bade Him to come to supper. He tells him that when he makes a supper to invite people who cannot recompense him rather than ones who can. In this way he will be recompensed later on when God settles accounts. When one of the other dinner guests hears this he says that a man who eats bread in the kingdom of God. Upon hearing him say this Jesus puts forth a parable to the people listening. He tells them that a man made a feast and bade many to come. They all began, however, to make excuses. One said that he had to prove a yoke of oxen, one said that he had to see about a parcel of land, and yet another said he has married a wife and cant make it. Now this is significant to me because this is the kind of things people do when they are invited to come to church. I make this analogy because as we all know as believers Gods house is the church. The people inside the building are also the church. The house of God isnt just the building but the people who worship inside of it. People have all kinds of excuses for why they dont go to church: people made me mad, I dont believe in organized religion, I can worship God without going to church, etc. I believe church is a necessary institution. The Bible says that we shouldnt forsake the assembling of ourselves as some people do. Now this parable itself might not actually be ALLUDING to that, but I believe the comparison can be drawn here if one studies it hard enough. When the people the man had invited refused to come to his supper the man told his servant, angrily, to go out and call the poor, the maimed, the lame, and the blind. Lame here means crippled. The servant ran out and did exactly that and when he was finished he told his lord that there was still room for more. What does the lord tell the servant? Go out and compel them to come to my house, so that it can be filled. Now, like I said, this may not be what Jesus was alluding to here, but to me it sounds like He is clear as crystal. How do you compel someone to come to Gods house? Well what does it mean to compel someone to do something? Lets look at the definition here. bring about (something) by the use of force or pressure. So here we see that to compel someone to do something means to bring it about by the use of force or pressure. So the lord in this parable is telling his servant to bring them in by force if necessary, and that none of the men which were originally bidden would taste of his supper. Now I dont know if this is exactly what this parable is referring to, but the men who rejected the lords offer seems a lot to me like the people who reject Gods gift of salvation. Suppose for example that the supper the lord speaks of here is actually alluding to salvation of the world and that the people who were bidden to come excused themselves from coming. They rejected the lords offer. The lord then brings in people who are of low stature into his house. Then when hes told that the house still has room for more, he tells the servant to compel other people to come in, and that the men who originally refused would miss out. We can liken the people who came to the lords supper here as the people who, for example, repent of their sins and come to be saved. Suppose also that the lord is actually referring to God and that the servant is Jesus Himself. I admit I find this parable difficult. If anyone has anything on it or can tell me a more clear meaning then please let me know. The fact of the matter is, I believe this verse is telling the church to go out and compel people to come into Gods house so that they too can be saved. God is inviting everyone to be saved but not everyone is coming because the house of God is not full yet.
Posted on: Tue, 04 Mar 2014 22:19:44 +0000
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