We’ve been looking at some of the parables of Jesus in the Gospel of Luke, and today we come to another parable that Jesus gives to the religious leaders of his day. We are in Luke 14:12-24.

This passage opens with a conversation that Jesus has with the host of a dinner party he was invited to. Luke 14:1 puts us in the setting. It is a Sabbath day meal, and these meals were usually the “after church” dinner meals that we might enjoy in a similar way today. Everyone would go to the synagogue for the reading and teaching of the Word, and then, after the synagogue meeting, they would retire to homes to eat and celebrate together.

In this instance, Jesus was invited over to the home of a prominent leading Pharisee, a “ruler of the Pharisees.” His motivations were not out of kindness and warm hospitality. He has more devious ideas and intentions. “They [the Pharisees] were watching him carefully” (Luke 14:1).

So far, in this meal Jesus has challenged the religious leaders that were there… and in our text, he’s going to do so again. This time he specifically addresses the man who invited him. Jesus turns his view of who is in the kingdom God and who is not upside down.

Revealed - Part 3 - Parable of the Open-Invite Banquet - Jon Morales