One of his fellow guests on hearing this said to him, “Blessed is the one who will dine in the kingdom of God.” 16 He replied to him, “A man gave a great dinner to which he invited many. 17 When the time for the dinner came, he dispatched his servant to say to those invited, ‘Come, everything is now ready.’ 18 But one by one, they all began to excuse themselves. The first said to him, ‘I have purchased a field and must go to examine it; I ask you, consider me excused.’ 19 And another said, ‘I have purchased five yoke of oxen and am on my way to evaluate them; I ask you, consider me excused.’ 20 And another said, ‘I have just married a woman, and therefore I cannot come.’ 21 The servant went and reported this to his master. Then the master of the house in a rage commanded his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in here the poor and the crippled, the blind and the lame.’ 22 The servant reported, ‘Sir, your orders have been carried out and still there is room.’ 23 The master then ordered the servant, ‘Go out to the highways and hedgerows and make people come in that my home may be filled. 24 For, I tell you, none of those men who were invited will taste my dinner.”
One of the dinner guests made a hollow statement of praise (v. 15) which indicated that he did not fully understand that everyone is invited to participate in the kingdom of God that Jesus was inaugurating. Jesus then told a parable about guests who were invited to a great feast but they gave shallow excuses why they could not attend the feast (vv. 17-20). The invited guests were the religious leaders of the Israelites who thought themselves to be the heirs to the Kingdom. They were preoccupied with worldly concerns like wealth and had no time for what really mattered; “How hard it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God (Mk. 10:23)!”. They treated Jesus' invitation with contempt. The servants were the prophets sent by God to prepare the House of Israel for the coming of the Kingdom.
The religious leaders of God’s Chosen People failed to respond to the invitation to the feast of the Kingdom, so God in his righteous anger extended the invitation to the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame who heard the words of Jesus and recognized their need for salvation (vv. 21). These were most likely the people the Pharisees called the accursed crowd that does not know the Law (Jn. 7:49), as well as publicans and sinners (Mk. 2:15-16). The invitation was also extended to those from the highways and hedges, the Gentiles, as there is room in the Kingdom for all who accept God’s invitation (v. 23). The religious leaders could be denied their place at the great feast in the Kingdom of God. Those who reject Jesus’ invitation to the Kingdom reject salvation.
When invited to ancient Middle Eastern dinner parties, men would courteously resist the invitation to the event. They would have to be encouraged to attend. The servant of the host would be sent out on the day of the event to let the guests who had made a commitment to attend know that dinner was ready. Women did not attend the dinner parties as guests, but they prepared the meals. Whatever was left over was distributed to the people outside.
Almighty God, in your mercy, raise up all who call upon you and heal them in body and soul so that through faith they may worship you in spirit and truth and dine at your heavenly banquet. This we pray through Christ our Lord. Amen!
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References
Chiu, José Enrique Aguilar, et al. The Paulist Biblical Commentary. Paulist Press, 2018.
Brown, Raymond Edward, et al. The New Jerome Biblical Commentary. Upper Saddle River, NJ, United States, Prentice Hall, 1990.
Chiu, José Enrique Aguilar, et al. The Paulist Biblical Commentary. Paulist Press, 2018.
Brown, Raymond Edward, et al. The New Jerome Biblical Commentary. Upper Saddle River, NJ, United States, Prentice Hall, 1990.
Orchard, Bernard, et al. A Catholic Commentary on Holy Scripture. Feb. 1953.
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