Go Out & Bring Them In

In this session, Jesus is going to tell us a parable that puts all of us in the story – and gives every one of us a job to do. But before we get to the parable, we need to look at the setting, because it matters.

Jesus is at lunch one Sabbath day in the home of a Pharisee. The guy had invited his Pharisee friends with their money and their fancy robes and their theology degrees. And he invited Jesus, the carpenter from Nazareth who was (to them) sort of a country rabbi who was making them look bad. The common people loved Jesus, but these Pharisees hated Him. In fact, the lunch was really an opportunity for them to embarrass and discredit Jesus.

Jesus (fully aware of what was going on) turns the subject to “the resurrection of the just.” This is something the Pharisees would recognize from Isaiah 25, where God promises a great banquet in heaven. All those who are saved will be there; it will be a great celebration, sitting at the banquet table of God in heaven.

One of the guys raises a toast to his Pharisee club and says, “Blessed are people like us who are going to be there!” These guys are proud and entitled. Immediately Jesus begins to tell this parable, and it draws them in because it is so ridiculous. But then Jesus drops a statement of truth that hits them hard. Please find Luke 14:15-24.