Dinner Parties

Luke 14: “A Dinner Party You Don’t Want to Miss!”

As we read this chapter, it is as if we are a “fly on the wall” and can see, smell, and experience the dinner party in real-time action. But sadly, this is not one dinner party that leaves one with a feeling of joy. What a contrast to the dinner party waiting for us in heaven!

If we were one of the guests at this dinner party, we would have seen the religious leaders watching Jesus closely. They had skillfully and slyly planted a man suffering from dropsy to test Jesus about his observance of the Sabbath. As we look around, we see guests choosing seats of honor and others who had been presumptuous being told to go and sit elsewhere. Invitations were only issued to friends, brothers, relatives, or rich neighbors. The meal was sumptuous and prepared as one would do for a Sabbath. Yet at this party, there was silence, caution, and humiliation.

What a contrast to the banquet our Lord prepares for us in heaven! There will be an enormous crowd that no one could count, not sitting but standing before the throne dressed in long white robes and with palm branches in their hands. The guest list includes some from every nation, tribe, people, and language. The menu will consist of springs of living water, the water of life, clear as crystal – pouring out from the throne of God and of the Lamb, and twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month of the year.

This is a dinner party I want to attend, how about you?