After one of the guests in the chief Pharisee’s home rebuked Jesus (Luke 14:15), Jesus responded to by telling him and the others present a parable of a certain man who threw a great feast (Luke 14:16).The certain man in the parable is supposed to represent the Father, while his servant is supposed to be Jesus (Luke 14:16-17). The people who were invited represent the Jewish nation (Luke 14:16-20), and in the present context, especially the Jewish authorities.
It seems obvious in the parable that two invitations were offered, because the servant, Jesus, was sent out to those who were already invited. So, if Jesus also extended an invitation to an exclusive group of people by saying the banquet is ready, it stands to reason that this exclusive group had been invited beforehand and had accepted that invitation. The accepted invitation seems to point to the covenant made at Sinai. The people agreed to do all that the Lord, their God, had commanded (cf. Exodus 19:8; 24:3, 7). That is, they accepted the Lord’s invitation to be his people (Exodus 19:5; Deuteronomy 14:2; 26:18), and as his people, they would receive his blessings—they would be blessed above all other people. One might say that they were invited to partake of a banquet of blessings from the Lord (Deuteronomy 33:29), a banquet to which the other nations were not invited (Psalm 147:19-20).
The people in the parable made light of the second invitation, offering excuses and asking to be dropped from the list of guest. In other words, in the beginning they agreed to come, but when the banquet was ready and the second invitation went out to them, they refused it (Luke 14:18-20). Yet, Moses claimed a second invitation would be sent out, and they would be required to obey the one, who like Moses, extended it (cf. Deuteronomy 18:15-19).
The idea of giving two invitations was part of the ancient culture concerning hospitality in the Middle East. Testimony to this can be found in the Book of Esther. Esther had invited her husband, the king, and Haman, the king’s chief prince (Esther 3:1) to a banquet, and they came (Esther 5:3-5). However, this banquet was the forerunner of the second and most important banquet that Esther had planned (Esther 5:6-8). The first banquet was enjoyable, but Esther’s heart desire wasn’t disclosed during that banquet. That came after the second invitation to the second and great banquet that she made for the king. This points to the two covenants God made with the Jews. The first, i.e. the Mosaic Covenant (Exodus 19:8; 24:3, 7), carried with it many blessings, but it was at the second banquet—the great banquet—where God’s heart is revealed (John 3:16; cf. Esther 7:1-6; Acts 7:13).
However, it seems the people, especially the Jewish authorities, believed that, because they were Jewish and descended from Abraham, God was obligated to bless them. In fact, behavior on their part wasn’t an issue, as far as inheritance was concerned, because they were Abraham’s children. God, himself, even referred to them as his own children, and a child, especially the firstborn (cf. Exodus 4:22), inherited his father’s wealth, whether the child was good or evil. Therefore, as Abraham’s children, and God as their spiritual Father (cf. John 8:41), they believed their inheritance was secure (John 8:39a), because the promises were to Abraham and his seed (Genesis 22:17-18). In other words, if they were born Jews, it stood to reason that the inheritance was theirs no matter what else occurred.
The original guests, whom God, the master of the house, had invited through Moses, refused his invitation that came through Jesus, that Prophet (John 1:21, 25; 6:14; cf. Deuteronomy 18:15-19). Therefore, by means of the Gospel, God’s second invitation went out to the outcasts of the Jewish nation and the gentile nations (Luke 14:21-24), and they have been enjoying the blessings of God ever since.
The banquet of God is the Lord’s Supper and believers have enjoyed him, i.e. Jesus who is our manna from heaven, since Pentecost cir. 31 AD. The Jewish nation, on the other hand, when the Jews, as a whole, didn’t repent of rejecting Christ during the grace period before the Jewish war with Rome, found both their Temple and their nation taken away. They refused the blessings of God and were the first to experience his wrath.
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