**The Parable of the Great Banquet and the Cost of Discipleship**
It was a Sabbath day, and the sun hung high in the sky, casting its golden light over the dusty roads of a small village in Judea. Jesus, the Teacher, had been invited to dine at the home of a prominent Pharisee. The house was grand, with whitewashed walls and a courtyard filled with the fragrance of blooming flowers. Inside, the table was set with fine linens, and the aroma of roasted lamb and freshly baked bread filled the air. The guests, all men of influence and stature, reclined at the table, their robes flowing elegantly as they engaged in quiet conversation.
Jesus entered the room, His presence commanding yet humble. The Pharisees watched Him closely, their eyes sharp and calculating. They had heard of His teachings and miracles, and some sought to test Him, while others hoped to catch Him in a misstep. Among the guests was a man suffering from dropsy, his body swollen and his face pale. Jesus, noticing him, turned to the Pharisees and asked, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath, or not?” The room fell silent. The Pharisees exchanged glances, their faces hardening. They knew the Law, but they also knew the trap Jesus had laid before them. When they remained silent, Jesus reached out, touched the man, and healed him. The man’s swelling vanished, and color returned to his cheeks. Jesus sent him on his way, then turned to the Pharisees and said, “Which of you, having a son or an ox that has fallen into a well on a Sabbath day, will not immediately pull him out?” Again, they had no answer.
As the meal began, Jesus observed how the guests jostled for the places of honor at the table. He saw the pride in their eyes, the subtle maneuvering for position. When the time came to recline, He told them a parable: “When you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, do not sit down in a place of honor, lest someone more distinguished than you be invited by the host, and he who invited you both will come and say to you, ‘Give your place to this person,’ and then you will begin with shame to take the lowest place. But when you are invited, go and sit in the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he may say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher.’ Then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at the table with you. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
The guests shifted uncomfortably, their faces flushing with embarrassment. Jesus’ words cut through their pride like a sharp blade, exposing the vanity of their hearts. But He was not finished. Turning to the host, He said, “When you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return and you be repaid. But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind, and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just.”
One of the guests, perhaps seeking to lighten the mood, raised his cup and said, “Blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!” Jesus, seizing the moment, replied with another parable: “A man once gave a great banquet and invited many. And at the time for the banquet, he sent his servant to say to those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’ But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said, ‘I have bought a field, and I must go out and see it. Please have me excused.’ Another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to examine them. Please have me excused.’ And another said, ‘I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.’ So the servant came and reported these things to his master. Then the master of the house became angry and said to his servant, ‘Go out quickly to the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in the poor and crippled and blind and lame.’ And the servant said, ‘Sir, what you commanded has been done, and still there is room.’ And the master said to the servant, ‘Go out to the highways and hedges and compel people to come in, that my house may be filled. For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste my banquet.’”
The room was silent, the weight of Jesus’ words settling over the guests like a heavy cloak. The parable was a warning, a vivid picture of God’s kingdom and the rejection of those who were too preoccupied with their own lives to accept His invitation. The Pharisees, who prided themselves on their knowledge of the Law and their place in God’s plan, were being confronted with the reality that their self-righteousness and complacency could exclude them from the feast.
As the meal drew to a close, Jesus turned to the large crowd that had gathered outside the house. Many were following Him, drawn by His teachings and miracles. But Jesus knew their hearts, and He wanted them to understand the cost of discipleship. He said to them, “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.”
The crowd murmured in confusion. Hate their families? Carry a cross? These were hard sayings, and Jesus knew it. He continued, “For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be My disciple.”
The crowd was stunned. Jesus was not offering an easy path or a comfortable life. He was calling them to total commitment, to a life of sacrifice and surrender. He concluded with a sobering reminder: “Salt is good, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is of no use either for the soil or for the manure pile. It is thrown away. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”
As the sun dipped below the horizon, casting long shadows across the village, the people dispersed, their minds heavy with the weight of Jesus’ words. Some walked away, unwilling to pay the price. Others lingered, their hearts stirred, wrestling with the call to follow Him. And Jesus, knowing the cost of the journey ahead, continued on His way, His face set like flint toward Jerusalem.
