That My House May Be Filled

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.’” (Luke 14:21-24)

If you recall from last week’s devotional, Jesus is at a Pharisee’s dinner party that He was invited to and having spoken about hard topics, like pride and partiality, He is now telling a parable of a man who gave a great banquet and the people who had been invited are all making excuses to not come. So now we pick up with the rest of it where the servant tells the master the bad news and the master has the servant bring in all the outcasts he can find to fill his house for this great banquet.

Bringing in Guests

The master had the servant bring in the poor, crippled, blind, and lame. The poor, crippled, blind, and lame – this is us! Yes, this has an overarching truth that the Jews would reject salvation through Jesus at first and that the invitation would be opened to the Gentiles, but as a whole, we are all the poor, crippled, blind, and lame because our sin has made us this way.

In Revelation, we see how the Laodiceans thought of themselves and how God saw their state. “For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see.” (Revelation 3:17-18) and Jesus also said in the Beatitudes, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:3)

We may not be literally poor, crippled, blind, and lame, but in and of ourselves we certainly are spiritually in that state and if we realize that, we’ll go to God and inherit the kingdom of heaven.

There’s another side to this too, because these people would need to be helped into the banquet hall. Three out of the four listed here are ailments that would disable the people from coming in alone, and even if they could get there themselves, they’d need to be led by the servant to know the way, of which they had never been before. And the servant did just that to fulfill what the master had commanded.

The servant also reported there was still room. He wasn’t satisfied with the number of people now attending as guests because he knew his master’s desire was to fill his house and his master’s desire became his desire.

Compel People

The servant was instructed by his master to compel people to come in, but why not just ask them to come? Here’s the thing, if someone randomly showed up at your house and said, “The President of the United States is inviting you to a banquet”, would you believe them and follow them to Washington, DC?

That sounds crazy, right? In the same way, so many people don’t believe the call to salvation is for them at first BECAUSE they are outcasts in light of God. They don’t believe they deserve it, and they’re right they don’t but the invitation to come is in spite of us and in light of God’s work on our behalf. And God strongly desires for all to come to repentance and be saved so He instructs His servants to compel people to come.

2 Corinthians 5 gives very clear insight into this very thing: For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died; and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again… Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation… Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. (2 Corinthians 5:14-15, 18, 20)

It is important to note here that compel isn’t saying force someone. There are several uses of this word in the Greek, and this has a connotation to entreat. In other words, strongly urge or implore with great earnest. Sadly, some have misused Scriptures like these to justify the wrongdoing of coercing conversion, such as in the Inquisition, but that was never what Jesus taught nor commanded and it is a disgraceful thing that shouldn’t be. Christ never forced Himself on us, it was His love that compelled us, and we too should compel with love as we share the good news of the gospel.

Both Guest and Servant

We glean from both guest and servant in this. We are poor, crippled, blind, and lame spiritually and need a servant of the master to tell us the call to come, know the way to get there, and be helped along the way. And we are the servant because once we are part of the kingdom of God, we serve as a servant bringing in the other poor, crippled, blind, and lame people who have yet to come in. This in a nutshell is discipleship.

We come to Christ by hearing about His gospel message through one of His servants. We grow as His servants come alongside us and disciple us by walking with us, helping guide the way, and by holding us accountable. And then we in turn end up doing the same for others. This process of discipleship is how God designed it to be.

But in order to be a faithful servant of God, truly an ambassador for Him, we must have our desire aligned with His. This is easier to do in word, but not necessarily easy to do in action. Of course, as followers of Jesus we want our desire to be aligned with His, but actually doing it requires a close abiding relationship with Him. One in which we not only listen, but listen and obey. Will you do this today? Share your faith with someone and lovingly compel them by earnestly telling them the good news of the gospel.