Luk 14:7-24 | TNotes | STEP | 14:7 the seats of honor: Meals in the ancient world were rituals of social status. The place given to someone at the table was determined by their place in the social pecking order. The quality of the food served to each guest also depended on their status. These guests were jockeying for the places of highest honor.

14:7 ^a the seats of honor: Meals in the ancient world were rituals of social status. The place given to someone at the table was determined by their place in the social pecking order. The quality of the food served to each guest also depended on their status. These guests were jockeying for the places of highest honor.
14:8 ^b Jesus’ response was a commentary on Prov 25:6-7 ^c.
14:9 ^d Then you will be embarrassed: Honor was among the most important values in first century Jewish culture. This kind of humiliation would have been almost worse than death.
Summary for Luke 14:12-13: 14:12-13 ^e don’t invite your friends: Jesus challenged the prevailing use of banquets to flaunt and elevate one’s status in the community. The host would invite friends of equal status and a few who were higher. These honored guests would then be expected to reciprocate, raising the first host’s social position and reputation. Jesus turned this hierarchy upside down by instructing his followers to invite those who had no social status and could not reciprocate. God invites sinful human beings to dine at his banquet table of salvation.
14:14 ^f the resurrection of the righteous: see Dan 12:2 ^g.
Summary for Luke 14:15-24: 14:15-24 ^h This parable portrays what was happening in Jesus’ ministry. The rich, powerful, and elite rejected Jesus’ invitation to God’s salvation banquet and would be shut out. Meanwhile, poor people and outcasts responded to the invitation (see also 1:52-53 ⁱ; 6:21 ^j, 25 ^k; 10:15 ^l; 18:14 ^m).
14:17 ⁿ Come, the banquet is ready: The invitations would have been sent much earlier; the guests were summoned when the meal was ready.
14:18 ^o they all began making excuses: All such excuses would have been a great affront to the host, who had made a great investment in this important social event. These guests had previously accepted the invitation, and all of their excuses were weak. Clearly, they just didn’t want to attend the banquet.

• I have just bought a field and must inspect it: No one would buy a field without first inspecting it.
14:19 ^p oxen, and I want to try them out: This is another weak excuse—no one would buy oxen without having seen them plow.
14:20 ^q I just got married: Some see this as a legitimate excuse since the Old Testament exempted men from military service in their first year of marriage (Deut 20:7 ^r; 24:5 ^s), but this feast was a local community event, not a distant war. Furthermore, in an Israelite village, a marriage and a banquet would never be planned at the same time, so there was no real conflict.
14:21 ^t The poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame were the outcasts of Israel, to whom Jesus ministered.
14:23 ^u Go out into the country lanes: These invitees might be a reference to the Gentiles to whom the Good News eventually went (cp. Acts 9:15 ^v; 13:46-48 ^w; 18:4-6 ^x; Rom 11:11-12 ^y).