Do you know Jesus? Are you feeling far from Jesus? Well, consider what he might be saying to you through this parable today. This passage is the first of three successive parables (Luke 15) on God’s pursuit of his people and the Kingdom of God. Jesus tells this parable while on his way to Jerusalem. “He set his face to Jerusalem...” (Luke 9:51). Jesus knew what was going to happen to him in Jerusalem (i.e., cross).

The parable of the Great Banquet is all about grace—an unmerited gift from the Lord. In what ways has this series caused you to pray about or read the parables differently? Have you paid closer attention to the surprises? Have you prayed for “hiddenness” to be revealed? Have you ever given a gift and truly expected nothing in return? What compelled you to give in that way? How was it received? Or have you been on the receiving end?

The Christian life must be built on a foundation of doing: “Everyone who hears these words of mine and does them [puts them into practice] will be like a wise man...” What causes your faith to become one primarily of “lip service”? What does it look like to move away from “lip service” to actively doing Jesus’ commands?

At Gordon Conwell Sam had a professor named Dr. Stewart. One day, Dr. Stewart was teaching on a recurring biblical theme: People have ears, but they don’t really understand or perceive. Jeremiah 5:21 says, “Hear this, you foolish and senseless people, who have eyes but do not see, who have ears but do not hear.” Dr. Stewart suddenly paused and said, “Let me tell you something I hope you don’t forget. In life you can be sincere and wrong at the same time.”

Parables contain surprises. The meaning of a parable turns on the surprise. So, look for that which you don’t expect. What are some surprises you’ve encountered before in parables? How did the surprise impact the meaning of the parable, or flip a truth “on its head”? The lawyer who comes to Jesus is not a criminal or civil lawyer. He is a lawyer in the Jewish sense—an expert on the Torah…

What is a parable? An abstract truth illustrated and brought to life in a story (e.g., “Love your neighbor” in the story of the Good Samaritan). Why parables? We can be “hard-headed,” but stories slip past our mental defenses and into our hearts.