Have you ever stood outside a warm kitchen listening to the laughter inside and felt both longing and shame—wanting in but making excuses? The parable of the great supper hits that spot in the heart: God has prepared a banquet, an open table, and people find reasons to stay away. It’s a story about invitation, resistance, and the strange pain when grace is refused. It matters today because, like then, we often let convenience, fear, or pride keep us from the feast God has set.

In Matthew 22:1–14 and Luke 14:15–24 Jesus tells similar stories about a master who prepares a great banquet and sends out invitations. In both gospels the invited guests refuse: some ignore it, some make selfish excuses, and others mistreat the messengers. Luke emphasizes inviting the poor, crippled, blind, and lame and the urgency of filling the house by compelling people in from the streets. Matthew includes sharper judgment—hosts beaten, city destroyed—and adds the curious detail about a man without a wedding garment being cast out, concluding with “many are called, but few are chosen.” These differences shape how each Gospel highlights grace, judgment, and the required response. (This parable is in Matthew and Luke, not in Mark or John.)

This passage reveals two essential things: God’s invitation is lavish and universal, and human beings are tragically prone to refuse it. Jesus’ Kingdom looks like a feast where the last and least are welcomed first—God insists the table is open to those the world ignores. Yet the story also carries weight: invitations can be rejected, and coming to the banquet requires a true change of heart, not merely attendance. The wedding garment warns us that grace calls for transformation; God’s generosity is met by our honest repentance and new life, not complacent familiarity.

Today, live this truth by saying “yes” to one concrete invitation you’ve been avoiding—go to a worship service, mend a relationship, or invite someone overlooked for coffee. At home or work, practice hospitality: set a place, listen, and let someone linger. Before you go, pray a simple confession: “Lord, take my excuses. Put on me the garment of your grace.” Then walk to the table.