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I. "A certain man made a great supper" — the movement originated with himself, in his own mind — HIS OWN FREE BOUNTY — his own generosity — his unsolicited willingness to make others partakers of his rich enjoyments. The man here supposed represents Almighty God Himself; and the action here ascribed to Him represents the preparation of Christianity — that rich and saving feast for a perishing world. It originated (if an eternal purpose can properly be said to have had a beginning) in His own mind, His own free love, His own unsolicited willingness to make fallen men partakers of His own happiness, "that they might be filled with the fatness of His house — that they might drink of the river of His pleasures" (Psalm 36:8). See, then, the nature of the preparation. It is the mode adopted by Divine wisdom to render it a right thing — a righteous thing — for a sovereign Lawgiver and upright Judge to deal with convicted rebels as a pardoning father and a sympathizing friend; it is, in the language of St. Paul, that "God may be just, while He justifies the ungodly" (Romans 3:19-26; Romans 5:6-8). Behold, also, the extent of the preparation. It knows no earthly bounds, it extends to heaven; its value is not to be measured by earth, but is to be found in the harmonized perfections of God.

II. Now look at the INVITATION TO IT. He said to his servant, at the supper time, Go and "say to them who were bidden, Come; for all things are ready." This represents the commission to preach the gospel. St. Paul was determined to know nothing else, and preach nothing else. He accounted it the most distinguishing and the most exalted of the favours bestowed upon him, that he should declare among the Gentiles the "unsearchable riches of Christ" — in other words, the preparation of the Great Supper. And he exhorted — i.e., he pressed the invitation upon men — earnestly, that they might "not receive the grace of God in vain"; and urgently, because the time was short: "Now," he said, "is the appointed time, now is the day of salvation" (2 Corinthians 6:1, 2).

III. And now having so spoken of the preparation and the invitation, our next theme is a painful one — THE RECEPTION THAT THIS INVITATION MET WITH. The force of this portion of the parable lies in this — that the objects which, in their effects, became destructive, were in themselves lawful and right. The contrast is not between sin and duty, but between duty and duty — between duty number two and duty that ought always to be number one. The contrast is not between the house of gambling and the house of God — it is not between intemperance and uncleanness on the one side, and prayer and praise on the other; no, it is not that phase of human guilt that is exhibited; the contrast is rather between the countinghouse and the church, the shop and the house of God, domestic enjoyments and secret prayer. The contrast is between the attractions which the lawful occupations of this world possess for the natural heart of man, and the secret repugnance felt by that heart to the enjoyments of God.

IV. But the parable does not end there; the servants came in and repeated this answer, and the master was not satisfied; then he told the servants "to go out into the streets and lanes of the city, and to bring in the poor and the maimed, and the halt and the blind." There is an intimation in this part of the parable that a power would accompany the invitation such as would not be refused — such as would secure a company — such as would not leave the seats around the Master's table unoccupied, but, on the contrary, that his house should be filled. Now, think of this secret power. Here, again, we refer to the persons and resources of the Godhead. Jesus said, "I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you for ever." He shall present the preparation for the supper, and He shall urge the invitation, so as to supersede all pre-engagements, and put an end to all excuses. He has power to secure a gracious result without the slightest interference with the free operation of the moral machine that He has made. Nothing else can secure this; there is to be no force, and yet the result is to be secured; no action constrained, and yet the character totally altered. "Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power" (Psalm 110.). The will rules the man; and who rules the will? There is revelation of a secret power, which, touching the will, secures all that follows in the man's life with perfect freedom. Look at a large and complicated machine under the control of a little fly-wheel; that locked, the machine is stationary; that liberated, the machine goes on. See, the machine is stationary, and ignorant violence is made use of to make it go on, but in vain — blows are aimed at it to make it go on, in the wrong place, all in vain — it may be broken, but it cannot by violence be made to work — sledge-hammers are raised on it in vain; but see, a little child, properly instructed, with a little finger frees the fly-wheel, and the whole machine goes forward in its work; every arm, and every lever, and every wheel performs its appointed action duly and freely. It was that touch that did it — that touch is promised, of God, to us — in hope of it we preach, without it we preach in vain; all is sounding brass and tinkling cymbal without this.

(H. McNeile, D. D.)

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KJV: Then said he unto him, A certain man made a great supper, and bade many:

WEB: But he said to him, "A certain man made a great supper, and he invited many people.