14:15–24 Jesus’ advice on inviting the lowly to one’s feast leads one of the guests to pronounce a beatitude (blessed) upon those who will eat at the feast in the kingdom of God. For Luke this beatitude surely strikes at the very heart of the question with which he is most concerned. Who really are those who will be included in the kingdom of God? To those surrounding Jesus at table the answer probably seemed clear enough. Those virtually guaranteed admission would be those in whose lives God’s blessing seemed most apparent: one’s friends, relatives and rich neighbors (v. 12 above), the very sort of people with whom anyone would most wish to associate. However, Jesus’ Parable of the Great Banquet (vv. 16–24) suggests that those who enter the kingdom and enjoy the great banquet may be more …