Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Luke 14:23

"And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and constrain [them] to come in, that my house may be filled." — Luke 14:23 (ASV)

The host “became angry” because the rejections were a personal insult. The “streets” were those roads traveled by a wide variety of people, whereas the “alleys” were small lanes or side paths likely to harbor the loitering outcasts of society. Those brought from these places were precisely the same unfortunates Jesus had told his host to invite in v.13 (see comment). With room still available (v.22), the servant is to go outside the town and search even the “country lanes” (v.23). To “make them come in” is not compulsion but “an insistent hospitality.” Although Jesus does not interpret the parable, we may link it with 13:28–30 and find in it an allusion of the extension of the Gospel to the Gentiles. Those who had the benefit of the original invitation are the Jews with all their heritage and spiritual advantages . “Not one” (v.24) refers to the parable and stresses the seriousness of the consequences of rejecting God’s invitation.