Luke 14:22

Luke 14:22, in plain English

The servant comes back and says, 'I did what you asked, but there's still room!' The table is bigger than anyone imagined.

Why it's here

This detail matters — God's feast has room for even more people than we think. There's always space at His table.

Who's speaking

The servant reports back faithfully, and his words reveal the extraordinary abundance of the master's provision.

Where it sits in the story

Even after filling the table with people from the streets, there are still empty chairs. The master's generosity outpaces everyone's expectations.

The scholarly reading

The servant reports compliance with the master's command while noting 'there is still room' (eti topos estin). This narrative detail creates space for the second, even wider outreach in the next verse.

Language and setting

The 'still room' motif emphasizes the abundance of God's provision and the expansiveness of the kingdom invitation beyond initial expectations.

Voice

The servant reports back to the master, confirming obedience and revealing that the banquet hall's capacity exceeds even the urban poor's numbers.

Significance

The servant returns: 'Done — but there's still room at the table.' The feast is so abundant that even the city's marginalized don't fill it.

20Still another said, ‘I have married a wife, so I cannot come.’

21The servant returned and reported all this to his master. Then the owner of the house became angry and said to his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the city, and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame.’

22‘Sir,’ the servant replied, ‘what you ordered has been done, and there is still room.’

23So the master told his servant, ‘Go out to the highways and hedges and compel them to come in, so that my house will be full.

24For I tell you, not one of those men who were invited will taste my banquet.’”

Read all of Luke 14 — The invited guests make excuses, so the host sends servants into the streets and alleys. God's table will be full — just not with who you'd expect.