Tuesday, September 3, 2019

Invitation to a Party

Wednesday, September 4, 2019

Hearing this, a man sitting at the table with Jesus exclaimed, “What a blessing it will be to attend a banquet in the Kingdom of God!”  Jesus replied with this story:  “A man prepared a great feast and sent out many invitations.  When the banquet was ready, he sent his servant to tell the guests, ‘Come, the banquet is ready.’  But they all began making excuses.  One said, ‘I have just bought a field and must inspect it. Please excuse me.’  Another said, ‘I have just bought five pairs of oxen, and I want to try them out.  Please excuse me.’  Another said, ‘I just got married, so I can’t come.’  “The servant returned and told his master what they had said.  His master was furious and said, ‘Go quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and invite the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame.’  After the servant had done this, he reported, ‘There is still room for more.’  So his master said, ‘Go out into the country lanes and behind the hedges and urge anyone you find to come, so that the house will be full.  For none of those I first invited will get even the smallest taste of my banquet.’”  Luke 14: 15-24

The old saying goes something like there’s no such thing as bad weather, only a bad choice in clothing.  That sounds a little empty when you’re talking about people in the pathway of a Category 5 hurricane.  However, the clothing in this case is the preparation choices – which, in my case, would probably involve moving as fast as I can in the opposite direction of the storm!
Jesus’ parable about the man who was giving a great banquet is all about the responses of those whom he’d invited.  They gave excuses – some which sounded quite reasonable; others that were lame.  We must remember that this story is told in response to a man’s musing over the grandeur of God’s heavenly banquet in the New Kingdom.  Jesus travels back further than the banquet…all the way to the invitations.
We could sum up the story in many ways, but what strikes me this morning is that there are always obstacles in the way of obeying and serving God; our resolve must be to never let them become excuses.  I am, for instance, an old guy now.  That is an obstacle with health issues, decreased energy reserves and strength, and a thousand other things that want to claim my attention; there could be an excuse (or twenty) for every ministry opportunity. 
We all face the same dilemma…not enough time, resources, strength or knowledge to do all life seems to demand.  But – back to Jesus’ parable – this was an invitation to a great, grand party; we’re talking priority here!  And the grandest factor is the Giver of the invitation.  As we live life in the Kingdom of God, there must be a constant focus kept of the name signed at the bottom of the invitation; how we respond determines a lot about the reception we will get at the front door on that final day.
There are many these days who reject the invitation outright, even denying God’s existence…or, if He does exist, His right to demand our attendance at His party.  That is a right God granted to every human; it’s called free-will.  It’s a sad response to a grand invitation, but each person chooses heaven or hell.
Perhaps the saddest response is the excuse of the half-hearted Christian who wants both heaven’s blessing as well as the hell of selfishness.  It’s something like getting an invitation to the party, and responding thank you, how kind of you to think of me; unfortunately, I can’t come because Friday is my poker night with friends, and your party isn’t nearly as much fun.  You can send my piece of cake and whatever else you’re going to serve to my apartment.  And could you send it Thursday?  I wouldn’t want to inconvenience my friends if the messenger showed up during our game.
For You Today
Parables can get kind of fanciful and far-flung; this one isn’t!  What Jesus said about the excuses people not getting even a morsel to taste at the Heavenly Kingdom banquet is clear…it’s not an invitation to ditch, duck, or demur; you don’t want to miss this party!
You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day.

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[1] Title Image:  Courtesy of  Pixabay.com     Unless otherwise noted, Scripture used from The New Living Translation©

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