Lame Excuses
In Luke 14 beginning at verse 15 Jesus is at a feast and He begins to share a parable about a man who prepared a great feast.
Jesus said in verse 16 that the man throwing the feast sent out invitations. The folk knew that He was planning this feast. This is an important point. It's not like He planned this thing off in some corner and then surprised His guests. No, that was not the case at all. Since they had received an invitation, they should have been eagerly expecting notification that the feast was ready.
I have no idea what happened in the hearts of these privileged to have gotten an invitation. All I know is that when it came to them, one by one, all the persons invited to the feast had nothing but lame excuses.
Look at the excuses. One says he bought a field and needed to check it out. But really!? Who would have bought a field without first checking it out? Another says that he bought a pair of oxen. And again, who would purchase animals without first being sure they were healthy? Some have suggested that the third excuse is reasonable. In the ancient Hebrew culture men who got married were excused from going to war for the first year after their marriage. But again, this is a lame excuse because this feast was a local community celebration. No one was being sent off to war.
What was the problem? The problem is that they were too full! They weren't hungry. They were full of themselves, full of their own selfish priorities -- too full to come eat at the feast.
The same remains true of many today. We are privileged to have received a personal invitation to dine at the Master's table, but we're too full to come. I don't even need to try to tell the reasons. You know what they are. And we offer them. And others offering lame excuses nod their heads in agreement that our excuses are legitimate excuses.
The Master is not happy. He is not happy at all. In fact, the text (not me) says that He's downright angry. He commands that the poor, the blind, the lame be brought in to take the places of those who had first received the invitations.
Not sure if you're seeing this or not. Just because those on the original guest list don't show doesn't mean that the Master was going to let the feast go to waste. The poor, the blind, the lame have a seat at the table.
It's instructive, isn't it? It's humbling, isn't it? Those who have "too much," who get "too full" are the ones who end up missing out on the great celebration. They get replaced by the poor. Nobody forced them out. They chose to decline the greatest invitation anyone could have ever received. I am reminded of the words of Jesus who said, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven" (Matthew 5:3).
Being poor doesn't seem so bad anymore.
Jesus said in verse 16 that the man throwing the feast sent out invitations. The folk knew that He was planning this feast. This is an important point. It's not like He planned this thing off in some corner and then surprised His guests. No, that was not the case at all. Since they had received an invitation, they should have been eagerly expecting notification that the feast was ready.
I have no idea what happened in the hearts of these privileged to have gotten an invitation. All I know is that when it came to them, one by one, all the persons invited to the feast had nothing but lame excuses.
Look at the excuses. One says he bought a field and needed to check it out. But really!? Who would have bought a field without first checking it out? Another says that he bought a pair of oxen. And again, who would purchase animals without first being sure they were healthy? Some have suggested that the third excuse is reasonable. In the ancient Hebrew culture men who got married were excused from going to war for the first year after their marriage. But again, this is a lame excuse because this feast was a local community celebration. No one was being sent off to war.
What was the problem? The problem is that they were too full! They weren't hungry. They were full of themselves, full of their own selfish priorities -- too full to come eat at the feast.
The same remains true of many today. We are privileged to have received a personal invitation to dine at the Master's table, but we're too full to come. I don't even need to try to tell the reasons. You know what they are. And we offer them. And others offering lame excuses nod their heads in agreement that our excuses are legitimate excuses.
The Master is not happy. He is not happy at all. In fact, the text (not me) says that He's downright angry. He commands that the poor, the blind, the lame be brought in to take the places of those who had first received the invitations.
Not sure if you're seeing this or not. Just because those on the original guest list don't show doesn't mean that the Master was going to let the feast go to waste. The poor, the blind, the lame have a seat at the table.
It's instructive, isn't it? It's humbling, isn't it? Those who have "too much," who get "too full" are the ones who end up missing out on the great celebration. They get replaced by the poor. Nobody forced them out. They chose to decline the greatest invitation anyone could have ever received. I am reminded of the words of Jesus who said, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven" (Matthew 5:3).
Being poor doesn't seem so bad anymore.
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