Luke 14:19-24: a reflection

19“Another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I must go try them out. Please have me excused.’ 20“Another said, ‘I have married a wife, and therefore I can’t come.’ 21“That servant came, and told his lord these things. Then the master of the house, being angry, said to his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in the poor, maimed, blind, and lame.’ 22“The servant said, ‘Lord, it is done as you commanded, and there is still room.’ 23“The lord said to the servant, ‘Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled. 24For I tell you that none of those men who were invited will taste of my supper. For many are called, but few are chosen.’”

In the parable of the great banquet, those invited begin to make excuses: one has bought a field, another five yoke of oxen, another has married a wife, and so each begs off. Their excuses are not evil in themselves, ordinary business and life; but they are excuses all the same, reasons to decline the gracious invitation to the feast. And the master, angered, fills his house instead with the poor and lame and blind. The invited made excuses and missed the feast; their ordinary preoccupations kept them from the gracious invitation.

Notice how the excuses kept the invited from the feast. Their reasons were not wicked, a field, oxen, a marriage, the ordinary matters of life; but they were excuses, reasons to decline the invitation. Each let his own preoccupations take precedence over the gracious call to the feast; and so they missed it. The tragedy was not that they were openly rebellious, but that they let ordinary things become excuses to decline the invitation. Their preoccupation with lawful things kept them from the feast to which they were graciously called; the excuses cost them the banquet.

That is worth taking to heart, for we too can let ordinary preoccupations become excuses that keep us from responding to God's invitation. God graciously invites us, to himself, to his feast, to a deeper life with him; and we can beg off with excuses, not wicked ones, but the ordinary preoccupations of life, letting them take precedence over his gracious call, as the invited did. Do not let the ordinary preoccupations of life become excuses that keep you from responding to God's gracious invitation; do not miss the feast by begging off. Respond to God's gracious invitation rather than letting the ordinary matters of life become excuses to decline it, as the invited made excuses and missed the banquet; for God graciously calls us to his feast, and it would be a tragedy to miss it by letting lawful preoccupations become excuses to decline his call.

Lord, in the parable of the great banquet, those invited begin to make excuses: one has bought a field, another five yoke of oxen, another has married a wife, and so each begs off. Their excuses are not evil in themselves, ordinary business and life; but they are excuses all the same, reasons to decline the gracious invitation to the feast. And the master, angered, fills his house instead with the poor and lame and blind. The invited made excuses and missed the feast. Show me how the excuses kept the invited from the feast. Their reasons were not wicked, a field, oxen, a marriage, the ordinary matters of life; but they were excuses. Each let his own preoccupations take precedence over the gracious call to the feast; and so they missed it. The tragedy was not that they were openly rebellious, but that they let ordinary things become excuses to decline the invitation. Take that to my heart, for I too can let ordinary preoccupations become excuses that keep me from responding to your invitation. You graciously invite me, to yourself, to your feast, to a deeper life with you; and I can beg off with excuses, not wicked ones, but the ordinary preoccupations of life, letting them take precedence over your gracious call. Keep me from letting the ordinary preoccupations of life become excuses that keep me from responding to your gracious invitation, Lord; do not let me miss the feast by begging off. Help me respond to your gracious invitation rather than letting the ordinary matters of life become excuses to decline it.