“But He said to him, ‘A man once gave a great banquet and invited many. And at the time for the banquet he sent his servant to say to those who had been invited, “Come, for everything is now ready.” But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said to him, “I have bought a field, and I must go out and see it. Please have me excused.” And another said, “I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to examine them. Please have me excused.” And another said, “I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.” So the servant came and reported these things to his master. Then the master of the house became angry and said to his servant, “Go out quickly to the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in the poor and crippled and blind and lame.” And the servant said, “Sir, what you commanded has been done, and still there is room.” And the master said to the servant, “Go out to the highways and hedges and compel people to come in, that my house may be filled. For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste my banquet.” Luke 14:16-24
Devotional Thought For The Day
All of the main principles of God’s kingdom are laid out plainly in this parable, and also the terrible condition of fallen, sinful hearts of men. With the gift of His Son, God has graciously set a magnificent banquet of His love, mercy, forgiveness, eternal life and salvation. Further, He has sent the invitation out to all people – “Come, for everything is now ready.” All are invited to confess our sins, to receive His gracious mercy, forgiveness, and cleansing, to enter into the Father’s presence with peace and joy, and to take pleasure in His bountiful love and kindness. He feeds us with great heavenly blessings – His Word, His presence, the Sacrament of His atonement, and assures us that this great feast of fellowship and love will continue forever, soon in a most wondrous place where there is no more suffering, sorrow, pain or need. Plain and simple, it is His will that we come, that we participate in His feast, that we receive from His bounty and rejoice to be in His presence, provisioned for life by His love. He is even willing to “compel” us to come. He sends His servants to beg us to come, to return to God, to be at peace with Him, reconciled to Him as He is reconciled to us in Christ, as Paul writes to the Corinthians: “Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.” [2 Cor. 5:20]
But alas, much to God’s sorrow and chagrin, most decline His invitation. It is not “other-worldly” concerns that keep them away, but rather common, ordinary earthly things – and we can identify with these motivations. One has made a significant investment in property, and must attend to its responsibilities; another has made a significant investment in equipment to do his work and must check it out; another has taken a wife and must nurture that relationship. We of course could expand the list almost infinitely – vacations, family, recreation, work, fatigue, relaxation, rest, opportunities to do other fun and interesting things. But the bottom line remains the same – for a multitude of reasons the many actually ask God to excuse them from His blessings and love, from the place where He gathers His people to fete them with His banquet of blessings. And we have the same temptations as each week He invites us to come and feast with Him, and at times we also ask to be excused. It is all rather remarkable, and bears witness to the deeply ingrained perversion of our hearts and the self-destructive nature of sin which remains in us. Of course, the unbelievers in the world around us make such rejection of God’s invitation habitual, and we come to see this as “normal,” and our attendance as “extraordinary,” and actually come to think that God owes us favor that we would come as often as we do, that He has no ground for objection that we should excuse ourselves from His presence. Astounding!
God will fill His banquet hall – even if He does so with what proud and self-inflated people think of as inferior and pitiful people, “the poor and crippled and blind and lame.” So the church is populated not so much by the great and mighty but by the downcast and humble, who in reality are the richly blessed, for of those too busy and too important to come God declares: “none of those men who were invited shall taste my banquet.” They wouldn’t come even if given a second chance – and in reality they are given numerous chances, at least one opportunity each week to return to the Lord and partake of His blessings. But it is amazing, and quite heartening, to see what efforts are made by the lowly people of this world to make it to God’s banquet each Sunday. Our values dictate that we consider wealth, prosperity, privilege, power, and prerogative as the highest good, what all should strive to attain – but all of these things, and the compulsion to acquire them, actually keep people out of God’s kingdom, away from His banquet of blessings and love. The wise would do well to give this very careful consideration – and perhaps pray that we might be so humbled that we value nothing more highly, cherish nothing more than being in the presence of God to be fed by His gracious goodness and love.
Often it has been “pious” parents who have subtly inculcated these weaknesses in their children, by moderating their gratitude to God and compromising their discipleship and dedication to Jesus. The children learn that other things can take precedence over God, and find more of these things than their parents did. By generation this continues to grow, until there is no reason to heed God’s invitation at all. Yes, it is also true that some children of truly pious parents conclude that their parents are “obsessed” with God, and that they will not be so infected – allowing the world to lure them away from God, away from His banquet. Lord, have mercy! There is gracious mercy and forgiveness for all such weaknesses and sins – but it is utter hypocrisy, pretentious pride, and delusion to think that God should grant this to people who have such aversion to His presence that they never accept His invitation. The food, after all, is prepared and offered in the banquet hall, not in “the highways and hedges.” Let us take heed to ourselves, and carefully consider these words of the Master, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Prayer For The Day
Dear Lord Jesus, I see clearly the perverseness of my fallen nature when I consider the absence of pure joy and compulsion to come where You have promised Your great blessings of forgiveness, life, salvation, and great wisdom. Forgive me, and nurture me with Your love that I desire nothing more highly than entering into Your presence, Your banquet. Forbid that anything should appeal to me more than hearing Your Word and receiving Your Sacrament. If necessary, humble me and weaken me and impoverish me, that I cherish You above all things. Amen.