Have you ever asked someone a straightforward question and gotten a long story in response? Coaches, politicians, church leaders, and even teenagers are skilled at doing this. High school teachers are used to this. Teacher asks “where is your homework?” Student answers with a complicated story that may be true and may not be.
When we read the gospels, we notice that Jesus was an expert at telling stories instead of answering a question directly. Today we have an example of this (Luke 14:15-24).
“One of those at table with Jesus said to him, ‘Blessed is the one who will dine in the Kingdom of God.”
Remember Jesus was sitting at table surrounded primarily with prominent religious leaders. He must have been painting a scene of what life would be like in the Kingdom of God. Using Old Testament imagery, he probably described the Kingdom in terms of a huge wedding banquet. So, one of the group, responded with enthusiasm how wonderful it would be to be sitting with God at that table. This person seemed to be catching on to Jesus’ teaching. If I were Jesus, I’d say something like “right on!” Instead, Jesus seemed to let the comment be a lead into a story.
“A man gave a great dinner to which he invited many. When the time for the dinner came, he dispatched his servant to say to those invited, ‘Come, everything is now ready.”
So far so good. The “man” in the story must have represented God, the dinner represented the Kingdom banquet, and the “invited” must have been God’s chosen people, the Jews—with the scribes and Pharisees at the top of the list.
Then the story takes an unexpected twist.
“But one by one, they all began to excuse themselves.”
What! Excuse me from a luxurious banquet! Who wouldn’t want to attend God’s party?
“The first said to him, I have purchased a field and must go examine it; I ask you, consider me excused. And another said, ‘I have purchased five yoke of oxen and am on my way to evaluate them; I ask you, consider me excused.’ And another said, ‘I have just married a woman, and therefore I cannot come.’”
Doesn’t this list of excuses sound like one’s we would give? “I’ve just bought a new house and need to check it out.” Or “I’ve got a business meeting and don’t have time.” Or “I’ve got a golf outing that day.” “Or my wife needs me to do chores.” Ouch! These are the kinds of excuses we give even when God nudges us to attend one of his events.
The expected guests had “more important” things to do that day. So, what did the man do? Did he plead with them to come?
“Then the master of the house in a rage commanded his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in here the poor and the crippled, the blind and the lame.”
The man bypasses those on his guest list. He turns to the outcasts of the town—the homeless, the crippled, the disabled of the town—the people who are never invited to anything. The Kingdom banquet table will be surrounded by the least likely “misfits” of the community. Let the “excuse makers” go about their business and miss out on the greatest opportunity of their lives.
Do you think the Pharisees caught on to the story? Do you think the man that cheered Jesus about dining in God’s kingdom was stunned? As Jesus looked around the table, he was implying that none of these people would enter God’s Kingdom—they had more important matters to tend to.
Jesus gives stiff warnings to the complacent who think that admission to God’s banquet is automatic. At our very roots, when it comes to making important decisions about the use of our time, where does God’s “call” fit in?
We ask the Holy Spirit to give us such a personal love for Jesus that nothing will stand in the way of our saying “yes” to his call.
