Luke 14:15-24
One of the dinner guests, on hearing this, said to him, “Blessed is anyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!” Then Jesus said to him, “Someone gave a great dinner and invited many. At the time for the dinner he sent his slave to say to those who had been invited, ‘Come; for everything is ready now.’ But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said to him, ‘I have bought a piece of land, and I must go out and see it; please accept my apologies.’ Another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to try them out; please accept my apologies.’ Another said, ‘I have just been married, and therefore I cannot come.’ So the slave returned and reported this to his master. Then the owner of the house became angry and said to his slave, ‘Go out at once into the streets and lanes of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame.’ And the slave said, ‘Sir, what you ordered has been done, and there is still room.’ Then the master said to the slave, ‘Go out into the roads and lanes, and compel people to come in, so that my house may be filled. For I tell you, none of those who were invited will taste my dinner.’”
Keep in mind where we are in the story. Jesus has just suggested that his host do the unthinkable – start throwing dinner parties for the poor and outcast and anyone, really, who can’t afford to repay him back in any way whatsoever. And in response, one of the dinner guests – who we may assume is there at least in part for what he can offer the host in return – offers a pious retort: “Blessed is anyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!”
I imagine that seemed like a fairly safe affirmation. After all, who could argue with the piety and faith of the speaker? We don’t know what motivated him, of course. Perhaps it was an unsolicited statement of faith. Perhaps it was a polite way to change the topic. Perhaps it was a subtle invitation to Jesus to remember that he wasn’t the only faithful person present and to keep his mouth shut. Who knows?
What we do know is that, in response, Jesus tells another story, and this one is a lot more like the parables with which we are most familiar. The plot line is fairly simple: someone hosts a fantastic dinner and invites a number of folks, presumably the usual dinner party-going crowd. But none of them can make it. They’re too busy, wrapped up in all the usual concerns that make us not just pre-occupied but self-occupied. And so the host, angered by the indolence and ungrateful hearts of his original invitees, sends out invitations to others – the poor, the lame, the blind, the crippled. All those, in short, who never get invited to parties. And they come…and there’s still more room. So he invites even more, compelling passersby and folks just out following their daily routines to come. And finally the hall is filled, the host satisfied, and the party as grand and wonderful as he’d desired. But, of course, there is now no room for those originally invited.
As we said, it’s a simple story. But I wonder how Jesus’ host and his pious guest heard it. Because it sure feels like Jesus is meeting the pious dodge uttered by the dinner guest head on by suggesting that in continuing the traditions of the past – honoring those who can give you honor, tending the needs of those in a position to tend your own – they (we?) are ignoring the invitation of the host to the heavenly banquet the pious guest just referenced. And too preoccupied and too self-occupied to heed the invitation, they miss out.
Yes, it’s almost as if Jesus is saying, blessed is the one who eats heavenly bread; and unless you shape up you won’t be at that party.
But here’s the thing: do they even care? So wrapped up in their own concerns and busy playing by the rules of their own game, can they even imagine the kingdom Jesus describes, let alone want to embrace it? It’s one element of the parable that is unclear: we don’t know whether the original invitees even notice, let alone care, that they’ve missed this grand dinner. And while we could speculate that they’d better care, that this is the eternal feast they’re missing out on, that punishment awaits those who refuse the master’s invitation, none of that is in the parable. All we have is a picture of a host who will not allow the party to go to waste, who will invite everyone and anyone to come, who will reach beyond the usual suspects to invite the unusual suspects who never get to go to parties, and who simply will not stop inviting people until his hall is full.
Do Jesus’ host, his guest, and all those like them notice? I don’t know.
But perhaps the more important question is whether we do.
Prayer: Dear God, awaken us to the invitation you offer each and every day to live according to the kingdom logic proclaimed by your Son that we may look and see all around us your precious children and honored dinner guests. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
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