But they all alike began to make excuses

Luke 14:16-35 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

But He said to him, “A man was giving a big dinner, and he invited many; ¹⁷ and at the dinner hour he sent his slave to say to those who had been invited, ‘Come; for everything is ready now.’ ¹⁸ But they all alike began to make excuses. The first one said to him, ‘I have bought a piece of land and I need to go out and look at it; please consider me excused.’ ¹⁹ Another one said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to try them out; please consider me excused.’ ²⁰ Another one said, ‘I have married a wife, and for that reason I cannot come.’ ²¹ And the slave came back and reported this to his master. Then the head of the household became angry and said to his slave, ‘Go out at once into the streets and lanes of the city and bring in here the poor and crippled and blind and lame.’ ²² And the slave said, ‘Master, what you commanded has been done, and still there is room.’ ²³ And the master said to the slave, ‘Go out into the highways and along the hedges, and compel them to come in, so that my house may be filled. ²⁴ For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste of my dinner.’”

²⁵ Now large crowds were going along with Him; and He turned and said to them, ²⁶ “If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple. ²⁷ Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. ²⁸ For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it? ²⁹ Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who observe it begin to ridicule him, ³⁰ saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ ³¹ Or what king, when he sets out to meet another king in battle, will not first sit down and consider whether he is strong enough with ten thousand men to encounter the one coming against him with twenty thousand? ³² Or else, while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. ³³ So then, none of you can be My disciple who does not give up all his own possessions.

³⁴ “Therefore, salt is good; but if even salt has become tasteless, with what will it be seasoned? ³⁵ It is useless either for the soil or for the manure pile; it is thrown out. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

But they all alike began to make excuses…    In the parable of the Dinner, in today’s text the people invited to the feast all made excuses as to why they could not come. One had bought a piece of land, one five yoke of oxen, still another had just gotten married. All of these things, with their up to date equivalences of personal property, work and human relationships, would surely seem to be valid reasons to opt out of a dinner party. We probably all have excused ourselves for less. The parable though is not about just any dinner party, it is about an invitation to dine with the king. Jesus says: Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me. (Revelation 3:20) This invitation is not for a time in the distant future, it is not just about accepting Jesus as Lord and Savior and having fellowship with Him and the Father in eternity. This invitation, Jesus knocking is for us to have daily fellowship with Jesus, to be fed each day in His presence. Whether in times of great joy and celebration or in times of difficulty, the Lord wants us to dine with Him each day.

David, the psalmist knew the peace and the power of that fellowship. He says:      You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You have anointed my head with oil; My cup overflows. Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life, And I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.(Psalm 23:5-6)    And in Psalm 91:     He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High Will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. ² I will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress, My God, in whom I trust!” ³ For it is He who delivers you from the snare of the trapper And from the deadly pestilence. ⁴ He will cover you with His pinions, And under His wings you may seek refuge; His faithfulness is a shield and bulwark. ⁵ You will not be afraid of the terror by night, Or of the arrow that flies by day; ⁶ Of the pestilence that stalks in darkness, Or of the destruction that lays waste at noon. ⁷ A thousand may fall at your side And ten thousand at your right hand, But it shall not approach you. ⁸ You will only look on with your eyes And see the recompense of the wicked. ⁹For you have made the Lord, my refuge, Even the Most High, your dwelling place. ¹⁰ No evil will befall you, Nor will any plague come near your tent. ¹¹ For He will give His angels charge concerning you, To guard you in all your ways. ¹² They will bear you up in their hands, That you do not strike your foot against a stone. ¹³ You will tread upon the lion and cobra, The young lion and the serpent you will trample down…

Wouldn’t we all like to know that kind of peace and power? Who would not want to walk in the protection, the comfort and the power of the presence of God? Yet how often do we make excuses? It’s not that we don’t believe in Jesus. It’s that we fail, because of our focus on other things, wealth, work and relationships, to answer Jesus call for daily fellowship. We do not dwell and abide in His presence and we wonder why we have little power or peace.

In today’s text Jesus then goes on to talk about the cost of discipleship. He says:   Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple…   none of you can be My disciple who does not give up all his own possessions.  To be clear, Jesus is talking again about discipleship, not salvation. John 3:16 says:  “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.    It is possible to believe and be saved yet not be a disciple of Christ. If you are not sure that is true or possible, look no farther than the account of Jesus on the cross in Luke 23:42-43:    And he was saying, "Jesus, remember me when You come in Your kingdom!" And He said to him, "Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise."       The thief, on the cross, never became a disciple, yet he believed and was saved.

Discipleship does have a cost. The cost is to make Jesus the number one priority in life. It may mean that you have a few less material possessions. It may mean that your career takes a different track, even relationships and family will be prioritized differently. Our families though will not suffer if we prioritize Jesus. Our relationship with Christ and His love and dedication to us is to be a model for our family relationships. If we become Christ’s disciples, becoming more like Jesus our families will benefit, not suffer loss. Discipleship does come with a cost and it may be possible to know Jesus as Savior without paying that price. But to know Jesus as Lord, we must say yes. To know Jesus as Lord we must become a disciple, a disciplined one. We must become disciplined to spend time, to dwell and abide in His presence. We must become disciplined to answer His daily invitation saying yes Lord, not making excuses. We may be saved by believing Jesus paid the price for our sins. But Jesus says: “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.(John 14:15) If we love Jesus we will say “yes Lord.”

The cost of discipleship will be too great for many. But the reward for those who will follow Jesus is even greater. Jesus does indeed say:   “Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.”    But Jesus did not remain on the cross and He doesn’t want us to either. Jesus was raised from the grave and if we would follow Jesus, we too would walk in the power of the resurrection.  In John 10:10 Jesus says: “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.”      The devil, the thief would have us believe the lie that a life offered to Christ is a life of denial and sacrifice. Jesus says it is an abundant life. In Matthew 28:19 Jesus says: “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.”    In Mark 16: 16-18 Jesus expands on what will become of His disciples, He says:     He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned. ¹⁷ These signs will accompany those who have believed: in My name they will cast out demons, they will speak with new tongues; ¹⁸ they will pick up serpents, and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”   

There is a cost of discipleship, but the reward is far greater. When we choose to follow Christ, to say yes Lord, to fellowship with and sup with Him every day, to abide and dwell in His presence, we will know His peace, His provision, His protection and His power.

Thank You Jesus Christ, my Savior and My Lord. I believe and I say yes Lord. I choose this day and every day to walk with you, to abide in You, to be Your disciple.   Amen.