They all alike began to make excuses.

Luke 14:7-35 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

And He began speaking a parable to the invited guests when He noticed how they had been picking out the places of honor at the table, saying to them,⁸ “When you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, do not take the place of honor, for someone more distinguished than you may have been invited by him,⁹ and he who invited you both will come and say to you, ‘Give your place to this man,’ and then in disgrace you proceed to occupy the last place. ¹⁰ But when you are invited, go and recline at the last place, so that when the one who has invited you comes, he may say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher’; then you will have honor in the sight of all who are at the table with you. ¹¹ For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

¹² And He also went on to say to the one who had invited Him, “When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, otherwise they may also invite you in return and that will be your repayment. ¹³ But when you give a reception, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, ¹⁴ and you will be blessed, since they do not have the means to repay you; for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”

¹⁵ When one of those who were reclining at the table with Him heard this, he said to Him, “Blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!”

¹⁶ 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.”

In today’s text Jesus says:  “A man was giving a big dinner, and he invited many;  and at the dinner hour 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 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.’ Another one said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to try them out; please consider me excused.’ Another one said, ‘I have married a wife, and for that reason I cannot come.’ And the slave came back and reported this to his master.”   In Revelation 3:20-22 the Lord 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 dine with him, and he with Me. To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”   How often do we, not hear the voice of the Lord, or like those in the parable, we make excuses why we can’t come right now? Those in the parable all had legitimate reasons, probably more legitimate than many that would be said or heard today. Jesus said they all made excuses. The thing about excuses is that they are like feet, everyone has them and most of them stink. We fill our days and our lives with many important, but also many trivial and even meaningless things. It’s not a matter of what things we use to justify not attending church, it’s a matter of what excuses we make for not eating and fellowshipping with the Lord.

Look at the rest of the parable:     “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.’ And the slave said, ‘Master, what you commanded has been done, and still there is room.’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. For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste of my dinner.”  Very often, we may have the best intentions. We may truly believe that when we are not so busy we will make time for the Lord. Yet, days go by without more than perhaps a fleeting prayer to the One who wants to dine with us. Here’s the thing, when we are invited; when the Lord knocks at the door, we don’t need to make any preparations. He has done all that is necessary. All He asks is that we open and come. The text says:  ‘Go out at once into the streets and lanes of the city and bring in here the poor and crippled and blind and lame.’   These came just as they were. Jesus says:  “To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”    The thing is, the one who comes at the invitation of the Lord, also overcomes by the power and presence of the Lord. One of the greatest things we need to overcome is the busyness of our lives. How often do we make excuses for why we cannot come and then are offended when we see those who came, the poor, the lame, the outcasts who made no excuse but instead, sat down, not only to dine, but at the very throne of God.

We all have many legitimate reasons for our busyness. Look though what Jesus says:  “I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste of my dinner.”   We can presume on God’s grace and His patience. We can say tomorrow or the next day; next week, next month or next year it will be different. In yesterday’s text, in Luke 13:25-30 Jesus said:  “Once the head of the house gets up and shuts the door, and you begin to stand outside and knock on the door, saying, ‘Lord, open up to us!’ then He will answer and say to you, ‘I do not know where you are from.’ Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in Your presence, and You taught in our streets’; and He will say, ‘I tell you, I do not know where you are from; depart from Me, all you evildoers.’  In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but yourselves being thrown out. And they will come from east and west and from north and south, and will recline at the table in the kingdom of God. And behold, some are last who will be first and some are first who will be last.” We should not worry about our position or order, Jesus says: “Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”   Neither though should we presume on God’s grace and patience, assuming that we will have time to respond tomorrow, next week or next year.  We don’t want to be those who see others in the kingdom of God and we ourselves left outwhere there is weeping and gnashing of teeth.                                                              

Thank You Heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ and precious Holy Spirit; that You have made all the preparations. You have done all that is needed for me to come. Help me, every day and every moment of every day, to hear when You knock, to open to You; to dine and fellowship with You. May I overcome my busyness and all of my own excuses to be with You. Amen.