Luke 14:12 Yeshua also said to the one who had invited him, “When you give a lunch or a dinner, don’t invite your friends, brothers, relatives or rich neighbors; for they may well invite you in return, and that will be your repayment. 13 Instead, when you have a party, invite poor people, disfigured people, the crippled, the blind! 14 How blessed you will be that they have nothing with which to repay you! For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”
15 On hearing this, one of the people at the table with Yeshua said to him, “How blessed are those who eat bread in the Kingdom of God!” 16 But he replied, “Once a man gave a banquet and invited many people. 17 When the time came for the banquet, he sent his slave to tell those who had been invited, ‘Come! Everything is ready!’ 18 But they responded with a chorus of excuses. The first said to him, ‘I’ve just bought a field, and I have to go out and see it. Please accept my apologies.’ 19 Another said, ‘I’ve just bought five yoke of oxen, and I’m on my way to test them out. Please accept my apologies.’ 20 Still another said, ‘I have just gotten married, so I can’t come.’ 21 The slave came and reported these things to his master.
“Then the owner of the house, in a rage, told his slave, ‘Quick, go out into the streets and alleys of the city; and bring in the poor, the disfigured, the blind and the crippled!’ 22 The slave said, ‘Sir, what you ordered has been done, and there is still room.’ 23 The master said to the slave, ‘Go out to the country roads and boundary walls, and insistently persuade people to come in, so that my house will be full. 24 I tell you, not one of those who were invited will get a taste of my banquet!’”
“I’ve just bought some land.”
“I’ve got to work.”
“I just got married!”
Ah, excuses.
You know the trouble with excuses? They’re valid. This is what makes them so dangerous.
Here’s the worst part. You will always have an excuse as to why you can’t be completely committed to God. Think about it. You know for absolute certain what is required of you as a believer but there’s just that one thing that seems to prevent you from walking it out. Or maybe it’s ten things.
No matter, though. You simply aren’t walking the path you know you’re called to walk.
I wonder why.
What could be so important that you’re willing to reject the invitation sent by the King?
Let’s look at this from a slightly different perspective. If I had to guess, if the President invited you to the White House you’d make any arrangements necessary to make the trip. Ok, well, if it were your favorite music artist or actor you’d go, right?
But when Abba calls?
Well, this is a bit more tricky isn’t it?
Sadly, you’re under the impression that if He called, you’d go. But would you, really?
We see here in this parable how important the banquet was and how not important the excuses were. Reading from the outside it is easy to call these people fools. I don’t think they are fools, though. I think they just had life going on and they let it cloud their judgment.
They were regular, normal people. With regular, normal lives. And regular, normal excuses.
Not us, though.
How many times has Abba called you into something and you had something more important to do?
Never, right?
But He calls us each week into His Sabbath, and several times per year with the Feasts. Have you ever put Him off during one of these times for a reason that, looking back, was fickle at best?
We all have at some point.
So if you’d do it once, doesn’t it stand to reason you could do it again?
“Oh, but I’ve matured and now know what’s important.”
Maybe. Or maybe next time it will take a more serious excuse to get you away. Old habits are hard to break.
Have you checked your mail? Do you have an invitation to the banquet?
What things do you have before you that you are convinced are more important than attending His banquet? How small does the lure need to be to get you to abandon a meeting with Abba?
How is it that a man on earth can hold a banquet and we drop everything to attend, but the Creator of the Universe has one and we put it off?
Seriously, what is our problem?
Best case is that we just view Him as common. Plain ol’ ordinary God.
Worst case is that we don’t actually believe He exists.
Or secret option number 3, we just want to do what we want to do. He’s always been there, is there now, and will always be there. I think there’s even a verse about that. So we have time. Plenty of time.
We’ll just go after the things we want while the getting is good. And that’s always. We never reach the end of striving. We never reach the end of selfishness. It keeps coming and we just get better and better at making excuses.
The problem with this is eventually the door will close and you’ll be shut out.
Think long and hard about that door closing. You will want to do everything you can to make sure you are on the right side of that door. And I promise you that is one door no man can open.
What is it you can do?
I’d recommend getting into the habit of being in His House anytime the door is open. Move in if you have to.
Just know that none of your excuses have a place there. Those things have to stay outside.
Let the door slam shut on those so you can finally be free.