St 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.”’
Reflection
Remember Jesus has just challenged the guests to invite those who would never have been invited to a meal at the house of a Pharisee – the poor, crippled, blind and lame. Pharisees would not have been able because of their beliefs about purity at mealtimes to invite outsiders to eat. It seems that the blessing is to smooth over an awkward moment.
Jesus’ parable carries on regardless, undermining the concept of the kingdom of God which his host and guests found familiar. The behaviour of the invited guests in Jesus’ parable is rude in the extreme. All are people of social standing – but they refuse to come. So the host does just what Jesus has just asked the actual guests to do and invites all in town who are normally excluded to come – and then when there is still room, gentiles and real outsiders are called in.
The parable shows that the Kingdom of God is open to all. There are no barriers of sin or of religion to overcome to eat at God’s table. How shocking to the invited worthies of Jesus day.
We too should be troubled. Our Communion table is a reminder of the feast we hope to share with God one day. Do we create barriers to those who are outsiders to our faith, refusing to share until enough entry conditions have been fulfilled? Have we just expected people to come to us and not gone out of our way to make our worship inviting and relate what we do to those who seem not to share our views?
Prayer
Challenging God stir us from our comfort,
send us out to find you in those who are not like us
but need the nourishment and the promise you give.
Surprise us all by your welcome and the joy of your great feast.
Enrich us by including others,
so that our worship together can become
many coloured, different and limitless,
just as your kingdom has a wider welcome than we can imagine.
For nothing is impossible for you! Amen