Luke 14: 16- 24 Dining As A Metaphor

Luke 14: 16- 24 Dining As A Metaphor

He replied to him, "A man gave a great dinner to which he invited many. When the time for the dinner came, he dispatched his servant to say to those invited, 'Come, everything is now ready.' But one by one, they all began to excuse themselves. The first said to him, 'I have purchased a field and must go to examine it; I ask you, consider me excused.' And another said, 'I have purchased five yoke of oxen and am on my way to evaluate them; I ask you, consider me excused.' And another said, 'I have just married a woman, and therefore I cannot come.' The servant went and reported this to his master. Then the master of the house in a rage commanded his servant, 'Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in here the poor and the crippled, the blind and the lame.' The servant reported, 'Sir, your orders have been carried out and still there is room.' The master then ordered the servant, 'Go out to the highways and hedgerows and make people come in that my home may be filled. For, I tell you, none of those men who were invited will taste my dinner.'"

Jesus tells another parable about dining. A man decides to give a dinner. He sends his servants out to invite friends and acquaintances. One by one they make excuses – they are busy with their own lives, their own priorities. This angers the man that invited them so he invites his servants to go back out and invite others – strangers, the lame, the poor, the blind. Still there is room so the master of the house sends his servants out again to force people to come in. He resolves that not only will his house be full but that those originally invited will not get a morsel of that dinner. What is the point of this parable? Is the master God? Are we the friends and acquaintances too busy to take the time to attend his dinner, to be with him? I don’t like to think of God as angry and vengeful, but that is how Jesus represents the Master in this story. Can we hurt God? To the point where he withdraws his invitation to us? Can our indifference, our busyness, our carelessness lose us the opportunity to be with God?