Come

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!”

Parable of the Dinner
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.’ ” — Luke 14:15-24

Jesus was having dinner with the Pharisees but it must have been an uncomfortable time. First, He challenged their rules by healing on the Sabbath and then He spoke about humility while they were looking for places of honor. But finally Jesus spoke about something that they all agreed on: “the resurrection of the righteous” (Luke 14:14).
Or did they agree?

The Pharisees believed in the resurrection of the dead (Acts 23:6-8), but when one of them answered Jesus by saying “Blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!” (Luke 14:15), he was talking about Jews. Yet Jesus told a parable pointing somewhere else.

A man gives a dinner and he sends a servant to say to those he has invited, “Come; for everything is ready now”. But they refuse, so the man orders the servant, “Go out at once into the streets and lanes of the city and bring in here the poor and crippled and blind and lame”, the people rejected by society.

The meaning of the parable is clear. The man who was “was giving a big dinner, and he invited many” (Luke 14:16) is God, and the ones who were invited were the Jews, especially the Jewish leaders. But they refuse to come. By Middle Eastern customs, this is an insult, even if the invitation came only from a man and not God. Yet that is what happened. They were too concerned with their own affairs and the affairs of the world. And the man, representing God, is angry (Luke 14:21).

We are invited, but will we come? Are we too busy with our own affairs? Do the things of this world seem more important to us than the things of God? The Apostle Paul reminds us “Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.” (Colossians 3:2-3)

Nothing is more important than to be with God and to accept His generous invitation.

Prayer:
• Have you given your life to God? Are you ready to come as He calls? Or are you too busy
with the affairs of this world?
• Pray that God will open your heart to hear Him calling to you to come and give your life to
Him. Pray that you have the wisdom to follow.