Tuesday, August 3, 2004

Feasts and Banquets, Part II

LUKE 14:15-24
The common way that people were invited to banquets in Jesus' time would be hard to handle today. It required the person to hold themselves in constant readiness on the day of the party. That in itself is an interesting commentary on how we are expected to hold ourselves ready for God.
In Palestine, when a man made a feast, the day was announced long beforehand and the invitations were sent out and accepted; but the hour was not announced; and when the day came and all things were ready, servants were sent out to summon the already invited guests. To accept the invitation beforehand and then to refuse it when the day came was a grave insult.

Something that never occurred to me is the type of excuse that the invited guests are offering for skipping the party. They can be viewed as broad categories and then it is easy to see that they are exactly the sort of reasons we give today for not leaving any time for God. In fact, one is a totally legitimate excuse but still not good enough. Nothing must get in the way of God. We have to keep the proper perspective and not let the things of the world crowd God from our lives.
The first man said that he had bought a field and was going to see it. He allowed the claims of business to usurp the claims of God. It is still possible for a man to be so immersed in this world that he has no time to worship, and even no time to pray.

The second man said that he had bought five yoke of oxen and that he was going to try them out. He let the claims of novelty usurp the claims of Christ. It often happens that when people enter into new possessions they become so taken up with them that the claims of worship and of God get crowded out ...

The third man said, with even more finality than the others, "I have married a wife and I cannot come." One of the wonderful merciful laws of the Old Testament laid it down, "when a man is newly married, he shall not go out with the army o be charged with any business; he shall be free at home one year, to be happy with his wife whom he has taken." No doubt that very law was in this man's mind. It is one of the tragedies of life when good things crowd out the claims of God. There is no lovelier thing than a home and yet a home was never meant to be used selfishly.

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