LIVING WATERS
For the proclamation of the Gospel and the edification of the Body of Christ
Excuses for not Going
The Lord Jesus taught that the kingdom of God is like a great dinner party, to which God invites many to be present. The Host is of the highest quality; the event is the most select. Everything is first-rate. The time is approaching, everything is ready. The Host is waiting. However, a problem arises: the guests do not come; only their excuses arrive. They had received their invitations in advance and had time to get their affairs in order, but they do not go. Why?
They have many very valid reasons for not going. One had acquired a farm and needed to go and see it. Another had bought several yoke of oxen and needed to test them. A third had married and had to devote himself to his wife.
These three excuses have a certain degree of validity; no one can deny that. They were part of the normal business of men, which is right to attend to. Yes, all of that is valid, but not with God. If the host were less noble, and the dinner less select, it might well be acceptable. But given who the host is and the reason for the invitation, the excuses are unacceptable.
Is the Creator God of heaven and earth, the King who rules over all, to be slighted? Is He to be despised because He condescends to come down to man to honour him?
Each of those excuses has something in common: they seek self-satisfaction. The ego is at the centre, and the decision made follows that path. Those men have something important to do. They have acquired something valuable for themselves –wealth, oxen, a wife– and are not willing to give it up. What poor judgement! What blindness!
In the present, a farm, oxen, and a wife may have the highest value; who can doubt it? However, in the light of eternity, what is their real value? Today we are dazzled by the games with which we kill time, but on that day we will see (alas, too late!) that the true gain was in obeying God's invitation.
It is not wrong to have a farm, oxen, and a wife. But it is wrong to reject God because of them. "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters —yes, even his own life— he cannot be my disciple... Anyone of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple" (Luke 14:26, 33).
But look at what God does. When the invitation is rejected, he replaces the reluctant guests with others. He will not stop celebrating the dinner he has prepared with such anticipation. Therefore, he sends for all kinds of people, people who are less distinguished but more willing. They do not have such good reasons for not coming. They do not have many possessions or many parties to celebrate. So the unemployed, the vagabonds, the outcasts of society arrive. They are forcibly brought into the dinner until the house is full. What grace! What goodness from God for you and me!