I have this friend....

Luke 14:15-23

          You are all undoubtedly aware of the scenario when someone comes to you for advice about a 'friends' problem. Perhaps this reading is Jesus' version of "I have a friend". Jesus says "someone" gave a great dinner. Can you guess who that someone is?

          This is all about being invited to the table of the Lord. Who is invited? Originally, the chosen people were the Israelites. Jesus seems to have broadened that considering all the people he preached to, spent time with and welcomed. After the resurrection, the new church of Jesus, the Christians, opened the faithful to any believers, not simply those of Jewish faith or origin.

          So many of those that are invited to God's table of love, forgiveness and peace have seemingly fine reasons not to come. The invitations in this reading were refused for what might appear to be good reasons. I had a wise old pastor once who proclaimed that if your life is too busy to come to Mass for one hour during the whole week, then your life surely needs to be re-evaluated. There was a time when my husband and I had a somewhat formal gathering to celebrate the commitment we had made to each other. This was before we were able to do so legally. One person called just before the party started to say "the day got away from me, I won't be able to make it". To this day I don't believe this person knows the extent of the disappointment on our part nor the importance of the invitation being extended in the first place. 

            We are all invited to God's table. God seeks out not only the ones we would think are a shoe-ins for an invitation but everyone else as well. This reading makes it clear to me that everyone is invited and that he wants his house full to the brim.  No longer is there chosen and the elite. NO, we are all welcome as children of the loving God.

            The only question is, will we accept the invitation?

          

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.