Luke 13-14; Matthew 18:10-14; Luke 15
When one of those who reclined at table with Him heard these things, he said to Him, “Blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!” But He said to him, “A man once gave a great banquet and invited many. And at the time for the banquet he sent his servant to say to those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’ But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said to him, ‘I have bought a field, and I must go out and see it. Please have me excused.’ And another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to examine them. Please have me excused.’ And another said, ‘I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.’ … ”
Luke 14:15-20
So, what is your excuse? What might be keeping you from the banquet today? Do you really think that, somehow, your excuse is better than these?
See also:
Yes, I am about a week behind, but still pressing on! We are digesting much each day, so it is difficult to focus sometimes. I want to share something about the story of the prodigal son (Luke 15) that I learned last summer.
The Kezazah ceremony in Jewish culture is this: if someone sold part of his heritage, married outside the faith, or another similar act, then they would perform a ”cutting off” ceremony outside the village.
They would break a clay pot on the ground in front of that person to shame him and symbolize his rejection, or “cutting off,” by the community.
When the father ran to his son “while he was still a long way off,” he was preventing the Kezazah ceremony from happening. He shamed himself (a respected older man would never run!) to prevent his son from shame.
God does not want to shame us. God desires our repentance so we are forgiven and accepted once again. And notice—the son is not even allowed to finish his rehearsed confession before he is restored to a place in the family by having the best robe and family ring placed on him.
Wow! What must Jesus’s audience have thought of this?!? They must have been aghast! We need to refuse the tendency to shame ourselves. God never does it.
Blessings