I recently spoke at an evening communion service on our CUI campus. The text was from Luke 14, where Jesus goes to dine at a Pharisee’s house. Here are some highlights I wanted to share with you, as well:
COME, FOR ALL THINGS ARE READY NOW … AND STILL THERE IS ROOM! This is fundamentally what God has to say to us.
Ask someone if they want to get something to eat. They might typically respond, “Who is paying? Where are we going? What is there to eat? Let me see if I have time. Actually, no thanks, I’m already full.”
The context of the parable of the great banquet is a dinner at a Pharisee’s house where a) they were watching Jesus in order to find a way of rejecting Him, b) they were competing with each other in trying to take the best seat, and c) they only invite people who can invite them back. Can we sympathize and then repent? If you had only a meal or two packed on a trip in the wilderness, how eager would you be to share? You might try to trade up, but would surely not just give your meal away. So, Jesus tells the parable of the great banquet.
COME, FOR ALL THINGS ARE READY NOW … AND STILL THERE IS ROOM!
The invitation goes out, but those invited refuse with irrational but typical excuses: I need to see the field I bought; I need to test the oxen I bought; I just got married. I suspect we can sympathize with the nature of these excuses and have practiced using them ourselves.
COME, FOR ALL THINGS ARE READY NOW … AND STILL THERE IS ROOM!
God, the absolute host, is relentless in His redeeming work. The imperative to “COME” is powered by the reason, “FOR EVERYTHING IS READY … NOW.” What kind of host and banquet is this? The kind where the host’s response to the poverty of the guests is not to give them just a meal or a little money or even a lot of money. “All things are yours, in heaven and on earth,” says the New Testament to us all.
What was Jesus’ habit when meeting cripples or the lame? He healed them all. What is crippling you in your life? What is lame about you or out of joint (you know how our nose gets out of joint sometimes)? What is the scope of our blindness and how much of God’s generosity toward us are we missing? The Word of God is living bread. The more we share it, the more we have. This is God’s economy. This is God’s kingdom.
COME, FOR ALL THINGS ARE READY NOW … AND STILL THERE IS ROOM!