In the story of the banquet, Jesus affirms that God has invited his chosen people first. When they decline to join him, he invites everyone else. What's intriguing about the story is that the objective all along was a full banquet, tables teeming with guests. God desires our company. It is still our choice to come, but others will invited to fill our place if we decline.

It is God's desire to deliver his people. In Isaiah, we see him sending his "suffering servant," and in Luke, the suffering servant himself appears to explain how God agonizes of the unfaithfulness of his people but continues being patient. In Jesus' story, we see that played out in the illustration of a fig tree. In our lives, we must allow ourselves to be formed by him lest we be like the unfruitful tree.

How do we know God is a God of mercy? Because through the prophets he takes great joy in declaring the end of suffering. It is important to be authentic representatives; he does also form his people in ways we sometimes wish he wouldn't. Jesus tells us that if we wish to claim the benefits of being his people, we must also claim the responsibility and the holy (set apart) call of bearing his name. A casual approach is not the correct match for a holy God.

The Kingdom of God is upside down. We can't earn it, it is a gift of God. The least are greatest, and those who want it all must lose everything. This flies in the face of our natural tendency to work and earn, but that's because it's not part of the world we're accustomed to living in.

It has always been God's intention to form a people who serve as a light to those who do not know him. This thread runs throughout the story of God and man from the beginning. At times, he needs to work drastically to protect his people, and those he would rather bless feel his wrath. At other times, he works through those same outsiders to form his own people. His ultimate purpose is still a people formed in obedience to him, and this objective was most obvious in his becoming a man and showing us the way.

It's not always easy to tell who is doing the work of God and who is doing the work of the devil, but Jesus assures us that they don't work together. Does our life match his? Are work working for the purposes he showed us? Or is the fruit of our labors something else?

In Isaiah today, God reminds his people through the prophet that he is going to do something unexpected so that the people will know that it is God doing it, the real God. When we reach Luke, we see Jesus make an example of someone who the Israelites would have despised as the hero of his story. God specializes in the unexpected, because he's always more than we can understand. Our best response is to follow.

There's an old hymn that declares out relationship with God like this: "What a fellowship, what a joy divine." Sometimes we spend so much time trying to figure out what God is doing, what he will do, or what he's done, that we forget the real gift is God's presence. Do you have relationships that just want to get busy doing something when you show up? The best ones, though, are the relationships that are content to be present to one another, because that's the most difficult level to reach.

God never allows himself to be boxed in. In Isaiah, he chooses the pagan king Cyrus to be the instrument of Israel's salvation, even though Cyrus does not know God. In Luke, he refuses to allow his disciples to inflict rage on those who reject them. Truly, our God is leaving himself open to  outsiders, and the pain that making oneself vulnerable brings.