Gospel 

Luke 14:15-24

One of those at table with Jesus said to him,

"Blessed is the one who will dine in the Kingdom of God."

He replied to him,

"A man gave a great dinner to which he invited many.

When the time for the dinner came,

he dispatched his servant to say to those invited,

'Come, everything is now ready.'

But one by one, they all began to excuse themselves.

The first said to him,

'I have purchased a field and must go to examine it;

I ask you, consider me excused.'

And another said, 'I have purchased five yoke of oxen

and am on my way to evaluate them;

I ask you, consider me excused.'

And another said, 'I have just married a woman,

and therefore I cannot come.'

The servant went and reported this to his master.

Then the master of the house in a rage commanded his servant,

'Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town

and bring in here the poor and the crippled, the blind and the lame.'

The servant reported, 'Sir, your orders have been carried out

and still there is room.'

The master then ordered the servant,

'Go out to the highways and hedgerows

and make people come in that my home may be filled.

For, I tell you, none of those men who were invited will taste my dinner.’”

Reflection

It's interesting to see the reaction in the one who is offering this dinner party to his friends and how angry he was, how filled with rage. And it just underscores the longing, the desire that God has to reach us, to help us in all those areas where we're not really seeing, we're blind, we're not able to do the work.

We're crippled or lame. He wants us to be fed and nourished. And when he sees these people being tied up with ordinary things, I have to have a place to live, so I'm looking into that. I have to start a business, I'm buying some cattle. I'm married so he can come. It's always just a simple excuse. And how many times do we do that?

How many times do we not follow an intuition, a sense that God is asking us not so much to do something, but to come and feast with him? Feast in the goodness and the fullness and the healing power of the Kingdom of God.

Closing Prayer

Father, help us to know you, to know your longing, to know your desire, your passion for us. You don't want to lose any of us. You want us to experience the very thing that makes the difference between a life that is full and a life that is empty. Help us in our choices. And we ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen.

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