Living on mission requires the humility and the passion to go to those who are far from God...

This week, we have been looking at a section of an account of Jesus life that is recorded for us in the Bible called the gospel of Luke. Wednesday, we saw Jesus turn the tables on those that were at a dinner party that He had been invited to attend by telling a series of parables. Jesus unpacked the reality that we are to humbly place ourselves before those who are far from God.

However, the self righteous religious person believed that, just as it was for those at this dinner party, the invitation to God’s dinner party for all eternity in Heaven would be for only a select few. From this self righteous religious person’s perspective, only a select few would be invited to be a part of God’s kingdom in Heaven. Today, we will see that this self righteous religious person’s statement led Jesus to launch into a third parable, which we see beginning in verse 16. Let’s look at it together:

  But He said to him, "A man was giving a big dinner, and he invited many; and at the dinner hour 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 one said to him, 'I have bought a piece of land and I need to go out and look at it; please consider me excused.'  "Another one said, 'I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to try them out; please consider me excused.' "Another one said, 'I have married a wife, and for that reason I cannot come.' "And the slave came back and reported this to his master.

Now to fully wrap our minds around this parable, we first need to make sure that we notice a few things. First, did you notice that the man who was the head of the household gave two invitations to the dinner party that he was going to have? As was normal for the culture of the day, the head of the household issued the first invitation in verse 16. This invitation would have been given well in advance and would have been similar to an RSVP in our culture today. This invitation was necessary so that the head of the household could make the necessary preparations in terms of food, beverages, and the like for the dinner party. Then, in verse 17, we see the head of the household send his servant out with a second invitation. This invitation was to let the invited guests know that it was time to go to the party.

Second, did you notice that the invitation was to many, not to only a select few? Jesus tells us that the head of the household invited many. However in verse 18, Jesus explains that they all alike began to make excuses. Now just as it is today, an excuse is simply an attempt to avoid something by making a statement that provides a reason to reject the invitation.

Now this leads us to the third thing that we need to notice, which is how lame these excuses were. All of these excuses involved preplanned activities, not last minute emergencies. So, basically what happened is that those who had been invited gave the impression that they were interested in attending the dinner but in reality had no intention on actually attending the dinner.

Fourth, did you notice that all of these excuses come down to an issue of priorities? All of those invited either chose to make their possessions or their personal pleasure a priority over the invitation to attend the dinner party.

And fifth, did you notice that all of those that were invited would have been very similar to the people that were also in attendance at the dinner party that Jesus was at? These were people who appeared to close to the head of the household in terms of their proximity and their social status. These were people who were well off financially and appeared to be insiders with the head of the household. However, while they may have appeared to be insiders who were close to the head of the household, their rejection of the invitation to attend the dinner party revealed that their relationship with the head of the household was not a priority in their lives.

After the servant shares with the head of the household the excuses of those who had been invited, we see Jesus continue His parable by revealing the head of the household’s response in the second half of verse 21:

Then the head of the household became angry and said to his slave, 'Go out at once into the streets and lanes of the city and bring in here the poor and crippled and blind and lame.'  "And the slave said, 'Master, what you commanded has been done, and still there is room.' "And the master said to the slave, 'Go out into the highways and along the hedges, and compel them to come in, so that my house may be filled. 'For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste of my dinner.'"

The head of the household, furious that so many had rejected his gracious invitation to have dinner with him, commanded his servant to go back into the city to invite the poor, crippled, blind, and lame. In the culture of the day, these would have been outsiders who had little or no position, power, or influence.

After extending the invitation to those who were outsiders, the servant returns to his master to explain that there was still room for more to attend the dinner party. The head of the household, who desired that his dinner party be filled, responded by commanding his servant to go and invite even more people. This time, however, the servant was directed to travel far and wide so as to compel them to come to the dinner party.

Now the word compel here literally means to strongly urge. You see, the head of the household wanted as many people as possible to enjoy the dinner party. And the head of the household was willing to send his servant further and further away from home in order to extend the invitation. However, for those who thought that they were insiders who were close to the head of the household but rejected his invitation, they were not going to receive another invitation.

Now can you imagine what was running through the mind of the self righteous religious person who had wanted to make himself look spiritually mature? Jesus had just blown up all of his categories. The point that Jesus wanted to drive home to all the self righteous religious people at this dinner party was that God was extending an invitation to many people to be a part of His kingdom. The point that Jesus wanted to drive home to all of the self righteous religious people at this dinner party was that God was willing to pursue people who were far from God and would be viewed as outsiders so that He could strongly urge them to accept His invitation to be a part of His kingdom.

The point that Jesus wanted to drive home to all of the self righteous religious people at this dinner party was that God was on a mission to humbly and passionately invite not just a few privileged insiders, but many, many outsiders to experience forgiveness and the relationship with God that they were created for.

And it is here, in these series of earthly stories designed to reveal a deeper spiritual truth that we see God reveal for us a timeless truth when it comes to living on mission. And that timeless truth is this: Living on mission requires the humility and the passion to go to those who are far from God. In order to embrace and engage in the mission that we have been given by God to be the vehicle that He uses to reveal and reflect Jesus to others, we must have the humility and the passion to go to those who are far from God.

Living on mission requires that we humbly place others who are far from God before ourselves instead of looking down on others who are far from God. And living on mission requires that we passionately go to those who are far from God by loving, serving, and investing in their lives.

So here is a question to consider. Are you willing to humbly and passionately go to those around you who are far from God?