the feast

What if you threw a party and nobody came?

In Luke 14 Jesus tells the story of a rich man who throws an elaborate banquet and invites several of his rich friends. On the appointed day he sends a servant to remind the invitees. But each of them has an excuse for not attending. It's odd because they all knew the event was coming but they scheduled other things on that day: a real estate deal, purchasing a fleet of vehicles (a yoke of oxen would be like a truck, so five yoke/pair of oxen would be a fleet of work vehicles), even a wedding.

So what's Jesus' point? As always, Jesus is talking about the Kingdom of God. The rich people and religious leaders are talking about how wonderful God's Kingdom is. But Jesus is telling them that the Kingdom is right next to them and they are missing it. They are going about their rich and religious business and it all seems very legitimate. But the King is among them. So their business becomes their excuse for not noticing him.

God is throwing a party all around us. That was Jesus' good news: the Kingdom is right here next to us ("at hand" in the KJV). The core of his teaching and all of his stories were ways of peeling back the layers of the world to reveal the presence of the Kingdom: in a field (Mt 13:44), a yoke (Mt 11:29), a wedding (John 2), a tree, a vineyard, even a seed. But we aren't aware of it because we're occupied with all the things that make us feel important. It's not that these things aren't worth doing. It's that they can become walls instead of windows. It's like focusing so much on the glass that we miss the breath-taking panorama of God's glory just on the other side. The point isn't how grand the window is. Windows are ways to see what's outside, to let in beauty and light and warmth.