Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled

 Then He also said to him who invited Him, "When you give a dinner or supper, do not ask your friends, your brothers, your relatives, nor rich neighbors, lest they also invite you back, and you be repaid.  But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind.  And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you; for you shall be repaid at the resurrection of the just."

Now when one of those who sat at the table with Him heard these things, he said to Him, "Blessed is he who shall eat bread in the kingdom of God!"  Then He said to him, "A certain man gave a great supper and invited many, and sent his servant at supper time to say to those who were invited, 'Come, for all things are now ready.'  But they all with one accord began to make excuses.  The first said to him, 'I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to test them.  I ask you to have me excused.'  Still another said, 'I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.'  So that servant came and reported these things to his master.  Then the master of the house, being angry, said to his servant, 'Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in here the poor and the maimed and the lame and the blind.'  And the servant said, 'Master, it is done as you commanded, and still there is room.'  Then the master said to the servant, 'Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.  For I say to you that none of those men who were invited shall taste my supper.'"

- Luke 14:12-24

On Saturday, we read that as Jesus went into the house of one of the rulers of the Pharisees to eat bread on the Sabbath, that they watched Him closely.  And behold, there was a certain man before Him who had dropsy.  And Jesus, answering, spoke to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?"  But they kept silent.  And He took him and healed him, and let him go.  Then He answered them, saying, "Which of you, having a donkey or an ox that has fallen into a pit, will not immediately pull him out on the Sabbath day?"  And they could not answer Him regarding these things.  So He told a parable to those who were invited, when He noted how they chose the best places, saying to them:  "When you are invited by anyone to a wedding feast, do not sit down in the best place, lest one more honorable than you be invited by him; and he who invited him come and say to you, 'Give place to this man,' and then you begin with shame to take the lowest place.  But when you are invited, go and sit down in the lowest place, so that when he who invited you comes he may say to you, 'Friend, go up higher.'  Then you will have glory in the presence of those who sit at the table with you.  For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."

Then He also said to him who invited Him, "When you give a dinner or supper, do not ask your friends, your brothers, your relatives, nor rich neighbors, lest they also invite you back, and you be repaid.  But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind.  And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you; for you shall be repaid at the resurrection of the just."   My study bible tells us that this instruction is based on the manner in which God treats us, although there is not one of us who could possibly repay God (see 6:30-36, 10:34-35).  It is another incident in which Jesus gives us a sense of exchange that is a matter of belonging to and participation in the Kingdom; what we sow in a earthly sense we reap in exchange in the life of the Kingdom.   Here the promise is fulfilled at the resurrection of the just.  But other readings invite us to consider a sense in which the life of the Kingdom lives with us even as we live our worldly lives, an unpredictable and mysterious intersection or parallel existence of both, as the Kingdom lives in us and among us (17:20-21).

Now when one of those who sat at the table with Him heard these things, he said to Him, "Blessed is he who shall eat bread in the kingdom of God!"  My study bible says that this man unwittingly declares the ultimate beatitude.  The truth behind his words comes through the understanding that this bread in the kingdom is the eternal communion with God. 

Then He said to him, "A certain man gave a great supper and invited many, and sent his servant at supper time to say to those who were invited, 'Come, for all things are now ready.'"  There are two levels to this parable.  Christ is the servant who is sent to gather many.  But supper indicates evening, the end of the age.  The people who are invited are first the Jews through Christ's earthly ministry, and then all mankind.  

"But they all with one accord began to make excuses.  The first said to him, 'I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to test them.  I ask you to have me excused.'  Still another said, 'I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.'  So that servant came and reported these things to his master."  Regarding these three excuses, a traditional patristic interpretation sees them as having both a literal meaning -- that many are too attached to their worldly cares to accept the Kingdom of God (verse 26; 18:29).  My study bible cites St. Ambrose of Milan, who sees the three excuses of I cannot come as representing the Gentile, the Jew, and the heretic.  The Gentile's devotion to earthly wealth (see 12:29-31) is represented by the piece of ground, the Jew's enslavement to the five books of the Law by the five yoke of oxen, and the heretic's devotion to error by the man who refuses on account of his wife.  Theophylact, however, associates the excuses more generally with people who are devoted to earthly matters, to things pertaining to the five sense, and all pleasures of the flesh. 

"Then the master of the house, being angry, said to his servant, 'Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in here the poor and the maimed and the lame and the blind.'  And the servant said, 'Master, it is done as you commanded, and still there is room.'  Then the master said to the servant, 'Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.  For I say to you that none of those men who were invited shall taste my supper.'"   My study bible notes here that those in the streets and lanes indicate (1) the Gentiles who accepted Christ after the faithless Jews rejected Him, and (2) those outside the Church who replace those within who have rejected their own baptism.

The talk here at this supper with lawyers and Pharisees clearly turns to eschatology.  The discussion begins with Jesus pressing home and reviving an already-existing point of contention:  "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?"  (see Saturday's reading, quoted above).  Jesus has already given an illustration of the importance of humility before delving into the parable we read in today's lectionary passage from the Gospel.  And in that teaching on humility were clothed hints about those with whom one may be sitting, an unawareness of the rank in glory between invited guests and those with whom one is dining.  The suggestion is even reminiscent of the story of the hospitality of Abraham, who entertained angels unaware, and gained so much from his own humility (Genesis 18:1-15).  By this time in His ministry, Jesus has set His sights on Jerusalem, and has repeatedly warned His disciples about the Passion and death that await Him there.  So today's parable given to these Pharisees and lawyers comes as a kind of warning about judgment, or the time of the resurrection of the just.  These are the spiritually learned men of the time, those who are the experts on Scripture and the Law of Moses.  They full well know what He is talking about; they are schooled in the Scripture and its meanings.  They are the guardians of the faith in this sense.  As happens elsewhere with such men who belong to the ruling bodies of the Jews, there is unwitting prophesy that happens in response, showing us a connection between what they know and the Person of Christ (see also John 11:49-52).  There is a hint that these knowledgeable and learned men should be able to grasp who Christ is; they live and breathe the Scriptures that speak of Him (John 5:39-40).  But Jesus' parable is one of scathing vehemence, a profound response to the rejection of His teaching and ministry.  He seems to imply quite clearly that as those invited first to the wedding feast, they must not over-presume the exclusivity and superiority of their status as God's people.  There is one responsibility that goes with such an exalted people, chosen of God, and that is to respond to their God when He calls.  The failure to do so, Christ suggests, will be met with the certainty that there are millions of other children of God to be found, even "out of the way" in the streets and lanes of the city, and among the poor and the maimed and the lame and the blind.  Indeed, so many places are available at this wedding feast of the Kingdom that even more simply must be found, and the command goes out to find those in the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that God's house may be filled.  The response to rejection, however, goes even further, as Christ declares, "For I say to you that none of those men who were invited shall taste my supper."  This is about absolute and final loss, and it is a dire warning, as strong as it can get.  Jesus is not mincing words about the importance with which we take our faith.  That is, a faith that is living and alert, not complacent, and not self-satisfied.  It is a faith that calls us to an awareness for the things of God, a living spiritual reality which may be hidden from us, which we will always be tempted to take as material possession or substitute with the cares and concerns of the world.  If even these men, who surely take their positions and their knowledge seriously, may overlook the ministry of Christ and turn in hostility toward it, so the warning is clear to each of us.  Humility is the only way we can truly know our God, and be listening for God's call to us.  Let us consider what that means to us, especially when we pray, and that we are all on a long learning curve in the life of this Kingdom.