Jesus had just instructed those present to invite to any “feast” any of them might arrange the “poor, crippled, lame, blind.” They would be “repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.” Hence, this unnamed person remarked, “blessed whoever will eat bread in the kingdom of God” – those receiving their repayment at “the resurrection of the righteous.”
But the one said to him, “A certain one was making a great banquet and called many. And, at the hour of the banquet, he sent out his slave to say to those who had been called, ‘Come, because it is now ready!’ But they all together as one began to reject.
In that connection, Jesus told them all this parallel of the “great banquet” to which “many” were “called.” When the day came “they all together as one began to reject.” Have you received an invite to the “great banquet”? An invitation to eternal life from someone who provided it by dying and rising again.
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The first said to him, ‘I bought a field, and I have a requirement, coming out, to see it. I ask you to have me to be excused.’ And another said, ‘I bought five pairs of oxen, and I go out to evaluate them. I ask you to have me to be excused.’ And another said, ‘I have contracted in marriage a wife, and through that I do not have power to come.’ And the slave, coming near, reported these things to his Lord.
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“A field” speaks of food production, of appetite for it. The “five pairs of oxen” is more like owning a vehicle fleet, acquiring the desirable. What about a new “wife”? That’s a needed upward mobility and satisfaction.
Then the house-overlord, being provoked, said to his slave, ‘Come out quickly into the streets and alleys of the city, and bring in here the poor and crippled and blind and lame.’ And the slave said, ‘Lord, what you commanded has come to be, and there is still place.’ And the Lord said to the slave, ‘Come out into the pathways and hedges and require them to come in, so that my house may be filled! For I state to you that none of those men, those called, will taste my banquet.’”
The overall message seems to be a proliferation of polite rejections of calls to the “feast.” Thankfully, there’s plenty room for “the poor and crippled and blind and lame.” As well as a purposed exclusion of all invitees…
But large crowds were going along together with him, and, having turned, he said to them, “If someone comes to me and does not hate the father and the mother and the wife and the children and the brothers and the sisters - of himself - and furthermore the soul - of himself – he is not able to be my disciple. Whoever does not carry the cross - of himself - and come behind me is not able to be my disciple.”
In this startling statement, was Jesus bringing to light the real reason behind the three excuses in his parallel above? Self-interest rejects the vertical and prioritizes the horizontal. Jesus was reported as “having turned.” Is the ‘turning’ of an invitee an impossibility?
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“Because, which of you, desiring to house-build a tower, does not first, seated, count the cost if he holds to completion? Otherwise, he himself having placed a foundation and not having ability fully to complete, all those watching may begin to mock him, stating that, ‘This same man began to house-build and did not have ability fully to complete.’ Or which king, going to engage another king in war, first, seated, does not deliberate if he is powerful with ten thousand to meet the one coming against him with twenty thousand? But if not, the other being still far away, sending out a delegation, he asks the terms for peace. So therefore, any one of you who does not separate from all the belongings – of himself – is not able to be my disciple.”
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Will my self-built “tower” withstand the Lord God? Or my self-made army?
“Good therefore, the salt. But if the salt may be foolish, how will it be made ready? It is of no use either for the soil or for the manure pile. It is thrown away. The one having ears to hear, hear!”
Maybe the “salt” identifies the invitees who refuse the “great banquet.”
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