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

The great dinner: The allegory is easy to understand. The man who gives the big dinner, a metaphor for the messianic banquet, is God. Those who are invited (Israel) excuse themselves, when the servant (prophets) delivers the invitation to them.

The invited are too preoccupied with daily concerns. These people who make the excuses are not Luke’s primary concern, however. He is interested in those whom the master invites to the dinner after the originally invited guests refuse to come. Those who respond to the second and third rounds of invitations are the blessed in the kingdom of God.

Who is in the kingdom of God? The poor and the crippled, the blind and the lame — the first group to be rounded up from the streets and alleys of the town — are in the kingdom of God. These are the same people that Jesus earlier told His host to invite to His dinner (cf 14:13).

However, even all of these do not fill the banqueting hall. So the master tells the servant to get more people in. This second recruitment of people for the kingdom represents the Gentile mission, which will be further developed in Luke’s second volume, the Acts of the Apostles.

SOURCE: “365 Days with the Lord,” ST. PAULS, 7708 St. Paul Rd., SAV, Makati City (Phils.,); Tel.: 895-9701; Fax 895-7328; E-mail: publishing@stpauls.ph; Website: http://www.stpauls.ph.