Phil 2:5-11 / Lk 14:15-24
The excuses offered by the various invited guests in today’s gospel strike most of us as both flimsy and stupid. Why ignore an invitation to the event of the season at the finest house in town? Because I need to look at some land or some oxen? Really! What’s going on here?
But before we get too carried away with our righteous ridicule, we just might want to take a look at our own fairly silly circumstance. The fact is that not a day goes by without God offering every one of us multiple invitations to happier lives. With remarkable generosity and subtlety, God shows himself to us in myriad ways and beckons to us to enjoy the banquet of life he’s laid out before us.
Over and over, he makes it clear to us that we are not walking alone but have the most trustworthy of friends as our companion. His help, his guidance, his strength, his comfort are all there for the asking — in a sense it’s just like a grand buffet where there’s so much to choose from. And still we do not eat, but spend too many of our days hungering and thirsting and sad.
It’s time to stop saying “no” to the Lord’s invitations. It’s time to partake of the rich life he wants us to have here and now. Don’t waste away in outer darkness. Listen for his call and say “yes”!
