
Then the master told his servant, ‘Go out to the roads and country lanes and compel them to come in, so that my house will be full.
Luke 14:23
In the preceding verses the master of the house instructs his servants to, “Go out at once into the streets and lanes of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame.” This sentence does beg the question that had the original invited guests actually shown up, would “the crippled, the blind and the lame” have been invited to the banquet at all? I don’t know the answer to that. I guess for those of us that have lived with exclusion, for whatever reason, will have had our own conversations with God on that one at some point during our spiritual journeys.
I chose to believe that it was always the Master’s intention that the poor, the outcasts, the lame and other excluded groups were invited, but the method of communicating his invitation was not clear enough to the invited recipients. Maybe the Master’s servants had neglected to make all the recipients aware that they were valued guests regardless of what their appearance or social standing was. Or perhaps due to previous experience they didn’t feel they would fit in at the table with so many other noble guests included. Or maybe just the effort of making the journey to the part along a path, littered with obstacles was just too lonely to take. I suspect it was a combination of all of these. So in staying away, they left the Master feeling sad and angry that his original intentions had been misunderstood.
Throughout this series we, through Bible scripture and Jesus’ own teachings, have explored what God intended for all his created people: challenging misunderstandings and misinterpretations and offering an alternative approach where progress towards prophetic revelation and liberating communication methods could make a difference. As appointed Party Planners the Master’s servants are tasked to fill the empty seats so that the party of all time can begin. As disciple-makers and evangelists, regardless of physical ability or social standing we are tasked to do similar. “No more excuses”, the Master says!
REFLECT…
PRAY…
& Step out!
On the notion that the missing are not in a distant nation – they are among us now in our churches and missional communities, unseen and uninvited.
For unity of vision and voice as Christ’s disciples, disabled and non-disabled. And that God’s kingdom reaches all parts of the community where we live.
If this series has inspired you to do things differently in your faith community then stay connected to Kingdom Storytellers on our website and Facebook group.