At the dinner at the home of one of the Chief Pharisees, Jesus has already shared a couple of points of instruction regarding proper service to God in which He used formal dinners as examples to drive home the points:

• He encouraged humility by telling the people not to exalt themselves by trying to grab the most important seats at a formal dinner.
• He encouraged true service to mankind by suggesting inviting the poor to formal dinners. He said that those who do this would be blessed.

After hearing the statement that someone who invites poor people to a dinner is blessed, a man sitting near Jesus counters with the remark, “Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God” (Luke 14:15). 

Now, on the surface, this is an accurate statement. But when you consider who is saying it and in what context, it’s clear that this man already has himself and the other important Jews — such as those who are attending this particular dinner — on the guest list for that great dinner in the kingdom of God.

Jesus replies by relating a parable to this man.

In the parable, a man has invited many guests to a large dinner. When the time arrives for the dinner to take place, he sends his servant out to let the expected guests know that it is time to come to the dinner. However, one by one, the expected guests make excuses for not coming — one has bought land, one has bought oxen, and one has gotten married.

The host is angry when he hears these excuses. He sends his servant out to invite poor people to come to the dinner instead. And when there is still additional room, he instructs his servant to bring in anybody he can convince to come to the dinner. He concludes by saying that none of the original invited guests will be taking part in this dinner. (See Luke 14:16-24).

In this parable, the host is God and He is inviting people to look to Christ and thereby accept the invitation to the great banquet in the kingdom of God. The first group of invited guests is generally believed to represent the House of Israel, and the latter group (where the servant brings in anybody who will accept) represents the Gentiles. This is an accurate depiction of the order in which the gospel has been presented to these different groups of people.

But looking at the parable on a personal level, do you find yourself feeling sorry for the first group of people? Hey, they had other things going on, and they told the host that they couldn’t make it, so why was he so upset with them?

Well, don’t feel sorry for them. You see, when each of these men said, “I cannot come,” this was a lie. None of their situations made it impossible for them to attend. Inconvenient perhaps, but not impossible. A more accurate response would have been something like, “I can either come to your dinner or work on the land that I just bought — and I choose to work on my land.” And, considering that the host was expecting these men to attend the dinner, this type of response would rightfully anger him.

How often do you say, “I can’t”? I can’t attend church today. I can’t afford to tithe. I can’t find time to read the scriptures or pray. Are these statements really true, or is there some personal choice involved?

Let’s use church attendance as an example. Except for certain circumstances (such as physical disability, for example), it’s always your choice whether or not you go to church. This is not to say that there aren’t some situations that may arise where the right choice is to not attend church on a given Sunday — but, even then, it’s still a choice that you make.

Recognizing this is very liberating. The enemy wants you to believe the “I can’t” lie. He wants you to believe that you have valid excuses for not going to church, tithing, reading the scriptures, praying, etc. When you realize that you’re the one choosing to not do these things (usually by making other choices that preclude them), it should then be apparent that you can make some different choices and start doing those things that you would like to be doing as a servant of God.

Continuing with the church attendance example, I could say that I can’t attend church because I have to work on Sunday. But when I realize that I’m actually choosing to work on Sunday, I’m then free to choose to not work on Sunday (even if it means changing jobs) and now I can attend church. The same logic applies to the other activities listed above — it’s your choice how you use your money and how you spend your time. Make different choices, and suddenly more things associated with serving God become possible.

So, don’t fall into the trap that the men in the parable did — thinking that they had no choice but to refuse the Lord’s invitation because of the things they were involved with. Recognize that you always have the option of doing what the Lord wants you to do — you just may need to say no to other things that are trying to ensnare you (or at least relegate them to their proper place — second to the things of God).

This article has undergone ministry review and approval.

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