“Then the master told the slave, ‘Go out into the highways and lanes and make them come in, so that my house may be filled. For I tell you not one of those men who were invited will enjoy my banquet!’ ” Luke 14:23-24 HCSB
Our scripture passage comes from Luke chapter 14, verses 16-24 in which Jesus is telling the Parable of the Large Banquet. In this parable, this man decides to host a large banquet and invited many of his friends to attend. Once this feast was prepared, he sent his slave out to tell everyone to come. However, as the slave approached the guests, they began to make excuses as to why they would not be attending. One just bought oxen and wanted to try them out, one just bought a field and wanted to go see it and one just got married. When the slave reported this to the master, the master was furious. He sent the slave out into the streets and alleyways to bring in the blind, the maimed, and the lame. But even these were not enough to fill his house. He then sent the slave into the highways and the lanes to compel everyone to come in and enjoy the feast that had been prepared.
The acronym R.S.V.P. actually stands for the French term, re’sponde s’il vous plait, which means please reply. You often see this on invitations to dinners, parties, and weddings. Many complain that people rarely R.S.V.P. these days. If you happen to be the host of this event, you know that it is very frustrating. We throw parties and we need to know how many plans to attend in order to be sure that we have enough seating and enough food. You don’t want to cook for 40 people and 15 shows up or vice versa. So, the R.S.V.P. is very important.
In this particular parable, this man’s friends had some lame excuses as to why they could not attend this banquet. Today there is a church on every corner, but few are bothering to come into them. Why? Well, to be totally honest with you, I too, have heard some lame excuses. I have invited people to church and been told that they do their grocery shopping on Sunday morning. I have been told that this is their only day off. I have been told that they like to lay in bed and watch movies on Sunday. I’m sad to say that there were times when I too used some lame excuses to skip church. I wonder when we stand before the great white throne of judgment what Jesus will think of the excuses we used to avoid going to his house and praising Him?
Jesus wants to fill his house just like this rich man wanted to fill his house. Jesus wants us to feast on God’s Word. He wants us to study our Bibles. He wants us to drink the living water. He wants us to praise and worship Him, but we are not likely to do that in the grocery store or laying in our beds watching movies.
If we don’t respond and attend God’s house here on earth, can we really be expected to be invited into his heavenly kingdom? Many will argue with me here that we don’t have to attend church to get to heaven. But we are told in Exodus 20:9-11 that we are to regard the Sabbath day or the seventh day as holy. We are to use it as a day of rest and as a holy day.
We are also told in Hebrews 10:24-25 that we should consider one another in order to stir up love and good works and that we should not forsake to assemble together to exhort or encourage one another.
Our heavenly Father not only prepares a feast, but He prepares a room for us in His mansion in heaven. Jesus said in John 14:2, “In my Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.”
No reservation you ever make will be more important than this one, be sure to reserve your place.
Have a great day!