Taking in the whole scope of Scripture, the offering of excuses reminds us of the oft-repeated offering of excuses to be found within the pages of our sacred writ. While we can think about the excuses on offer from Jeremiah, Saul, Gideon, and Moses, as to why God cannot effectively use them, here we can be sent all the way back to the very first excuses of Scripture, which are to be found in the opening pages of Genesis. There, effectively, the Creator God had made preparations for something wonderful (a banquet of sorts) and sent out His invitations. Those invitations, of course, are extended to the first divine image-bearers.
“God created humankind in His own image, in the image of God He created them, male and female He created them” (1:27). It is then that a directive (an invitation) is given to this pair. They are invited to partake in God’s intentions for His world. “God blessed them and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply! Fill the earth and subdue it! Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and every creature that moves on the ground.’” (1:28) Without getting into the order of the creation accounts on offer in chapters one and two, we go on to find that “The Lord God took the man and placed him in the orchard in Eden to care for it and to maintain it. Then the Lord God commanded the man, ‘You may freely eat fruit from every tree of the orchard, but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will surely die” (2:15-17). Here, the invitation takes on specificity. Shortly thereafter, at least in terms of the narrative, we find that “the serpent was more shrewd than any of the wild animals that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, ‘Is it really true that God said, “You must not eat from any tree of the orchard?” The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit from the trees of the orchard; but concerning the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the orchard God said, ‘You must not eat from it, and you must not touch it, or else you will die.’”’” (3:1-3)
Without offering up the remainder of this part of the story, as we all are quite familiar with how it turned out, suffice it to say that both Adam and Eve ate from the tree, thus introducing death into the world. They rejected God’s invitation. Then what did they do? They offered up excuses. God asked “Did you eat from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?” (3:11b) What was Adam’s excuse? “The woman whom You gave me, she gave me some fruit from the tree and I ate it” (3:12). What was Eve’s excuse? “The serpent tricked me, and I ate” (3:13b). Understandably, God is angry with these that have now declined His invitation of participation in His purposes. However, what the big picture of Scripture shows us is that God re-directs His anger. That re-direction begins, in earnest, in chapter twelve of Genesis, when God invites Abraham to participate in His plan. Abraham’s acceptance of God’s gracious invitation is the prelude to, and because of the promise of descendants, looks toward Israel’s invitation to participate with God.
Now, while some look at the parable of the great banquet and see Israel as those that have offered up excuses as to why they cannot attend, and then accordingly see the extension of an invitation to the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame, along with a further extension of invitations to those that must be compelled to come in as the invitation to the church, without getting into Jesus’ clash with the Temple and its authorities, it can be said that such an interpretation is incomplete, mis-directed, and quite unfortunate. If Jesus is casting Himself in the role of the man that is hosting the banquet, then mention of the poor, crippled, blind, and lame fits nicely with Jesus’ programmatic declaration at the synagogue, as recorded in Luke’s fourth chapter, which is then worked out in Jesus’ public ministry, as He goes and reaches out to the poor, crippled, blind, and lame throughout Israel.
Putting the standard and unfortunate interpretation to the side, we can view the excuse makers as Adam and Eve, with the first round of additional invitations sent out to Israel. If that is the case, then the second round of invitations are sent out to the Gentiles. These are the ones that must be urged, compelled, and cajoled to come in (14:23), especially when we consider that Israel has restricted the covenantal blessings to themselves, expecting the kingdom of God to benefit them alone, as they are seated at the places of great honor at the expected messianic banquet. Though they are most assuredly invited, and continue to be invited to participate in God’s covenantal offering for the world, the Israel of Jesus’ day made it clear to Gentiles that the covenant was for them, being careful to keep the boundaries of covenant identification (circumcision, food laws, and Sabbath-keeping) firmly in place and binding on any that wanted to place themselves in a position to enjoy the covenantal blessings of Israel’s God.
Are we over-reaching in this analogy? As always, that does exist as a possibility, but let’s look closely at how Luke presents the second and third rounds of invitations. First, the slave is directed to go out to (1) the streets and (2) alleys, where he will find the poor, crippled, blind, and the lame---those to whom Jesus’ Israel-focused ministry is primarily directed, and who are the regular recipients of its benefits (think of what Jesus tells John the Baptist’s disciples in reference to His ministry within Israel---“Go tell John what you have seen and heard: The blind see, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have good news proclaimed to them” 7:22) . Then, once that is done, the slave is sent to (3) the highways and (4) the country roads, which is where he will find those that must be convinced to come to the banquet, as this would very much be a surprising invitation. Why does that matter? Well, in wrapping things up, we turn to Acts, where Luke continues His story, often drawing to conclusion things begun in the Gospel. What do we find in the first chapter? We find something that could be considered an excellent parallel to the story of the great banquet. How so?
The parable of the banquet in Luke fourteen is prompted by an anonymous declaration of “Blessed is everyone who will feast in the kingdom of God!” (14:15b) So the immediate context of the story is the kingdom of God, and Jesus proceeds to provide a glimpse into His thoughts concerning the same. In the course of the telling we find the directives with the four-fold destination: streets, alleys, highways, country roads. In the first chapter of Acts, the disciples speak to Jesus and say “Lord, is this the time when you are restoring the kingdom to Israel?” (1:6b), thus providing the immediate context for Jesus’ statement to follow. Again, as in Luke fourteen, sharing His understanding of the nature of the kingdom of God, Jesus answers by eventually saying “you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you” (1:8a). To this Jesus adds a directive with a four-fold destination, saying “and you will be My witnesses in (1) Jerusalem, and in all (2) Judea” (1:8b), the streets and alleys, “and (3) Samaria, and to the (4) farthest parts of the earth” (1:8b), which we can think of as the highways and country roads. Such is the nature of God’s gracious invitation.
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