Daily Gospel Reflection

What’s Your Excuse?

Welcome back to Radical and Relevant. Today's reading is from the Gospel of Luke 14:15-24. When one of those who sat a table with him heard this, Jesus said to him, "Blessed is he who shall eat bread in the Kingdom of God." But he said to him, "A man once gave a great banquet and invited many." And at the time, for the banquet, He sent His servant to say to those who had been invited, "Come, for all is now ready." But the all alike began to make excuses. The first said to him, "I have bought a field and must go out and see it. I pray you have me excused." And another said, "I have bought five yoke of oxen and I go to examine them. I pray you have me excused." And another said, "I have married a wife and therefore I cannot come." So the servant came and reported to his master. Then the householder in anger said to him, "Go out quickly in the streets and the lanes of the city and bring in the poor and the maimed and the blind and the lame." And the servant says, "Sir, what you commanded has been done and still there is room." And the Master said to the servant, "Go to the highways and the byways and compel people to come in that my house may be full. For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste my banquet."

So we're carrying on from yesterday. And in this conversation about who to invite to a banquet, Jesus gives another parable about a banquet and invites people, the Master invites people, and they don't come. What jumps out at me is that excuses have been part of the human condition for a long, long time. Jesus said in the middle of the parable, "But they all alike began to make excuses." Human beings, you and me, we are expert at making excuses. We're experts at excusing our behavior. We're experts at coming up with reasons why we can't do something or shouldn't do something or shouldn't have to do something or won't do something. And of course, this is what happens in the parable. Lots of people got lots of excuses, but something overwhelms that. What is it that overwhelms that? Is the Master's desire for his house to be full? That's God, right? The Master's desire for his house to be full. He says to the servant, go back out, go back out, go back out to new and different places. He sends him to new and different places each time. Bring in the people. Compel the people to come to my house may be full. It's beautiful hospitality, right? It's beautiful hospitality. Sometimes, you come into a home and there's just such great hospitality.

It's just a desire for you to be there, for you to feel welcome, for you to feel warm and loved. And that's a beautiful thing when we experience that. And of course, we can give other people that gift of hospitality. But that's the hospitality God has for us in His kingdom, in the Kingdom of Heaven. And are we going to show up? Are we showing up? Or are we going to have excuses like all the people had excuses? Let's show up today. Let's show up to God's banquet today. Let's live in the Kingdom of God today. Have an amazing day. Remember, Be Bold, Be Catholic.