One of Jesus’ fellow guests … said to him, “Blessed is the one who will dine in the kingdom of God.” He replied to him, “A man gave a great dinner to which he invited many. When the time for the dinner came, he dispatched his servant to say to those invited, ‘Come, everything is now ready.’ But one by one, they all began to excuse themselves. The first said to him, ‘I have purchased a field and must go to examine it; I ask you, consider me excused.’ And another said, ‘I have purchased five yoke of oxen and am on my way to evaluate them; I ask you, consider me excused.’ And another said, ‘I have just married a woman, and therefore I cannot come.’ The servant went and reported this to his master. Then the master of the house in a rage commanded his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in here the poor and the crippled, the blind and the lame.’ The servant reported, ‘Sir, your orders have been carried out and still there is room.’ The master then ordered the servant, ‘Go out to the highways and hedgerows and make people come in that my home may be filled. For, I tell you, none of those men who were invited will taste my dinner.’”  

“If you’ve got the poison,” Jason Mraz sings, “I’ve got the remedy. The remedy is the experience. It is a dangerous liaison. I say the comedy is that it’s serious. I say the tragedy is how you’re gonna spend the rest of your nights with the light on, so shine the light on all of your friends because it all amounts to nothing in the end. I won’t worry my life away.” The remedy for pain is the experience of life in which you don’t allow yourself to worry. 

Jesus’ stories always had a point to them, always directed right to the heart of some problem, or in terms of Jason Mraz’s song, some poison. The poison was always something that if not corrected, would lead to ruin for the individuals involved. In this story of Jesus in Luke’s Gospel, specifically the people who are listening to him are invited to dine in the Lord’s kingdom, that is, enjoy forever the eternal banquet. But they have to do something first—they must “come to the feast.” In the story, they refuse to come, that is, they refuse what they must do in order to enjoy the kingdom. And so, they are punished. And in their place, everyone who is willing to listen to him is invited, and presumably will enjoy the dinner.
 
There is always some poison in our worlds, something that is not good for us. Jason Mraz sings of such poison in his song “The Remedy (I Won’t Worry).” Poison, obviously, is something that will kill us in the end, and if that poison is disguised, and we don’t know that it is poison, it becomes a tragedy for us. The remedy for any poison is a fulfilled life, one that does not give in to all the worries of the world, a life in which we listen to the people who can help us, and then try to carry out their direction as best as we can.
 
The Lord invites us all to his kingdom, but in order to enter it, we have to address the poisons of our lives, those things that can lead us to ruin and sin. We can make excuses, and not listen to him, and suffer the consequences, or we can listen, experience a fulfilled life that is directed by his commands, giving up the worries of the world, and in the end, enjoy what he promises.

THOUGHT
 
PRAYER

Good and gracious God, your Son has invited us to enjoy your presence forever, but before we do it, we must address the poisons that surround us. Help us live a life that does not give into the worries of the world and is open to what your Son wants of us. Be with us, we pray. 

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©2007 Capuchin Province of Mid-America
Fr. Mike Scully is a member of the Capuchin Province of Mid-America