Go out into the country lanes and behind the hedges and urge anyone you find to come, so that the house will be full. (Luke 14:23)
This is one of my favorite stories Jesus told about the Kingdom of God (Luke 14:16-24). After preparing a great feast, a wealthy man sent his servants out to bring in the invited guests. But none of them could come. They all had pretty lame excuses, too: “I have just bought a field and must inspect it… I have just bought five pairs of oxen, and I want to try them out… I now have a wife so I can’t come…” So he sent his servants out to round up anyone they could find.
Now I’m pretty sure this parable was told mainly for the benefit of the religious leaders who were following Jesus around, testing Him and trying to prove He was not the promised Messiah. They would have been the invited guests who had better things to do when it came time for the big feast. They were the ones with a sense of entitlement. They had received their embossed invitations generations earlier through the Law and the Prophets, and they would certainly have assumed they had reservations in heaven. They would have received this story as a grave insult.
But the other side of the story is all about the people who do get in at the end. They are the ones who never expected it. They don’t have a clue how they got there. They are not sure how to behave — they’re not even sure what this is. What a beautiful picture of the grace of God, to invite a bunch of clueless people into heaven! No one woke up that morning expecting to be at a feast. What good fortune! How could this be happening to me? It’s my presumption that this will be the prevailing attitude of heaven. I just can’t imagine anyone looking around and saying, “Yep, this is about what I expected,” or “Look at that group over there. How did they ever get in?”
No, everyone’s going to be flabbergasted that they got in, and pretty wide-eyed about the whole thing, and this merely captures a refreshing sense of fellowship that has been going on here on earth as long as we’ve known about our salvation. When it comes to fellowship, no one’s any better than anybody else. Everyone is surprised and full of gratitude for receiving what we don’t deserve, and that puts us all in the same boat. This is what we have here on earth; I don’t think heaven will be any different.
Come to think of it, the religious elite probably wouldn’t like heaven anyway. It’s just not their crowd.
John Fischer The Catch 
I like reading The Message because it makes me rethink familiar passages. Come to think of it, that’s what I like about reading you, too! Your post today brought this one to mind, from Romans 11:
In one way or another, God makes sure that we all experience what it means to be outside so that he can personally open the door and welcome us back in. Have you ever come on anything quite like this extravagant generosity of God, this deep, deep wisdom? It’s way over our heads. We’ll never figure it out.
John’s not going to boast about a song he wrote that ties in with this post, so I will. One of his best (my opinion) from the “Dark Horse” album/tape/(wish it were a CD!!):
Beggar
Words and Music by John Fischer
I know where the food is
And it isn’t very far away
Doesn’t cost much but an empty soul
And the pride that stands in the way
I’m not one who’s got it all in place
Telling you what you should do
No I’m just one old hungry beggar
Showing you where I found food
Have you found the water
That will never make you thirst again
Jesus is a well of water springing up
Into eternal life from within
I’m not one who’s got it all in place
Telling you what you should do
No I’m just one old hungry beggar
Showing you where I found food
Maybe you aren’t hungry
And maybe you don’t thirst at all
But maybe the years have hardened the tears
And you really are a beggar after all
I’m not one who’s got it all in place
Telling you what you should do
No I’m just one old hungry beggar
Showing you where I found food
Thanks Robert for the reminder.
I heard this song performed in Kearney or North Platte, NE when I was in Junior High ~30 years ago. The chorus has stuck with me all these years. Entered the chorus in a search engine today and this page came up.
Thanks for the great lyrics John, I guess I should check out your current stuff too 🙂
I concur – the song has always grabbed me and I have sung it a a few campfires – it makes the point very well – thanks for penning those words John as well as the Roses on Wednesdays… c.S.
beautiful song, beautiful post
As I read this the question in my mind and heart was “Who are the ‘invited guests’ (or religious elite) in our day that are too busy for the banquet?” I know that too often I find myself comfortable at church feeling like I belong there rather than being amazed at God’s grace that invites me there. Oh how important to keep that sense of wonder and awe that we have been invited to the banquet. Thank you John for the gentle reminder.