“Come, for Everything is Now Ready!”

“When one of those who reclined at the table with him heard these things, he said to him, “Blessed is everyone who will 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 everything is now ready.’ But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said to him, ‘I have bought a field, and I must go out and see it. Please have me excused.’” (Luke 14:15-18 ESV)

If you are a fan of Jesus' parables, you will love these chapters. Remember Jesus’ answer to the disciples when they asked Him in Matthew:10, “Why do you speak to them in parables?” …  “This is why I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. …For this people’s heart has grown dull, and with their ears they can barely hear, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and turn, and I would heal them.’" Parables are not meant to persuade the unpersuadable or to convince the inconvincible. Some people will not believe spiritual truths no matter what. Jesus had little patience with these people; remember the condemnation he had for two towns where he performed miracles, “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes.” These towns, Chorazin and Bethsaida, would not believe in Jesus' message that the Kingdom of God was here and that He was the promised Messiah. Some people refuse to believe even though they witnessed the miracles of Jesus with their own eyes and heard Him with their own ears.

Parables explain spiritual truths through earthly examples so those with ears to hear and eyes to see can understand. Parables are designed to help those sincerely seeking spiritual truth understand the good news that God’s only begotten Son has come to provide salvation for all who will come to Him in faith.

The Parable of the Dinner is designed to wake the Jews from their sleep and to help them to understand that while God had prepared a big dinner (the Kingdom of God) for them, “Come; for everything is ready now!” God had been telling the Jews that the promised Messiah was coming for centuries. He used the prophets like Moses, Isiah, Jeremiah, and Malachi to show that the Messiah was coming to save His people from their sins. God used John the Baptist to tell the Jewish community that Jesus was the promised Messiah and that the people should listen to Him. You see, the certain man who was giving a big dinner and invited the Jews to come was God the Father. The invitation to the Jews had gone out for thousands of years; they had time to prepare and accept the invitation to come to the dinner and rejoice with God that the time for the Messiah had come.

That same invitation has gone out to you as well. God has sent you a personal invitation to join Him at His dinner for His Son. The call “Come, for everything is ready now” is meant for you. God's Son died on the cross to pay the penalty for your sins against a Holy and Righteous God. Jesus was buried and rose on the third day to prove He had power over death and sin. There is nothing left for you to do but to come to the “dinner.” Accept God’s gift of salvation: “for by grace you are saved, through faith, and not of yourselves.”

But look at the Jews' response to the master of the dinner, ‘I have bought a field, and I must go out and see it. Please have me excused.’… ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to examine them. Please have me excused.’ … ‘I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come’. They were so worried about earthly things that they could not see or hear the spiritual truth of the invitation, “Come, for everything is ready now.” How heartbreaking: those chosen by God have decided that the things of this world are more important than eternity. The same excuses that people use today to decline the invitation from God to come to Him through the Son are really superficial, just like the Jews' excuses.

So, let me ask you a question, my friend: what is keeping you from coming to the dinner that our God has prepared for you?

Salvation is ready for you. You don’t have to “clean up your act”; God has dealt with your sins. You don’t have to “promise to be a better person”; God will take care of that also. He will make you a new creation; He will make the old things pass away, and all things become new. Please notice in this parable, God did it all. He prepared the dinner; He sent out the invitations; He made it possible for those whom He called to come. It’s all about Him and His beloved Son, not about you and what you have or have not done.

So today, as you feel the Holy Spirit speaking to your heart and drawing you to accept the invitation to be saved, don’t make excuses. Listen, respond, and accept the gift of eternal life.

"Living in Grace is not about what I can do, but about what Jesus has already done!"