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Welcome Back! Today, we’ll be looking at the Gospel of Luke to see what Jesus said about excuses.
So let’s dive in.
Luke 14:15-24
When one of those reclining with Him heard this, he said to Jesus, “Blessed is everyone who will eat at the feast in the kingdom of God.” But Jesus replied, “A certain man prepared a great banquet and invited many guests. When it was time for the banquet, he sent his servant to tell those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’ But one after another they all began to make excuses. The first one said, ‘I have bought a field, and I need to go see it. Please excuse me.’ Another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to try them out. Please excuse me.’ Still another said, ‘I have married a wife, so I cannot come.’ The servant returned and reported all this to his master. Then the owner of the house became angry and said to his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the city, and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame.’ ‘Sir,’ the servant replied, ‘what you ordered has been done, and there is still room.’ So the master told his servant, ‘Go out to the highways and hedges and compel them to come in, so that my house will be full. For I tell you, not one of those men who were invited will taste my banquet.’”
My Thoughts
It was a very spiritual statement; “Blessed is everyone who will eat at the feast in the kingdom of God.” One you might suspect to hear around Jesus as people posture themselves as being “righteously in the know.” And yet, Jesus gives a warning to His “spiritual friend” and everyone else at the table. Not so fast. Maybe there’s something a little deeper at play here. Maybe, just maybe, those who think they will get a taste of the sumptuous dinner in heaven actually voided their invitation here on earth.
In the story Jesus states that all invitations have already been sent and now the great banquet is ready. All the guests have to do is let the servants know that they are on their way. But something strange takes place, well, maybe not so strange when one is invited to something they weren’t very interested in anyway. The excuses begin to fly. “I got some land.” “I got some cows.” “I got a wife.” All very important things and seemingly more important than this man’s big dinner.
Jesus intended the dinner guests and, oh by the way, us, to connect the dots. We see that these excuses are ordinary and common ones made every day for things we don’t want to do. We have our priorities. But we’re not talking about any old meal. We’re talking about the “feast in the kingdom of God!” Jesus is painting a picture of the stark difference between wanting to sound “spiritual” and actually “seeking the kingdom first (Matthew 6:33). In reality, those with excuses are posers. Their lifestyle doesn’t align with their platitudes. In plain words, they are hypocrites.
Now, let’s get personal. Have we ever used excuses to justify our priorities over kingdom priorities? I know I have. “I’ll read my Bible after I check my messages, people are important, you know.” “That person doesn’t look like they’d be interested in the gospel anyway.” “I’ll cut my prayers short today. God already knows what I’m gonna pray.” I’ll spare you and I any more illumination than necessary. We may not be making excuses that keep us from the celestial dinner with Jesus but aren’t these kinds of excuses robbing us of time with Him now?
My Story
“No excuse Sergeant!”
That was what we were taught to say from day one when the sergeant confronted us on one of our shortcomings. And why was this such an important lesson to teach soldiers right out of the gate. Well, new soldiers are being chastised for their errors every waking moment. And the most natural thing for a civilian wearing a uniform is to do what they have done all their lives, hide it, deny it, or blame it on someone else. And from personal and cultural experience, I know it’s not just new soldiers who are plagued with the “excuse disease.” It’s part of human DNA. We’ve been using them since the Garden of Eden. “That woman You gave me made me do it!”
But then my sergeant went one step further. After I replied with the canned response “No excuse Sergeant!” We were instructed to self evaluate and express line by line what we actually did and how we were going to correct our actions in the future (Of course this second step happens after giving him twenty push-ups).
Think about it. The Army was teaching us how to repent. Confess our wrong doings and take steps to correct them. Now you’ll probably never hear a sergeant say “You are forgiven.” But when we come clean before our heavenly Father, He will. And isn’t this a skill that desperately needs to be taught to people these days? Like my sergeants in basic training, we too as disciple makers, need to teach people the art of receiving correction, repentance, and coming up with a plan to avoid the pitfall in the future (minus the pushups).
Our Action Plan
Now it’s time for application. Here’s some questions and ideas:
- When confronted with some sin or error (real or false), what is our first reaction?
- The man who discipled me as a young believer gave me this advice; “Assume a rebuke from someone is at least 1% true. That will give you enough time to think about it before you put up your defenses.”
- Do a Bible study with the men and women you are discipling on Receiving or Rejecting Correction.
Repentance is one of the first skills Jesus taught His disciples. To acknowledge the wrong and align future thoughts and actions with God’s design. It was crucial not only to their salvation but for maturity, healthy relationships, and even the ministry. Excuses get in the way of real life now and when we cross over to the next life.
Organic Writing – No Artificial Intelligence or Sweeteners Added
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