{"id":601,"date":"2021-03-25T08:41:36","date_gmt":"2021-03-25T12:41:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/js1cd06kre.onrocket.site\/?p=601"},"modified":"2021-03-25T08:41:36","modified_gmt":"2021-03-25T12:41:36","slug":"widen-your-circle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/2021\/03\/25\/widen-your-circle\/","title":{"rendered":"Widen Your Circle"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Throughout Lent, we\u2019re exploring the parables of Jesus \u2013 the two dozen or so stories that were his chief means of describing the reality of God\u2019s rule on earth. <\/strong>

Believe it or not, the excruciating drama of Who\u2019s In and Who\u2019s Out didn\u2019t start when you were in middle school.

People in the ancient world \u2013 especially religious folks \u2013 were obsessed with the matter of who really mattered to God, and who therefore deserved a ticket to Paradise.

What will heaven be like?  The picture that emerges most frequently in the teaching of Jesus is a party \u2013 a celebration not unlike the weeklong feasts associated with first century Jewish weddings.  Those who enter the kingdom of God will find themselves kicking back with the saints of previous ages. 

So who gets to attend that party?

Members of the religious Establishment were certain they were on God\u2019s primary invitation list.  As a public service, they went ahead and identified some of those who would definitely not<\/em> be gathered around God\u2019s table in the next world.  Members of the separatist Jewish movement called the Essenes, for example, declared:  \u201cNo madman, or lunatic, or simpleton, or fool, or blind man, or maimed, or lame, or deaf man, and no minor, shall enter into the Community.\u201d 

A holy God would unquestionably enforce minimal entrance requirements for getting to experience the Show.  The lame, the crippled, and those with any kind of blemish need not apply.

If that sounds harsh, consider the perspective of Peter Singer, professor of ethics of Princeton University, a man whom some identify as the most influential contemporary American philosopher.  According to Singer, parents should have the right to kill their less-than-perfect babies so they can replace them with much-closer-to-perfect babies, whom he believes would have a greater chance of experiencing happiness. 

In both the first century and the twenty-first century, beautiful people are celebrated above those who are homely, capable human beings are more highly valued than the incompetent, and those who seem to be pure are thought more deserving of fellowship than those who are not.

The Jewish leaders of Jesus\u2019 day \u2013 and not a few church leaders of our own day \u2013 have come to the conclusion that the more faithful one is to God, the smaller one\u2019s circle of care should become.  If you really love God, then you\u2019ll starting limiting the categories of people with whom you sustain contact.  You\u2019ll no longer feel led to spend time, for instance, with those who vote for the wrong political party, or who act out sexually, or who fail relationally, or who flunk particular cultural values tests.

Faithful people, in other words, should be all about subtraction and division.  We should get tough\u2026purge the sin and<\/u><\/em> the sinners\u2026surgically removing unhealthy cells from the body of Christ. 

That\u2019s a heartbreaking perspective for Christians \u2013 especially because Jesus himself, as reflected in his stories, is clearly into addition and multiplication.  That\u2019s apparent in the Parable of the Great Banquet (Luke 14:15-24):

\u201cA certain man was preparing a great banquet and invited many guests.  At the time of the banquet he sent his servant to tell those who had been invited, \u2018Come, for everything is now ready.\u2019<\/em>But they all alike began to make excuses.  The first said, \u2018I have just bought a field, and I must go and see it.  Please excuse me.\u2019  Another said, \u2018I have just bought five yoke of oxen, and I\u2019m on my way to try them out.  Please excuse me.\u2019  Still another said, \u2018I just got married, so I can\u2019t come.\u2019<\/em>

\u201cThe servant came back and reported this to his master.  Then the owner of the house became angry and ordered his servant, \u2018Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame.\u2019 \u2018Sir,\u2019 the servant said, \u2018what you ordered has been done, but there is still room.\u2019<\/em>

\u201cThen the master told his servant, \u2018Go out to the roads and country lanes and make them come in, so that my house will be full.  I tell you, not one of those men who were invited will get a taste of my banquet.\u2019\u201d<\/em>

In the ancient Middle East, preparing a feast or banquet was a two-stage process.  First you confirmed your guest list.  Weeks in advance you found out which of your neighbors intended to come to your party.  Then you would go prepare the food. 

There was no set time for the kickoff of such an event.  The host would never say, \u201cAppetizers begin on Friday at 5:45 p.m.\u201d  The party began when the food was ready, and everybody in the village would know generally that the time was approaching.  All that was required was a servant walking from house to house announcing, \u201cEverything\u2019s ready.  Please come!\u201d

In Jesus\u2019 story, however, the guests who have already agreed to attend a particular banquet start to beg off. 

Their excuses are entirely lame \u2013 and Jesus\u2019 listeners would know this.  Saying, \u201cI just bought a field and I have to check it out,\u201d would be like saying, \u201cJohn Denver\u2019s greatest hits have just come out in a boxed set, and I have to stay home and listen to Rocky Mountain High<\/em> for the 500th<\/sup> time.\u201d  It would be inconceivable for someone to have bought a field without first having examined every inch of it. 

People who have already RSVPed are insulting the host.  In our day this would be like saying, \u201cOf course I\u2019ll come to your graduation open house, I wouldn\u2019t miss it!\u201d but then concluding that only the losers will probably show up.  The Pharisees honestly thought that heaven wouldn\u2019t be heaven unless they \u2013 the right people<\/em> \u2013 were in the mix.

Instead of feeling humiliated, the master of the banquet becomes enraged.  He will not allow all this food \u2013 all this grace \u2013 to go to waste, just because the religious elite doesn\u2019t feel the need to attend. 

He says to his servant, \u201cGo out quickly<\/em> \u2013 right now \u2013 and fill the places at my table.\u201d This is an urgent summons. 

Since all the beautiful people were on the original guest list, who gets an invitation now?  The master says, \u201cGo out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame.\u201d   This is outrageous.  What do the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame have in common?  All of them were on the salvation reject list as conceived by many of Israel\u2019s rabbis. 

Jesus is saying, \u201cGod has opened the doors of heaven to the very people that others call \u2018losers.\u2019\u201d 

The servant says to the master, \u201cSir, all the \u2018uninviteds\u2019 have shown up and there\u2019s still room at the table.  Now what should I do?\u201d  The master says, \u201cGo out to the roads and country lanes and make them come, so that my house will be full.\u201d 

The expression \u201croads and country lanes\u201d was a Judean catchphrase.  It referred to \u201cthe people who live outside our community\u201d \u2013 in other words, those unwashed, unchosen, unspiritual Gentiles who aren\u2019t like us.  How low will the master in Jesus\u2019 parable go? 

And what does he mean when he says, \u201cmake them come<\/em>\u201d?  This is not a reference to force, but indicates an assurance that this invitation is not a fraud.  In the ancient world, a crippled beggar or a prostitute or a Roman solider far from home would assume that a huge mistake has been made.  I\u2019m not supposed to get this invitation.  <\/em>Or maybe the master is simply being polite.  Etiquette would dictate that you thank the servant a thousand times \u2013 or as author John Ortberg puts it, \u201cGee, could I at least have a copy of the invitation so I could frame it and put it on my wall?\u201d 

To save face both for yourself and the master, however, there\u2019s no question what you have to do:  You must decline the invitation.

But the master tells the servant, \u201cBe persuasive.  Be compelling.  Don\u2019t take no for an answer, because they will think they don\u2019t deserve it.\u201d 

Who\u2019s In and Who\u2019s Out? 

God\u2019s ideas are different from our ideas. 

Is the circle of those around you \u2013 those to whom you are regularly extending, on God\u2019s behalf, arms of grace and love \u2013 getting smaller or larger?

The wonderful news is that God\u2019s circle is as large as the whole world. 
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Throughout Lent, we\u2019re exploring the parables of Jesus \u2013 the two dozen or so stories that were his chief means of describing the reality of God\u2019s rule on earth.  Believe it or not, the excruciating drama of Who\u2019s In and Who\u2019s Out didn\u2019t start when you were in middle school. People in the ancient world \u2013 especially religious folks \u2013… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":602,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[164,177],"class_list":["post-601","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-gods-mercy","tag-parables"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/601","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=601"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/601\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":603,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/601\/revisions\/603"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/602"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=601"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=601"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=601"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}