Good Food

Abstract

Imagine the church as the inviter and Religious folks on the first list with everyone who feels distant from religion represented by those in the highways and hedges. The custom of the day addressed in this parable was that the host would invite you to save a date for the feast; when all was ready, the host would send out his or her servant and let you know all things were ready. Somewhere during this interval, the folks prepared excuses not to come. In my imagination I can hear folks talking; “Oh no, not another invitation to his/her dinner … Lord what am I going to say in order to get out of this? I’ve got to come up with something, and it can’t be the excuse I used last time.” We all do it when we don’t want to go and can’t just say no because it is not professionally prudent or politically expedient or because we feel obligated due to some past kindness the host has done for us.

The typical, acceptable interpretation of the dinner party parable in Luke 14:16–24 and I Cor. 11:20–21, 33 suggests that God is the inviter, the Jews are the invitees, and the gentiles are the “B” list … the folks who were the afterthought because the “A” list turned the invitation down. I find this troubling, because I qualify for the “B” list and as such I struggle with being the afterthought of God. I would like to give this story a remix.