The gospel story is about the king who prepared a big wedding banquet for his son, but when the time arrived to begin the banquet, every one of the guests made an outrageous excuse and decided not to attend at the right time.  In the Middle East if someone is invited to a banquet, one accepts and attendance is expected.  If at the last minute the guest decides not to attend, he or she must offer a plausible excuse.  An implausible excuse is a deliberate public insult to the host.

The outraged king ordered his servants to go out into the streets and invite everyone they could find.  The Kingdom of God is like that, Jesus says.  Our presence is requested urgently.  Like the invited guests in the parable, we tend to put the invitation to one side and assign a higher priority to other businesses that we consider urgent.

The story is told about a hunting dog that was terribly proud of his ability as a runner.  One day, a rabbit he was chasing got away.  It evoked a great deal of ridicule from the other dogs in the kennel because of all the boasting he had done.  Still, he had a ready explanation of his defeat.  He said, “You must remember that the rabbit was running for his life while I was only running for my dinner.”  Jesus is asking us to come in haste to the banquet of life he has prepared for us.  It’s as though he is saying, “Run for your life.  There isn’t a moment to lose.  Join in the gala celebration now, the festival of life that flows from a loving, gracious God.”

Scripture scholars tell us that there are certain nuances present in this story, which clearly suggest that the invited guests did not actually refuse the king’s invitation; they merely found excuses to come late.  The invited guests seem to decide that their arrival can be put off for a few hours.   This will enable them to take care of business as usual during the remaining day-light hours, since the party was scheduled to begin in late afternoon and run until midnight or later.   In their view, the feast that had been prepared for them could wait.  In the king’s view, this was a party that could not wait.

“The Kingdom of God,” Jesus says, “is like that.”   Our presence is urgently requested and it is now.  Jesus seeks to bring us to an attitude of immediacy concerning his invitation to enter the Kingdom.  Like the invited guests in the parable, we say, “Later!  I’ll see you later.”  What that means is that our freedom to accept God’s invitation to the feast of abundant life has been circumscribed, as if we had been imprisoned in a cage labeled “Business as usual.”  Jesus concludes the parable saying, “For many are called but few are chosen.”  The response to God’s call is a matter of choice, and the choice is ours.  Shall we go back to “Business as usual,” or shall we get out of our cages and follow Jesus into his wedding banquet?  The choice is ours.

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