Who Are You Going To Invite?

But He (Jesus) said to him, “A man was giving a big dinner and he invited many, and at the dinner hour he sent his slave to say to those who had been invited, ‘Come; for everything is ready now.’  But they all alike began to make excuses.  The first one said to him, ‘I have bought a piece of land and I need to go out and look at it; please consider me excused.’ …  And the slave came back and reported this to the master. Then the head of the household became angry and said to his slave, ‘Go out at once into the streets and lanes of the city and bring in here the poor and crippled and blind and lame….”

Luke 14:16-21

I think Jesus wants us to consider that we should not overlook anyone when we go out to preach the Gospel. 

About six years ago I finally finished my undergraduate degree and what surprised me when I was taking classes was the vast spiritual wasteland college campuses have become.  The majority of the students and the faculty freely admitted that they did not practice any religion and were unsure that there was a God.  Many were devoid of any shred of mercy toward others and believed that people got what they deserved.  These are the people who thought they would become the leaders in our society and some of them no doubt will be. 

So, where does this leave the ministry of the Church?  It leaves the Church the work of taking the Gospel to the campus and at the same time ministering to those in need and perhaps, marrying the two by creating opportunities for students to participate in the ministry by helping provide meals to the poor, tutoring children, and doing other service projects which involve contact with people in need.  Yes, it is wonderful to clean up a river or a park or to build a bear habitat, but those activities often do not include contact with people who are in need.  It is our contact with people which helps us understand mercy and grace and all those things which are available only through Jesus. 

So, when we throw a party or plan a special event at Church we should take the lead and invite those who don’t come to our Church or who look like they might not fit into our group and roll out the welcome wagon and the Good News of the Gospel.