THE GOSPEL OF LUKE: - Vital Christianity

96"The servant came back and reported this to his master. Then the owner of thehouse became angry and ordered his servant, 'Go out quickly into the streetsand alleys of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and thelame.''Sir,' the servant said, 'what you ordered has been done, but there is still room.'Then the master told his servant, 'Go out to the roads and country lanes andmake them come in, so that my house will be full. I tell you, not one of thosemen who were invited will get a taste of my banquet'" (Lk 14:21-24).Without explicitly mentioning them, Jesus warned the Jews that refusal to accept God’sinvitation would result in their rejection and the inclusion of Gentiles instead (20:9-19).There is ample room at the feast of God for outsiders. God’s invitation goes out toeveryone, that is, to the despised, the outcasts: the poor, the crippled, the blind, the lame. Thephrase “roads and country lanes” refers to outside the city altogether. Historically, this means theheathen, the pagans who are sunk to the lowest depths of spiritual wretchedness and thus thoughtto be beyond the pale of salvation. These are the people whom Paul described as "without Christ,strangers from the covenant of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world" (Eph2:12).Therefore, this parable prophetically contemplates the extension of the kingdom of Godto the whole world; and spiritually, it directs the Gospel invitations to be carried to the loweststrata of society. To the uttermost and to the guttermost!The phrase “make them” or “compel them” has been used in history as an excuse tocoerce people and even persecute them in order to become Christians. The inquisition used thethumb-screw, the rack, imprisonment and even death to forcefully persuade people to accept theChristian religion. During the Dark Ages it was not uncommon for so-called heretics to be beatenand burned.The meaning here is that we should be actively engaged in bringing people into God’sfold, that is, to be as persuasive as we can in inviting people to embrace the claims of Christ.Passive engagement is not enough. There must be the note of urgency as we realize that we areactually “snatching them from the fire and saving them” (Jude 23).