EXCUSES
“They began to make excuses..” Lk. 14:18
Life is full of options and choices. When two important things compete and when there is a place for only one, priority must be rule. Those who have already made their choice cannot again look and wish for what they have put away. Love for one is a rejection of the other. One cannot have both mammon and God, bread and word. It is either… or. Both cannot co-exist.
For the king, there can be no occasion greater than the wedding of his son. The king took care to prepare the invitation and make a list of his friends and sent the invitation well on time. He even sent his servants three times to remind them of the invitation. There can be no greater insult to the king than to be absent for the wedding of his son and instead, they give priority to their fields, bulls and wives. The king had great hopes and cherished their friendship. They too professed in public that they were the friends of the king but in reality, their bulls, fields, and wives were more important to them. This insincerity and duplicity are quite opposite to what the king stood for, friendship, justice, and truth. He has every reason to be angry. There is anger, bitterness, and hurt in what he says, “ Not one of those invited will taste my banquet”.
One needs to take care. There is a limit to God’s patience. Three times the king sent out his servants to call those invited. Three times the master of the vineyard came looking for labourers. Three years the farmer came looking for fruit on the fig tree. The Father of the elder son came out all the way to the servant's quarters to plead with his elder son. In spite of such liberality, if elder sons choose to remain outside, if they refuse the invitation, there is very little that the father can do for them.
Today too, excuses abound. Compromises are common. The focus has shifted. Priorities have changed. Invitation of the master is one among many priorities. Working in the vineyard is not a full-time job. Fig trees continue to produce plenty of thick green leaves and very little fruit. Mammon has become a priority. The distinction between God and mammon has blurred. Bread is preferred to the word. Temptations are cleverly disguised. Noble interpretations are given to doubtful motives. Cleverly devised human projects are given halos. Projects to make more mammon is interpreted as works of God. Providing oneself with security is considered as making provision for the poor. Self-reliance has replaced providence. Original noble charisms are forgotten. The workers of the vineyard are busy counting and accounting, pulling down old barns and building new ones, buying new gadgets and trying out the latest that Amazon can offer. Seminars and symposiums organized to generate social and mission awareness are attended more and more by laypeople. The workers of the kingdom are busy buying land, marrying wives and trying out the oxen. In their defense it must be said these are not excuses, but only a change in priorities!
“Cut it down, why should it be wasting the soil?” the master says ( Lk.13.7). There is a limit to his patience. On the plea of the gardener, the master gives another three hundred and sixty-four days as bonus. What happens after the bonus period is over? Did the fig tree bear fruit? If not, the master’s patience will run out. Did the elder son go in to join his brother? Did those invited ever taste the banquet? These are questions that need an answer, not an excuse.
The Master’s patience has a limit. Jesus speaks of sin against the Holy Spirit that will not be forgiven. ( Mt.12.32) This perennial refusal, this stubbornness of heart, this ability to see black as white, mammon as God, and self-reliance as providence, is the sin against the Holy Spirit. The distance that the father covers to bring the son home, the three years and another three hundred and sixty-four days as bonus, the three times reminder to come for the banquet, is equal to seventy times seven. Clearly, there is a limit to seventy-times seven. The command is clear, “Cut it down, why should it be wasting the soil?”. The verdict is final, “Not one of those invited shall taste my banquet”.
- TVGeorge sdb
