The Pulpit Commentary — Luke — Volume 2 — Section 29

It is this hospitality that is declared in the Son of the Eternal Love. Christ is the Great Supper. In him God has "abounded towards us in wisdom and prudence." St. Paul speaks of" the love of Christ which passeth knowled"e," of Christ "the All in all;" and, more particularly defining the supper-making, h'°e says; "Christ, of God made to us Wisdom, Righteousness, Sanctification, Redemption." All that we need as men, all that is salvation for sinners, is ours in him. And how is it ours? "If any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me." • II. TSE CHURLISHNESS OF MEN. This is God, with the door thrown wide open, the table prepared, the life eternal given, the grand, ever-urgent " Come!" " Ho, every one tha.t thirsteth.... and he that hath no money, come!" But what is the reception? Strange., wonderful. but still too true, " They all with one consent began to make excuse" (ver. 18). Look at the excuses. They are pictures of states of mind, of attitudes of thot12ht, as real now as at any time. Three such pictures are sketched. The first (ver. 18), a mind which rejoices in a good realized. The man bas the desire of his heart. He is the lord of broad acres. " Soul, take thine ease; what need for thee of the supper?" The second (ver. 19), a mind still immersed in business, with its cares and anxieties. The man bas just concluded an important purchase; before all else he must prove it. The third (ver. 20). a mind absorbed in earthly delights and social relationships-he "cannot come." We can trace, in the three pictures, a climax lil.o that of the parable reported in Matt. xxii., which closely resembles this. There is an ascending acale in the rejection. The first is covetous to a degree; he would go with all his heartr-only that little estate; he must needs " pray let me be excused." The second is polite, but more abrupt; there is a graceful wave of the hand, a gentlemanly " Pray let me be excused;" but there is no "I must needs." 'fhe third is rude and flat in his denial; there is a quick "No, I cannot." ls it not the climax of worldliness in every period? And what is worldliness? The celebrated Robert Hall one day wrote the word "God" on a slip of paper. "You can read that?" he said, as he passed the slip to a friend. "Yes." He covered the name on the slip with a sovereign. " Can you read it now ? " '.l'he sovereign was above, was nenrer the gaze than God. That is worldliness. It is not the having, not the purchasing, of the ground or the oxen. It is the having the earthly thing in the first place, the sotting of the "must needs" over against it. And it is the mind which does this, to which the heavenly kingdom is second to the earthly good, which is fruitful of excuses. Oh, how often it puts off! how often there comes even the rude "I cannot" I llas the Giver of the supper found such a mind in any of us? Ill. TH£ coMll.LSSION OF THE SERVANT. It is to bear the Master's call, to declare that "all things are ready;" that BBlvation is full and is present; life now, life for ever, given with God'a "yea" and "amen" to even the chief of sinner&. The word of the reconciliation is " Come!" the ministry of reconciliation implies, " Go, ever out orr. xiv. 1-35.J THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. LUKE. :n and out." The house of the Lord must bo filled; be is bent on the wi'lning of souls. A supper, anti none to eat; a great BUpper, and only a few guests! "Salvation I O salvation I The joyful 110und procla.i1 •• Till earth's remotest nation Hae lee.rot Meseiah's Na.me." •• Oompel them" le the voice of the Everlasting Love. Use, i.e., all means of moral suasion; circle around their wills; plead, beseech, entreat, persuade," instant in season and out of season;" draw them, watch over them; establish such links between the messenger and them that they shall feel that they must come with you, since Goel is with you of a truth. "Now then we are ambassadors for G'hrist, a11 though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God."