A Piece of Ground, Ten Oxen, or a Wife

Tony Khalil

Midland SDA Church

October 15, 2016

Luke 14:16-23 New King James Version (NKJV)

¹⁶ Then He said to him, “A certain man gave a great supper and invited many, ¹⁷ and sent his servant at supper time to say to those who were invited, ‘Come, for all things are now ready.’ ¹⁸ But they all with one accord began to make excuses. The first said to him, ‘I have bought a piece of ground, and I must go and see it. I ask you to have me excused.’ ¹⁹ And another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to test them. I ask you to have me excused.’ ²⁰  Still another said, ‘I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.’ ²¹ So that servant came and reported these things to his master. Then the master of the house, being angry, said to his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in here the poor and the maimed and the lame and the blind.’ ²² And the servant said, ‘Master, it is done as you commanded, and still there is room.’ ²³ Then the master said to the servant, ‘Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.

So here is the scene, we have a man, presumably a wealthy man, who is going to have a party with many guests invited and lots of food and drink.  He has everything ready, the food is on the table and his servant goes out to inform the invited guests that it is time to come.  Here is where the story gets a little strange.  All of the guests that had previously been invited begin to come up with a barrage of excuses as to why they will be unable to attend the event. 

There are at least two reasons I find this to be strange.  The first is the fact that they had been previously invited and gave no indication at that time that they would not be able to attend.  We all have, no doubt, been invited to an event, perhaps a wedding or something, and printed at the bottom of the invite are four letters… What are they? Right, RSVP!  We may not all know that this is an initialism derived from the French phrase “respondez s’il vous plait”, but we all do know that the host is asking us to let them know if we will be in attendance so they can plan accordingly.  It seems in this parable, those invited to the party never gave any indication that they would not be coming until after the host had everything prepared.  That is just plain odd.  It is beyond improper etiquette, to use another French word that has found its way into the English language.  We would call it just plain rude.  Wouldn’t we?  But that is just what happens in this parable.

The second thing that I find disturbingly strange is that none of the invited guests are interested in going to a party.  Think about that for a minute.  They are not being asked to go to work or to do something unpleasant or difficult, there presence is merely requested at a party.  It’s a social event.  Some of us would go just for the free food.  You know who you are, I don’t need to call you out _____name____.  But no!  none of these invited guests are even tempted by the free meal.  Don’t you think that is just a little strange?  Instead, they each have prepared an excuse for the occasion.  Three excuses are mentioned specifically, although I would have to imagine there were others given. 

The first excuse is “I just bought a field and I must go and see it”  Okay, if you were going to make up an excuse as to why you could not attend an event, don’t you think you could do a little better than that?  Some number of years ago, I had a cousin that skipped a big family wedding, and his excuse was that he had won the lottery.  I didn’t understand that excuse either.  In my mind that would just give you more time to for social events.  Nevertheless, this first guest in our parable seems to think that going to see some property that he already owns is a good cover for getting out of going to the feast.  If viewing the property was so important, don’t you think he would have done it before he bought the property? 

Our second invited guest doesn’t do much better.  He says “I have just bought five yoke of oxen, and I am on my way to try them out.”  Again, he already owns them and he apparently bought them without a test drive.  So what’s the rush?  It is not as if they are going to work any better before the party than after it. 

Finally, the third guy comes up with this doozy.  “I just got married, so I can’t come”  I find it hard to believe that “my wife won’t let me” sounded any better in first century Israel than it does in 21^st century America, but there is one thing that all three excuses have in common, one underling theme that I believe Christ is trying to get his listeners, including you and me, to see and understand. Each excuse indicates that the intended guests have their own interests that they have placed above those of their would-be host.  They are preoccupied with their own agendas, their own business ventures, their own personal lives, to the extent that they refuse the generous offer of the man to attend his banquet. 

As is the case with all of Christ’s parables, there is an underlying message.  He is not simply talking about a party and unappreciative guests.  He is illustrating the blessings of the Gospel being rejected by people that are too busy satisfying their own selfish desires to recognize the magnitude of the gift they are being offered.  The food being served at the banquet is Christ Himself, the bread of life which came down from heaven which Jesus says in John 6:51 gives eternal life to those who eat it.  It is not as if these invited guests with all the excuses do not see the offer as something good, but in order to partake in the feast, they must put aside their own interests.  They must place service to Christ above their earthly affections.

The underappreciated host prepared a costly banquet.  He likely had expensive caterers prepare exotic food, the best money could buy.  Likewise God has offered us the best He has to offer, His love in the form of His son.  He gave all for us and simply asks that we make him first priority in our lives, but the excuses roll in.  “I can’t wake up early enough in the morning for devotions before work”…  “There are only so many hours in a day, I can’t do it all. I have to provide for my family”…  “I’m too tired.  I just need some down time”…  Those are some of mine, how about you? 

The three excuses given in Christ’s parable seem to comprise the spectrum of reasons as to why humanity rejects the invitation of the Gospel.  We can’t risk our own business prospects, our worldly interests, possessions, riches, or pleasures by allowing Christ to be preeminent in our lives.  We confuse the value of the things we soon will lose with the everlasting.  It would be funny of it weren’t so sobering that the very things we chose to place above God are the blessings that we have received from Him, our work, our prosperity, our relationships, our interests and our pursuits.  All blessings endowed by our Creator.  Good things if we keep them in their proper place.  Those who ignore the gospel call for the sake of peace with their family or spouse will eventually realize that by rejecting the love of God, they are abandoning the only power that can provide the strength and wisdom required for the success of their personal relationships.

The servant returns to his master with the report of all of the excuses, so the master tells him to go out again into the city, but this time to invite an entirely different group of people.  He lists four types of people that are to receive the second invitation:  The poor, the maimed, the lame, and the blind.  Those who should have no excuses, after all, they should have nothing better to do.  These are the residents of the city that are lacking in some way.  We should be able to identify with this group in some way, shouldn’t we?  This is the group that might better appreciate the blessings of a free meal, those with fewer time constraints.  This motley group represents the believers that from an earthly standpoint, may not seem as equipped to carry the Gospel.  They lack the talents gifts and influence of the original group.  In fact clearly they have deficiencies and imperfections that will hinder them in doing the Lord’s work.  In our society today, we look on those with physical handicaps compassionately and attempt to make provisions for them to live as normal a life as possible. , but in first century Israel, that wasn’t necessarily the case.  Rather, people that were suffering physical maladies were often viewed as having been cursed by God.  They or their parents had done something to cause God to carry out this judgement on them.  So, spiritually speaking, not only were they less equipped for the Gospel call, they were unworthy of it. 

The scripture doesn’t specifically say so, but I think it indicates that not all those in the second group accept the invitation either, because the banquet room is still not full.  So the master again gives a command to his servant to go out, but this time he is to go outside the city, “to the highways and the hedges”.  If it is not bad enough that he has invited the cursed poor and handicapped, he now sends out the invitation to foreigners as well.  This was social suicide for an Israeli.  A Jew would not even talk to a Gentile, let alone invite one into their home.  If they as much as touched one, they would consider themselves unclean.  With this third invitation, Christ is indicating that the Gospel is to go out beyond the borders of the chosen people of Israel.  Salvation is being offered to the gentiles. 

We know that the gospel message was rejected by many of the Jewish people and that it went out to the gentiles.  Many accepted, and are counted as spiritual Israel by believing in Christ and being part of the Christian community.  What is the application for today?  Revelation 14 is a familiar chapter.  It contains the three angel’s messages, God’s last day message to His people.  Verses 6 & 7, the message of the first angel, is to be proclaimed to every nation, tribe, tongue, and people.  This message has three components: 1. Respect and give glory to God.  2. His judgement time is here.  3. Worship the creator.  The inclusion of proclaiming his judgement is a declaration that His return is imminent.  In another familiar passage, Matthew 24: 37 & 38 Jesus speaks of this period of time prior to His return.  It reads:

³⁷ But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man         be. ³⁸ For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying         and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark,

This scene describes perfectly the lives of those who received the first invitation in our parable today.  Consumed with their own earthly pursuits and seeking only pleasure, they see not the value of the invitation.  The proclamation of the nearness of Christ’s return is intended to wake us up and cause us to put aside worldly things for a renewed desire to spread words of life to those who are perishing.

Two truths strike me about the guests invited to the banquet in this parable.  First, the invitation goes out to all.  It seems in the end, none is excluded.  Secondly, there is an order and progression in which the invitation is given.  Starting with those who seemingly possess influence, talents and abilities that would make them an asset to the spreading of the gospel and next to those that, although believers, may be less equipped to do the work of leading the lost to salvation.  Then finally the invitation goes out to the rest, “the highways and the hedges” representing all those that do not know the Lord.  Does this progression reveal a preference on the part of God for some people over others?  Although at first it may appear so, that is not the case.  The order in which the invitations are doled out has nothing to do with God esteeming one class of people over another.  It has everything to do with expediency and saving as many people as possible.  The first group is not first because they are any more important than the rest, they are first because they possess qualities that if focused on God’s work, could yield great numbers of souls for the kingdom.  If those that possess influence are won to the truth and they put their influence to work for the cause of Christ, many more may be reached and released from the bondage of sin. 

I have selected the life stories of three individuals to share with you.  Each one representative of one of the three groups of people in our parable.  Unlike the parable, all three of these individuals accepted the invitation.  To give proper reference, all three stories were taken from Christianity Today.  We’ll start first with William Tyndale as the representative of the first group, those with talent and influence. 

William Tyndale could speak seven languages and was proficient in ancient Hebrew and Greek. He was a priest whose intellectual gifts and disciplined life could have taken him a long way in the church—had he not had one compulsion: to teach English men and women the good news of justification by faith.

Tyndale had discovered this doctrine when he read Erasmus's Greek edition of the New Testament. What better way to share this message with his countrymen than to put an English version of the New Testament into their hands? This, in fact, became Tyndale's life passion, aptly summed up in the words of his mentor, Erasmus: "Christ desires his mysteries to be published abroad as widely as possible. I would that [the Gospels and the epistles of Paul] were translated into all languages, of all Christian people, and that they might be read and known."

He was a native of Gloucester and began his studies at Oxford in 1510, later moving on to Cambridge. By 1523 his passion had been ignited; in that year he sought permission and funds from the bishop of London to translate the New Testament. The bishop denied his request, and further queries convinced Tyndale the project would not be welcomed anywhere in England.

To find a hospitable environment, he traveled to the free cities of Europe—Hamburg, Wittenberg, Cologne, and finally to the Lutheran city of Worms. There, in 1525, his New Testament emerged: the first translation from Greek into the English language. It was quickly smuggled into England, where it received a less-than-enthusiastic response from the authorities. King Henry VIII, Cardinal Wolsey, and Sir Thomas More, among others, were furious. It was, said More, "not worthy to be called Christ's testament, but either Tyndale's own testament or the testament of his master Antichrist."

Authorities bought up copies of the translation (which, ironically, only financed Tyndale's further work) and hatched plans to silence Tyndale.

Meanwhile Tyndale had moved to Antwerp, a city in which he was relatively free from both English agents and those of the Holy Roman (and Catholic) Empire. For nine years he managed with the help of friends to evade authorities, revise his New Testament, and begin translating the Old.

His translations, it would turn out, became decisive in the history of the English Bible, and of the English language. Nearly a century later, when translators of the Authorized, or King James Version, debated how to translate the original languages, eight of ten times, they agreed that Tyndale had it best to begin with.

During these years, Tyndale also gave himself methodically to good works because, as he said, "My part be not in Christ if mine heart be not to follow and live according as I teach." On Mondays he visited other religious refugees from England. On Saturdays he walked Antwerp's streets, seeking to minister to the poor. On Sundays he dined in merchants' homes, reading Scripture before and after dinner. The rest of the week he devoted to writing tracts and books and translating the Bible.

We do not know who planned and financed the plot that ended his life (whether English or continental authorities), but we do know it was carried out by Henry Phillips, a man who had been accused of robbing his father and of gambling himself into poverty. Phillips became Tyndale's guest at meals and soon was one of the few privileged to look at Tyndale's books and papers.

In May 1535, Phillips lured Tyndale away from the safety of his quarters and into the arms of soldiers. Tyndale was immediately taken to the Castle of Vilvorde, the great state prison of the Low Countries, and accused of heresy.

Finally, in early August 1536, Tyndale was condemned as a heretic, degraded from the priesthood, and delivered to the secular authorities for punishment.

On Friday, October 6, after local officials took their seats, Tyndale was brought to the cross in the middle of the town square and given a chance to recant. That refused, he was given a moment to pray before his execution. English historian John Foxe said he cried out, "Lord, open the King of England's eyes!"

Our second story, representing the next group, believers that are not in a position of influence, they may have a deficiency or life circumstances that exclude them from the first group.  It’s the story of Francis Jane Crosby.

Born in Putnam County, New York, she became ill within two months. Unfortunately, the family doctor was away, and another man—pretending to be a certified doctor—treated her by prescribing hot mustard poultices to be applied to her eyes. Her illness eventually relented, but the treatment left her blind. When the doctor was revealed to be a quack, he disappeared. A few months later, Crosby's father died. Her mother was forced to find work as a maid to support the family, and Fanny was mostly raised by her Christian grandmother.

Her love of poetry began early—her first verse, written at age 8, echoed her lifelong refusal to feel sorry for herself:

Oh, what a happy soul I am,
although I cannot see!
I am resolved that in this world
Contented I will be.

How many blessings I enjoy
That other people don't,
To weep and sigh because I'm blind
I cannot, and I won't!

While she enjoyed her poetry, she zealously memorized the Bible. Memorizing five chapters a week, even as a child she could recite the Pentateuch, the Gospels, Proverbs, the Song of Solomon, and many psalms chapter and verse.

Her mother's hard work paid off. Shortly before her fifteenth birthday, Crosby was sent to the recently founded New York Institute for the Blind, which would be her home for 23 years: 12 as a student, 11 as a teacher. Indulged in her own poetry she was called upon to pen verses for various occasions.

Over the course of her life Crosby wrote more than 9,000 hymns, some of which are among the most popular in every Christian denomination. She wrote so many that she was forced to use pen names lest the hymnals be filled with her name above all others. And, for most people, the most remarkable thing about her was that she had done so in spite of her blindness

in 1858 she married Alexander van Alstine.  Considered one of New York's best organists, he wrote the music to many of Crosby's hymns. Crosby herself put music to only a few of hers, though she played harp, piano, guitar, and other instruments. More often, musicians came to her for lyrics. For example, one day musician William Doane dropped by her home for a surprise visit, begging her to put some words to a tune he had recently written and which he was to perform at an upcoming Sunday School convention. The only problem was that his train to the convention was leaving in 35 minutes. He sat at the piano and played the tune.

"Your music says, 'Safe in the Arms of Jesus,'" Crosby said, scribbling out the hymn's words immediately. "Read it on the train and hurry. You don't want to be late!" The hymn became one of Crosby's most famous.

Though she was under contract to submit three hymns a week to her publisher and often wrote six or seven a day (for a dollar or two each), many became incredibly popular. When Dwight Moody and Ira Sankey began to use them in their crusades, they received even more attention. Among them are "Blessed Assurance," "All the Way My Savior Leads Me," "To God Be the Glory," "Pass Me Not, O Gentle Savior," "Safe in the Arms of Jesus," "Rescue the Perishing," and "Jesus Keep Me Near the Cross."

She could write very complex hymns and compose music with a more classical structure (she could even improvise it), but she preferred to write simple, sentimental verses that could be used for evangelism. She continued to write her poetry up to her death, a month shy of her ninety-fifth birthday. "You will reach the river brink, some sweet day, bye and bye," was her last stanza.  

The last story is that of John Newton.  Representing the third group, those who are non- believers, and haven’t yet come to the saving knowledge of Christ.  Newton penned the Familiar Hymn “Amazing Grace”.  Though some have wondered if the word “wretch” is hyperbole or a bit of dramatic license, Newton clearly did not.

Newton’s Christian mother died when he was just 7 and he was raised in his father's image. At age 11, Newton went on his first of six sea-voyages with the merchant navy captain.

Newton lost his first job, in a merchant's office, because of "unsettled behavior and impatience of restraint"—a pattern that would persist for years. He spent his later teen years at sea before he was press-ganged aboard the H.M.S. Harwich in 1744. Newton rebelled against the discipline of the Royal Navy and deserted. He was caught, put in irons, and flogged. He eventually convinced his superiors to discharge him to a slaver ship. Espousing freethinking principles, he remained arrogant and insubordinate, and he lived with moral abandon: "I sinned with a high hand," he later wrote, "and I made it my study to tempt and seduce others."

He took up employment with a slave-trader named Clow, who owned a plantation of lemon trees on an island off of west Africa. But he was treated cruelly by Clow and the slaver's African mistress; soon Newton's clothes turned to rags, and Newton was forced to beg for food to allay his hunger.

The sluggish sailor was transferred to the service of the captain of the Greyhound, a Liverpool ship, in 1747, and on its homeward journey, the ship was overtaken by an enormous storm. Newton had been reading Thomas a Kempis's The Imitation of Christ, and was struck by a line about the "uncertain continuance of life." He also recalled the passage in Proverbs, "Because I have called and ye have refused, … I also will laugh at your calamity." He converted during the storm, though he admitted later, "I cannot consider myself to have been a believer, in the full sense of the word."

Newton then served as a mate and then as captain of a number of slave ships, hoping as a Christian to restrain the worst excesses of the slave trade, "promoting the life of God in the soul" of both his crew and his African cargo.

After leaving the sea for an office job in 1755, Newton held Bible studies in his Liverpool home. Influenced by both the Wesleys and George Whitefield, he adopted mild Calvinist views and became increasingly disgusted with the slave trade and his role in it. He quit, was ordained into the Anglican ministry, and in 1764 took a parish in Olney in Buckinghamshire.

In 1787 Newton wrote Thoughts Upon the African Slave Trade to help William Wilberforce's campaign to end the practice—"a business at which my heart now shudders," he wrote. Recollection of that chapter in his life never left him, and in his old age, when it was suggested that the increasingly feeble Newton retire, he replied, "I cannot stop. What? Shall the old African blasphemer stop while he can speak?" 

Three people, three stories, different starting points, different circumstances.  The common thread in their stories?  They were all invited; called to put Christ first and forsake the things of the world for something higher.  Accepting the call, they were each equipped for a work and a mission God had in store for them.  We are also called, called for a purpose.  God has a work for you.  God has a work for me.  The question is not, will He call me?  Rather it is…will I accept?  Or do we have our own series of lame excuses “I have bought a piece of ground, I must go see it”; “I have bought five oxen I am going to test them”; I have married a wife therefore I can’t”.   Are we too busy with the cares of this world to respond to Christ?  My challenge to every one of us today, myself included, is to put Him first!  Yes, your job is important, so are your relationships, and interests, but let’s put Christ first and allow all the rest to fall into its proper place.