Luke 14:15-24

Luke 14:15-24

What does it mean that Jesus said, “Compel them to come in”? Jesus apparently didn't believe in a predestination in which salvation was operating mechanically without human participation. Nor is salvation something that man achieves on his own; there must be the invitation of God. The tension between these two mistaken ideas is resolved in the person of the servants sent out. There will always be resistance to the gospel. Resistance from the originally invited guest and from those later called. This Parable is predicated on the resistance of those invited. The alternative guests are expected to be resistant as well. If you invited the cardboard holding beggar to a formal dinner would he be suspicious and resistant? The migrant workers are apt to doubt an invitation to a wedding reception for someone they do not know. The resistance is real. So we, the church, resort to inviting only ourselves to dinner.

Overcoming resistance is difficult and “compel them to come in” is not a pleasant task. There are no shortcuts. Putting on a great and often compromised religious show, is not the answer. Neither is the power of the state forcing faith, which can effectively compel, but also turns into an Inquisition. Of all the tasks of being a disciple the hardest is making other disciples. And in making other disciples the hardest part is knowing how to do it and how much compelling is appropriate. That is why we must depend on the work of the Spirit and why we must cooperate with His leading. We may not know what is the perfect compelling but by eliminating mistaken ideas and carefully searching we can move toward fulfilling our calling.

“Compel them”, the pressure is not only on the people in the street, or the highways, or under the bridge. The pressure is also on me, it is on the believer, it is on the disciple, it is on the church. Those who hear the message will be resistant. But sadly they are more willing to hear than the church is to tell. Before we compel them we must compel ourselves.

“Lord, stir my heart to make a disciple, just one to begin with. AMEN”