Khao Khát Lời Chúa

A mother was preparing Sunday dinner. From early morning she had gone to the market and bought the dishes her children liked. The soup was simmering on the stove, and the table was set with a place for everyone in the family.

Then the phone rang.

Her eldest child said work had come up today. The second texted that something unexpected had happened. The youngest asked to postpone to next week.

When mealtime came, she sat looking at the empty chairs.

Jesus also told a story about a banquet table already set.

At the time, he was dining at the home of a man of the Pharisees. Someone at the table exclaimed:

“Blessed is the one who will dine in the kingdom of God!” (Lk 14:15)

Probably everyone at the table nodded. Jesus answered with a parable.

A man gave a great dinner and invited many guests. When the time came, he sent his servant to announce:

“Come, everything is now ready.”

In those days, great feasts usually came with an invitation sent in advance. Only when everything was ready would the host send word of the hour. That is why last-minute refusals disappointed the host all the more.

The first had just bought a field and had to go and see it.

The second had just bought five yoke of oxen and had to go and try them.

The third had just married. The first two still spoke politely: “Please consider me excused.” This one said simply: “I cannot come.” (Lk 14:20)

None of them said they hated the host. They only had other things to do. Fields, business, family are all good things. They only took up all the room.

The host grew angry. But he did not cancel the banquet.

He told his servant to go out quickly into the streets of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame.

Just before telling this parable, Jesus had advised the host of the meal: when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind (Lk 14:13).

Now, in the parable, the master of the feast does exactly that.

They had nothing to offer in return. Many of them surely never thought they would be invited. And yet places had already been set aside for them.

When the servant had finished, he returned and reported:

“Sir, your orders have been carried out and still there is room.” (Lk 14:22)

There is still room.

The master then sent his servant out to the village roads and lanes, urging more people to come in so that his house would be filled.

He did not want the chairs to stay empty.

But the parable also carries a warning. Those invited first did not come, and in the end they did not share in the banquet.

An invitation is a gift. The one invited must still answer.

Let us return to the mother at the Sunday table.

She did not regret the food. She only wanted to sit and eat with her children.

A meal is precious because someone we love sits beside us.

The guest’s words at the beginning were, literally, “blessed is the one who eats bread in the kingdom of God.”

At every Mass, just before Communion, we hear words very close to these:

“Blessed are those called to the supper of the Lamb.”

That table is set every Sunday. And among so many invited, the Lord still wants us to be there.

Sometimes we do not mean to refuse the Lord. We only keep putting him off, waiting until this task or that is finished.

But there may never come a day when everything is finished.

This week, try to recognize one invitation of the Lord that you have declined many times, and answer it once, even in a small way.

There is still room.

A chair is waiting for you.

“Lord, I will stop making excuses. Here I come.”

Prayer

Lord Jesus,

You have prepared a place for us at the table of the Kingdom of Heaven.

Forgive us for the times we were too busy with our own affairs and forgot your invitation.

Open our hearts to welcome those who are usually forgotten, as you yourself welcomed them.

And grant that we may not keep putting the Lord off to another day, but answer his invitation today.

Amen.