JESUS used parables to teach us life lessons. We learnt in primary school that parables are heavenly stories with earthly meanings. How many of us have actually taken up the Bible and read a parable? How many of us understand them? The Bible is a guide to help us trod this treacherous path and so we must make it our duty to read it.

This week brings us to Luke 14:15-24 (GNB). In ‘The Parable of the Great Feast’, we learn about a master who was hosting a big dinner. He sent his servant to call all those he had on his exclusive list. When the servant returned and told him that they all had an excuse not to attend, he was infuriated and disappointed.

He instructed his servant to go call the lame, the poor, the blind and the crippled. When he heard that more space was in his house, he told the servant to go out on the country roads and the lanes and order the people to come so his house could be full. The master later declared that none who were on his exclusive list and declined would ever taste his food.

The master is God and the servant is Jesus. The people who declined were the Pharisees and the Jewish organisations that later condemned Jesus and crucified him as a common criminal. These were the people who Jesus was sent to save. It is because of this blatant refusal to listen to the word that Jesus said he came unto his own, but they received him not. As a result, he went to people who would listen to him… the lame, poor, blind and crippled.

We can see the hurt in God’s words when he declared that those who he first invited would never eat at his table. Who could blame him? This is the same judgement that will happen to some of us who always make excuses when we are to go to church, or devotion. Make time for God. The fact that God did not accept defeat shows that he had a purpose. He still has that mission today. If it means using someone else, if you do not make yourself available, that by all means, He will.

In Luke 14:12-14, Jesus tells us that when we have a feast, we should never invite our neighbours, family or friends, simply because they will invite us in return. What we should do is invite those who cannot invite us in return, like the homeless. How many of us though, are willing to take up a dirty person and invite them to use our best china? It’s farfetched to ask some of us to do this, when we turn up our noses and walk straight when a homeless person begs us $20. What does that say about us as a person? We could have been in that same position

TEENs may not be able to host a dinner and invite the poor, but we can give even our time to them. We glorify God with every smile, helping hand or dollar coin we give to the poor. When someone less fortunate asks you for help, make yourself available to be used. Remember that Proverbs 14:31 says, “…Kindness shown to the poor is an act of worship.” Do something nice for someone today, while making yourself available to hear God’s word.