A Party To Remember
I promise you will never be happy until you learn how to let go of your clenched hands. Otherwise no one will be able to grab hold of you and bring you out onto the dance floor of life.
Luke 14.13-14
But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. And you will be blessed because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.
His invitation arrived for the dinner party and, even though he knew something was afoot, he decided the something wasn’t something that would stop him from having a good time.
And so, he arrives at the appointed address, leaves his coat by the door, and walks into the living room. He notices what he’s meant to notice, the opulence. It looks straight out of a magazine with everything in its proper place. The other guests are dressed to the nines; tuxedos and long dresses. He is wearing jeans and a tee-shirt. It’s no wonder then why the room goes silent as he steps in.
He doesn’t belong.
And yet, his lack of belonging isn’t enough to dissuade him from walking over to the open bar where he is greeted by the bartender. “Can I interest you in a glass of wine, or perhaps a cocktail?” The man says, “I’ll take a glass of whatever everyone else isn’t trying. That’ll be fine.”
He takes in the lower floor of the home, the book shelves filled with volumes that have clearly never been read, the perfectly positioned family photos filled with smiles that look permanently affixed, the lack of dust anywhere. He walks into the dining room and notices a man grimacing, with a hand on his lower back. He finishes the glass of wine, marches over the pained man, and asks what’s happened.
“I pulled something in my back and I feel like I can’t move. Even breathing hurts.”
And without giving it a thought, the man clears off the edge of the table, and lays the man down. He fusses around for a minute or two, whispering a few words under his breath, and before long all of the guests form a circle around the bewildering chiropractic encounter.
And the host enters with a loud, “What do you think you’re doing? Have you no manners?”
The man doesn’t even bother to look up. He shrugs his shoulders and says, “If it was your kid, or your spouse, who was hurting, wouldn’t you drop everything to do something about it?”
No one says a word.
But somehow, the man with the bad back leaps from the table, now fit as a fiddle, and he goes off in search of a glass of the good stuff.
Meanwhile, the host tries to get the party back on track, encouraging the guests to take a seat for the meal.
However, the man, who has already offended the sensibilities of nearly everyone at the festivity, stands still as the guests quickly maneuver for the best seats at the table.
“Hey,” he says, “the next time any of you go to a party, don’t sit in the good seats. Someone more important than you might be invited, and you may very well have to give up your seat. So, don’t you think it would be better to start at the bottom end, that way your host can come and elevate you?”
Again, no one says a word, but the man takes it as a cue to continue.
“Where has all the humility gone? Humility is a virtue that leads to the best things in life. Because it relieves you of having to be in control all the time. You can finally relax and have fun at the party instead of worrying about every little thing.”
That’s when the guests start to squirm in their chairs.
“Look at yourselves. If you keep showing up at these things and only choose the best seats, you’re going to cut yourselves off from all the other places and all the others people who, in my humble opinion, are those who know how to have the most fun. I know some of you would rather die than be caught with those at the bottom, but dying to all of this might be the best thing you could ever do. Listen - none of you are as good as you think you are. And if you’re able to let that go, maybe you can finally enjoy yourselves for once. And while you’re at it, you might as well throw out the ledger book you’ve been keeping. You’re so stupidly caught up in your bookkeeping, trying to keep things as they are, that you can’t even see how things are ripping at the seams. I mean, what good does it do you to climb the social ladder by inviting people just to have them invite you back. Next time, try inviting the wrong people. Think about what kind of wild time you could have with the last, least, lost, little, and dead. I promise you will never be happy until you learn how to let go of your clenched hands. Otherwise no one will be able to grab hold of you and bring you out onto the dance floor of life.”
And with that he stands from the table, bows to the host, and walks out of the house.
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The next time you decide to invite over some friends for dinner, you might want to think twice before you invite Jesus to show up through your prayers. He may very well show up and turn the whole place upside down. Although, that would make it a party to remember…