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Christ’s Object Lessons
of ground, and I must needs go and see it; I pray thee have me excused.
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And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove
them; I pray thee have me excused. And another said, I have married
a wife, and therefore I cannot come.”
None of the excuses were founded on a real necessity. The man
who “must needs go and see” his piece of ground, had already pur-
chased it. His haste to go and see it was due to the fact that his interest
was absorbed in his purchase. The oxen, too, had been bought. The
proving of them was only to satisfy the interest of the buyer. The third
excuse had no more semblance of reason. The fact that the intended
guest had married a wife need not have prevented his presence at the
feast. His wife also would have been made welcome. But he had his
own plans for enjoyment, and these seemed to him more desirable than
the feast he had promised to attend. He had learned to find pleasure in
other society than that of the host. He did not ask to be excused, made
not even a pretense of courtesy in his refusal. The “I cannot” was only
a veil for the truth—“I do not care to come.”
All the excuses betray a preoccupied mind. To these intended
guests other interests had become all-absorbing. The invitation they
had pledged themselves to accept was put aside, and the generous
friend was insulted by their indifference.
By the great supper, Christ represents the blessings offered through
the gospel. The provision is nothing less than Christ Himself. He is
the bread that comes down from heaven; and from Him the streams
of salvation flow. The Lord’s messengers had proclaimed to the Jews
the advent of the Saviour; they had pointed to Christ as “the Lamb of
God, which taketh away the sin of the world.”
John 1:29
. In the feast
He had provided, God offered to them the greatest gift that Heaven
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can bestow—a gift that is beyond computation. The love of God had
furnished the costly banquet, and had provided inexhaustible resources.
“If any man eat of this bread,” Christ said, “he shall live for ever.”
John
6:51
.
But in order to accept the invitation to the gospel feast, they must
make their worldly interests subordinate to the one purpose of receiving
Christ and His righteousness. God gave all for man, and He asks him
to place His service above every earthly and selfish consideration. He
cannot accept a divided heart. The heart that is absorbed in earthly
affections cannot be given up to God.