One of the Blessed

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE

ONE OF THE BLESSED

Luke 14:15-24

15 When one of those at the table with him heard this, he said to Jesus, "Blessed is the man who will eat at the feast in the kingdom of God." 16 Jesus replied: "A certain man was preparing a great banquet and invited many guests. 17 At the time of the banquet he sent his servant to tell those who had been invited, 'Come, for everything is now ready.' 18 "But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said, 'I have just bought a field, and I must go and see it. Please excuse me.' 19 "Another said, 'I have just bought five yoke of oxen, and I'm on my way to try them out. Please excuse me.' 20 "Still another said, 'I just got married, so I can't come.' 21 "The servant came back and reported this to his master. Then the owner of the house became angry and ordered his servant, 'Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame.' 22 "Sir,' the servant said, 'what you ordered has been done, but there is still room.' 23 "Then the master told his servant, 'Go out to the roads and country lanes and make them come in, so that my house will be full. 24 I tell you, not one of those men who were invited will get a taste of my banquet.'" 

NIV

It is always interesting how Jesus tells stories to get a point across, rather than just slamming people, and putting them down for their rejecting him as the Messiah. However, this statement by one of those at the table with Jesus heard about those whom someone invites to a luncheon and how the rich guest could pay him back, but the poor, the lame, and the blind could not, and so which is more of a blessing, this one said, “Blessed is the man who will eat at the feast in the kingdom of God. We are going to have to wait on the story Jesus responds with although it is all about who responds to the invitation to the luncheon, although Jesus now made it a great banquet. However, the fact still remains we will be blessed beyond measure when we sit down at the feast in the kingdom of God. That may some presumptuous to say we are going to sit down at his great banquet in the kingdom of God, yet because we have accepted Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior and have received the Holy Spirit that Jesus sent to dwell within us and lead us into all truth, and have followed Jesus through the waters of baptism and are people of faith, believing in Jesus, following him, trusting him with our lives, we have the confidence and the assurance that we are one of the blessed who will sit at the table in the kingdom of God. In fact, we have already been sitting at that table many times when we take of the bread and the wine, although we use grape juice to avoid offending anyone’s sensibility about wine. Nevertheless, we are sitting at the feast in the kingdom of God, toasting, or we say remembering all that Jesus did for us, at the cross, and through being buried and then remembering his resurrection. All that is the reason for the feast on the table in the kingdom of God, having abdicated our citizenship of the kingdom of the world and have become a citizen in the kingdom of God, we are feasting at the table in the kingdom of God and thus we are one of the blessed. So when we have communion at church, we must remember we are one of the blessed.