The Excuses That Keep Us from the Feast

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

In today’s Gospel, Jesus gives us this image of a great banquet. Everything is ready. The invitation has gone out. The table is set. And then, one by one, people begin making excuses. One has bought a field. Another has bought oxen. Another has just married. None of these things are bad. That is what makes this Gospel so challenging. The problem is not that they chose something evil. The problem is that they allowed good things to become more important than the invitation of God.

And maybe that is the theme today: the greatest danger to our spiritual life is not always sin; sometimes it is distraction. We imagine that if we are not doing anything terribly wrong, then everything must be fine. But it is possible to be busy, responsible, successful, even respectable, and still miss what God is doing. We can become so occupied with work, family, plans, possessions, worries, and routines that God slowly becomes something we fit in when we have time. And the Gospel asks a very uncomfortable question: What if the things I keep using as reasons are actually becoming excuses?

The banquet is not just heaven someday. The banquet is also the life God is offering us now: prayer, grace, the Eucharist, forgiveness, conversion, relationship with Him. God keeps saying, “Come, everything is ready.” But we say, “Not now. Maybe later. When life settles down. When I have more time. When I feel more spiritual.” And the truth is, life rarely settles down. There will always be another field, another ox, another commitment, another reason. At some point, discipleship means recognising that if God is always second, eventually He becomes almost absent.

What is striking is that the master does not cancel the banquet. He fills the house. He goes to the poor, the crippled, the blind, the lame. In other words, God’s invitation remains generous, but it also carries urgency. Grace is a gift, but it is a gift that must be received. We cannot live forever as though there will always be another moment, another Mass, another chance to pray, another opportunity to reconcile, another time to change. Sometimes the most spiritual word we can say is simply, “Yes. I will come.”

So maybe today the question is not, “Do I believe in God?” Maybe the better question is, “Am I actually responding to Him?” What is the invitation God has been placing before me that I keep postponing? A return to prayer? Confession? Forgiving someone? Taking faith more seriously? Letting go of something that has taken too much space in my heart? The table is ready. The invitation has been given. The only question is whether we will keep making excuses, or whether we will finally get up and come to the feast.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, You invite me again and again, and too often I answer You with excuses. Help me to recognise the distractions that keep me from You. Give me the courage to say yes when You call, to stop postponing what matters most, and to receive with gratitude the life You are offering me. Amen.

– Homily by Rev. Fr. Patrick Agbeko