Not quite how it goes

(Note: For those of you in the 3 Year Series, in the 1-Year we have Luke 14:15-24, which doesn't show up, I don't think, in the three. . . hmmmmm)

There was a man who was giving a feast, and when the feast was ready, he sent his servants inviting those who were invited saying, "Come to the feast." But they all alike made excuses. One said, "I have bought a field, please have me excused." Another said, "I've bought 5 yoke of oxen, please have me excused." And a third said, "I've just married a gal, and we ain't showing up."

When the servant returned to the master, the master was sad and said to himself, "I must be doing something wrong with my feast, otherwise more people would want to come." So he sent his servant to ask each of the people who refused the invitation what they would want in a feast, and the one said, "Pork" and the next said, "Shellfish", and the last said, "I'd like cheeseburgers." And the master said, "Even though we are Jewish and these are horrible things, I will make them - come to the feast." And still, they blew off the feast.

So he said to the servant, "Go, hire entertainers to wander around my feast, minstrels and jugglers, and then they will want to come." And so the minstrels sang bawdy songs and jugglers juggled and there was much spectacle, yet they still did not come to the feast.

So the master said, "I know, we will offer a nice, new cart to one of the people who arrives - the chance to win a cart, that will draw them in." And a few people looked in, but once they realized their ticket wasn't a winner, they left.

While this was happening, the lowly servants told their fellow poor and miserable of the wonders at the feast, and so the poor and the lowly showed up at the door and said to the master, "Might we partake of your feast, and we will do for you what we can." The master looked at them with disdain and said, "Um, this is a good feast for good people. Sorry, there's no room for you."

While the cooking continued, the wondrous smells of the feast drifted out to the highways, and strangers from a distant land smelled the feast, and so they came to the masters house and inquired of him what the feast was. But the master of the feast said, "You aren't the target demographic my feasting committee had in mind, so I don't think it would be good for you to be here - why don't you figure out a feast-team-leader from amongst yourselves and do whatever he tells you - maybe we'll even give you some scraps later on." And still the master pined for those who would not come, and he spent ever more time and effort trying to entice them to come, and soon his feast became a carnival, then a cart wash, then a tavern, then a finnancial advice center, then a social justice center that ignored the poor, all in the hopes of bringing those three in. And the master was well pleased with all his efforts at reaching the lost.

Oh - wait, that's not how Luke 14 goes. . . my bad. I must have gotten confused somehow.