{"id":2248,"date":"2012-10-15T16:03:15","date_gmt":"2012-10-15T20:03:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rosedalenazarene.org\/?p=2248"},"modified":"2012-10-16T09:24:13","modified_gmt":"2012-10-16T13:24:13","slug":"the-parable-of-the-dinner-party","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rosedalenazarene.org\/?p=2248","title":{"rendered":"The Parable of the Dinner Party"},"content":{"rendered":"

A man was very eager to celebrate a friend’s recent retirement. Knowing his friend’s love of fine cuisine, he decided to throw an extravegant dinner party for him. The man worked very hard and spared no expense to make all of the arrangements: a banquet hall at a fine hotel, a renowned professional caterer to take care of appetizers to dinner to dessert and everything in between, decorations on every door and table, and\u00a0a phone call to each and every single one of the 60 guests who would attend. Feverishly he put all he had into the preparations until it was the day of the event.<\/em><\/p>\n

He arrived very early in the afternoon even though the party wasn’t to begin until 7 pm to make sure that he could supervise every aspect of setup. After driving himself crazy as he agonized over every possible detail, the man stressfully began greeting guests as they began arriving at six thirty. And as the clock struck seven,\u00a0the tables were set, the appetizers were served, and the conversation was lively. Everything was perfect. Every seat was filled.<\/em><\/p>\n

Every seat except the one at the head table for\u00a0the guest of honor.<\/em><\/p>\n

His forehead dripping sweat, the man stepped up to the microphone and nervously announced that their retiring friend must be stuck in traffic and would arrive at any moment. Stepping away from the mic, his mind played over a number of scenarios that he repeated under his breath repeatedly: “maybe he got stuck in traffic?\u00a0…maybe he had a family emergency?\u00a0 ..what if something happened to him on the way here tonight?”<\/em><\/p>\n

Seven thirty… and then eight\u00a0and still the special guest had not arrived. The man once again announced that it should be any moment that the man of the hour would walk right in. Again, his mind would not let him rest, but anger\u00a0replaces his concern, “…was it something I said–or didn’t say? …maybe he thinks he’s better than the rest of us now–doesn’t have time for me anymore!\u00a0 Why didn’t he at least call?!”<\/em><\/p>\n

Embarrassed, he sneaks away from the guests and angrily takes out his phone. His blood boiling, he dials his friend’s number. His friend answers the phone with a casual “Hello?”<\/em><\/p>\n

“Where are you?! We’ve already started but you’re nowhere to be found!”<\/em><\/p>\n

“Already started what? Where? What are you talking about?”<\/em><\/p>\n

“Your party! Everybody’s here except for you. Why aren’t you here yet?”<\/em><\/p>\n

“What party? You never invited me to any party.”<\/em><\/p>\n

Ready to explode at his friend, the man’s mouth opened, but no words came out. He couldn’t speak more than a single, broken syllable as he frantically tried to recall the memory of him calling…or mailing…or texting an invitation to his friend, but none came to mind.<\/em><\/p>\n

For all of his planning, time, and effort,\u00a0he had forgotten to invite the very person he had intended to honor.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Ridiculous story, right? Think it’d be impossible not to invite someone to their own party?<\/p>\n

Not so fast.<\/p>\n

It may surprise you to realize that many of us occasionally do just this. And some of us do this repeatedly–every week:\u00a0 just replace the ‘man’ with your name, the ‘friend’ with\u00a0Jesus, and the ‘dinner party’ with ‘worship’.<\/p>\n

Some examples may include (but\u00a0are certainly\u00a0not limited to):<\/p>\n