The next one said, I have just ta-ken a wife, and so can-not come.
So the ser-vant came back to the house and told his mas-ter these things. Then the rich man was in a rage, and he said to his ser-vant, Make haste and go out through the streets and lanes of the town, and bring in the poor, the lame, and the halt and the blind.
And the ser-vant did as he was told. Then he came and said, Lord, I have done as thou didst bid me, and yet there is room for more.
The lord of the house then said, Go out through the high-ways, and down by the hedge-rows, and make the folks come in, that my house may be full; for none of those who were first called shall taste of my feast.
The man who spreads the feast is God. The feast is the good news—that Christ will save us from our sins. The ser-vant means those who preach, and urge men to come to Christ. Those who were first bid to the feast and would not come mean the Jews. And to bid the poor, the lame, and the blind come in-to the feast, means that the poor and the sick are to be saved as well as the rich and the great.
Great crowds drew near to Je-sus, and he told them that though they might come and hear him preach, if they did not care for him in their hearts they were not true friends, and could not be of his band. They must care more for him than for all else in the whole world; and must bear his cross—that is, they must do what is right, as Je-sus did.
CHAPTER XIV.
THE PRODIGAL SON.—THE PHARISEE AND THE PUBLICAN.—BABES BROUGHT TO JESUS.—ZACCHEUS CLIMBS A TREE.