An article written by my father, the Rev. C. Thomas Paige, as it appeared in the Tri-State Defender on the date shown.
“And they all with one consent began to make excuse. The first said unto him, ‘I have bought a piece of ground and I must need to go and see it! I pray thee excuse me.’ And another said unto him, ‘I have just bought a yoke of oxen and I must go and prove them; I pray thee have me excused.’ And the third came and said, ‘I have just married a wife and therefore cannot come.'” — Luke 14:18-20
Today we live in a world of excuses. Everyone is busily making excuses for his shortcomings. In this parable we see a man who invited people to come to his house for a party. Nothing was offered in request to attend but weak excuses. Jesus says this parable is liken unto the kingdom of God. Many will be invited but few will accept. How tragic it is that in lieu of doing our duties we offer weak excuses.
In the first instance, a man has just bought a piece of land so he had to go out and inspect it. This man’s basic concern in life — like many of ours — was his material wealth. He put this concern above everything else. I wonder if this is not a type of person among us today. Many people will be denied entrance to the greater values of life because they are too concern about the things they own or hope to own. We cannot attend church, we cannot work in Sunday school or sing in the choir or work with the young people because it demands too much time from our home.
Then there is a second type for us. A man who has just bought a yoke of oxen. He wants to see how productive these oxen are so his desire to make money minimizes his sense of duty and he must go down to the field and see how these oxen are going to perform. His sole concern was with making money. There is that group prevalent among us this very day. Far too many of us are concerned about nothing but making money. How, by the way, does not enter into the picture.
A few nights ago a man asked how many people in his television audience were willing to make money under any condition. Amazingly, the number holding up his hand in admission that they would was pathetic. About two thirds of the audience sat with raised hands. Such an admission on the part of supposedly intelligent people is a sad state of affairs. So we criticize the man who would be concerned about his method of production while this very thing demands most of our time and energy. As important as making a living may seem, there are rules of morality and spirituality that must be observed. We must keep our eyes ever opened to the possibility of living on life’s greatest plateau. Making a living, as important as it is, must not be done at the cost of everything else.
And now we come to the third man. “I would like to come but I have just gotten married.” What a flimsy excuse! What man would not have liked to have carried his bride to a dinner to meet all of his friends? But here a man uses this for an excuse not to go.
This whole story is marked with excuse after excuse. Mainly our lives are marked the same way. Ofttimes the opportunity to do something worthwhile presents itself and what do we do? Make an excuse. We fail to grow into the statures we could be because we are so prone to make excuses. These men failed to enjoy the dinner because they chose rather to hide behind excuses. But Jesus said the kingdom of heaven is the same way: many people will never enjoy the joys of the redeemed because they have chosen instead to make excuses.
Knowing that certain things are our responsibilities, we spend a whole life time making excuses. This is a part of our nature we must starve out. Historically men have been making excuses. Adam, when questioned about his behavior, told God, “the woman you gave me caused me to eat of the fruit.” Down the line, men have constantly been prone to place the blame of their downfalls upon someone else. History should have taught us better throughout all of these generations.
I have told people on numerous occasions that we have nobody to blame for our status in life but ourselves. I know that this is a hard pill to swallow, but it is true nevertheless. We go no higher in life than we aim. We fall to the gutters of life because we have no goals. Each time, the thing is self-centered. We have no blames that can be placed upon anyone else. We must look ourselves in the face and be realistic. No excuse or number of excuses will ever satisfy our deepest longing for really making us measure up to the best that is in us. We have ourselves and ourselves alone to blame.
VIVIAN J. PAIGE | All Politics is Local 