Excuses, Excuses
August 5, 2007
Luke 14:15-23
When one of those at the table with him heard this, he said to Jesus, “Blessed is the man who will eat at the feast in the kingdom of God.”
Jesus replied: “A certain man was preparing a great banquet and invited many guests. At the time of the banquet he sent his servant to tell those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’
“But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said, ‘I have just bought a field, and I must go and see it. Please excuse me.’
“Another said, ‘I have just bought five yoke of oxen, and I’m on my way to try them out. Please excuse me.’
“Still another said, ‘I just got married, so I can’t come.’
“The servant came back and reported this to his master. Then the owner of the house became angry and ordered his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame.’
” ‘Sir,’ the servant said, ‘what you ordered has been done, but there is still room.’
“Then the master told his servant, ‘Go out to the roads and country lanes and make them come in, so that my house will be full.
The General went out to find that none of his G.I.s were there. One finally ran up, panting heavily.
“Sorry, sir! I can explain, you see I had a date and it ran a little late. I ran to the bus but missed it, I hailed a cab but it broke down, found a farm, bought a horse but it dropped dead, ran 10 miles, and now I’m here.”
The General was very skeptical about this explanation but at least he was here so he let the G.I. go. Moments later, eight more G.I.s came up to the general panting, he asked them why they were late.
“Sorry, sir! I had a date and it ran a little late, I ran to the bus but missed it, I hailed a cab but it broke down, found a farm, bought a horse but it dropped dead, ran 10 miles, and now I’m here.”
The General eyed them, feeling very skeptical but since he let the first guy go, he let them go, too. A ninth G.I. jogged up to the General, panting heavily,
“Sorry, sir! I had a date and it ran a little late, I ran to the bus but missed it, I hailed a cab but…”
“Let me guess,” the General interrupted, “it broke down.”
“No,” said the G.I., “there were so many dead horses in the road, it took forever to get around them.”
We all like to make excuses, don’t we. We’ve all given them, we’ve all heard them. At it’s core, an excuse is a reason given for unwanted results. A reason for unwanted results. You’re late at work, and you give a defense for your actions. You get picked up for speeding, you give a defense for breaking the law. Here are a couple from State Patrol on our very own I-80:
Speeder: “I was in a hurry because I have to go to the bathroom.
Response: “OK, Give me your license and I’ll follow you, when you get through in the bathroom, I’ll issue you your ticket.”
Speeder: “Just give me the ticket.”
Speeder: “I am almost out of gas and was trying to get to the gas station.” (Very common excuse)
Response: “OK, then you better shut your car off while I write the ticket.”
Speeder: “I am having an Angina Attack.”
Response : “Sit right still and I’ll call the ambulance, I can write the ticket before they get here.”
On arrival of the ambulance, her vitals were all perfectly normal. (She took me to court and told the judge I tried to kill her. I of course had the ambulance report to show the Judge.)
Result : Convicted HAHAHAHA
Speeder: “You can’t possibly see the radar reading, you have sunglasses on. (HUH?)
Speeder: “You can’t give me a ticket, don’t you know who I am.”
(I didn’t)
“I’m a Senator.”
(UH, he was.)
He was also wrong about me giving him the ticket, but he didn’t have to pay it.
(I lost a day for that one.)
Speeder: “I wasn’t driving, He was.”
(There was no one else in the car. I gave her a ticket, quickly, and sent her on her way to la la land.)
Best Ever.
Speeder: “I am on my way to a liver transplant.”
Response: “Are you donating, receiving or Operating?”
And AGAIN “……..Just give me the ticket.”
I’m sure all of us have had times in which we had to give an excuse, real or fake, to account for some behavior.
Our scripture is an story that is chock-full of excuses. Jesus was telling a story about a man who was throwing a big party. The invitations had gone out. This was a big deal. This person had some prominent friends. It was going to be a big shindig! Now, in the tradition of the times, there were two invitations that were given. The very first invite told everyone the date, place, time and occasion for the party. Everyone would put it in their day-planners and palm-pilots. You would also RSVP to the host telling them that you were going to make it. (RSVP is a french phrase, Respondez, Si Vous Plait - please respond). The second invitation would come when the party was ready. The crier would go through the streets and tell everyone who had RSVP to come on in, the party’s starting.
Wouldn’t that be nice? Have you ever needed another 30 minutes until everything was ready before people started showing up? You could have done that centuries ago in Palestine. You would have loved it back then. Everyone knew roughly when the party was going to take place, but they wouldn’t come until you called for them. And one by one, they start to give their excuses. I know that these people were well off by the excuses they gave. Now, these are people who had promised that they were coming. The first excuse was about land. “I just bought some land, and I need to go look at it.” Terrible excuse. Who buys land without looking at it first? The second excuse, “I just bought 5 yoke of oxen, need to try them out.” Another horrible excuse. Everyone knows you try out the oxen before purchasing! And you had the party on the calendar! What happened. Same with the guy who got married. Can’t go, just got married. Bring her along!
These are all lame excuses. They really didn’t want to go to the party, they just came up with excuses so they wouldn’t be involved. I remember this younger kid who asked an older kid for a loan of $20. The kid said no. The would be borrower asked, “Why not?” The older kid said, “Because I don’t have enough rope.” “What’s rope got to do with it?” “When you don’t want to do something, any excuse will do.”
This morning, I want to take a look at some of the excuses we make today, and explore what they really mean. Excuses are lies we tell ourselves to avoid dealing with unpleasant truths. But as long as we buy into those excuses, we can never move past them. Instead of addressing the underlying problem, we merely hide the symptoms. I would guess that one of the more important steps in personal growth is to uproot excuse-making and confront the real issues behind our excuses. And I am just as guilty as anyone else when it comes to making excuses, so here are a few that I sometimes struggle with.
Excuse #1: I don’t have enough time. Whenever you hear yourself making this statement, you know deep down it isn’t the truth. When we say, we don’t have enough time, we are really saying, “That just isn’t important enough to me compared to everything else.” I don’t have time to exercise. I don’t have time for a relationship. I don’t have time to start my own business. I don’t have time to volunteer. Of course you have time. You have as much time as anyone else does, and other people are already doing these same things. I have time to exercise, I just prioritize something else in my life as more important. Like family or working or TV. The difference is that they make it more of a priority in their lives than you do. You aren’t a victim of circumstances. If you don’t like your circumstances, change them. It’s amazing that people who say they don’t have time somehow find plenty of time for marginal activities like watching TV. If you don’t have time to exercise, then surely you don’t have time to watch any TV at all. Such people are really saying that exercise simply isn’t important enough to them. It’s easier to blame the problem on a lack of time, but the real problem is a lack of will.
Excuse #2: I don’t know how. This is one of the feeblest excuses of all. I don’t know how to make a web site. I don’t know how to write well. I don’t know how to get a better job. Are you capable of learning? Did you stop after learning to crawl, complaining, “I don’t know how to walk?” The truth behind ““I don’t know how” is “I’m unwilling to learn.” In our family, and maybe this isn’t the best way of doing things, is do it until you figure it out. Now, if you’re a surgeon, please don’t follow this advice. But it works for other things. Not too long ago, someone was complaining to me about oil changes and how it costs anywhere between $20-35 and you could wait forever. Why not learn how to change the oil? It takes you 20 minutes tops! Figure it out or ask! Another friend never balances their checkbook. They know if they have money if the check bounces or not. It’s too hard to figure it out. Well, figure it out!
Excuse #3: I don’t have the money. If there’s something you want, “I don’t have the money” is no excuse for not getting it. Every single one of us gets money somehow. You can earn the cash or find a way to get the item at reduced cost. The truth behind “I don’t have the money” is “I don’t want it badly enough.” Earning the money you need is only a matter of time, and we already know that not having enough time is no valid reason for giving up, nor is not knowing how to earn the money. If you want to buy something out of your price range, you’re fully capable of setting it as a top priority and then putting in the time to learn how to earn enough to acquire the item.
The last excuse I’ll use today is this:
“But you don’t understand. I grew up in this kind of household, or I have this/that.”
Now, maybe that sounded a little cold. But each and every one of us grew up in dysfunctional families. If they had people in them, they were dysfunctional. Yes, maybe we had a bad childhood or maybe we have a medical condition or a mental health label, but if that is who you are, then go with it. I believe that each and every one of us has something in their life that they could use as an excuse for not making it today. Maybe it’s the fact that we didn’t grow up like the Hilton’s and have ample cash. Maybe it’s because we didn’t get into that college if at all. Maybe it’s because life dealt us a bum hand. And I also believe that if we continue to use the crutches available to us, we will never really know how to walk on our own and be happy. What we’re really saying with this excuse is, “My life is not my fault.” What that attitude and outlook generally translates to is: Not much of a life.
Of course, the story that Jesus told was not about a dinner at all, but about accepting the call of discipleship. How is your Christian walk? Sometimes my Christian walk feels more like a Christian Crawl. Sometimes it feels like a Christian run! And other times, I feel like I’m still on the couch thinking about getting up. But Christ calls all of us to walk with Him. To grow from him. To learn from Him. To lean on Him. To become more like Him. With no excuses. Can we pray together? Heavenly Father, only you can change our hearts, we lay our burdens and our yolk upon you for you to carry with us, we give you our fears and our regrets and our sorrows and also our excuses, for Lord, we want to become more like you. And we ask that whatever hinders us in our daily walk of faith, help us to overcome these obstacles for your glory. Amen.