"When one of those at the table with him heard this, he said to Jesus, 'Blessed is the one 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 compel them to come in, so that my house will be full. I tell you, not one of those who were invited will get a taste of my banquet."'" Luke 14 : 15 - 24
This semester with Just Generosity as our theme, we have been hearing a lot about how we should go out and do just and generous things, and how these acts can change our surrounding campus and world. We have probably heard why we should put ourselves out there in doing radical things and may even felt called to do some amazing things. But first of all, why? We might already know this, but God has a heart for justice. He loves it so much that Jesus' ministry was based around bringing justice to the world around him and setting his disciples up to do the same. Likewise, we have been called to do the same, and again, if you're familiar with our theme this semester, you probably already know this.
But just as in the parable, we begin to make excuses. Some valid, others not so much. With the level of attention we are supposed to be giving our academic lives, I think a lot of the time our excuses are legitimate, and our peers understand that they are. But there are times when God comes up to us and presents an opportunity that simply can't get passed up. Excuses are the easy thing to do: we don't even have to lie about them. But we miss out when we pass the opportunity up.
Sometimes some of the chances we get are easy and exciting to take up; some of us have made the choice to take a much-needed weekend of studying and attend IV's annual WinterVarsity conference. After attending Fall Conference last semester, I am curious and excited to find out what God has in store for us at WinterVarsity, and if you're going, you should be excited too.
But at other times, the choice is more difficult and it involves more of seeing injustice and acting upon it. This is hard because it is much easier to go on our way without doing something for someone that isn't our problem. But the reality is, if we as a chapter and as individuals are actually committed to justice, then we do need to care about the injustices that happen around us.
You know that there are unjust things happening around the world that need people to do something about them, but they might've been so far displaced from our perfect world here that we ignore them. You see your classmate who forgot their stapler, the kid sitting alone, the people having trouble on homework that you know how to do. Do we do anything about it? Maybe this semester we have become more inclined to lend out our stapler, but cling on to our precious time and don't help people in need, or hang on to our so-called dignity and don't talk to the kid who always eats alone. Sometimes it's hard, yes. Sometimes we get turned down. Sometimes there is so much injustice we don't know where to start, and sometimes we are too busy to even see it in the first place. But we have a call to seek justice around us.
As InterVarsity, our vision is to change the world. And as much as I believe we can and will, we can't do it overnight. We need small steps to practice on, and that is our campus. Justice begins on this campus, where you hang out, and that person across the room. So let's step out of our comfort zone and look at those things that are unfair and unjust. But don't just watch, step out and do something about it. It is our call. No excuses.
