The Plan Bs

This parable really bothers me:

"For there was once a man who threw a great dinner party and invited many. When it was time for dinner, he sent out his servant to the invited guests, saying, 'Come on in; the food's on the table.'

"Then they all began to beg off, one after another making excuses. The first said, 'I bought a piece of property and need to look it over. Send my regrets.'

"Another said, 'I just bought five teams of oxen, and I really need to check them out. Send my regrets.'

"And yet another said, 'I just got married and need to get home to my wife.'

"The servant went back and told the master what had happened. He was outraged and told the servant, 'Quickly, get out into the city streets and alleys. Collect all who look like they need a square meal, all the misfits and homeless and wretched you can lay your hands on, and bring them here.'

"The servant reported back, 'Master, I did what you commanded - and there's still room.'

"The master said, 'Then go to the country roads. Whoever you find, drag them in. I want my house full! Let me tell you, not one of those originally invited is going to get so much as a bite at my dinner party.'"

- Luke 14:16-24 (Message)

For me this raises all kinds of questions: Is the banquet hall of God not big enough for everyone? Did God make a guest list of certain people he wanted at His table? Was this list made up of privileged people - the type who can buy property and oxen - and not "the misfits and homeless and wretched"? (This seems strange in light of what Jesus said immediately before.) Were religious Jews God's intended guests, and was the acceptance of sinners and Samaritans His plan B? (Paul seems to think so.) Did God have no interest in those who really need a good meal until His well-fed friends shunned him? Did He invite - or "drag in", another big theological issue - the poor and ragged out of kindness and love, or did He want to fill His table simply to thumb his nose at the wealthy no-shows? If there had been enough bums in the city streets, would He ever have sent his servant to those in the country? And what of those who were neither invited initially nor found in the servant's last-minute scramble?

On all these points the story seems dramatically at odds with our cherished beliefs and intuitions about God. I find it particularly hard to believe that the prostitutes and sinners Jesus so radically and graciously embraced are God's plan Bs, his second choices for salvation. On the other hand, such a view wouldn't be wholly at odds with scripture. What do you make of this?

I've struggled with the theology of Jesus' parables before (fleshed out here), and sometimes I wonder if I subject them to too much scrutiny. Maybe they're just crude, off-the-cuff stories meant to explain a basic point without concern for any of the peripheral details. Do you think the only conclusion we're meant to draw from this story is that God is gracious to ne'er-do-wells? Couldn't a story be told that illustrates this point without all the nasty and (hopefully) misleading details of this one?

Maybe the parable isn't about what we think it is. I know, for example, that "God's kingdom" doesn't always mean the place we go when we die, and that many Biblical statements that seem clear and straightforward to my ears are understood differently by many who are more knowledgeable than myself. And I'm sure there are many who can explain this difficult parable in the light of clearer passages, or, to be cynical, passages that more clearly corroborate our cherished dogmas. Perhaps the real lesson to be learned is that Jesus meant for his parables to confuse people.