Luke 14:18

And they all with one consent began to make excuse. The first said unto him, I have bought a field, and I must needs go out and see it; I pray thee have me excused. And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them. I pray thee have me excused. And another said, I have married a wife and therefore I cannot come.

Boles insisted that "These are not flimsy and ridiculous excuses, as some have sought to make them, but the most important excuses that could be given."[28] But Summers called them "ridiculous and humorous."[29] As far as these excuses may be weighed as justifying the refusal of those bidden to attend the feast, they are worthless and therefore ridiculous; but from the standpoint of the carnal man, they did pertain to the things men of the world hold to be most important: real estate, business, and family relations.

There is evident a progressive unwillingness to attend in the excuses offered: (1) One pleads necessity; (2) the next pleads his will not to go; and (3) the third said flatly, "I cannot," but did not bother to ask any release from his obligation. In the case of this last, a marriage did exempt the bridegroom from the war (Deuteronomy 24:5; 20:7), but not from a feast it was his duty to attend. It has been often noted that there was really no compelling reason behind any of the excuses. Viewing land or proving oxen which had "already been purchased" cannot be looked upon as valid reasons for their refusal; and, in the case of the man with a bride, where was there ever a bride who would not have wished to attend a feast in the home of a rich man?

The three excuses have this in common, that "They all plead something that pertains to self, and all place the gratification of selfish desires above duty and obligation."[30]

In the aggregate, these three who made excuses stand for the Jews who rejected the invitation to receive the kingdom. There had come about, through ages, a deterioration of what the concept of the kingdom meant to the chosen people. Especially among the leaders, a malignant carnality had distorted their thoughts of what God's kingdom would be; and, for that reason, they insultingly rejected Christ.

[28] H. Leo Boles, op. cit., p. 288.

[29] Ray Summers, Commentary on Luke (Waco, Texas: Word Books, Publisher, 1974), p. 179.

[30] J. S. Lamar, op. cit., p. 195.