The nineteenth saying:

Jesus said:
A man had guest-friends, and when he had prepared the dinner, he sent his servant to invite the guests.

He went to the first, he said to him: “My master invites thee.”
He said: “I have some claims against some merchants; they will come to me in the evening; I will go and give them my orders. I pray to be excused from the dinner.”

He went to another, he said to him: “My master has invited thee.”
He said to him: “I have bought a house and they request me for a day. I will have no time.”

He came to another, he said to him: “My master invites thee.”
He said to him: “My friend is to be married and I am to arrange a dinner; I shall not be able to come. I pray to be excused from the dinner.”

He went to another, he said to him: “My master invites thee.”
He said to him: “I have bought a farm, I go to collect the rent. I shall not be able to come. I pray to be excused.”

The servant came, he said to his master: “Those whom thou hast invited to the dinner have excused themselves.”

The master said to his servant: “Go out to the roads, bring those whom thou shalt find so that they may dine. Tradesmen and merchants shall not enter the places of my father.”

Jesus talks in parables. The parables are very simple but very significant. They are not literal, so we will have to understand the symbolic meaning of them. These sayings today are concerned with a particular type, not exactly tradesmen and businessmen, but the type. You may not be a businessman but you may be the type; you may be a businessman and you may not be the type.

So remember, there is a particular type and that particular type constitutes almost ninety-nine percent of people: businessmen and traders are all over. They may be doing something else, but their mind is that of a businessman. So the first thing to be understood: who is a businessman, who is a trader?