Van Yandell: Why A Cat Named Ted

Proverbs 15: 1 and 4 “A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger. A gentle tongue is a tree of life, but perverseness in it breaks the spirit.”

I’m not really sure why we named him Ted. It was probably because when he was a kitten, he reminded us of a little “Teddy Bear.” Precious was not adequate to describe Ted. He was a special kitty with no room for argument.

Occasionally when Ted was younger he would go for a walk with us. He usually tired out and I had to carry him back home. I think he had that planned. Two miles for us was fourteen cat miles for him.

Ted grew up to be a full blown number ten Tom Cat. He weighed in at over fifteen pounds and had claws like razor blades. Ted loved me; I fed him, built him a cathouse with an electric blanket (heating pad) for colder weather and provided for his every need.

He would lie in my lap at night while I read or napped and shed golden cat hair all over me; no problem, he was worth it.

Ted did have one problem; he didn’t listen very attentively. We decided that he was in the right family. Margie had some tuna for him one day. She went onto the patio and called and called. Her “kitty, kitty, kitty” could be heard for miles. But, no Ted!

Finally she walked around the corner of the house and there was Ted, sleeping in the warm sunshine.

The look on her face when she told me the story was one of a combination of love and bewilderment. Ted simply did not want to be bothered during his nap so he tuned her out. She had been married to me for about thirty years at the time so she should have been used to that.

Then one day, I walked out the door without looking down and fell over Ted. He thought I kicked him intentionally but I would not have hurt Ted for a trip to the moon. Everything changed that second in time and not for the good.

His opinion of me was never the same. If I walked out the door or around a corner and surprised him, he ran. A pack of coyotes wouldn’t have scared him more.

If I ever had a need for a time machine, that was it. But once the damage is done, the damage is done.

Words we say to others, our actions (or lack of actions), even our facial expressions speak louder than we may think. First impressions are usually lasting impressions. To ask humans to be careful with words is like asking a rock to fly.

Miscommunications cause a world of problems and troubles. Just as Ted did not understand that falling over him was an accident, the people of Israel did not understand Jesus was meant to be their Savior as well as the Savior of the world.

Luke 14: 15-24 is Jesus’ “Parable of the Great Feast.” Some of Jesus’ greatest lessons to us were stated in parables. These events did not actually happen but He told them to make a point.

In the parable in Luke 14, Jesus is telling those present, they have been invited to “the table” of God but they have refused to accept the invitation.

Numerous references in the New Testament verify to us, Jesus offered salvation to gentiles (anyone not being Jewish) as well as the Hebrew people. God selected the Jewish people and the land of Israel to be His chosen people and land. He chose them and the land to provide the world with a Savior.

In this parable Jesus tells the people of a Great Feast, recognized as being the Kingdom of Heaven. The Master of the house was symbolic of God. When invited, the guests presented many excuses for not attending the banquet.

We know, of course, many times, many people making excuses do not tell the real reason for an action. When invited to various activities we may make lame excuses for why we cannot participate, when the real reason is, we simply do not want to. This, I suppose, is human nature to not want to hurt feelings.

Beginning in Luke 14: 15, Jesus told the story of a man (God) preparing a great supper. He sent His servant (Jesus) out to invite many to come in and sup with Him. Upon receiving these invitations, they began to make excuses.

The scripture tells us many of the reasons the Jews of the time rejected Jesus as the prophesied Savior. They did not expect Him to be a Nazarene. They expected royalty; they may have expected a warrior Savior to expel the Romans from their land.

And, they most certainly did not expect their Savior to be born in a barn and His bed to be a cattle feeding trough (manger).

But the real disappointment to them was that this Jesus taught salvation by a faith based belief in Him and they no longer had to earn their own salvation by their works. Jesus would “earn” salvation for the world by His sacrificial death and shedding of his blood on the cross.

After the resurrection and ascension, thousands of Jews came to believe in Jesus as their Savior and Lord. Jewish Christians are now numbered in the thousands and many were led to Jesus by the Apostles, with verification in the New Testament (Acts 4: 4).

The first man invited to the great banquet had the excuse of going to buy a parcel of land and he had to go see it (Luke 14; 18). Of course, no one would purchase land without going to look at it, but did he really? He was placing material wealth above that which was Holy.

The second man had the excuse of going to buy a yoke of oxen (Luke 14: 19). Oxen were used as beasts of burden, to pull plows, carts and other such objects. Should one place his work before God?

The third man’s excuse: he was going to be married to a wife (Luke 14: 20). Perhaps she could have come with him. Jesus also told us to place Him before everything, including one’s own family (Luke 24: 26).

Our priorities sometimes do not coincide with God’s priorities. Being in a constant state of self-evaluation may be a good way to avoid being one of the invited guests that refused to come.

Then the Master sent His servant out into the town to invite everyone to attend. When the table was still not full, He sent the servant to the highways and byways to “compel them to come in.”

The story in this article, “A Cat Named Ted”, is to make the point that at times we do not realize whose we are. Just as the first invited guests to the Great Banquet did not realize the seriousness of the invitation and the eternal consequences, in today’s world, multitudes still do not understand.

“Compel them to come in!” What powerful words these are. Jesus was speaking to Pharisees in Luke 14 but He was also speaking to us.

Matthew 28: 19 “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.”

Van Yandell is a retired Industrial Arts teacher, an ordained gospel evangelist and missionary, from Fredonia, Kentucky.