When this week’s five invited performers dropped out of the Freedom 250 Event to celebrate our nation’s 250th anniversary, I was reminded of the Biblical parable of the Great Banquet told by Jesus in Luke 14:15-24. In the parable, Jesus tells of a rich man who prepares a great banquet and invites many guests, but his servants tell him that the invited guests have other things to do and are unable to come. He tells his servants to go out into the streets and invite all they see to fill out the tables for his great feast.
This parable is a fitting backdrop for our nation’s 250th anniversary. Many of our citizens have allowed themselves to become politically divided from each other and indifferent to the blessings of living in this great country. They may choose to sit out this 4th of July season, during which the rest of us celebrate our nation’s founding 250 years ago by a group of patriots who “with a firm Reliance on the Protection of divine Providence mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor”. If that is the case with these entertainers and others of the same mindset, they will miss a great time remembering this event, and the rest of us will not miss them.
Each Fourth of July on the lawn of the nation’s Capital, Americans of all ages from all walks of life gather to celebrate being an American to the music of the national symphony orchestra and entertainers, performing music from country to opera, playing for them while dancing, waving their American flags, and enjoying the blessing of being alive at this beautiful location. Each performance ends with the playing of Tchaikovsky’s “1812 Overture” with cannons booming followed by a gigantic fireworks show. They will not be deprived of their joy of celebration by those whose enmity against our country and those whom they disagree with refuse to celebrate this July 4th.
In the above parable, the servants were instructed to bring in “the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame”, not the elites who had other, more important things to attend to – business, new purchase, just married! When these unfortunates were insufficient in number, he instructed them to go to the roads and country lanes to fill his tables and join the feast. The master delivered a final comment to his servants, saying, “I tell you, not one of those who were invited will get a taste of my banquet.”
So, for those of you who despise America, carry on your protests in our streets, your threats against our law enforcement officers, and your disparagement of our military seeking to ensure our future security, while most of our citizens refuse to allow you to rain on America’s 250th Anniversary Parade.
TW3
John Whitmore Jenkins
June 4, 2026
