Salvation as a Great Banquet

Devotional Reflection, Friday, December 3 2021

The week of the first Sunday of Advent

The Rev. David W. Perkins, Th.D.

Key phrases for reflection from today’s reading:

22:1Once more Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying: 2`The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding banquet for his son. 3He sent his slaves to call those who had been invited to the wedding banquet, but they would not come.

Daily Office Lectionary Readings (BCP, 937)

AM Psalm 16, 17; PM Psalm 22

Amos 5:1-17; Jude 1-16; Matt. 22:1-14

Today we celebrate the Feast of Francis Xavier. (See below.)

Morning Prayer, Rite 2, page 75, Book of Common Prayer

Evening Prayer, Rite 2, page 115, Book of Common Prayer

Compline (Night Prayer), Page 127, Book of Common Prayer

Daily Office Gospel, Matthew 22:1-14

22:1Once more Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying: 2`The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding banquet for his son. 3He sent his slaves to call those who had been invited to the wedding banquet, but they would not come. 4Again he sent other slaves, saying, "Tell those who have been invited: Look, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready; come to the wedding banquet." 5But they made light of it and went away, one to his farm, another to his business, 6while the rest seized his slaves, mistreated them, and killed them.

7The king was enraged. He sent his troops, destroyed those murderers, and burned their city. 8Then he said to his slaves, "The wedding is ready, but those invited were not worthy. 9Go therefore into the main streets, and invite everyone you find to the wedding banquet." 10Those slaves went out into the streets and gathered all whom they found, both good and bad; so the wedding hall was filled with guests. 11`But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing a wedding robe, 12and he said to him, "Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding robe?" And he was speechless. 13Then the king said to the attendants, "Bind him hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." 14For many are called, but few are chosen.'

David's Reflections

The prophets of Hebrew Scripture often employed images to depict God's final salvation and the abundance of divine love poured out on the world. One such image was that of a great feast, a great banquet hosted by God to which all God's children were invited. Jesus' sharing ritual meals with the undesirables and the outcasts of his society scandalized the religious leaders because of the implication that the outcasts and undesirables would share in God's great feast. (See Isaiah 25:6-9.)

This parable draws on that image of a great banquet, in this case a wedding feast. Those who refused to attend can easily be associated with the scrupulously pious who resisted Jesus' ministry, especially his inclusion of the undesirable and outcast. This parable also would call to mind the consistent resistance within Israel to the ministry of the prophets of Hebrew Scripture.

This parable calls on us in the believing community to keep our boundaries permeable and inclusive. The Eucharist was inaugurated by Jesus as a harbinger of our final salvation, the great final banquet of God's loving deliverance and abundance. All are bidden to God's salvation, and all are welcome at the Lord's Table in the church. It would be bad hospitality to ask everyone to come to Communion; a Muslim, Jew, or Buddhist or an agnostic might find that offensive. But, it would be equally bad hospitality to preface communion with remarks that would cause a seeker feeling drawn to Christ not to come at least for prayer and a blessing.

On any given Sunday there may be people present in worship who will have their initial personal encounter with God's saving love in Jesus during Holy Communion. In a sense every Sunday's invitation to Holy Communion also serves as a call to those without faith to receive Christ and begin the Christian journey.

We endeavor always to be sensitive to and aware of the presence of those genuinely new not only to the Anglican way but also to any way of faith. We want to welcome them at their level of comfort, know them by name, and sit on the edge of our chairs prayerfully hoping that they allow God's seeking love to find and include them. Can we not recall those moments when we were strangers to God's love ourselves? Even if we have been people of faith since childhood, we have had our moments of estrangement and loneliness.

Collect of the Day, First Sunday of Advent

Almighty God, give us grace to cast away the works of darkness, and put on the armor of light, now in the time of this mortal life in which your Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility; that in the last day, when he shall come again in his glorious majesty to judge both the living and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal; through him who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (BCP, 211)

Today we celebrate the Feast of Today we celebrate the Feast of Francis Xavier, missionary to the far east (died 3 Dec 1552 CE).

http://www.satucket.com/lectionary/francis_xavier.htm

Collect of the Feast of Francis Xavier

God of all nations, Raise up in this and every land, evangelists and heralds of your kingdom, that like your servant Francis Xavier we may proclaim the unsearchable riches of our Savior Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

A Collect for Fridays

Lord Jesus Christ, by your death you took away the sting of death: Grant to us your servants so to follow in faith where you have led the way, that we may at length fall asleep peacefully in you and wake up in your likeness; for your tender mercies' sake. Amen. (BCP, 123)

A Prayer for Light

Grant us, Lord, the lamp of charity which never fails, that it may burn in us and shed its light on those around us, and that by its brightness we may have a vision of that holy City, where dwells the true and never-failing Light, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (BCP, 110)

A Collect for Mission

O God of unchangeable power and eternal light: Look favorably on your whole Church, that wonderful and sacred mystery; by the effectual working of your providence, carry out in tranquility the plan of salvation; let the whole world see and know that things which were cast down are being raised up, and things which had grown old are being made new, and that all things are being brought to their perfection by him through whom all things were made, your Son Jesus Christ our Lord; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (BCP, 280)