Last Supper – a fortaste of the kingdom feast
This morning I was reading the parable of the Great Feast in Luke 14. I was struck by the phrase There is still room for more. God’s lavish invitation to all of us to join the banquet feast of the kingdom is amazing. It is generous beyond our imagining. It is all inclusive of anyone who wants to come. The poor, the lame, the blind and the crippled have been included and there is still room for more.
How different I thought from the exclusivity of our culture. The poor, the lame, the blind and the crippled are rarely invited. We are more likely to be concerned about who we can exclude from the banquet feast rather than who we can include. I can’t help but think about that this morning as I wait for the Presidential election results. So much of the rhetoric has been about cutting back benefits. Who can we exclude from health care and social security? Who can we ignore when the environment is at risk and the corporations want to make more money? Who can we turn our backs on because they are of the wrong faith or ethnicity or gender orientation?
I wonder if part of the reason there is so much empty space at the banquet feast of God is because we don’t want to sit down to eat with those at the margins. So my question today is Who have you invited to the banquet feast of God and who would you like to exclude?