Reflections from your Co-Pastors
August 20, 2020
Matthew's Gospel 22: 1-14
The Parable of the Wedding Feast
An excerpt from
The Indiscriminate Host
By Fr. John Shea from "Stories of Faith"
Once there was a great man
who gave a great supper.
All was ready,
as poised as the breath of God before the first day of life.
The servant was on the road, dancing with the good news of festivity banging the drums of party.
The first invited calculated:
I have bought a yard of land
and must measure it with my thumb.
The second invited clucked:
I have bought five yoke of oxen and I must flick the flies from their ears.
The third invited sighed:
I have married a young wife
and I must hold her through the night.
The servant returned, his hands as empty as a man who has dropped a child.
He spoke each excuse in a whisper.
"Out again!" the great man bellowed.
"To hedge and highway, street and lane. Be as thorough as Noah. Persuade them all."
The host waited at the door
and welcomed first a blind man.
"Sir, my eyes could not find your home but my nose found your food."
Next a cripple greeted the great man. "The hill of your house is high, sir, but my one good leg is strong"
Then a poor woman with a child of unflinching eyes, blocked the door like a star. " If with this food we talk, I and my son will eat with you."
Then came a jumbling tumble of people like they fell from an upended sack.
The servant was the last to dance in. "Am I a guest too?"
The great man stroked his chin. "Do you want to be?"
"Yes!"
"Then you are. But tell me, what did you say to all these people?
The servant stroked his chin,
"I sang in the streets:
There is a feast for all
who want to feast with all."
The great man turned to his eager guests,
"In this house there is always a feast for those who seize it."
To Jesus, every person was a guest. An invitation had gone out from the heart of all life to every heart within life. For does rain discriminate or the sun play favorites?
Jesus continued,
"In the nature of things if all are in, can anyone be out, if all are first, can anyone be last?"
Words Inspired by God
