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Called To The Feast

Called To The Feast

Last updated on: December 15, 2024 at 2:08 pm by Henry Karlson

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Called To The Feast 2024-12-15T14:08:32-05:00 Henry Karlson

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Jesus calls everyone to the eschatological banquet feast; he wants everyone to partake of him in it so that they can find themselves becoming one with him. They will then find themselves united with everyone else who, like them, partakes of Jesus. To get there, to arrive at the feast so as to be ready to properly partake of him, Jesus said we must pick up our cross and follow after him. He entices us to come to him, hungry and thirsty for righteousness, for that will leave us ready for the bread from heaven. This is why he tells us to pick up our cross, for by doing so, we engage authentic self-denial, the kind which has us detach ourselves from all injustice, from all unrighteousness and falsehood, from all things which we could place in the way between ourselves and God, including, and especially ourselves. If we don’t embrace the way of the cross, we will find ourselves attached to all kinds of things which get in the way of our union with Christ, and so, we will find ourselves incapable of receiving all that he offers us.

We might want to experience the kingdom of heaven, to receive all the blessings which are promised to those who are faithful, but, sadly, we want them handed to us without doing our part. We the kingdom to welcome us as we are, selfish and self-centered, so that it can reify the persona we have created for ourselves, giving it life, instead of having us reform ourselves and find our true selves which has been hidden and hindered by our sin. We want the eschatological feast, but we want it on our selfish, sinful terms. Christ, when speaking about the eschatological feast, made it clear that while many are called to it, especially many who are religious, they will give all kinds of excuses as to why they will wait until later to come:

When one of those who sat at table with him heard this, he said to him, “Blessed is he who shall eat bread in the kingdom of God!” But he said to him, “A man once gave a great banquet, and invited many; and at the time for the banquet he sent his servant to say to those who had been invited, `Come; for all is now ready.’ But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said to him, `I have bought a field, and I must go out and see it; I pray you, have me excused.’ And another said, `I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to examine them; I pray you, have me excused.’ And another said, `I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come’ (Lk. 14:15-20 RSV).

We are told we must change our mindset. We must repent and change our ways. This does not mean we must deny the world and the good in it, but it means we must deny our sinful engagements and appropriations of that good, the way we want to exploit it for our own evil desires. Christ came to save the world, not to judge or condemn it; he does not want us to judge the world so as to have it destroyed. He wants us to deny our exploitation of it, to deny our selfish mode of being in the world, to deny our sinful habits and how they have us undermine the good of the world and those living in it. But, as we know, many, including and especially those who are religious, either want to follow one of two extremes, either take over and control the world, turning it into their own private plaything, or to destroy it, believing if they cannot have it as they wish to have it, no one should.

The call to take up the cross, to follow after Christ, gets all kinds of responses, including all kinds of excuses, especially by the religious, by those who say they love him but then show they are unwilling to do what he said. The rich do not want to be told they must share what they have with those in need. Those who are married, which can be a good, often use their marriage as an excuse to promote and support ungodly ways (we can look at the way people who promote so-called family values also support those politicians who undermine human dignity and threaten the livelihood of millions). In the end, many of those who are called, excuse themselves from the eschatological table, saying they will come to it later, when it is convenient to them; they keep putting off living out the beatitudes, and yet, as Luke made clear, those who do not live them out but actually engage the opposite of what Christ promoted, will find themselves cut off from God and all God’s blessings. But, Christ also said, even if many of those who were first called, ignore the call, others, who are already hungry and thirsty, those who are already impoverished and detached from the things which get in the way from a proper reception of the eschatological feast, will be given what others rejected:

So the servant came and reported this to his master. Then the householder in anger said to his servant, `Go out quickly to the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in the poor and maimed and blind and lame.’ And the servant said, `Sir, what you commanded has been done, and still there is room.’ And the master said to the servant, `Go out to the highways and hedges, and compel people to come in, that my house may be filled. For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste my banquet.’ (Lk. 14:21-24 RSV).

We should examine ourselves, and ask ourselves, what do we put in the way of Christ, in living out the way of the cross, the way of love? What excuses do we make for ourselves? Christ entered the world, and showed us how the kingdom of God is already amongst us, that we can partake of the eschatological banquet, and receive all the graces God intends for us; all we need to do is deny ourselves, deny our inordinate attachments, and join ourselves with Christ, living in the world as Christ lived, promoting the way of the kingdom, the way of love and restoration. We must be ready to receive the immanent eschaton, Christ himself, who comes to us in glory, so that we can share with him in that glory. We must make room for him in the world, even as he made room for the world in himself and in the divine life:

When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: fornication, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming. In these you once walked, when you lived in them.

But now put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and foul talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old nature with its practices and have put on the new nature, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. Here there cannot be Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free man, but Christ is all, and in all (Col. 3:4-11 RSV).

In the eschaton, Christ will be all in all, and the eschatological banquet is where this happen; for, in that feast, when we hunger and thirst for righteousness, we will receive Christ, we will partake of him and his life, so that in the end, Christ will live in us, even as we will then find ourselves living in him. We will do so, not as individuals cut off from each other, but as persons in communion with each other, recognizing Christ in each other. We will realize through experience that Christ truly is all in all.

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N.B.: While I read comments to moderate them, I rarely respond to them. If I don’t respond to your comment directly, don’t assume I am unthankful for it. I appreciate it. But I want readers to feel free to ask questions, and hopefully, dialogue with each other. I have shared what I wanted to say, though some responses will get a brief reply by me, or, if I find it interesting and something I can engage fully, as the foundation for another post. I have had many posts inspired or improved upon thanks to my readers.

General Christian

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