View from a Great Banquet
I wonder if you can pinpoint and think of the best meal that
you have ever had? Obviously there is quite a bit of choice, many of us eat a
meal every day. For me two meals come
into my mind… the first was a bit of a disaster. I was part of the rugby club
when I trained to be a minister at Mansfield College, our rugby team was linked
with Merton College, and back then they had a cordon bleu chef. The meal that was prepared for our rugby club
dinner was Beef Wellington, and I can still see it sitting in my plate waiting
for me to devour it. It looked and smelt absolutely fantastic…. And boy was I
ready to eat. I had just completed a 24 hour sponsored fast in favour of the
people of South Africa, to protest about apartheid. It was you would think
perfect. I was very hungry, the food was perfect and the atmosphere excellent. Sadly the next thing that I can remember is
being extremely ill, I only got about half way through the beef wellington…
some of you are I suspect thinking, “Rugby Club” much beer etc etc. My friends
at the time did not believe me either!
The truth was after 2 or 3 days of further illness I finally got to the
doctors, who again did not believe my story, however after a series of tests I
was found to have Giardia. The mixture of an empty stomach, very high protein
food and this little bug, ruined a great meal, it was not the single pint of
beer and the half a glass of wine.
Another great meal that I can remember was when we were invited
by a family member to the, Manoir de Quatre Saisons. This is an extremely posh
restaurant outside Oxford founded by Raymond Blanc. It was like nothing I had
ever experienced before, there were more courses than I can remember, all
pretty small, but ultimately very refreshing. I experienced tastes and sights
that were literally outside of my experience, it was a great banquet. Of course
the best part was that my wallet got nowhere near the bill…. I didn’t have to
pay for this, it was a gift.
In our studies of Luke’s gospel Jesus told a story of a
great banquet, invitations are sent out, but those invited make excuses one by
one. Then the command is sent, “Go out
quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in the poor, the
crippled, the blind and the lame.” I love this thought, the image of the down
and out’s the fringe of society being invited into the Manoir is simply
beautiful. We are of course in danger of thinking of this invitation as if it
is a once in a lifetime moment, Jesus inviting us to dine with him in heaven
when we die. In that context we will all have a good reason (excuse) why
we are not quite ready to receive this invitation. I believe a better way of
looking at this is as a daily invitation from Christ to share with him, to eat
with him. In revelation John portrays Jesus as standing at our door, knocking.
When we finally open the door he comes in and eats with us and we with
him. I believe our failure to grasp the
everyday nature of Jesus’ invitation greatly limits our ability to really “feed
on him” in our hearts through faith. As
we study these passages on Sundays and in Fellowship groups, I pray that you
will realise afresh that YOU are invited, not simply to “pie in the sky when we
die,” but to a rich banquet here on earth while we LIVE. Jesus after all also
said, “I have come that they might have LIFE, in all its fullness.”
May God bless you
Stephen
