DAILY BANQUET

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