Thursday, September 6, 2007

Today’s text

Luke 14:1,7-10

On one occasion when Jesus was going to the house of a leader of the Pharisees to eat a meal on the Sabbath, they were watching him closely. …When he noticed how the guests chose the places of honor, he told them a parable. “When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet, do not sit down at the place of honor, in case someone more distinguished than you has been invited by your host; and the host who invited both of you many come and say to you, ‘Give this person your place.’ And then in disgrace you would start to take the lowest place. But when you are invited, go and sit down at the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he may say to you, ‘Friend move up higher;’ then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at the table with you.”

Prayer

We are all beggars, aren’t we Jesus? We are all guests of a greater generosity which gives life and is Life. You are that generosity, the face of the ultimate hospitality that breathes life into all that lives. The only proper posture before you--and each other--is the humility of reality.

Only the humble recognize that our life, our being and presence on this planet, is the decision of a will not our own, the creation of a power we don’t manage, the residue of a Mystery whose joy is making life and movement and beauty.

The humble know that joy is not the power we possess or the status we hold in the eyes of others but the joy of just being at the banquet of life with you. You set the table that all may know your goodness, which we only sample at this end of the banquet table.

Soon enough, too soon, we graduate to that far end of the table where saints and martyrs, witnesses and faithful ones, dine with you face to face and tears have other meaning.

Until then, may our hearts savor the breath in our lungs, the gorgeous curves and sharp crevices of earth, the morning sun and autumnal shadows, the successes and set backs we meet, and more: the love shining in your face, Jesus. All this is banquet unending, and joy is just being there with you.

Pr. David L. Miller