Called to to the Banquet of Transformation

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. God is one. Amen.

The two Gospel readings today from the 14th chapter of the Gospel of St Luke, and the 22nd chapter of the Gospel of St Matthew are both stories about a banquet.  We learn what happens when people who are invited to this banquet choose not to come. The first people invited make their excuses. Others chose not to come for unknown reasons. The result is that the important person who has prepared the great banquet does not have people with whom to enjoy friendship and to eat all the food that has been prepared. So what are we to think of this banquet? What do these gospel passages mean?

My first reaction was, “I don’t know.” But these stories in the gospels that Christ is telling about a banquet do have a meaning. They are parables, that is, stories with important moral and spiritual lessons. So, I thought, “Let’s see how the Church Fathers interpret this banquet.” Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture tells us that the Church Fathers propose that the banquet is being given by “God the Father….; [and the person] who is sent [to give invitations to the banquet] is none other than Christ [Himself], who appears in the form of a slave, although He is the very Son of God. The [many] invitation[s] to come to the supper [are] a signal that in Christ the gifts of the kingdom have been prepared for everybody” [Ancient Christian Commentary on Scriptures, New Testament, Vol.3 Gospel of Luke, p. 235]. The fourth century theologian and Biblical scholar, St Cyril of Alexandria, reflects that: “We understand the man [who is giving the banquet] to be God the Father…. The Creator of the universe and the Father of glory [has] made a great supper, a festival for the whole world in honour of Christ…. God the Father has prepared in Christ gifts for the inhabitants of the earth. Through Christ [the Father has given us] the forgiveness of sins, [the] cleansing away of all [things dirty and not holy], [the] communion of the Holy Spirit, [and our] glorious adoption as children [of God], and [entry into] the kingdom of heaven,” concludes St Cyril [Commentary on Luke, Homily 104].

So, how do people either in the first century or today decide whether or not to accept the invitation of Christ to come to this banquet and become friends of God the Father? Another fourth-century Orthodox theologian, St Gregory of Nyssa, has reflected that, and I quote: “If we are superficial people, [we respond only to] . . . a threat and a process of severe correction [from God, and this] . . . may [well] lead us to fly from wrongdoing and become wiser people. But the faith of deeper [human] minds regards [these invitations] as a process of healing and a therapy applied by God in such a way as to bring back the being He created to its original grace,” concluded St Gregory of Nyssa [Great Catechetical Oration 8, PG 45, 36-37, cited by Olivier Clément, The Roots of Christian Mysticism: Texts from the Patristic Era with Commentary, New City Publishers, 2015, p. 304]. So, we are each offered two ways to draw closer to God and to come to the banquet the Father has prepared for us. We can forget about God in our lives and be punished by Him in order to draw us back to Him or we can experience the healing that God wishes to bring to each of us.

Now, as we each seek in our own ways to draw closer to God, the 19th century Russian Orthodox saint, Theodore the Recluse, sets out the challenge before us in his book, The Path to Salvation A Manual of Spiritual Transformation [St. Herman of Alaska Brotherhood, 1996]. He writes: “We must make clear when and how the Christian life truly begins in us to see whether we have within ourselves the beginning of this life.  If we do not have it, we must learn how to begin it, in so far as this depends on us. It is not yet a decisive sign of true life in Christ if one calls [oneself] a Christian and belongs to the Church of Christ. [As the Gospel of Matthew states in chapter 7, verse 21], ‘Not everyone who says to Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the Kingdom of heaven.’” St Theophan concludes, “One can be counted as a Christian and not be a Christian” [available free at: ]http://www.pravmir.com/selections-from-the-path-to-salvation-by-st-theophan-the-recluse/]. Ouch!

Then the saint continues on a much more positive and encouraging note, that can speak directly to the hearts of each of us: “There is a moment, and a very noticeable moment,” he reflects, “which is sharply marked out in the course of our life, when a person begins to live in a Christian way.  This is the moment when there begins to be present in him [or her] the distinctive characteristics of Christian life.  Christian life is zeal and strength to remain in communion with God by means of an active fulfillment of His holy will, according to our faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, and with the help of the grace of God, to the glory of His most holy name. The essence of Christian life consists in communion with God, in Christ Jesus our Lord—in a communion with God which in the beginning is usually hidden not only from others, but also from oneself,” concludes St Theophan.

I find that a remarkable and deeply encouraging reflection: When we begin to seek the Lord and decide within ourselves that we wish to draw into “communion with God, in Christ Jesus our Lord,” the beginning of this new life is usually hidden not only from others but also [even] from [ourselves].” We will know that we are seeking the Lord, but we don’t yet know the fullness of new life into which the Lord is calling us. So, how should we behave in this situation of seeking the Lord but not knowing precisely what to do next?

I close this sermon with several paragraphs from the most read article on the Russian Orthodox website http://www.pravmir.com website that I cited earlier with St Theophan. The title of this article is “How to Change Reality: The Mystery of Prayer.” That is where we each can begin when we don’t know how best to find the Lord: Pray! In essence, prayer is, and I quote, a “tool [that] can help to change [our lives] and break through the horizon of the narrow cycle of everyday life. . . . Through prayer we talk to God, that is, we establish a contact with the Lord. In this contact there is a kind of connection between our personal inner world with all the problems and soul’s ailments, on the one hand, and the Lord with His majesty and purity, on the other hand. . . . People’s lives [are] changed for the better by their prayers. However, [this does] not happen overnight, but generally [only] after a long period of trials. Why is that? Trials [become] a catalyst [that is, a means to begin] a search inside a person for a way out of a situation, together with God. Prayer always changes our inner state, clears our thoughts, sets our mind straight, calms us down, and allows us to look at the situation in a different way. It is here, where a person’s spiritual growth and their path to God [starts]. A person [starts] changing and acquiring faith primarily due to an important activity: a conversation with God.”

We reach a point where “it is necessary to accomplish the most difficult thing: to act. To get up [in the morning] for prayer, to create a regular routine, to learn to focus on words, to put thoughts and willpower into the text, to be able to hear the silent voice of God in our hearts. . . . In the end, only [the Lord] knows what the good and the right is for each of us. So, we need to constantly ask Him for advice and consult with Him, thereby we have a chance to continue on the right path and to change our lives in the right direction. The only thing to do is to start. God is more real than we think He is. Let Him into your life, fill your day with prayer, and choose to change your reality together with the Creator right now!” concludes that article, “How to change reality: The mystery of prayer” [Vladimir Basenkovat: ]http://www.pravmir.com/how-to-change-reality-the-mystery-of-prayer/]. So, if we each pray to the Lord, no matter how young or old we are, we can all go to the banquet and become friends with God.

In the verse before Jesus Christ begins this parable, someone listening to Him says, “Blessed is the one who will eat at the feast in the Kingdom of God.” So, the story in this Gospel—the parable—is also an explanation of the messianic banquet of the Eucharist at the Second Coming of Christ. For those who followed Christ in the first century and for us today, the past and the present and the future are united in these Gospel verses. As our prayer lives deepen, and as we continue to go to confession and to prepare for and receive Holy Communion, we too prepare ourselves to be with Christ in heaven at the messianic banquet.

And so, we ascribe as is justly due all might, majesty, dominion, power and praise to God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, always now and ever and unto the ages of ages. Father Emmanuel Kahn