Holy Banquet

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 may 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. For all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted."

He said also to the one who had invited him, "When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, in case they may invite you in return, and you would be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous." Luke 14:1, 7-14

The Holy Banquet

The table has been set for the holy ones
no fine china but rough simple dishes
game that was caught by our best hunters
bred that was formed by gentle hands.

The guests will be hungry since poverty
and isolation has burdened their lives
separated from family by the well meaning
they scour the streets for a crumb to eat.

They will come dirty and distrusting
wondering what we might be selling
they have been hounded by fixers and helpers
folks who are sure they know what we need.

The Holy banquet is not for those already fed
not for the secure, controlling or divisive
this rough table is spread for the magnificent
for the beautiful and wondrous that noone see.

The table is set for the ones we have shut out
the one we are not willing to invite tou our homes
this groaning baord is full of every treat
and we will see God sitting among them now.