Invitation to Change
I have a suspicion, and look to Christ, “I think he wants me to shake a hand.” My thought is confirmed when Christ opens his posture, gesturing with his hand lightly to go ahead, in the “The door is open, go on through” hand motion. I approach and shake one of the hands, and...
(1) And answering, Jesus again spoke in parables to them, saying,
(2) “The Kingdom of the Heavens has been likened unto a man, a king, who arranged a wedding for his son.
(3) And he sent his servants to call those having been invited to the wedding feast, and they did not desire to come.
(4) Again he sent other servants, saying, ‘Say to those having been invited, “Behold, my feast is ready, my oxen and fattened cattle have been killed, and all is ready. Come to the wedding.”’
(5) And having paid no attention they went away; one whereas to the crop of his field, the other yet to his trade in the city. [a]
(6) And the rest, having seized the servants of him, mistreated them with hubris, and put them to death.
(7) And the king was angry, and having sent his armies, he destroyed the murderers those, and the city of theirs he burned.
(8) Then he says to the servants of him, ‘The wedding is indeed ready; those however having been invited were not deserving.
(9) Go therefore into the crossroads of the highways, and as many as if you shall find, invite to the wedding.’
(10) And having gone out the servants those into the highways, they brought together all as many as they found, both the evil and the good; and became full the wedding of those seated at the table.[b]
(11) Having entered then the king to see those at the table, he beheld there a man not being dressed in wedding attire.
(12) And he says to him, ‘Friend, how did you enter here not having wedding attire?’ But he was silent.
(13) Then the king said to the servants,‘Having bound his feet and hands, cast him out into the outer darkness; There will be the the weeping and the grinding of the teeth.’
(14) For many are called, but few chosen.”
Come, and fill yourself with the coming together of all things. Look! Now there awaits for you a feast, eat and be made whole.
The wedding occurs in front of your very eyes, at an unknown moment or two throughout the day, when you are called to live with the moment, not merely in it. When something calls out to be paid attention to and approached.
When this opportunity to attend the coming together of things, a moment of greater unity, where potential marries into reality, presents itself, beware of the mistakes portrayed here. Some invited did not desire to attend. Others, by choosing to pay no attention, did not merely ensure their absence but engaged in a splitting of the world, a separation, and a distance from coming together of things. You might say, disregarding your conscience is not merely to omit a better idea, but to drive your world forward into a more disunited future.
Others, of course, through hubris and malice find a moment of the coming together of things worth putting down, better still if suffocated to its end.
And so, what type of person does end up attending? Who does end up managing to participate and enjoy the fruitful unfolding of novel unity, growth in spirit? It is those who, like a person heeding random calls, the one comfortable as stranger and with stranger.
When you feel called to face something, to say something that needs to be said, understand you are staring down an invitation to a great feast, a wellspring of novel information, which will fulfill you with the knowledge and progress you most need to find. Keep your eye out for the still small voice, and with respect take it up on its offer. If you would like the integrity of mind of the kingdom of heaven, then you'll have to want to grow through exposure to the unknown, seek and pay attention for the moments in each day, with understanding that you need what it offers, and respect for the seriousness at hand. Then your potential will be like an open door to you.
(7) He was speaking then to those having been invited a parable, remarking how they were choosing the first seats, saying to them,
(8) “When you are invited by anyone to a wedding, do not sit in the first seat, lest ever one more honorable than you might have been invited by him,
(9) and having come, the one having invited you and him say to you, ‘Give to this one your place,’ and then you begin with shame the last place to take.
(10) But when you are invited, having gone, sit in the last place, so that when might the one having invited you, he will say to you, ‘Friend, come up higher.’ Then will be to you glory before all those at the table with you.
(11) For any exalting himself will be humbled, and one humbling himself will be exalted.
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The real wisdom in these texts comes not from some facile admonition to a certain behavior! It's not about the rule, commandment, or law, or even the virtue. It's about an understanding of the world, seeing how things truly work, and by gaining this understanding you instead of clinging to virtue and fleeing your problems will find that knowledge produces behavior of its own accord. All statements of both Old and New Testament, both commandment of Moses and commandment of Jesus, should be met not like a foolish monkey who seeing a gorilla subdues to some fervorous awe like Nadab and Abihu, but rather met as someone who is salt and light, who can say "Here must there be some as of yet clearer picture of what is, and what should be, therein should I seek it and find it, and having found, I will know why it was said, 'Do this, and not that.'" Until you understand the point of humility, the reality of its use, the map that it provides, you do not actually believe it is a virtue. You, my friend, believe what you are told.
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