On a sabbath Jesus went to dine at the home of one of the leading Pharisees. He said to the host who invited him, “When you hold a lunch or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or sisters or your relatives or your wealthy neighbors, in case they may invite you back and you have repayment. Rather, when you hold a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind; blessed indeed will you be because of their inability to repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”
The Gospel of the Lord.
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Every so often, we hear stories about people who apply the Gospel to their daily lives in a very literal way.
For example, Mother Teresa’s parents took today’s Gospel passage to heart. “When you hold a lunch or dinner,” Jesus says, “invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind.”
Whenever they held a large family gathering at their home in Albania, Mother Teresa’s parents would send her and her siblings out into the streets to invite those who could not repay them – literally the sick and the homeless.
I can only imagine what kind of conversations they had around their table.
Those dinners instilled in Mother Teresa from a very young age a passion for the world’s poorest, so much so that she not only served them for the rest of her life, she also became poor, essentially keeping as her only possessions a crucifix and the clothing on her back.
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It may seem impractical, if not impossible, for us to populate our dinner table with the same type of guests today. But the heart of this Gospel passage still speaks to us as a Church.
What Christ longs for from us is a spirit of inclusion, generosity, and humility whereby all are seen as equals and welcomed – not only around the altar – but also into our hearts.
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Who might the Lord be inviting into the Church today? How might we welcome them?
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“When you hold a banquet,” Jesus says, a banquet at the altar , “invite those unable to repay you.”
Jesus said to the crowds: “Everything that the Father gives me will come to me, and I will not reject anyone who comes to me, because I came down from heaven not to do my own will but the will of the one who sent me. And this is the will of the one who sent me, that I should not lose anything of what he gave me, but that I should raise it on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him may have eternal life, and I shall raise him on the last day.”
The Gospel of the Lord.
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There are two fears that most people share: public speaking and death… I have the honor of dealing with both of them today!
On this Feast of All Souls, we pray for all people who’ve gone before us in the hope of rising again. Our parents, grandparents, spouses, Pope Francis, recent victims of Hurricane Melissa, maybe even one of our children.
This is a wide-ranging, complex, and emotional feast day. But at the very heart of it, I believe there are three questions we need to ask.
Why is there death? What is eternity? And what is heaven like?
I hope to answer them, albeit partially.
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After the death of his own brother, Saint Ambrose said, “God prescribed death as a remedy.” Not to punish us, but to put a definitive end to evil, to preserve in the afterlife only that which is good.
Death is a remedy.
On the one hand, no one wants to die. But, on the other, no one wants to suffer indefinitely. While things like love, beauty, and humor color and add meaning to life, there are also many things which we tire of – hunger, thirst, cancer, war, and so on. Death is the antidote.
But while we suffer, we’re often left to wonder, “Is there a better life, a world without sin?”
Fortunately, there is. After his great vision of heaven, the Apostle John wrote the Book of Revelation.
In heaven, he tells us, we will look upon God’s face. “Night will be no more, nor will [we] need light from lamp or sun, for the Lord God shall give us light, and we shall reign forever.”
We are destined for this place of eternal light, love, and joy, and, “no one shall take your joy from you,” Jesus assures us.
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Eternity is not an unending succession of days, a rolling calendar with an infinite number of “Tuesdays,” when the alarm goes off and we rise for work.
Eternity is the moment of supreme satisfaction, like plunging into the ocean without ever having to draw a breath, where before and after no longer exist.
Death is only a comma in the perpetual sentence of life. While it’s only human for us to try packing all of life’s meaning into this space before the comma, the truth is the best is yet to come.
What the deceased have in eternity is what we often lack here on earth, perspective. They see and enjoy the end for which we were made.
Yet those sanctified souls in heaven also experience what Pope Benedict XVI called an “incomplete joy.” They gaze happily upon the face of God, while also longing for us to join them.
They remind us that Christian hope is not solely individual. Our lives are intimately linked to others; salvation is about all of us. Life, death, and eternity are communal events.
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What, then, is heaven like?
The bible describes heaven as a city, “the new, eternal Jerusalem.” There is no city on earth where every person lives perfectly; although vast wealth, security, and community can be found, earthly cities are also ridden with poverty and crime.
But imagine a “city” in the perfect sense of the word; a place where everyone is secure, together, and fulfilled. There is peace. All have the sense of being “at home.”
In this city, there will be a wedding.
At a wedding, two of the most basic human needs are met: the need for intimacy and the need to be fed. Spouses commit themselves to each other in order to create a fuller life together. Often they spend extravagantly on their wedding day to share their joy with others.
This very human experience of merging two lives into one points towards that heavenly banquet when humanity will be wedded to God forever. Out of his joy, God will share with us everything he is and everything he has.
As Jesus says, “The kingdom of heaven, may be likened to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son… Everything is ready; come to the feast.”
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Today, we gather to pray for our loved ones who have already been invited to, “Come to the feast.” We rejoice for them, we pray in gratitude for their lives, and for the gift they have been to us.
We also ask God for the strength to continue our own journeys of faith so that, one day, the city of God may be completely filled with life – including yours and mine.
On a sabbath Jesus went to dine at the home of one of the leading Pharisees, and the people there were observing him carefully. In front of him there was a man suffering from dropsy. Jesus spoke to the scholars of the law and Pharisees in reply, asking, “Is it lawful to cure on the sabbath or not?” But they kept silent; so he took the man and, after he had healed him, dismissed him. Then he said to them “Who among you, if your son or ox falls into a cistern, would not immediately pull him out on the sabbath day?” But they were unable to answer his question.
The Gospel of the Lord.
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I studied Russian in college. One of my professors grew up behind the Iron Curtain. She often told stories about the dreariness of Communism, the long lines for bread, the rationing of food, the relentless propaganda, and indoctrination of children.
But one thing she brought with her when she emigrated to the United States was the idea of rest. “Here,” she said, “I have to work 24/7. If an email is sent on a Saturday and I don’t respond to that person immediately, then they wonder why!”
This was 20 years ago.
“Work,” she said, “happens during the week. On weekends, we should be free.”
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Jews held a similar idea of the Sabbath. It was a day of rest, honoring the seventh day of creation, when God rested from his labors. No work was permitted; not even charity.
Yet, in today’s Gospel, Jesus heals someone for the third time on the Sabbath, asking, “Is it lawful to cure or not?” The heart of the issue is not about a rule, but the rule breaker.
Jesus’ interpretation of Jewish laws differed from the scribes and Pharisees. To them, he represented a potential mass movement away from their school of thought, compromising their authority.
Jesus believed that certain things like charity are not simply permitted on the Sabbath, but required.
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What might this mean for us today? As Christians, should we honor the Sabbath? Do we need it?
Absolutely. But not just for religious reasons; many also need to rediscover the idea of genuine rest.
For example, when was the last time we spent a day – or even a few hours – without our phones? How long does it take before we start scrolling through social media?
When was the last time we took a stroll through a park, paused to watch an eagle soar, called a friend just to talk, or read a book without interruption?
I need the Sabbath. Perhaps we all do. These days, what should be considered “unlawful” should be all of the stressful – even if good – tasks that take up our time during the rest of the week. We’re not machines; we’re human.
Find a few hours – even a day – for authentic rest this week. Doing so will not only honor the Lord, but also our often overexerted selves.
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Image credits: (1) Community Church of East Gloucester (2) X (3) Pastor Unlikely
