To eat at the table of a wealthy and powerful man is a great honor. Not only does one
enjoy delicious food and get to be waited upon, but the attendees also get to rub
shoulders with other rich and powerful people. Others also begin to seek your favor, if
for no other reason than to get closer to wealth and power by proxy. An image such as
this may have been in the man’s mind when he said, “Blessed is the one who will dine
in the Kingdom of God.” Jesus, however, sets before our eyes a very different version of
dining at the Heavenly King’s table.
All of those that we expect to be at a powerful man’s banquet, those with worldly wealth,
power, and influence, are absent by their own accord. They are lost in their worldly
affairs and cannot be bothered with attending this great meal. In their place, “the poor
and the crippled, the blind and the lame” have been brought in along with all those on
“the highways and hedgerows.” Not people of influence—but those utterly devoid of it.
Since the kingdom of God is the Church, we can draw two important considerations
from this surprising list of attendees.
A Place of Humility
First, regarding ourselves, we must assume a place of humility. As St. Paul points out in
his first letter to the Corinthians, not many of us are “wise according to the flesh, not
many mighty, not many noble. But the foolish things of the world hath God chosen, that
he may confound the wise.” We are among the blind and lame brought into God’s feast,
by His Mercy and Goodness rather than merit on our part. Remembering this truth shall
keep us from becoming like those who refused the invitation, perhaps thinking that they
would easily be invited to another meal given their great importance.
God’s Benevolence
Second, regarding those others attending the dinner of this powerful man, we must
never be scandalized by the conduct of others in the Church. Unlike man, who is often
very like the company he keeps, we must never make a judgment about God based on
those He permits into His dinner. For He “maketh his sun to rise upon the good, and
bad, and raineth upon the just and the unjust” and invites even tax collectors into the
Kingdom of God. This recognition of God’s benevolence never excuses the evil
behavior that others commit but ensures that we are defended from a sly stratagem of
the devil, who uses the sins of others as a means to weaken our own faith and resolve.
Great reflection Connor.