Weight-160.5 lbs.
Yesterday I watched a man get arrested. His name is John and he was drunk. After causing a scene at church he was escorted out of the building and asked to leave the premises. Since the church used to be a strip mall the premises are big, and it wasn’t long before John found himself wandering into another part of the church. Security was called and when John refused to leave the premises again, the police were called. I sat and talked to John while we all waited for the police car to arrive
I saw John again this morning when I went to have breakfast with my family. He was standing a few storefronts down from the restaurant, but instead of going up to talk to him I avoided him, because I wasn’t sure what I should do with him. I couldn’t take him in with my family, they wouldn’t understand. If I was by myself or with a friend maybe but not with my family. Fortunately for me, John was gone by the time I walked out of the restaurant an hour later. I’m not sure if I will get to see him again. I hope that isn’t our last interaction.
Jesus tells a story about a rich man who prepares a banquet for his friends, but when he invites them they all RSVP in the negative and so the man is left with a whole lot of food and no one to eat. The rich man then implores his servants to go out to the highways and back alleys and invite anyone they could find no matter how poor, and soon the banquet hall was filled to overflowing with the lowest of the low: the drunks, the drug addicts, the developmentally disabled and the poor. All of these people soon filled the hall and filled it with much merriment because of their deep appreciation for the gift.
Tonight my boss got married and it reminded me of Jesus’ story. What does one of the best chefs in Rockford serve at a wedding reception. The answer in Paul’s case was to get as many different caterers and friends as possible to cook. 4 suckling pigs, 4 pans of paiae, a creme puff tower, and a whole table full of seared yellow fin tuna. The serving tables stretched from one end of the ballroom to the other. It would be an understatement to say that folks were impressed.
The similarities between the story and tonight’s wedding are these…there was a lot of food at both of these parties and my guess is there is going to be a lot of leftovers. But that is where the similarities stop. While Paul was able to fill his table with his friends, the man in the story was not. But what is even more important was how the rich man in the story expanded his table to accommodate even those who did not originally belong at the feast. It raises an important question, how big is your table?
We all set up feast of our time, talent and treasures. But the question we need to ask is how big our table is. My table should have been big enough this morning to seat John, but instead I took out the center leaf of the table shrinking it down to only those who I am comfortable with. We are like the rich man. Each day we set out a banquet. Some days our friends respond, other days they don’t but the poor do. Then again there are those days when everyone wants to come to the banquet. The thing is not to stop putting on banquets, but rather it is important to remember the size of our table and find ways to expand. So take a moment sit back and ask yourself, “How big is my table”?
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