+Z’ev

Today’s assigned readings:
Ezra 10:1-17, Acts 24:10-21, Luke 14:12-24

So the slave returned and reported this to his master. Then the owner of the house became angry and said to his slave, “Go out at once into the streets and lanes of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame.’ And the slave said, “Sir, what you ordered has been done, and there is still room.’ Then the master said to the slave, “Go out into the roads and lanes, and compel people to come in, so that my house may be filled.
Luke 14:21-23

At the Diocese of New York Summer Camp, where I used to work for one or two weeks a year, the director was always trying to remember the words to a song.

I can not come to the banquet; don’t trouble me now.
I have married a wife; I have bought me a cow.
I have fields and commitments that cost a pretty sum.
Pray hold me excused; I can not come.

Never mind that “married a wife” is paralleled with “bout me a cow” - a parallel that most kids get with peals of laughter. The Director usually thought of this song on the day that some kids didn’t show up - despite having paid a deposit. The excuses were usually good: Mom and Dad decided to go on vacation, the kid is getting punished, etc. We never figured out why sending them to church camp - three daily offices plus mass, every day for 7 days - wasn’t preferable to punishment for education… anyway, standing there, looking over a list of no-shows, we’d start to hum “I can not come to the banquet” and shrug.

Driving around Asheville yesterday, with a new friend, I shared with him that one of the best things I learned in the Eastern Orthodox Church was the negative focus on self. If one is looking for sin, if one is looking for bad things, the only place one can look is within oneself. This is the meaning of “Judge Not let ye be Judged”. All the passages about “how to be bad” contained in the Bible are to be read in the first person.

It’s very easy to focus outwards, though.

Traditionally, this parable has been read as being about Jews. You know - the Jews rejected Jesus: they had a whole series of excuses about why they couldn’t come to the party. So the church went out for the Gentiles. This attitude reaches an extreme in what’s called Dispensationalism, a very recent development (which as produced a lot of modern sorts of things like the “Rapture” and Left Behind books). But the idea of Gentiles or, specifically, the Church, replacing the Jews as God’s People is quite common, the doctrine of Supersessionism can been seen all the way back to the Second Century of the current era. Rather than saying the “Gentiles replace the Jews” the idea is that the Church is Israel, not a replacement, but a faithful remnant that grew out of the religious collapse of “those people” who rejected God’s Messiah.

So they were invited to a banquet and yet didn’t come - and God went out and got more. And we all look at a list of no-shows and shrug.

This passage also has a parallel in the Gospel of Thomas. For this reason it’s seen as a “probably authentic” saying of Jesus by the Jesus Seminar folks. Here’s Thomas’ version:

Jesus said, “A person was receiving guests. When he had prepared the dinner, he sent his slave to invite the guests. The slave went to the first and said to that one, ‘My master invites you.’ That one said, ‘Some merchants owe me money; they are coming to me tonight. I have to go and give them instructions. Please excuse me from dinner.’ The slave went to another and said to that one, ‘My master has invited you.’ That one said to the slave, ‘I have bought a house, and I have been called away for a day. I shall have no time.’ The slave went to another and said to that one, ‘My master invites you.’ That one said to the slave, ‘My friend is to be married, and I am to arrange the banquet. I shall not be able to come. Please excuse me from dinner.’ The slave went to another and said to that one, ‘My master invites you.’ That one said to the slave, ‘I have bought an estate, and I am going to collect the rent. I shall not be able to come. Please excuse me.’ The slave returned and said to his master, ‘Those whom you invited to dinner have asked to be excused.’ The master said to his slave, ‘Go out on the streets and bring back whomever you find to have dinner.’ Buyers and merchants [will] not enter the places of my Father.”
Saying 64

But if it’s an authentic or even probably authentic saying of Jesus, then the idea of Supersessionism doesn’t enter into the picture. Jesus was reaching out to Jews all the way to the end. The Apostles were worshipping in the Temple until the Temple was destroyed. So what might be going on here?

Well, the possibility that I might know what Jesus means when he said these words is - exactly - nil. All I have is the history of reading in and out of the Church and what this text means to us in conversation with God. And it’s clear to many now that reading the text in a way that cuts off the Jews is not acceptable.

I think the solution is in the first person: the text asks me to wonder when I’ve refused God’s invitation to the Banquet.

Last Sunday in the Adult Forum, we discussed (among other things) how Communion was viewed in “the old school”. Many people (Anglicans, Orthodox, Roman Catholics) “of a certain age” were raised not taking communion or only rarely taking communion: once a year, twice, maybe. The logic being “I’m not worthy”. Of course I’m not! But if I’m not worthy today, what can I possible do to make myself worthy tomorrow or next week? It is God’s invite. And God knows I’m not worthy anyway.

It’s in the first person, not in the second: I and no one else am the one in danger of having my invite rescinded. The answer is not to withdraw from communion or to offer an excuse.

The answer is to go forward trusting in God’s mercy. To just do it.

The pre-communion prayers of the Liturgies of St John and St Basil are an example of this “Go Forward” attitude:

I believe, O Lord, and I confess that Thou art truly the Christ, the Son of the living God, who camest into the world to save sinners, of whom I am first. I believe also that this is truly Thine own most pure Body, and that this is truly Thine own precious Blood. Therefore, I pray Thee: have mercy upon me and forgive my transgressions both voluntary and involuntary, of word and of deed, committed in knowledge or in ignorance. And make me worthy to partake without condemnation of Thy most pure Mysteries, for the remission of my sins, and unto life everlasting. Amen.

Of Thy Mystical Supper, O Son of God, accept me today as a communicant; for I will not speak of Thy Mystery to Thine enemies, neither like Judas will I give Thee a kiss; but like the thief will I confess Thee: Remember me, O Lord, in Thy Kingdom.

May the communion of Thy holy Mysteries be neither to my judgment, nor to my condemnation, O Lord, but to the healing of soul and body.

The one praying is firmly aware that he’s not worthy, but he’s trusting in God’s mercy. Likewise the prayer from the older rite in the BCP, the Prayer of Humble Access:

We do not presume to come to this thy Table, O merciful Lord, trusting in our own righteousness, but in thy manifold and great mercies. We are not worthy so much as to gather up the crumbs under thy Table. But thou art the same Lord, whose property is always to have mercy: Grant us therefore, gracious Lord, so to eat the flesh of thy dear Son Jesus Christ, and to drink his blood, that we may evermore dwell in him, and he in us. Amen.

I’m called forward to communion not because I’m worthy or because I know what it means, or because I have the right theology or because I baptised or “ready” but because God wants me at his banquet. The parable becomes a caution not to reject God’s mercy now, in the hopes that I might feel better about myself later: God already feels pretty good about me and has invited me to a party. Come as I am.

Much love,

Huw