When I was taking the Our Whole Lives training this Spring with Kristin and Neil, the trainers talked about our understanding of human sexuality and gender in terms of coffee. We can have it black or with cream and sugar. When Kileen and her brother started their coffee house back in 1996, people would come in and say, "I can go to the restaurant two doors down and pay a buck for a cup of coffee." They didn't understand what a latte was, much less a cappuccino, espresso, cold brew, mocha, or breve. There were only two types of coffee for them, black and with sugar and cream. So back in the day, there were only really two types of people, man and woman, all else was unnatural and sinful at worst, or a mental illness at best. As a society, we are progressing, too slowly, and learning that there is more than just two types of gender and that who we, as humans, can love is also on a spectrum. And these are healthy and God given in our world where diversity and creativity are all around us in this world.
Back in Jesus day, Jewish theology was based upon actions, if you practiced the commandments. Though there were different views and groups that emphasized different components of the Torah, they did have people categorized into three groups, kosher and non-kosher Jews, and Gentiles (which meant everyone else who wasn't a Jew). Only kosher Jews (those who followed the Torah's commandments) could sit at the table with each other and theologically, with God. All others were excluded. There were huge debates going on in their world of Judaism about what happens after people die, so many believed the banquet was not just for the afterlife, but for here on earth when the Messiah came.
So when Jesus is telling this parable, he really isn't talking about the afterlife here. For the people who are invited are not good nor bad, they are focused on daily life. They have bought land, they have bought oxen, they have gotten married. And most people hearing this then and now would agree these are reasonable excuses to make. So Jesus surprises them in saying that the poor, the blind, the crippled, and the lame are now invited. There is more room so that means people outside the community and maybe even thieves and outlaws are invited who live on the outside of decent community. And because those good upstanding kosher Jews put themselves first, they are now uninvited.
In our country, we have tried to categorize ourselves into two groups for a long, long time: black or white which lead to slave or free, segregation laws, man and woman which then took 150 years for women to get the right to vote, liberal and conservative, rich and poor, normal and unnatural, jock or geek, Christian and sinner, Catholic and Protestant, patriot and communist, and on and on and on. Even Jesus, in this parable separated people into two categories which we could have sung about in our children's time. "I cannot come, I cannot come to the banquet, don't trouble me now. I married a wife, and I bought me a cow, I have fields and commitments, that cost a pretty sum, pray hold me an excuse I cannot come."
In reality, Jesus saw all people deserving of God's love and grace, he saw all people deserving of his time. There wouldn't be any stories of him arguing or discussing important matters with the Pharisees, the lawyers, and all the other groups if he just walked away and ignored them. Jesus did simplify what we should be about, "All the laws and the prophets are summed up in this: treat others as you want to be treated." There is no category or divisions of who we should treat better, all deserve our compassion, our kindness, and our love. We continue to strive for justice, especially those groups that get bomb threats just because they want to gather. We continue to expand our tables, not build higher fences. We love, because God loves us, God loves them (whoever our them is), and God loves all of creation, all life, and all humans. Amen!
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