The Banquet Within - Fr. Micah - December 13, 2020

Today on the eleventh Sunday of Luke the Gospel comes to us from Luke 14:16-24. In this reading Our Lord tells a parable about a man who gave a great banquet and invited many guests who in turn make excuses why they could not attend. In some ways this banquet is seen as a single feast, but also experienced in three ways; including the coming Kingdom of God, the Eucharist and the banquet within us, an internal Liturgy at the altar of our hearts in love for God. The banquet as the Kingdom of God is experienced if we love, have humility and forgive others. The banquet as the Eucharist or Divine Liturgy will be a priority if faith in Christ is first in our lives. Father Micah also shares with us that each of the excuses given by the guests represent how the passions can take away our freedom to be joined to God in a banquet of love. The excuse of the field evokes the image of seeds being planted in same way the evil one plants thoughts or logismoi in our minds, which if entertained, pull us away from the feast. The image of the five yokes of oxen pulling the plowman represent our five senses, which if we do not guard, can pull us away from God. Finally, the man who takes a wife represents that we can become so use to our sins that we are united to them in marriage and cannot leave them behind to attend the feast.