Prepare a table for me

The psalmist in the texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today presents the care of the Good Shepherd for the flock from Psalm 23. The idea that the Shepherd leads us in right paths for his name's sake recalls a theme in the Hebrew testament that God can be expected to act as Divine lover of His people. The Prophet Isaiah overlaps the table prepared for us by the Lord in Psalm 23 with the promise of the great feast for people of all nations when even death is swept away. The response of the people will be to rejoice and be glad to have arrived on the mountain of the Lord. Matthew's Gospel tells the Scribes and Pharisees that they are missing the invitation to the Kingdom of God, the mountaintop of Isaiah and the house of the Lord of the psalmist. They have ignored the invitations of the Prophets and Jesus, the Son. The invitation will go out to the other people who will, for the most part, rejoice with the King in the wedding hall. It is possible and certainly is the responsibility and consequence of those given free choice to reject to live the life to which we have been invited. The removal from the feast for those who have experienced some of it is particularly tragic. We are invited to satisfy our long hunger to be. Let us go to the table prepared for us on the mountain of the Lord. Our inclusion in the feast will be marked by joy and thanksgiving.