Going to attend the Banquet

The motives which drive our actions come to our meditation today from the texts of the Roman Catholic Lectionary. The passage from the Letter to the Philippians is known as the “Christ hymn” among some theologians. It tells of the choice of Christ to become human and to humble Himself to the status of slave and accept the death of criminals on the cross. The path to the ascent of Jesus to be exalted by the Father was through His Passion. One motive of Christians is imitating Jesus. This path calls us to seek the death of our selfish tendencies as we allow our humility to bring us the freedom of being in service to God and others. The psalmist understands the life which comes to humans by recognition of the primacy of the reign of God. The universe is the gift of God and our celebration of love, peace and family is a thanksgiving to Providence. The invitation to join in deep relationship with God, like the invitation of the king in the passage from the Gospel of Luke today is long standing and we like the guests are aware that acceptance of this invitation is something we are motivated to include in our plans. We can easily be distracted by our self interest in work, pleasure, acquisition of temporal goods and even other people. This means we defer our decision to be present to God. Our moving away from the Banquet does not cause it to be postponed. Our personal struggles to follow the model of humility and selflessness of Jesus continue. The history of salvation shows us that too many tribes and peoples have not accepted the invitation to the Banquet. When we gather as communities in worship, we need to reflect whether our particular tribe is being replaced at the Banquet by others who are truly open to the invitation.