Last Sunday, the Gospel reading was Jesus’ parable of the rich man who invites his neighbours to a great feast. None of the invited accept the invitation so he invites all those who wouldn’t usually be invited to a rich man’s celebration – the poor, the halt, the lame, the blind. This is well summarized by the Medical Mission Sisters in their song, I Cannot Come to the Banquet, which we sang at the worship service. Here is the chorus:
I cannot come.
I cannot 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 cannot come.
The meaning
of this parable seems clear to us. It is
easier to understand than some of Jesus’ parables. God offers a banquet to us. As Christians we are people who will be
invited to God’s banquet that is prepared for us in God’s kingdom. However, many of us who are invited to God’s
feast with all the wonderful food and drink that will feed our souls, will
decide we have better things to do than attend the Great Feast.
That is the
usual understanding of the parable. I
believe that it is perfectly valid and true.
However, I want to look at another way of understanding the lesson that
Jesus is giving us. What if we look at
this from an inner perspective? What is
God offering to us about ourselves—about who we are created by God to be? We have those parts of ourselves which are
good and upright and live a life that is acceptable to us and to society.
What then of
the guests that the master invites when we don’t partake—the poor street
people, the halt, the lame, the outcasts and people we wouldn’t dream of
inviting to our banquets? What about the
parts of ourselves that are the aspects of ourselves that we don’t find
acceptable —the street people within us?
We can look at those people invited instead of us as aspect of ourselves
that we don’t find acceptable—those parts of ourselves that we don’t like and
don’t even want to acknowledge. These
unacceptable parts can raise their ugly heads when we aren’t looking.
Those parts
of ourselves that we don’t want to acknowledge are part of who we are. Carl Jung named those parts of ourselves that
are unacknowledged and denied the Shadow.
They are also invited to the Great Feast as the parable tells us. If we are going to attend the Great Feast
those parts are going to attend as well.
We have to acknowledge them to God if we are to attend. Otherwise, we will not be included in the
Great Feast that God offers us.
Take a few
moments to think an aspect of yourself that you would not want to invite to a
party. What would it be like to welcome
that part of yourself to a party that Jesus is throwing? What if Jesus welcomed that part and made
them the guest of honour. How would you
feel about that? That is the part of you
that Jesus truly wants at the party. If
we will acknowledge them and offer them to God we will be invited to partake in
the Great Feast that Jesus offers us—acceptable parts and unacceptable parts.
Your Shadow
is accompanying you on your journey. Why
not get to know you Shadow and see what it offers you. That will be a true blessing.