Jesus tells us that the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a wedding. Not just any wedding, but a royal wedding where the handsome prince marries his beloved, and the king puts on the banquet to end all banquets.
One of the joys of serving as a parish pastor is the privilege of helping couples prepare for their married lives together. For me, the joy comes in helping them prepare for marriage.
Someone asked Rep. Dick Armey what his wife would say if she found out that he had had an affair. He said that the first he would’ve heard from her would be as “I looked up from a pool of my own blood on the floor and heard her ask, ‘How do you reload this thing?’”
Just imagine that you were to receive a personal invitation to a banquet at the White House. So how do you respond? "Next Saturday? Let's see. Well, I don't know. I was planning to check my garden that day."
When storms arrive unexpectedly, they can wreak havoc in our lives. And yet, the greatest storms in life have nothing to do with low pressure systems or cold fronts. The greatest storms come through the sudden twists and turns of our own lives.
Today’s gospel is rich with advice on getting along with each other. We need to get along just to survive. We are communal creatures. We need to stick together. We have little choice. Isolation means extinction.
Would you have been among those who shouted, “Hosanna in the highest!” Or would you have been among those who cried out, “Crucify him!”?
Jesus teaches that the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a wonderful event where everything is ready and all are invited to come and enjoy what is offered. Each one of us has a personal invitation from God to accept his love; all is ready. Let's not be too busy to accept this invitation.
These were powerless people that rallied around Jesus. They were just excited about the fact that someone actually reached out to them.
In scripture, God describes how we are to relate to one another in community, which is another word for “church.” God shows us how to build our faith on a firm foundation, so that when the storms come, we will not be devastated.