Grace

34th Week in Ordinary Time - Thursday (29 November 2018)

Revelation 18:1-2, 21-23; 19:1-3, 9. Psalm 100:2-5. Luke 21:20-28.

“Happy are those who are invited to the wedding feast of the Lamb.”

In the Bible, grace is also portrayed as banquet, food, wedding feast. In fact, we can assure, that the central theme of the Bible is grace.

Grace is the divine generosity that is unmerited, and that is available everywhere, totally given, and usually even undesired from our part. Our catechism books define grace as that which confers on our souls a new life, it is a sharing in the life of God Himself. To repeat, grace is a sharing in God's life. And this is pictured as a wedding feast in today's first reading. All of us are invited to this wedding banquet.

Grace is God's unmerited favour, His unaccountable love. Unless we understand something of grace, we can't understand God or His word. If we have not experienced the radical character of grace then we will always misinterpret the meanings and direction of Christianity and of the Bible. Grace cannot be understood as a register book of merits and demerits, of sins and virutes, of good and evil. No. Grace is not that which is earned by being worthy; it is totally freely given—or rather it is a totally free self-giving. We cannot understand grace by our calculative, accounting and dualistic minds. It is God eternally giving away God—for nothing—except the giving itself.

Grace is the life energy that we see in creation. It is the energy that which we see in the blooming of flowers, in the growth of trees, in the raising of the young ones in the animal kingdom, in the resilience of baby getting up again and again in order to walk, in the silence of the country side, in the noise of the cities, in birth and re-birth of stars and galaxies. Another name for grace is abundance, largesse, excess.

We are all invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb. Jesus symbolizes the grace of salvation in a meal, the Passover meal. He opens up a new tradition of common and open table fellowship. But we need to remember that there are two kinds of this meal: a bread-and-fish tradition and a bread-and-wine tradition. Perhaps we have forgotten the first, but at least preserved the second in sacramental, liturgical form.

Jesus has table fellowship with all kinds of people: sinners, prostitutes, tax collectors, Pharisees, his disciples, friends, and even with large crowds. A common meal itself is a message from Jesus. All are invited. He eats with everyone, and anyone. He becomes a glutton and a drunkard. He tells stories of banquet and meals. He likes partying (in the modern sense). Eating and drinking.... that's all. This becomes the symbol of salvation and eternity. How strange and interesting! No one is forced to join the party. It's all about feasting and enjoying the meal, if only you want to!