26 Aug Sunday

If this dinner were supposed etc have happened in reality, the dinner from Luke 14 – 17, 10, could surely be counted among the greatest dinners of all time! Luke artfully weaves together descriptive dinner scenes with the most unusual set of hosts and guests, with the greatest parables of the gospels, and the give and take of questions and Jesus’ answers, and with teachings about discipleship as service. Reading the whole of the dinner as one piece at once rather amazes and only increases regard for the Luke Gospel author. It is the last dinner before the Last Supper, as Luke arranges his material. Al the dinners in Luke’s Gospel point to and speak about The Dinner, the heavenly banquet, which of course is the great wedding feast of heaven and earth. Who of us would not have wanted to be at this dinner in the house of leading Pharisee! Tax collectors and prostitutes were gathering in! The parables at this dinner are without equal.

The parish has a missionary this weekend assigned by the archdiocese here, so I will not be preaching this weekend, but I will have notes and reflections through this week ahead. I will miss not preaching. Our guest is a priest of the Maronite Rite from Lebanon. which is rather serendipitous, as our new music director is a woman from Lebanon, and she starts her job this coming weekend. What good fortune!