If I asked you, I suspect most, without having any further details, would say they would rather be in a banquet setting than a court of law.
That is, unless you are a lawyer or someone looking to correct an injustice. Courtrooms often involve anxiety about the outcome. They are more about proving something. On the other hand, people associate banquet halls with celebration of good times and enjoying being in one another’s company.
In this Vincentian Mindwalk I will explore whether there is an unconscious tendency to think of heaven as something awarded to us if we have enough evidence to convince the judge. Or, do we have a deep-down feeling that heaven will be the best family gathering we could imagine? A taste of what is yet to come?
Trigger questions
Richard Rohr asks two relevant questions.
- Do you know how many times in the four Gospels eternal life is described as a banquet, a feast, a party, a wedding, the marriage feast of the Lamb? There are fifteen different, direct allusions to eternal life being a great, big party.
- Do you know how many parables there are about eternal life being a courtroom or a judgment scene? One. Matthew 25
He quickly added…
- We need Matthew 25 because it makes it very clear that the ultimate issue is about how we care for the poor and marginalized.
- But we forget this good news of Jesus, sending a message out to the highways and the byways, inviting everybody who’s willing to come to the banquet. It’s that simple!
Hmmm!
How we approach Sunday
He also said,
“For many of us, the Body of Christ is not a party. Instead, we often believe that heaven is a giant courtroom scene.”
That really got me thinking!
Do we focus more on doing what we have to do to get into heaven… orlook to enjoying a family celebration right now… a celebration which, in the fulness of time, will literally be beyond our most fervent imagination?
That in turn, raised a crucial but potentially revealing questions regarding how we approach Sunday. Do we think we are going to a celebration with friends or to a bank to make deposits or make withdrawals? Do we think of Eucharist as going to a celebration with those closest to us? If not, why not?
In recent years I have personally come to appreciate that my understanding of “communion” was too small. It has dawned me what a privilege it was for me as a member of the body of Christ, to give the body of Christ to everyone gathering as the body of Christ.
In passing, missionaries often note their amazement at realizing they are not bringing Christ to people but helping people recognize Christ in themselves and others.
“Deep” Eucharistic renewal
The members of the body of Christ we call Bishops are asking us to engage in a three-year process to deepen our understanding of the Eucharistic mystery. Is not the fulness of the mystery of God’s presence in our midst, not only under the appearance of bread and wine but also in one another, where 2 or 3 are gathered…”
In effect, I believe they are inviting us to a fuller understanding of Jesus when he said “the kingdom of God is already here in your midst! Paul learned this the hard way on the road to Damascus. “why are you persecuting me?
The more I understand this, the more I realize each ”Eucharist” is but the first phase of the eternal banquet Jesus speaks about so often when finally all divisions disappear in Christ!
What questions do these questions raise for you?
Click below for an early audio version of this Vincentian Mindwalk
Thanks, John.
And given our misuse, or even abuse, of the Eucharist in our day, St. Paul’s instruction (in 1 Cor 11, 17-34) stays ever relevant.
For one thing, I find in verse 19 (“There have to be factions among you in order that those who are approved among you may become known”) a warning against what you point out as the “tendency to think of heaven as something awarded to us.” Against the “perfect” among us who often forget that the Eucharist “is not a prize for the perfect but a powerful medicine and nourishment for the weak” (Evangelii Gaudium 47).
I spent 17 years all told as a probation officer and nearly all of those years were spent in courtrooms. I attended several banquets over the course of my life and I have some observations.
While most courtroom scenes have their fare dose of tension, many result in pleasant outcomes for most of the participants. Parole hearings often bring out the best evidence of accomplishment and hope, while even violation hearings can have the benefit of a treatment alternative rather than incarceration. That’s just in the criminal court world. Other hearings involve the need to determine the competency of someone who needs the benefit of state-maintained treatment, or hearings to allow for adoption of minor children. Of course, there are times when folks need to be removed from society for a time to protect them and the rest of the people in their environment. Those situations are never a “win-win” but are necessary when all evidence is considered.
Banquets too get that mixed bag treatment. I’ve been to some tremendous celebrations and I have been coerced into attending celebrations of folks that I didn’t admire or with folks I didn’t respect or appreciate. After initial participation, the remainder of the time present was engaged in contriving an acceptable time and excuse to make my departure.
I have done it myself on a few occasions, but I have observed it far more often in others, namely, the Eucharistic Banquet sometimes leaves folks in that second scenario above – looking for ways to end the torture and escape. Whether the mood of the congregation (or perceived coldness might be more accurate) or the inability of the Presider to make any connections to the folks in the pews with his homily might be the factors, it is such an uncomfortable amount of time that distractions ensue and I am often left with the question, “Did I really fulfill my Sunday obligation?”
Just like the last reflection about “hard choices,” perhaps there are always more than two choices. Both reflections got me thinking about that seemingly uniquely Catholic notion of Purgatory. I would like to think that reference to Matthew 25 more closely resembles that forum for fact-finding and determining the next step. Maybe I fed the poor but didn’t welcome the stranger; maybe I clothed the naked but didn’t comfort the sick and dying; maybe I loved some of my enemies but not all of them. That banquet might be on the horizon, but my tailor doesn’t seem to have my “wedding garment” finished just yet.
As always, your mindwalk paved the way for me to spend time understanding my faith journey and to make course corrections where needed. Thank you.