THE GREAT SUPPER

"When Christ, Who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory."  Thus does the faithful Orthodox Christian await in joyous expectation the full revelation of God's heavenly Kingdom at the end of time.  Setting aside all earthbound thoughts and desires, he mortifies (puts to death) his "members which are upon earth," that his heart--burning with the love of God--might receive "the King of all, Who comes invisibly upborne upon the angelic host."

This is that Great Supper prepared by "a certain man" in today's Gospel.  Rightly understood, this Supper is the ultimate fulfillment of every conceivable hope and desire of the human race.  How is it possible, then, that those guests who were invited to the Great Supper should so easily spurn God's gracious invitation?  One man must inspect the piece of ground he had just bought; another must test five yoke of oxen; while yet another... Well!... he has married a wife.  So it is that these men--like unto Esau--willingly sell their God-given birthright for a pot of porridge!

It is business as usual, then.  As our Lord proclaims elsewhere: when the Son of Man returns to earth, it shall be as in the days of Noah, when the people were buying and selling and giving in marriage--all the while oblivious to the wrath of God that was upon  to descend upon them.

Jesus Christ and the holy Forerunner and Baptist John declared from the beginning that the Kingdom of God is at hand--yet life in this world just seems to go on as ever it did.  I know I've got to get more serious about repentance and my spiritual life, but right now I've got to get to the mall before it closes (some last minute Christmas shopping, you know!)--and then I've got to post those picture on Facebook.  Plus, my car needs to be washed and I've got to check to see how my stock market investments are doing.  Oh, there's church tonight?--I'm really going to try to make it.  So you get the idea--excuses are a dime a dozen, but in the game of eternal life... we're playing for keeps.

Tomorrow may well be another day--but today is the day of salvation.  We are given but one life to live, and so it behooves us that we use our time wisely--careful lest we fritter it away in vain and frivolous pursuits.