Chapter
22
by Fr. Thomas Keating
Epilogue
In the parable of
the great dinner, the original people invited did not take their invitation
seriously. A similar problem is treated in the parable of the hidden treasure.
If we get something for nothing, we tend not to value it too highly. This is the
risk that God has taken in inviting us to share the divine life.
In the parable of
the great dinner, a symbol of the kingdom of God, we would expect that the
householder would get huffy and say, "Since my friends and peers won't
come, to heck with the banquet!" He does in fact get very annoyed at the
original invitees who did not value his invitation. But rather than cancel the
affair, he tells his servants to go out and bring in the lame, the halt, and the
blind. Even then the banquet hall is not filled. As a final effort, he sends his
servants out to beat the bushes, so to speak, and bring anyone they can find,
the street people and public sinners. These are the people who actually take
part in the banquet. The householder shares the meal with them. Evidently God
does not stand on honor but prefers to identify with us and enter into our
ordinary lives and deaths, including the scandalous elements in our lives that
the leaven in the parable of the leaven symbolizes.
In this way God
reveals solidarity with us in the ordinary affairs of daily life, as well as in
times and places of monumental corruption whether this be a physical disaster,
mental illness, or moral degradation. Jesus exemplified the latter by eating and
drinking with sinners, which was in his time the sign of belonging to the group
with whom one shared table fellowship. The more desperate the need, the more the
infinite mercy of God responds by living it with us if we consent.
Christian
transmission, then, is not a revelation leading to high states of enlightenment
but a participation in the mind of Christ. In this transmission the
community--family, local, national, global the entire universe--is
all-important. God is interested in the salvation of every human being and wants
us, above every other consideration, to get along together in peace and harmony.
If we can believe the teaching implied in Jesus' parables, morality is rooted in
this primary concern, and in laws and rules only insofar as they lead to and
support the disposition of unconditional love. This understanding is exemplified
in the parable of the prodigal son in which both sons treated their father
abominably. He forgave them both without putting either of them to any test of
repentance. The transmission of divine life is designed to empower us to think,
act, and feel as God does, or at least as God would think, act, and feel if God
were a human being. As things are, we have to do that for God.
More information can be obtained by reading the book The
Kingdom of God is Like . . .by Fr. Thomas Keating. It is offered in our Book
Store.
