Are We So Unconcerned? Are We Just Passing by on the Other Side? Or Are We Simply Just Passing on Through? Luke 10:25-37

Luke 10:25-37 New American Standard Bible 1995

25 And a [a]lawyer stood up and put Him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” 26 And He said to him, “What is written in the Law? [b]How does it read to you?” 27 And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.” 28 And He said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this and you will live.” 29 But wishing to justify himself, he said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

The Good Samaritan

30 Jesus replied and said, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among robbers, and they stripped him and [c]beat him, and went away leaving him half dead. 31 And by chance a priest was going down on that road, and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. 32 Likewise a Levite also, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan, who was on a journey, came upon him; and when he saw him, he felt compassion, 34 and came to him and bandaged up his wounds, pouring oil and wine on them; and he put him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn and took care of him. 35 On the next day he took out two [d]denarii and gave them to the innkeeper and said, ‘Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I return I will repay you.’ 36 Which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell into the robbers’  hands?” 37 And he said, “The one who showed mercy toward him.” Then Jesus said to him, “Go and do [e]the same.”

The Word of God for the Children of God.

Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.

Are We So Unconcerned We Simply Just Walk on By?

Luke 10:30-32 Amplified Bible

Parable of the Good Samaritan

30 Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he encountered robbers, who stripped him of his clothes [and belongings], beat him, and went their way [unconcerned], leaving him half dead. 31 Now by coincidence a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. 32 Likewise a Levite also came down to the place and saw him, and passed by on the other side [of the road].

A Facebook post told the story of a pastor who on his first Sunday in the pulpit at a large suburban church decided to come disguised as a homeless person.

Before the service began, he walked around in his filth, mumbling a greeting.

Only three people bothered to greet him in return.

Walking with his head down, he asked several people for money to buy his breakfast at the McDonald’s just across the street, people hurried past him.

After all, you don’t give money to a panhandler.

Besides, who knew why he was homeless?

Who knew if he was actually homeless – he might be faking it, parking his Cadillac a few blocks away in the parking garage. Many are clever conmen.

He might have been an addict who had ruined his life with drugs or alcohol.

The church members, however, simply “passed by to the other side.”

That’s what the priest and Levite in Jesus’ parable did.

Perhaps in a hurry to serve in worship, or tired and needing to get home, or simply not wanting to get involved, the priest and Levite looked the other way.

They might have witnessed the man being beaten. Not wanting to get hurt or themselves. they decide that the robbed and beaten man was not their problem, and stopping to help as the law had required them to do, could be dangerous.

Of course the real danger is to your own soul in passing by without helping.

It’s definitely much easier to look the other way. For seven years I regularly drove past several homeless shelters without ever bothering to stop and ask how, if they needed any help. I convinced myself I was far too busy to bother.

Considering that I worked at a residential program for homeless veterans at the time as a case manager, 20/20 hindsight, wondering if I should have stopped.

An Ancient Conflict, A New Struggle With Need

Matthew 26:6-13 Amplified Bible

The Anointing in Bethany

6 Now when Jesus was [back] in Bethany, at the home of [a]Simon the leper, 7 a  [b] woman came to Him with an alabaster vial of very expensive [c] perfume and she poured it on Jesus’ head as He reclined at the table. 8 But when the [d]disciples saw it they were indignant and angry, saying, “Why all this waste [of money]? 9 For this perfume might have been sold at a high price and the money given to the poor.” 10 But Jesus, aware [of the malice] of this [remark], said to them, “Why are you bothering the woman? She has done a good thing to Me. 11 For you always have the poor with you; but you will not always have Me. 12 When she poured this perfume on My body, she did it to prepare Me for burial. 13 I assure you and most solemnly say to you, wherever this gospel [of salvation] is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be told in memory of her [for her act of love and devotion].”

These are far too common situations:

Families living paycheck to paycheck. Single mothers trying to stretch their resources farther and farther, having to choose between food, utilities and rent.

Homeless men and women on street corners with their children holding signs say, “please help my children” “Will work for food.” the Children are poorly dressed, some can be seen with swollen bellies because they don’t have food.

In place of the rich provision given by God in Eden, we now find poverty and material need. Sometimes poverty is the result of injustice and oppression as we see in many developing nations around the globe, as we witness in Gaza Strip.

Other times it stems from bad choices made by people in need.

Still other times it comes from circumstances beyond people’s control: injury, disability, corporate downsizing, the effects and affects of dealing with wars.

As affluent societies, we’ll “struggle” to know how to respond to inequality.

We assign blame, we walk across the streets, pass by, often in simplistic ways.

Jesus’ words in Matthew 26 about the poor have sometimes been used as an excuse to avoid helping people in need.

But he was simply describing the never ending brokenness in which we live.

He also taught that in caring for needy people on his behalf, we will serve Jesus himself (Matthew 25:37-40). The woman who anointed Jesus was weak and broken. He protected her dignity and honored her struggle while some of the disciples indignantly, angrily wondered out loud why should anyone bother.

The poor are always with us. The struggling are also always with us, The hungry are always going to be with us standing in corners. Perhaps in this moment our love for Jesus will yield a refreshed willingness to care for the weak, struggling, those who our societies and cultures refer to as “least of these,” marginalized.

Matthew 10:41-42 Amplified Bible

41 He who receives and welcomes a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward; and he who receives a righteous (honorable) man because he is a righteous man will receive a righteous man’s reward. 42 And whoever gives to one of these little ones [these who are humble in rank or influence] even a cup of cold water to drink because he is my disciple, truly I say to you, he will not lose his reward.”

If you, like me, have passed by on the other side, ask for forgiveness, and ask the Lord to give you a second chance. Then watch for opportunities to serve.

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Psalm 23 New American Standard Bible 1995

The Lord, the Psalmist’s Shepherd.

A Psalm of David.

23 The Lord is my shepherd,
I [a]shall not want.
2 He makes me lie down in green pastures;
He leads me beside [b]quiet waters.
3 He restores my soul;
He guides me in the [c]paths of righteousness
For His name’s sake.

4 Even though I walk through the [d]valley of the shadow of death,
I fear no [e]evil, for You are with me;
Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.
5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;
You [f]have anointed my head with oil;
My cup overflows.
6 [g]Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life,
And I will [h]dwell in the house of the Lord [i]forever.

Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.

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Author: Thomas E Meyer Jr

Formerly Homeless Sinner Now, Child of God, Saved by Grace.

4 thoughts on “Are We So Unconcerned? Are We Just Passing by on the Other Side? Or Are We Simply Just Passing on Through? Luke 10:25-37”

  2. Delusions of Ministry
    Posted onJuly 19, 2015 by Agent X

    I really don’t know where to start. I don’t know what point to make. But I know that today’s ministry overwhelms me, and I am sorry that I am not adequate for the task.

    I met a man, we will call him Agent Li’l Psych-O (ALPO).

    He was a really sweet guy.

    Well, not at first. Actually he was quite demanding. He fixated on numerous demands all at once. I tried to be a servant and meet all the needs that I reasonably could. I tried to allow myself to be “stretched” even beyond that.

    To make a long story medium, let me say that I took him to two churches to meet his demands before taking him to my old church Vandelia. I did not get any help at the first two. I did not ask at Vandelia either. I have decided asking permission is like asking a church to say “no” – setting ministry up for failure for sure. Better to just barge into that shower he asked for and then search for a towel after he is in the water.

    What can I say? It worked. Thank You Jesus! Thank you Vandelia.

    I quickly learned that he is actually a clean and neat person. He cleaned himself appropriately and cleaned up after himself very well. He left a very light carbon/garbage footprint. Also HE DOES NOT SMOKE! (This is rare among street people!)

    But his demands changed to a need for fresh clothes. Now I am keeping my long story medium by not describing how he wanted to sit in church in a towel while his clothes ran through the wash. I am not describing how I dreaded the idea of being stuck with him for more than an hour after church. (Okay, I just told you those things, but you get the idea. There is a lot going on here that is just too involved for a blog.)

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    I reached out with a shotgun blast text message for anyone who might help get him some clothes. I got a response! And after an hour and a half waiting for him to finish his shower, we found him fresh clothes too, thank You Jesus. Thank you Restoring Hope!

    We picked through the bags of clothes and found three sets of clothes for him. And as I watched the clock approach our third hour (since church), he mentioned lunch. I reached out for a donor. I got none. Okay, we will go to my house. Now this was a concern because my wife who works the night shift was sleeping, and I feared waking her. But it was a risk I decided to take.

    But it was during the clothing raid that I began to realize this guy is telling some truly strange stories. In fact the more he socializes with me the taller the tales. His life sounds like a TV show one minute and a movie the next. On the way to my house he actually told me he invented the razor. Later he told me he invented the refrigerator. Hmmm… Wait a minute… did he just say JFK was his uncle???

    Yes. He did.

    Then he talked about his cousin Eddie Money and the song Two Tickets to Paradise. His aunt, Mrs. Money – Eddie’s mom – is rich. Her name is Money by the way. And his kin owes him money; that is probably why they don’t want to talk to him.

    Soon we were eating lunch at my kitchen table. He saw various items in the fridge and began requesting them. I accommodated. His stories just got more unbelievable. Soon I discovered he is kin to the Gambino family. I said, “You mean the crime family?” He got offended. “No! They’re not a crime family! They are honest hard working people! They run a restaurant and get a bad rap from the media!” Spoken like a member of the family alright!

    I can’t recall all the names he dropped. JFK, Newt Gingrich, Alice Cooper, Johnny Carson, Eddie Money, Lucky Luciano, and at least a dozen others. Most of them are kin. He even named Bart Simpson as a friend. And many of his stories were lifted right out of headlines of years gone by, TV shows, and movies.

    He was a mess of delusions.

    He was manic. He spoke nonstop. An hour into lunch and my mind drifted a moment as I began to panic at the thought of turning him back out on the street. He is ALPO to any of the wolves of the night who might find him. As my attention drifted from Jack Nicholson getting the lobotomy that he should have gotten, he suddenly stopped in mid delusion and said, “Thank you [Agent X] for the shower. You are really nice to me.”

    It was so innocent. So vulnerable. So needy. Like a child in a grown man’s body.

    He is nearing old age and looks weather worn from the streets. He had shaved his full beard in the shower with a couple of Bic Razors. He missed a few patches. He looked like he really feels self-confident, but ten minutes of listening – really listening – proves he is over half way to Alzheimer’s mentality.

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    I put out a shotgun blast text message again. Please pray for this guy and consider keeping him tonight. He is so sweet. He does not smoke. His language gets offensive from time to time, but he is redirect able.

    I got several responses of prayer, but no one offered to take him.

    I decided to call the crisis line at the psych ward. They assessed him. He figured out what I was up to and resisted for all he was worth. He did not meet the criteria of emergency detention, but they did offer to take him in if he would consent. He refused. He had a better idea, if I would take him to IHOP, we could find Eddie Money there – he runs the place – and he will give us some rib eye steaks that we can grill in the back yard tonight.

    Oh… ALPO… how I wish we could. I also realize that his manic state makes him a sleepless night. I do not have the facility for that tonight either. But then no one from church, not the hospital, and not even Tent City (yeah… we went there too) would take him tonight.

    I took him to Asbury Methodist for their evening meal and dropped him off. He has an appointment to get a tent at Tent City at 9 am tomorrow. I hope he can find his way there. I tried to show him the way, but it was about 3 miles away… several turns here and there. He could not shut up about being related to the Rolling Stones, “You know the Rolling Stones right?” I don’t think he was really paying attention to the directions.

    If you are reading here, please pray for ALPO tonight. I am. I don’t know what else to do.

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  3. Walk A Block In Their Shoes
    Posted onDecember 5, 2015 by Agent X

    IMG_1178

    I need to be clear with my readers on this point: I am a weekend warrior of sorts. I do not sleep night after night on the streets. I once spent three nights in a row without a shower on the streets, but mostly I go out when my work and family schedule allows it. Also, I go out numerous times that I don’t stay the night.

    I have offered tidbits of my experiences throughout this blog, but it seems that a blog like this should give a gritty account of what it is like out there. Mostly I describe suffering, but sometimes I am richly surprised by joy. I would like to offer just a few slices from the experience pie. Without telling whole stories, background, and context, I just want to take you there with me to the raw, cold reality. To help you walk a block in the shoes of the homeless by relating a handful of my own experiences.

    The cold of winter.

    By far the hardest part of sleeping on the streets for me personally is the cold. I fall apart in the cold. Just can’t take it well. My experience with the cold is not representative of all homeless people, for I have seen men collect snow in their beards and yet not complain. But I always go prepared.

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    My preparation involves layers of clothing and usually some sort of mat or pad. A few years ago I purchased insulated coveralls to wear in the cool months as I minister on the streets. I keep them in good shape, and so I am often the envy of many a homeless man, and yet still I shiver in them.

    I recall a night early in my urban plunge career when the temperature went down to 37 degrees (the coldest I ever lasted the night in) and I wore the coveralls, 3 shirts, an over coat, and rolled up in a tarp. The wind whipped madly all night. I hunkered down the best I could and shivered. The pavement was hard as rock and cold. I got about as settled as I could get. Almost drifted into blessed sleep a time or two. But then I got a faint itch in the small of my back between the shoulder blades.

    Think about that. I had 5 layers of clothing constricting my arm movements. I literally could not reach the spot with my hand (which was buried in a heavy insulated glove, btw). I tried to forget it. But the faint itch grew more intense, like the devil hounding my soul.

    I was faced with the question: Do I roll out of the tarp, which the wind is trying to whip off of me anyway, peel off 2 or 3 layers in hopes that then I could reach the itchy spot? Or do I stubbornly bear it and hope it goes away?

    I spent a good 15 minutes trying to ignore it. Then I peeled and scratched. I fought the wind, the tarp, the cold, my loose layers, and the relief was hardly worth it. Then I fought to get it all back on, tucked in, and settled down again, but now I was shivering up a storm.

    And then it hit me: If I was home in bed and had a faint itch in my back, I would scratch it with hardly a care. I would not remember it 2 minutes later. But the suffering of that itch on the street turned into a 20-minute ordeal of the first order. And I thought that if that were my nightly struggle, I would be one mean dude most mornings – cantankerous and ugly to anyone who greeted me. Probably wouldn’t be worth the job interview I didn’t bathe for!

    May n Lee

    Neighbors.

    Then there are the neighbors. You gotta be careful where you sleep, who you sleep among, and especially who sees you there. Neighbors, both homeless and housed, are at least as much a hazard as asset. The homeless will make noise and leave a mess; the housed will think you are taking over their neighborhood and call the cops.

    Yeah, I camped with drunks. The peaceful kind are not a problem – well unless the mess they make is in a nice area. The addicts and hell-raisers, though, will get into a fight or make a lot of noise and give away your location to the authorities. And there is no reasoning with them. (I remember one time when one dude smacked another dude on the head with a brick! It could have killed him.) But then, when you find a REALLY good secluded place, like behind the hedges under a portico at a church (right below the no trespassing/no loitering sign(s)), you really don’t want to make a scene, but you can’t convince a rabble rouser of that to save your life!

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    The Grimm Reaper.

    I woke up on several different occasions to see some mysterious dark figure rummaging through our camp. That is scary. No introductions. You were just sleeping there completely vulnerable to the wide world of wonders one minute and then as your eye pops open and rolls around, you see someone you don’t know hunched over your stuff, or maybe your partner’s stuff – or maybe your partner! The dark figure picks through the belongings and then quietly moves along and disappears into the shadows. How do you go back to sleep after that?

    Glad you asked.

    One time I awoke in an alley between two dumpsters next two a couple of my friends. I saw a dark figure with a cane hobble up to our spot and stop. I lay there watching quietly. The figure did not know I was awake. The figure poked at a pile of blankets next to my friends. So I spoke up, “Do you need a place to sleep?”

    The stranger said, “Do you have any blankets there to spare?”

    It so happened that the blankets my friends had were soaked from a rainstorm earlier that day. I had a dry sleeping bag underneath me and another one over me. I said, “Those blankets are all wet from the rain.”

    The stranger said, “Oh…” and started to move away.

    I said, “Here, mine is dry. Take it.” And I got up and handed my blanket to the dark one. I said, “You are welcome to stay here.”

    The dark one just waved as he hobbled away on the cane.

    Suddenly I thought better of my exchange and shouted after him, “It’s a gift from Jesus.” And just then I realized it was a gift to Jesus.

    One time I was sleeping in “monument park” (not its real name, but that’s what we rough sleepers call it because of the tornado monument there) and a guy came wondering up in the dark and stretched out on the park bench nearby. I noticed he had no blanket or coat. It was like 2:30 in the morning and my partners were all sawing logs. I thought, I can give him my coat, but then I will be cold. Then I realized that I could give him my coat and just pack it in and go home for the night.

    That decision improved both our lots in life – at least for a night.

    Then there is the smell.

    I got with a group one time taking shelter at a church in a limited space. One cat was deeply schizophrenic and unsocial. He did not talk much, nor did he shower/bathe. We all got as far from him as we could, but still made him welcome. But the cat just lay there half the night making soft grunts followed by ghastly faint farts that measured 11 on a 10-scale for paint-peeling.

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    A follow up note on that guy: I went to Broadway Church of Christ one Sunday morning a couple of years ago so that I could worship with that church and write a prayer request for the homeless that sleep around that building on the visitor card. I did not know a soul in that church when I walked in to the high, vaulted-ceiling sanctuary and took a seat waaaaaaaay down at the front. But the schizophrenic farter was there on the second row from the front, and I was never so happy to see someone I knew as that moment. I did not care how bad he smelled, just then. In fact, I kinda liked that he was representin’ so well!

    “Please don’t throw your cigarette butt in the urinal. It makes it soggy and hard to re-light!”

    Most of my street friends are not bashful about using the bathroom next to a dumpster or a bush or a parked car. I have seen them do it in broad daylight. It is a sad sight.

    And I have taken a whizzz in the bushes a few times myself, but I am extremely conscious of proper facilities if I can have reasonable access. I have been known to walk 8 blocks one-way to the all-night Wal-Mart just to use their men’s room. I have on some occasions loaded up in my car as many as 4 times in one night to drive up there just to pee. Contrast that to my home where I have a bathroom door just 5 feet away from my bed!

    Of course, when I go out, I am extremely conscious of my food and fluid intake for those very reasons. And yet who can pass up The Lord’s Supper with a camp of homeless men when they eagerly welcome you to stay, pray, talk about Jesus deep into the night? We sing songs of praise and worship. We give testimonies and preach to each other. And my personal shtick is to bring out the sacraments along with a Little Caesar’s Hot-n-Ready!

    Snapshot 1 Calendar attempt 1

    The Lord’s Supper.

    I like to offer everyone their own bottle of grape juice. Some folks are just too questionable to share a bottle with. But I can supply 6 bottles and some bread for under $5. The thing is… when 3 or 4 or more drifters join us late in the ceremony, we crack out more juice and take another round at it. After 2 or 3 bottles of grape juice, I am going to be needing a bathroom before dawn! I hate to put those ideas together so closely, but when you do street ministry like this, you can’t help but wise up to these facts of life!

    And this is the surprise of joy I alluded to before. Can you imagine finding Jesus in “the least of these brothers (and sisters) (Matt. 25:35) and not communing with him?

    But I must say that your conventional “Christianity” can’t even imagine it. Your faith is too small! I recall one night sharing The Lord’s Supper with a group from the “church” outside on the “church” steps when the pastor emerged from his study. We invited him to join us, but with a wave of his hand, he dismissed us and excused himself saying, “No thanks. I already ate a big meal.”

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    Wow!

    If your contempt is that bad, you aren’t going to find Jesus in the streets. But then you wouldn’t likely read this blog either. But for those of you who do read here from time to time, I invite you to expand and EXPAND and EXPAND your imagination to a size that maybe, just maybe, God could fit into it.

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  4. Proph-O-Drama WeddingPosted onOctober 19, 2015 by Agent XPerhaps you woke up to this news headline about a wedding getting called off at the last minute and the reception then given to Sacramento, California’s homeless.   It is a touching story.  I certainly want to commend the bride’s family for their kind charity.  And though plenty of critics will find cause to beat the When-Helping-Hurts drum, the only criticism I can offer is to ask why the homeless were only invited when the wedding was called off?I have personal experience in exactly this scenario.  I want to share with you the story of Agent X and Mrs. Agent X’s wedding.  It was way more humble than the headline-making party in this morning’s news, but it was intentional by design.When Agent X asked the future Mrs. Agent X to marry him, they both came from previous failed marriages.  Both were children of divorce.  Both were keenly desirous to invite Jesus to their wedding and into their marriage.  And since Agent X had begun a life in prophetic ministry, we saw the opportunity to invite Jesus to a wedding as something overtly biblical!How do you invite Jesus to your wedding?(Glad you asked.)The X’s consulted Scripture like a wedding planner.  A number of texts lent themselves to this staged proph-O-drama, among them being Matthew 25, where Jesus equates “the least of these brothers and sisters” with himself, and Luke 24, where Jesus is revealed in the breaking of bread.  It quickly became clear that communion with the poor would be central to the wedding plan.  And that is when Agent X decided to follow the Holy Spirit’s Script of a wedding like the party/parties of Luke 14.  (Please take a minute and read Luke 14:7-24.)We decided to make the whole ceremony into an extended communion service.  It would be a sit-down meal punctuated with prayer, bread, and “fruit of the vine” at strategic points and an exchange of vows in the midst of it all.  No altar, no aisle to walk down, no giving the bride away – all that traditional stuff is nice, but it had not served either us or our parents well.  All that mattered was inviting Jesus to join us.It was a relatively uncomplicated idea to invite the poor.  We asked permission to host our wedding at Carpenter’s Church.  Some of the poorest people in Lubbock can be found there every day.  We got the brother-in-law to prepare the fatted calf Texas-BBQ-style and cater the homeless.  As the wedding got underway, the bride and groom even made a ceremonial/prophetic walk through the alleys nearby to invite and compel any homeless people we met to come to our party.  But throwing a Luke-14 party suggests there would be seats of honor, and someone would have to be shamed into taking a lower seat.How do you shame someone at your own wedding?  Who would want to do that?That was a tough question.  We wanted to be true to the Luke 14 Script, but we did not want to hurt anyone’s feelings – not at our wedding!  That did not seem Christ-like.  Perhaps we could ask someone to pretend to take the seat of honor and thus stage the humiliation as an actor (the very definition of hypocrite, btw).  That idea just seemed too disingenuous.  We wanted to be for real!After much thought and prayer, the X’s decided it was not possible to plan this feature in the wedding.  After much prayer and consultation with Script and with others, we decided to quietly drop that part out of the proph-O-drama and scramble the tables in the wedding hall so that there would be no “seats of honor” – except the bride and groom’s seats.  We decided we would be the last to take seats so that no one could upstage another.  In fact we opted to sit with the homeless at our table rather than family!  It seemed that was as close as we could come to honoring that portion of Scripture.Then the ceremony began.  Most of our guests were already there at, or around, Carpenter’s Church.  (If you have ever been there, you know it is often surrounded with people loitering under the NO LOITERING signs.) Our family began to arrive.  Soon, they began to catch the drift of the ceremony.  The bride’s aunt and uncle particularly took up the mantle to serve in humility.Seriously.  Who packs their own wedding with HOMELESS people?(God does.)What can I say?  The party was on.  The homeless took to the feast like a duck takes to water.  The family had never been to a wedding so intentionally humble, but they figured out their roles quickly enough.  But the bride and groom only felt anxious that Jesus come.  We purposefully asked Jesus to come to our wedding and to our marriage.  And as we looked around the room at our guests, we hoped they were the evidence that he had accepted our invitation.  (But still the groom grieved that the seats-of-honor part had to be cut out of the Script.)We asked one family member to emcee the affair.  He directed us through the party with prayers and comments on each element.  The children would actually serve communion bread and “fruit-of-the-vine” as the meal/ceremony unfolded.  This was a meal with someone talking us through it, explaining how there would be communion and vows exchanged WHILE we ate.It was just at the moment when we began to break the communion bread that the door of Carpenter’s Church flew open and one last street drifter stumbled in.  He rubbed his eyes a second, looked around at the party and started to back out the door again saying, “Oh… sorry.  I didn’t mean to interrupt.”It was just then that the groom looked around the room and noticed there were no empty seats left.  The house was packed.  There was no seat left for Jesus when (in the form of “one of the least of these”) he came in the door right at the breaking of the bread!”SOMEBODY GET JESUS A CHAIR!!!There were no seats left!  But then it became clear to the groom – I have taken the seat of honor out of turn.  Whoever sits with the bride has the seat of honor!!!Suddenly the groom jumped up and prevented the drifter’s retreat.  The groom put a halt in the whole ceremony and communion prayer as he COMPELLED the man to take the seat next to the bride.  The groom rushed around to prepare one last plate of BBQ’d fatted calf and served the man.  Then the groom shared the seat with the bride next to this Jesus who did accept the invitation to the Luke 14 wedding party and proph-O-drama!Sadly, that wedding made no headlines.  But if we had more weddings like this, perhaps there would be no “broken homes” and maybe even no more homelessness.

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