Guess who’s coming to dinner?

Homily for 28/8/22

Some of you may remember the film from 1967. It had a great cast of famous actors. Sidney Poitier, Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn to name but a few.

The plot went like this.

Joanna Drayton, a 23-year-old white woman, returns from her Hawaiian vacation to her parent's home with Dr John Prentice, a 37-year-old black widower. The couple became engaged after a 10-day whirlwind romance. Joanna's parents are Matt Drayton, a successful newspaper editor, and his wife, Christina, who owns an art gallery. Though both of the Draytons are liberal-minded, they are initially shocked their daughter is engaged to a man of a different race. Christina gradually accepts the situation, but Matt objects because of the likely unhappiness and seemingly insurmountable problems the couple will face in American culture.

This film has a very flimsy connection to the parable that Jesus tells his guests.

Jesus had probably been the guest preacher at the local parish Synagogue on the Sabbath.  Now he’s invited to lunch with the Parish Councillors. One scurrilous scholar crudely suggested that maybe the parish was vacant and the nominators are there. This theory has no foundation or evidence to support it but …

Over lunch, the nominators are carefully watching Jesus. What they don’t realise is that the Master is also watching them. He carefully notices the bigotry with which they choose the places of honour at the table.

The two stories ‘Guess who’s coming to dinner?’ and Jesus’ parable, match beautifully because like the Draytons and like the Pharisees, we are not always comfortable with those who turn up at the Lord’s table with us. They do things slightly differently and make us squirm. Like the Draytons, we could say that it’s only because we love them and are worried about them and for them. Matt Drayton is concerned about how the young couple will cope with racism in the future. This is of course racism dressed up in a different coat. The liberating news for Matt is… it’s not his problem. If we search our hearts at the deepest level we should be brave enough to confess that there is something else going on here.

If we truly loved them we would accept them, learn from them, enjoy them and offer them the very best of everything. From the silverware to the places of honour at the table. They are who they are, and we are called to rejoice in them even when and especially when, it irks us.

The Master places his parable within the context of a wedding banquet which he frequently does to describe the party in the next life.

It’s a good image for all sorts of reasons but I make the point that when we are invited to a wedding banquet it's not us who chooses the guest list. All we have to do is make sure that we are on it. So in other words we don’t get to choose who comes through the door and sit in our spot and we certainly don’t choose who it is that makes it into THE Wedding feast that never ends.

For example, the child in Ukraine who happens to be born into a different faith and culture and dies without ever having said any Christian prayers, or read a bible or received communion.

Do we really believe that they are condemned to the fiery pit of hell for all eternity?

Jesus’ parable is also about the gift of hospitality and WHY  we offer hospitality to others.

We don’t offer hospitality with the hope that we will get a return invitation for some yummy food.

We do offer hospitality because it is the right thing to do. And you do the right thing because it is the right thing. The Master wants us to give ourselves to others without any strings or expectations.

That is why, when we give a banquet, we invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind.

The way that we treat those who are less fortunate is one of the few criteria for getting our glossy invitation to the wedding reception. (See the story of the sheep and the goats)

The reason The Master says invite people who cannot repay you is for it removes any possibility that you are offering a roast lamb and a bottle of red for a self-serving interest and you know that they are truly grateful.

There’s only really one meal that matters. And that is the one at the end of time.

Guess who’s coming to dinner? Well, I reckon Mother Mary will be there, St. Mark, St Peter and all the angels will be there. Yep, you probably count on the big-ticket people like St. Theresa, St. Jude, St. Christopher.

Here at this altar, at this supper, we slip briefly through the veil and go to dinner with these people. At the end of time, we will be surprised at who is sitting at the same table with us.

Mmmm …Guess who’s coming to dinner? You and I.