Bums feasting in the palace

Monday, November 8, 2010

Devotions: Ps 77, 80; Joel 1:1-13; Rev 18:15-24; Lk 14:12-24

Lord, I cry aloud to You; please hear and answer! I think of You all through the night, as my wife and I face the challenges of our situation. But when I turn my mind and heart to ponder Your goodness in days past, I find the peace that had eluded me. I will dwell on Your mercies; I know Your way is holy, Lord. You are a wonder-working God. All nature obeys Your commands, and You deliver Your people. O Shepherd of Israel, lead Your people like a flock. Stir up Your might and come to save us! You have made a place for Your people Israel, and for Your church. Care for us, Lord; let Your hand be on the man of Your right hand. Lord God of hosts, restore us.

YHWH's word came to Joel, son of Pethuel: "Let everyone, old and young, hear this. Successive swarms of locusts have devastated the land. Let the drunks and wine-bibbers weep and wail. Our nation is assaulted by remorseless enemies. Let us lament like a virgin whose fiancee has died. The cereal offering and drink offering are cut off from YHWH's house. Ministers mourn; farms are laid waste; the very earth sorrows. The harvest is lost; the vintage withers; the orchards are desolate, and gladness fails in mortal hearts. Let us don sackcloth and lament; we have nothing to offer in thanks to our God!'

In John's apocalyptic vision, he saw the merchants and seafarers whose living was intertwined with the Roman empire despairing over its utter fall. No one buys their cargo any more—gold, silver, fine linen, purple and scarlet goods, scented woods, bronze, iron and marble, spices, incenses, wines, oils, grains and flours, cattle, sheep and horses, and human slaves. The merchants stand far off, fearing Rome's torment, and crying for her and for themselves. God has given judgment against her. And a mighty angel took up a great millstone and hurled it into the sea, declaring, 'Thus shall Babylon the great city be thrown down violently, and shall be found no more. The sound of harpers and minstrels, of flautist and trumpeters will be heard in you no more! Craftsmen of any craft will be found in you no more; no more sound of grinding and milling; no more shining lamps in you; and the voices of brides and grooms will be silenced in you; your merchants were the great men of the earth, and all nations were deceived by your sorcery. In Rome was found the shed blood of prophets and saints, and of all who have been slain on the earth.'

Jesus was teaching at a dinner in the home of a Pharisee. He addressed His host: 'When you give a dinner or banquet, don't invite your friends or brothers or kinsmen or rich neighbors, for they will invite you in return, and you will be repaid. Instead, invite the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind—and you will be blessed by God, because these guests cannot repay you. You will be repaid at the resurrection of othe just.' One who was at table with Jesus said to Him, 'Blessed are they who will eat bread in the kingdom of God.' But Jesus replied, 'A man once gave a great banquet and invited many. When the time came, he sent his servant to those on the guest list, who told them, 'Come; for all is now ready.' But all of the invited guests began to make excuses: one said he had bought some real estate, and needed to inspect it; another had purchased some livestock, and was going to look them over; and a third was recently married and was celebrating his honeymoon, and would not attend. The servant reported these replies to his master; and the master in anger told his servant, 'Go out quickly to the streets and lanes and bring in the poor and the maimed and blind and lame.' The servant did this, and reported that there were still empty places at the banquet. So the master told him, 'Go out to the highways and hedges and compel people to come in, so that my house may be filled. For I tell you, none of those who were invited shall taste my banquet!'