“You will be repaid at the resurrection of the just.’” (Luke 14:14).
I have been meditating on the behaviour and personality of Christ. After all, we know that Christ is God the Son and has a Perfect Divine Nature that coexists with His Perfect Human Nature. In other words, we know that Christ is Perfect God and Perfect Man, and so there is a lot to think about when I think about the personality and nature of Christ…
One thing that I think about Christ is that He encouraged acceptance. And I think this because of the way that He spoke and behaved and the things that He said. For example, He told the apostles, “Jesus said also to the man who had invited Him, ‘When you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your kinsmen or rich neighbours, lest they also invite you in return, and you be repaid. But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. You will be repaid at the resurrection of the just.’” (Luke 14:12-14).
You see, Christ accepted everyone. He did not discriminate and say, “That man’s sin is too great,” or, “This woman has been simply too awful to include in my group.” He did not exclude the Samaritans, who were the historic enemies of the Jews. He did not exclude the Gentiles, who were never welcomed by the Jewish people. Instead, Christ accepted everyone, because Christianity and Catholicism is a religion of acceptance.
And I have been thinking about that today because it is easy for the Evil One to manipulate that acceptance so that we believe that acceptance of the soul is the same as acceptance of the sin – and this is simply not true.
You see, though Christ accepted all souls, He did not accept their sins. He called them to him GENEROUSLY in a way that nobody had ever called them to God before, but once they were with Him, He told them ““If anyone wants to follow after Me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Me.” (Mark 8:34). And that cross was not a metaphor or a symbol. It was not a trick or a sign. It was a true and legitimate calling to accept the suffering that comes of denying the flaws of our fallen human nature and follow Christ…
And I have been thinking about that today, because mine is the soul that is one of “the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind…” and I wonder at the Blessings of my Lord in inviting one such as me to His Feast… For I know that there are souls who prayed for me beyond my comprehension, and I believe that they “‘…will be repaid at the resurrection of the just.’” (Luke 14:14).
For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.
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