Thanksgiving Lamb

Putting aside our differences when we share a meal  

Revelation 18:1-2, 21-23; 19:1-3, 9A  

I, John, saw another angel coming down from heaven, having great authority, and the earth became illumined by his splendor. Then the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who have been called to the wedding feast of the Lamb.”   

          I’ve been pastor of Immaculate Conception for three full years now, and it should come as no surprise to anyone that I love to come to your homes for supper. And the reason I do that is so we can get to know each other, love each other, and help each other love Jesus more. Moreover, I’m convinced that’s exactly what happens when you share a meal with someone, in a word, “communion” happens. As the old adage goes: “the fastest way to a man’s heart is through his stomach.” We touch each other’s hearts, and Jesus touches our hearts. Now, one priest I know disagrees with that dictum. He says: “the only plate that touches my heart is the collection plate.”  

 

          To be completely honest, I have not always been so successful at securing suppers like I am today. I’ll never forget the first time I wanted to eat a supper with a layperson. I was in eighth grade and had this huge crush on a pretty little blonde girl. I called her and asked her if she’d like to grab something to eat at Taco Bell. And her answer sounded a lot like Meghan Trainor’s new song, she basically said, “My name is ‘No,’ my sign is ‘No,’ my number is ‘No.’ You need to let it go, you need to let it go.” That’s exactly what she said. So, it’s taken me many years to finally perfect this rare talent to go to lay people’s homes for supper, and I’m pretty good at it now. But you see, sharing a supper with someone is always an expression of love, and by the way, that’s exactly why that little blonde girl said, “no.”   

          In the first reading today, St. John says that the very last supper we will ever share – because it’s the supper that lasts forever in heaven – will likewise be an infinite expression of love. We read in Revelation: “Then the angel said to me” – that is to St. John – “Write this: Blessed are those who have been called to the wedding feast of the Lamb.” In other words, the end of time and the business of eternity will be the celebration of a shared meal. But not the sharing of any ordinary meal, but a “wedding feast,” the perfect love feast between two people madly in love with each other. My favorite picture of any wedding is where the bride and groom feed each other with a little bite of wedding cake. Have you seen such pictures? That always gives me flashbacks to feeding that little blonde girl a little bite of bean burrito. But notice John’s vision is not just the wedding feast of two people, but also the wedding feast of the Lamb, that is, the wedding feast of Jesus. In other words, the best shared suppers always brings us closer to each other and closer to Christ.   

          Today our country celebrates Thanksgiving Day. And what is the perennial and perfect sign of this celebration? It is fireworks? No. Is it gifts wrapped under a tree? No. Is it brightly colored eggs? No. Thanksgiving is symbolized by a shared meal as an expression of love. Historians typically trace back the first Thanksgiving to 1621, when a meal was shared between Pilgrims and Native Americans after their first harvest. In attendance were 90 Native Americans and 53 Pilgrims. When invited to that meal, no one said, “My name is ‘No’.” And because the Pilgrims were also Puritans (meaning Calvinist Christians), they no doubt invoked their Savior Jesus Christ in prayer. Meals always express love for each other and for Jesus.   

          My friends, as you sit down to your own Thanksgiving meals today, I pray you also feel true and tender love for each other and for Jesus. Sometimes family gatherings can be strained with tension and turmoil. Old wounds and un-buried hatchets come out. Misunderstandings between in-laws and out-laws resurface. Divisions, disagreements, divorces, and even deaths can cloud and rain on an otherwise joyous occasion. But today, like the Native Americans dropped their tomahawks and the Pilgrims put down their muzzle-loaders, so too may your families forgive and forget any past problems, and sit down at the table to share your love for each other and for Jesus.   

          And as you trim the turkey today, try to look forward to that “last supper” that will last forever in heaven. There, we will feed each other like a bride and groom give each other wedding cake – or feed each other with bean burritos, as the case may be  – and there Jesus will feed us with his love, at the “wedding feast of the Lamb.” At that Thanksgiving supper, we will share Lamb with one another, and not turkey.  And when you’re invited to that last supper, don’t answer, “My name is ‘no’.”  

          Praised be Jesus Christ!