Who Will Be at the Heavenly Banquet? - Bodie Thoene

The Lord is quite different from religious hypocrites who believe they are so righteous THEY can decide who should eat at the Lord’s Table…. 

          Jesus was often criticized by the religious authorities because of the folks with whom he kept company: “tax collectors, prostitutes, sinners…”   
He much preferred the company of repentant sinners to that of dishonest hypocrites who knew the lingo but didn’t know Him or the One Who sent Him.

This week’s scripture readings are so rich and welcoming.  As we read we see again how God has prepared a banquet table for anyone and everyone who is hungry to know the Lord.  He will not turn away anyone who longs for His great love. 
        
As we wrote Twelfth Prophecy, and the story unfolded, we were again and again confronted with the character traits of religious phonies.  The hypocrites and Pharisees of our own day are mirror images of those who hated and accused Jesus because of his dinner companions. 
     
Perhaps the best example of this is the story in John 8 when the Pharisees threw a woman down before Jesus in the Temple and dared Him to save her. 
         
One picture is worth a thousand words and the best picture I have ever seen depicting this is the portrait of the John 8 woman by anointed Messianic artist, Robin Hanley.
         Spending lots of personal time with my dear friend Robin has been one of my greatest blessings this summer.  She and I are both descendants of the same Sephardic Jew through our paternal heritage. Our compatible sense of humor, and our love of Jesus, and of Hebrew scripture all seem to be in our DNA!  We also share a love for horses, See’s Bordeaux candy, and old movies. 

It’s always been obvious we two are blood kin!
 
         Robin always had the artist’s eye to capture light and beauty and the nuance of characters. Since our early childhood, setting out together on our horses, we found great joy riding along, side by side, in silence. I knew even then that my sweet cousin was drinking in every beautiful sight around us. 
         We came to know Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord about the same time. The Lord was to lead us on different, yet parallel paths.  I could always look to my right and know my kinswoman and friend, Robin, was just across the way.         
         I began my studies in college as a photo-journalism major.  At the same time Robin’s talent as a photographer began to be recognized as so extraordinary that the second best grades in college photography class were awarded to those who imitated her style…while she, of course, took first! Even so, the photographs taken by the rest of us were poor imitations by comparison.
    
Though I retained a great love for art and photography I concentrated on painting pictures with words and left the visual expressions of photography/art to my best friend.       
         
Today’s scripture goes to the heart of a certainty we share:  “make the most of every opportunity, for the days are evil.”  
         
As young Christians we two began to pray for one another as we served the Lord.  We share the same holy banquet and partake of the same Living Bread.   We know that we each have a prayer warrior who will stand firm in spiritual battles which come against us. 
        
Marriage and family took us in different directions.  I wrote for John Wayne’s Batjac productions in Hollywood, which led me to the men and women who were present when Israel became a nation. These encounters led me to write Gates of Zion about Israel’s rebirth in l948, and then the Zion Covenant series. 
        
Robin’s Sephardic heart was so turned to Israel that the Lord led her to paint portraits depicting Israel’s great warriors.  Robin’s art is honored and prominently displayed in many Israeli government buildings.  
         In addition, Robin Hanley’s portraits have hung in the Bush White House and the Pentagon. A Robin Hanley portrait is in the NYPD headquarters’ conference room; honoring the heroes of 9-11 through her world famous depiction of Vinny Gravelli carrying a child to safety out of the destruction of that day. 

There are many, many times that I try to look up and describe the world to our readers with the same holy depth of color and light that I see in a Robin Hanley work of art.  

The 12th book in the A.D. Chronicles, called Twelfth Prophecy, is dedicated to Robin, and is inspired by her vision of the moment Jesus stepped between the self-righteous Pharisees and the woman of John 8. Robin’s portrait moves me to tears every time I see it. In this instant Jesus nailed the religious big-shots when he said:  “Let he who is without sin among you cast the first stone.”   The only one who was without sin was Jesus…And then when the Pharisees melted away under his all-knowing gaze, Jesus said to her,    “Neither do I condemn you.”  

We have no doubt that this abused woman was among the “sinners” who sat at the banquet tables of Jesus from that day forward.  We know we will one day sit with her at Heaven’s banquet.   Together we will taste the goodness of the Lord.

Responsorial Psalm
Ps 34:2-3, 4-5, 6-7
R.       Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.

I will bless the LORD at all times;
his praise shall be ever in my mouth.
Let my soul glory in the LORD;
the lowly will hear me and be glad.
R.       Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.

Glorify the LORD with me,
let us together extol his name.
I sought the LORD, and he answered me
and delivered me from all my fears.
R.       Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.

Look to him that you may be radiant with joy,
and your faces may not blush with shame.
When the poor one called out, the LORD heard,
and from all his distress he saved him.
R.       Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.

Eph 5:15-20
Brothers and sisters:
Watch carefully how you live,
not as foolish persons but as wise,
making the most of the opportunity,
because the days are evil.
Therefore, do not continue in ignorance,
but try to understand what is the will of the Lord.
And do not get drunk on wine, in which lies debauchery,
but be filled with the Spirit,
addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs,
singing and playing to the Lord in your hearts,
giving thanks always and for everything
in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God the Father.

GOSPEL
John 8:2-11
    But early in the morning he arrived again in the temple area, and all the people started coming to him, and he sat down and taught them.
    Then the scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery and made her stand in the middle.
    They said to him, "Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery.
   Now in the law, Moses commanded us to stone such women.  So what do you say?"
 They said this to test him, so that they could have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and began to write on the ground with his finger.  But when they continued asking him, he straightened up and said to them, "Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her."
    Again he bent down and wrote on the ground.
    And in response, they went away one by one, beginning with the elders. So he was left alone with the woman before him.
    Then Jesus straightened up and said to her, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?"
    She replied, "No man, Lord." Then Jesus said, "Neither do I condemn you. Go, (and) from now on do not sin any more."

THIS IS THE WORD OF THE LORD!

TO SUM UP:  
Dear friend, the Lord Jesus invites us to join Him at the eternal banquet He has prepared.   He provides the bread…He IS THE BREAD OF LIFE!  Jesus will not turn away any hungry heart.   However, he will not welcome those Pharisees who would bar any other person from mercy, forgiveness, and fellowship!  

I do believe we will be surprised by who is in heaven at the eternal banquet table of our Lord and Savior!  

And perhaps we will also be surprised by those “righteous Pharisees” who are NOT invited to the heavenly feast!

While the woman of John 8 is feasting with Jesus, He will say to those Pharisees who humiliated and condemned her unjustly,   “Depart from me, for I never knew you.”  

Blessings in Jesus’ Name,
Bodie

See the Woman of John 8 at www.robinhanley.com