Festivity Under Christian Auspices

“And both Jesus was called, and His disciples, to the marriage.” — JOHN ii, 2.

UNDERSTAND this to mean that Jesus

was bidden officially — not as an individual but as the founder of a religion. If it had merely been said, “Jesus was bidden,” it would have implied that He was invited simply as a private guest. But when it is said that He was asked along with His disciples, private guestship is put out of the question; it is not the invitation issued to a man — it is the homage paid to a principle. Let me illustrate what I mean. When you issue the invitations to a ball, you are influenced by personal reasons. You are not committing yourself to any policy; you are simply expressing your liking for certain individuals. But when you intend that this ball shall be on behalf of the Samaritan Hospital, the Consumptive Hospital, the Fever Hospital — when you say that the proceeds shall be given to the Royal Infirmary, the Orphanage Home, the House of Refuge — you have bidden to your gathering not a man but a cause, not a person but a principle. You have asked Christ to attend, and even Him you have asked in a particular relation — not as the son of Mary, not as the brother of James, not as the friend of well-known families in Galilee, but as the head of a School, as the teacher of disciples, as the fountain and source of a particular charity which you desire to make the interest of your life. Now, that is the case here. There were many at that feast invited from pure friendship — from being members of special families. But Jesus was invited because He was not the member of a special family — because He had in Him the blood of all men. He was invited as the symbol of human sympathy, as the sign of universal brotherhood. By numbering Him among his guests the master of the feast meant to say, “I dedicate this banquet to the fellowship of man with man. I put it under the auspices of the spirit of charity. I desire it to be a feast of goodwill — a monument to the sympathetic marriage of all souls. May those who frequent it be inspired to pray for the multitude in the desert! May those who enjoy it remember the sheep who are not of this fold! May those who give thanks for it breathe also the prayer, ‘ Give others this day their daily bread’! May our feast be a communion of the spirit — not only with the guests at the table, but with those whose table is spread in the wilderness or whose table is not spread at all! May the presence of the sacrificial Christ suffuse and sanctify our joy!”

Lord, I would put every pleasure under the auspices of Thy Cross. I would write on every joy, “In behalf of Jesus.” I would invite Thee to every projected feast. I do not mean that I would go desiring to be unhappy, but that I would go desiring to share my happiness. I would have my joy to be a means, not an end. I would ask my soul if there are any in the room who participate not, who are crushed and weary, who are present in body but absent in spirit. I would ask if the laugh be an expression or the veil of an expression — the revealing of a spontaneous gladness or the restraint of a spontaneous grief. T would mark the wnwatered flowers in the garden of pleasure. I would give a hand to the men and women who are shunted at the festive gathering, who are little known and still less regarded. I would have a word for the stranger without introduction, for the maiden without chaperon, for the youth without companion. I would have a smile of welcome for the guest sitting under a shadow, for the man who earries on his garment the traces of a stain and from whose contact surrounding garments are withdrawn. I would link myself with him. I would remember how at Jordan’s waters the Son of Man was bathed with sinners. I too would take the lower room. I would give my company to the unclassed, my fellowship to the faded, my recognition to the robeless, my name to the neglected, my salute to the spurned, my patronage to those whom the other guests have passed by. And if any one should ask me, “Why sittest thou in the places of the unpretentious?” I would point to the title of the banquet and say, “It is a feast under the auspices of Jesus.”