Last week’s Gospel ended with Jesus’ injunction that “when you hold a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled the lame, the blind: blessed indeed will you be because of their inability to repay you.” The next day the parish supplied volunteers to feed participants in a workshop for asylum seekers. I would like to thank those who responded. Some of the stories were truly heartbreaking but the actions of so many of our members were heart-mending. This was truly putting flesh onto the Gospel and weight into the truism that a Mass should be judged not by how we feel leaving Church on the weekends but by what we do in our community on the weekdays. 

Later that week several buses deposited about 200 more asylum seekers on Court Street. They were told to go to Catholic Charities. There was of course no warning and by Friday Catholic Charites had no supplies. As you may have seen in our parish email, we do not know if people will be sent up this weekend and if they are St Charles will most likely be the first institution they will find. What then does Jesus’ remark today “This one began to build but did not have the resources to finish” mean for us? 

My first reaction was “Ouch, that comes close,” After remembering the background for the passage, my second was “That hit a bullseye.” 

The opening anecdote for this homily was given by Kerin Coughlin, who was scheduled to read at this Mass but is not feeling well. So let me just thank her and hope that she feels better. 

At bible study last week, Kerin told us that Billy Joel will buy out the front row seats at his concerts to prevent rich people from taking them – not to hear him, but to be seen by everyone. Then he will send his managers up to the cheap seats and get real fans who would pay attention to the performance. Jesus’ motivation today is rather similar. 

We first need a bit of archeology. Houses in Galilee in Jesus’ time would have been centered on a courtyard. The main door was in the center of the courtyard, and the kitchen, storage rooms and bedrooms would have been off of it.  Guests would have been entertained and fed in this courtyard.  Jesus had most likely spoken at a local synagogue and now was being entertained by a leading pharisee who had the space to hold a dinner for the town’s notables This would have been a major event and the common people of the village would have crowded around the front door to see who was there and what Jesus might say. They may perhaps have heard that he had often been in conflict with some of the Pharisees and looked forward to some fireworks.