Grace and peace to you all this day, sisters and brothers, as we celebrate this feast of rich food and well-aged wines.
Anyone who has ever prepared a meal for a lot of people knows that it takes a lot of work. You have to figure out all the dishes you'll prepare, figure out how many guests you'll have, you have to collect all the ingredients, then, when the day comes, you have to plan out how to time everything so that dishes are completed in the right order so they can be served perfectly. There's a reason that catering businesses do such brisk business, preparing a feast is not a piece of cake, so hiring a caterer saves a lot of heartache and sweat.
God is somewhat different than we humans when it comes to preparing a feast. We fixate on preparing the food. God prepares the guests.
In our gospel story today we see how God begins to prepare the feast of the coming kingdom.
St. Mary Magdalene and the other Mary, perhaps sister of Martha, are the first disciples to be prepared.
Full of devotion, sorrow and love, they went to go see Jesus' tomb but instead of morning stillness and the finality of death, they encountered an earthquake and an angel, shining like lightening.
They cowered, the guards ran. They were not ready for this amazing thing that God was doing. So God had to prepare them further.
'Do not be afraid' the angel said. 'Jesus isn't here, he's going ahead of you to Galilee, go tell your friends.'
The women must have been dumbfounded, not only were they in mourning, but to see this overwhelming divine presence... how could they believe that jesus was alive after seeing him crucified?
Turns out they required a little more prep time, so as they ran to tell the other disciples, our Lord himself met them suddenly, 'Greetings,' he simply said.
They rushed to him, grabbing the body they'd seen broken.
And so, by his presence he prepared them for the feast yet a little more.
And as we follow the gospel story further, we know that our Lord spent even more time with the faithful women and the other apostles before his ascension, eating meals with them, talking with them, teaching them. Futher preparing them for the rich feast, for the marriage banquet of the lamb in the new jerusalem.
Of course we also know that our Lord did ascend into heaven, sending the holy spirit, third-person of the most blessed Trinity, in his place to dwell within us, to make sure that we don't become lukewarm while we await the coming feast. Even more important than just dwelling in us though, the Spirit brings Christ to us in the sacrament of the holy eucharist, fulfilling the word's of Christ's promise at the last supper by making bread and wine into body and blood, further preparing us for the banquet of peace, love, and wholeness in the kingdom of heaven.
Sisters and brothers, we like St. Mary Magdalene and the other Mary, like the apostles and all the early disciples, have our times of separation from God, of sorrow, of disbelief. God has to remake us because on our own and of our own volition, we don't really even want to go to this great feast. We as humans are exceedingly good at curving inwards on ourselves and explaining why we can't make it out to the party.
And yet this feast of rich food and well aged wines has been promised by the Triune God, Father, Redeeming Son, and enlivening Spirit.
So, when our Lord returns, after having prepared us, having removed from us the yeast of malice and evil, he will invite us by name to his marriage feast, when his bride the Church will enter through the gates of heaven and will will walk in his glowing light, saying to each other:
This is our God, we have waited for him, so that he might save us. This is the lord for whom we have waited; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.
Amen.
