Oops!
How can something be right in front of you yet be so hidden?
This was the question I asked myself as I stood in front of one of those Magic Eye images; you know the ones, those optical illusions that appear as abstract patterns but reveal a hidden 3D image when viewed with a specific focus technique. I was in fourth grade, and this was the first time I had ever seen something like this.
A student had brought it in. It was the size of a poster, and the teacher had set it on the ground in front of the chalkboard—fourth graders aren’t very tall. Each of us took a few minutes to stand in front of it to see if we could see the hidden image. We were told to “look past the image” or to “cross our eyes.”
I think I tried twice. I didn’t see anything. Of course, at the time, I didn’t admit it to my friends. I still have no idea what I was supposed to have seen, though, I will say, I have since learned how to view the hidden image.
Magic Eye teaches us that reality isn’t always what it seems. It may look like a bunch of abstraction, but there’s a very cool image to be seen.
As neuroscientists study the brain, they are beginning to see that Magic Eye is closer to reality than we may be comfortable with. In other words, Neuroscience tells us that our perception of reality is not a direct reflection of the external world but a model created by the brain. Sensory inputs (sight, sound, touch, etc.) are processed and interpreted to form a coherent picture of the environment. This is why optical illusions, for example, can trick us—they reveal the brain’s interpretative processes.
Put another way, our brain is constantly generating predictions about the world based on past experiences, and it adjusts them based on incoming sensory data. This means we experience a “best guess” of reality rather than reality itself. Put bluntly, the reality of who we think we are, and what we think is import is nothing more than a optical illusion.
Ugh!
Jesus hammers home this point today in the story about the grand banquet.
He tells us that a rich man decided to throw a grand banquet. Because this is a parable, we know, right away, that this banquet is more than just a banquet. It’s the feast God throws when he comes again and sets all things right:
“… the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples
a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine,
of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined.
… He will swallow up death forever;
and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces,
and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth,
for the Lord has spoken.” (Isaiah 25:6-8)
And, yet, as Jesus said, there will be people who decide that there are somethings more important than going to God’s victory celebration.
Death has been swallowed up … but, I have new real estate to check out.
All tears are being wiped away … but, I have a new tractor I want to play with.
God is removing all reproach … but, I have a new wife; I have something else to do.
All of these folks have been duped into thinking something else is more important than the Kingdom of Heaven. They think there’s something else more important than what God is doing in Christ.
In other words, their reality is an optical illusion. But, before we laugh at them and call them fools, how often have we been tricked by optical illusions? How often do we think the things of this world are more important than the reality of what God is doing to redeem us?
How often do we turn to our possessions to make us happy? How often do we turn to our ideologies to understand the world? How often do we turn the things of this world to give us pleasure?
You see, we too are invited to the Heavenly Banquet. We too are invited to turn to God and place our trust solely in him, no matter what’s going on in our lives. And, yet, we make excuses to avoid God.
We avoid a true spiritual reality to cling to a reality that’s nothing more than an optical illusion.
And does it work? Do the things of this world make us happy, or do we get bored and start looking for the next best thing? Do the things of this world take away our suffering, anxiety, and fears, or do they simply distract us for a little while?
I think, if we’re honest, we know that the reality we cling to isn’t real.
Aha!
So, what’s the solution? How do we break free of our delusions? Are we simply doomed to miss the great banquet?
No, we aren’t. After Jesus tells us the parable of the Great Banquet, he gives us the solution,
“Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.” (Luke 14:27-33)
In other words, if we voluntarily detach from the things of this world, then we will have nothing to make excuses about when God invites us to the Heavenly Banquet.
After all, you won’t want to go out and try out your new oxen if you don’t have any oxen!
Whee!
The biblical way of saying this is that we need to pick up our crosses. The cross, as we all know, is an instrument of death. If you pick it up, it means you’re on your way to your execution.
This is a shorthand way of saying that we need to put our egos to death. We are no big deal.
But, it’s also a way of saying, we should die to our material attachments of this world. It’s not that the world is bad. In fact, it isn’t. God declared the world “good.” But, when we turn to the things of this world and place our trust in them, rather than God, then we’ve turned the world into an idol.
It’s really a matter of priorities. What are we prioritizing in life? The cross helps us understand that when we die, nothing in the world will matter any more. Our only dependence will be on God.
You’ll note that in talking about picking up our crosses, Jesus compares it making sure we have enough money to build a tower, and to making sure we have enough soldiers before going to war.
This seems like a strange interlude.
But, I think what Jesus is getting at is that picking up our crosses has to be deliberate. We have to work at detaching ourselves from this world.
The optical illusion that the world gives us, which is one that says the world is all that matters, is a strong one. We have to be diligent, proactive, and plan our priorities with care.
We have to make a choice: Will I come to the Divine Liturgy on Sunday, the Heavenly Banquet, or will I choose to stay home and do something else?
Yeah!
The reality is that detaching ourselves from this world and the things that preoccupy us is actually liberating.
It frees us from anxiety, worry, and fear. There’s nothing that can cause us to suffer if we don’t care about material concerns.
Imagine being free to accept God’s invitation. Imagine arriving at God’s banquet and having all your tears, your worries, your fears vanish.
Imagine sitting down to eat the bounty that only God can provide and know that all in your life has been set right. No debt. No grudges. No quarrels.
Imagine, picking up your cross, and following Christ … not to a prison, but out of death and to life eternal.
Letting go of this world is the most freeing thing we can do. It’s also an embrace of reality that’s more real than we’ll ever realize.
Amen.