The Table Just Beyond the Gate
A Not So Subtle Parable on the Kingdom of God
There is a great city whose gates are unlike any gates this world has known. They are fashioned not to keep strangers out, but to welcome every weary traveler home, to show the difference between the old world and the new. Day and night they stand open. Through every season, in every age, no hand ever reached to close them.
Just inside those gates stretches a long table, so long that no one can find its beginning nor its end. Upon it rests warm bread that never grows stale, wine that never runs dry, and every good thing is prepared with delight rather than obligation. Whenever a loaf is finished, another appears. Whenever a cup is emptied, it is filled again.
At the entrance stands the Spirit, whose voice carries farther than the wind.
“Come.”
The invitation is never hurried, and never withdrawn.
“Come.”
Many enter with tears, surprised that they had been expected all along.
Others linger outside the gates. Those who refuse to enter in. Those who refuse to eat and drink and be merry at the table.
Yet no guard drives them away. No gate is barred or brought down. No invitation expires.
The bread remains warm.
The wine remains sweet.
The voice remains gentle.
“Come.”
One traveler, sitting outside the open gate, cried, “No one has fed me.”
Those already feasting looked toward the table that had never ceased to be set.
The Host answered only with kindness.
“My beloved, the table has always been before you. The feast has never ended. The invitation has never changed. You are free to feast! But I will not make you. You are always free to choose.”
Then the Host broke another loaf.
He poured another cup.
And still the Spirit whispered,
“Come.”
For love does not force feed. It prepares the feast. It opens the gates. It waits without resentment. It invites without exhaustion.
So it is with the Kingdom of God.
Its gates shall never be shut.
Its table shall never be cleared.
Its invitation shall never be silenced.
The Spirit and the Bride forever say,
“Come.”
Eat. Drink. Enter in to what is prepared for you!
So come, dear child of God.
Do not stand outside a city that has never closed its gates.
Do not remain hungry before a table that has never ceased to be set.
The bread is still warm.
The wine is still being poured.
The feast is ready.
Come, feast forever!
