I’ve been ‘parable-weaving,’ and this is your invitation to read my imaginings:
A homeless person is seated on an old, rickety lawn chair propped against a brick wall on a busy city block with stores and offices and restaurants. He is approached by a professional-looking person who stops and looks directly, and kindly, into his eyes. He asks if the homeless person is tired. The response is, ‘Yes.’ The next question is whether he’s tired of living this way, to which the answer is more emphatically, ‘Yes.’ The professional asks for his name to which he somewhat hesitantly says: ‘They call me Mondo.’ The professional, who introduces himself as Dorran, enthusiastically invites Mondo to come with him. He takes him to get fed and cleaned up, gets Mondo into his first brand-new clothes in over ten years, makes a stop by a bank and helps Mondo open an account, all the while explaining that he and a group of his friends have been hoping to invite Mondo to a banquet that evening, and that the banquet is being given in Mondo’s honor. It goes without saying that Mondo is embarrassed and mystified. Who are these people and why would they do such a thing? And for him? It seems unavoidable now, so he acquiesces.
Later, on arriving at the banquet hall, Mondo gets a glimpse of the huge room with fancy tables set for a large crowd. His mind is whirring, wondering if he should try to escape, should fake illness to avoid whatever was about to happen to him. But he figures the worst-case scenario would be that he would end up still homeless. So, he attempts to settle his nerves about this very strange situation.
Dorran explains that the guests would be arriving soon, so he directs Mondo to stand just inside the entrance so he could introduce him to each one as they arrived. The first gentleman comes in, is introduced, and vigorously shakes Mondo’s hand, telling him they’ve anxiously been waiting for him, so anxiously, in fact, he’s made a deposit of one million dollars into Mondo’s new bank account! Mondo momentarily stops breathing. The next guest arrives just as excited as the first and gives him the news of having made the exact same deposit! One after one, each guest does the same, announcing the same gift into Mondo’s new bank account. Mondo loses count of the millions, and with heart bursting with all this sudden attention, head spinning with this landslide of uber-generous gifts, Dorran leads him to the head table as the banquet for over one hundred people begins . . . (end of parable, sort of)
We are, of course, Mondo. Dorran is our Heavenly Father, and the guests represent the many-faceted gifts of the Holy Spirit to us at Salvation. And of course, like Mondo, we are totally overwhelmed at all that is now ours in Jesus, because of Jesus. “[God] will achieve infinitely more than your greatest request, your most unbelievable dream, and exceed your wildest imagination! He will outdo them all for his miraculous power constantly energizes you.”Ephesians 3:20, TPT. All this is Heaven’s investment in us! In you! In me! Looking forward to seeing all you multi-gifted lovers of God tomorrow, 10 AM, 4 PM FR. PD
