AMONG THE ZOPILOTES1
Trying to identify the fellow who, in the parable of the wedding feast,
does not wear the wedding garment. A Hondurian reading. (Matt. 22 :1-14)
The bus is full like an egg. You could not add even a needle. But, who
cares! At the first corner, the driver picks up three more passengers and four others a little
further, and then two more...and so forth. When, in this country, there is no more space, still there is
plenty! On the roof of the bus: a mountain of
luggage and even animals…
The bus goes at full speed. The steepest slopes, the closest curves, with
the cows lying in the middle of the road, the ravines, nothing scares it. The
travelers are cramped together like sardines and are sweating, slumbering, and
holding fast. And nobody objects.
Except one who, in his corner, pulls out all the stops in order that no
one will touch him. He is smoking and twisting his body so that he can read his
newspaper. He grumbles non-stop and complains against the driver, against the
country, against the government, against the whole world.
Suddenly, with the brakes squeaking, the bus comes to a stop. The driver
and two heavy weights abruptly rise, grab the loudmouth by the neck and the
legs and throw him outside. The guy falls flat in the ditch among a pack of
zopilotes. «Bye bye! » shout the passengers as the bus resumes its journey.
The zopilotes cast a cold glance at that intruder who has just landed
among them. They sniff at him from a distance and immediately move away without
even touching him. «Too
bitter!» they say as they pinch their beak.
The Kingdom, that is, that extraordinary project of Jesus for an open
and human world, is not made for the people who are drags. In that world, there
is place for all human beings, good or evil, except those who shut themselves
up in their own hell: the grumblers, the annoying, the bugging who are always
against everything and who agree about nothing.
The Kingdom is made for those who are daring and supportive, who trust
in life and have sympathy for the ordinary people. It is for those who see
themselves as the joyful partners of the God of Jesus: a happy God who,
everyday and until the end of the world, invites all the peoples of the earth
to the great wedding banquet of his son.
Eloy Roy
1 « Zopilote »
: vulture from Honduras
Translated from the French by Jacques Bourdages
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