The Cruise Ship
Revelation 19:6-9 - And I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude, as the sound of many waters and as the sound of mighty thunderings, saying, “Alleluia! For the Lord God Omnipotent reigns! Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready.” And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. Then he said to me, “Write: ‘Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb!’ ” And he said to me, “These are the true sayings of God.”
The man walks about in the soft light of the day along the port. The gulls cry as they fly overhead and land on the empty docks to see if there is some easy catch of food to be had. The man angrily shoos the gulls away and walks along the docks to see what is for sale. Per usual, junk. Can’t these people find any decent quality stuff to sell. He argues with the people about the condition of the goods. He demeans them for any slight offense whether that be the quality of food, the speed of the service he receives, the lack of communication, the over communication, the craftsmanship of the wares he purchases, the decor of the business establishments, and the appearance of the retail workers. Everything offends him and nothing pleases him. His standards demand something so much higher than what this lousy port has to offer.
When the man returns to his own work, he does it all himself. He always tells people if you want something done right, you have to do it yourself. Rather than letting other people try and fail so that they can learn, he would rather scold them for not doing it as well as he does it. The work of his hands is perfection in his eyes and when it’s less than perfection, he is gracious with himself, but not with others.
He goes home and his children annoy him with their incessant questions. His wife has prepared a meal, but she doesn’t know what he likes and always manages to make it the exact opposite way. Why can’t she just listen and do it better? She never pays attention to what he needs. Why can’t the children be more sensible? Do they have to be so loud? He wolfs some food down and decides to spend time at one of his favorite places in this port town - the rooftop bar.
Here they play the music he likes, they have spectacular views of the sunset, the staff are kind, but not too nice. They are dressed stylishly which don’t invite his critique. The food and drinks are expensive, but are of excellent quality. The guests here dress to impress and talk of their travels and accomplishments. They feign interest in one another, but deep down their care for others is motivated by the love of self. They only connect with those that will help them climb the ladder, they befriend people they can coercively use, they show affection to people only to please themselves.
While at the rooftop bar far from the lowly people on the docks and his family, he finds a moment of enjoyment. It’s so good to be waited on hand and foot. It’s so good to have people interested in hearing what he has to say. He relishes the attention. He craves the service. He longs to be worshipped though he’d never say so himself. He inhales deeply and his chest swells as he looks down on the people below. He’s a cut above the rest. This is the pride of life.
But there is a commotion on the docks. The people are all gathered around someone who is sharing good news. The crowd down below grows and grows until it’s a throng of people. He can’t hear what is being said, but he wants to know. This is a displeasing predicament. Does he lower himself to go down there and find out what all the bustle is about or does he stay atop his rooftop bar and remain in the dark? He asks one of the servers to go down and find out what is being said. She leaves the rooftop bar and goes down onto the docks and he watches her chat with the people in the crowd. They make gestures to the open ocean and point to the docks. She asks them questions and they nod their heads. They gesture with their arms of something grand in scale and again point to the docks.
She returns back to the rooftop bar and tells the man the news that she has heard. A magnificent cruise ship is coming. No one has ever seen anything like it before. Nothing on earth can be compared with the glory that is to be revealed. It is the greatest pearl of all the oceans. The people say that you haven’t lived life until you’ve lived on this cruise ship.
The man is intrigued and asks how he can board this ship. She explains that the captain of the cruise ship is coming to port and inviting everyone to celebrate his only son’s wedding. It is a celebration not to be missed and he wants all people to come. This is bewildering to the man. Even more bewildering is how the server responded to his skeptical questions:
How is it that the captain is inviting everyone? Yes, he has invited everyone.
Is there room for everyone if everyone said yes? Yes, there is room for everyone if everyone boarded the ship.
This is ridiculous, it can’t really be true or else the man would have seen this ship? It is true, she assures him, and the time is coming soon for the ship to arrive.
This ship can’t really be as good as it sounds if everyone is invited including the homeless, the sick, the poor, the unintelligent, the common? Yes, this ship is beyond compare and the captain wants everyone to partake in his son’s wedding.
Why would the captain and son want all of the riff-raff to board his magnificent cruise ship? The guests who had originally been invited declined to come to receive the captain’s son with joy, so he has invited anyone and everyone to come.
The man despised this proposal. These people are coping about a better life so that they can have a bit of escapism from their mundane existence. They have to have something to hope in or believe in because they can’t accept their own mistakes or the harshness of life. Those who are sick and dying want to dream of a better life. Those who are homeless want to dream of a first class, luxurious sailing away from their current circumstance. Anyone with good sense or even a bit of education would see this is a foolish notion. This life is all you’ve got and you’ve got to make the most of it. He stays on his rooftop bar, trading an inheritance of immeasurable value for a bowl of selfish desires. He tilts his glass of denial bottoms up. It’s delicious in this moment, but it can’t last forever.
Day after day passes on the rooftop bar, year after year, and no sign of this cruise ship. The man smirks to himself grateful that he didn’t believe that nonsense. When unexpectedly he hears shouts of joy behind him. He turns round to look and he sees something in the distance coming from the east. He had been looking west this whole time because the rooftop bar offered the best view of the sunset, but the ship was coming from behind him and caught him unaware. He had been living his life feeding his ego, pleasing his eyes, hardening his heart, and looking towards the setting of his life not expecting a majestic ship to come from the dawn’s horizon. But here it was. Or rather, here it is.
As the cruise ship pulled into the port, he was filled with awe. He had to find a way to board this ship. He ran down from the rooftop bar and told no one of his plan, not even his wife or children. If he was to board this ship, he’d have to do it now because the people were already queuing up to board. He asked one of the people in queue how he could board the ship and they indicated that he must go through the only gate.
And so it was, there was a single gate blocking access to the ramp and everyone on the docks was queued up to go through the gate. In that gate stood the captain’s son. Ugh, the son was just as common and dull looking as everyone else. There was nothing extraordinary by the look of him, no attractiveness that anyone would desire him, no clout about him. Even his clothes were simple and uninteresting. The people kissed his hand, embraced him, wept on his shoulder, and the man found this repulsive. He would never put his lips on that son’s hand let alone humble himself before this bridegroom to ask for permission to board his father’s glorious ship. This whole business of going through him and paying homage was pathetic. They treat him like he is the Son of God or something. The man didn’t need to wait in this queue and he certainly didn’t need to pay his respects to the son. He just needed to find another way to board this ship without being noticed and then he could blend in with all of the other guests.
He looked the ship over from the docks and he spotted a Jacob’s ladder on the side of the cruise ship. Eureka! That was his ticket to board the ship. This seemed like the best idea to him and it was now or never. He looked back at the son to see if he was watching him about to leap into the water and then the man had a moment of hesitation. He saw the server who had brought him the good news about this ship years ago. Even she had left it all behind and was going through the gate. He watched her approach the captain’s son and then the son turned and looked directly into the man’s eyes.
With locked eyes and seeing the grace the son offered to him, he doubted his plan to evade the son and enter the ship like an intruder. What if he was wrong? Maybe he should just go talk to the son and tell him how he’s struggling with all of this. Turning his attention to the ladder again, this way seemed right in his own eyes plus he didn’t have to humble himself before the son.
Three long horn blasts with each one knocking on the door of his heart. The man took one last look at the son. A final bellowing horn blasted that made the docks under him rumble and the man took the final leap of his life.
He jumped into the frigid waters and it took his breath away. His heart stopped from the sheer coldness of the ocean and he swam to the side of the cruise ship. Fortunately, the waters were calm today and there was no wind, so he was able to catch hold of the Jacob’s ladder and begin the high climb up. The cruise ship towered above him hundreds of feet into the air. Up, up, up he went and no one else followed him on this route. It must be because only he was clever enough to have thought of it. Finally, he reached the lower deck and was aboard the ship.
Ah, he was so satisfied with himself. He looked back and saw people going up the gangway to the top deck. He inspected the best way up as he didn’t use the ramp which would lead to the grand staircase, so he used the stairwells instead. Stairwell after stairwell and at last he reached the top deck. It was superb. Stunning beauty everywhere unlike anything he had ever seen before. There were tables set everywhere for an exquisite dinner party, music was being played by the most enormous orchestra he had ever seen, songs were being sung angelically and antiphonally on starboard and port. He sat himself down and began eating the food. He paid no mind to the other guests around him and he ate ravenously without regard for others except for his own appetites. Tearing at the food with his hands and teeth as if he were something not fully human. Never had food or drink tasted this good, but never had the light shined so bright. The guests around him were exasperatingly kind and good to one another. They had so much joy with one another, but he had none for them. They all sat in each other’s company at the table with him, but he sat alone in his own company. Their hearts were full of love, but his heart was tragically devoid of it. They had communion and fellowship with one another, but his pride had isolated him from it.
The cruise ship had set sail and the port was far, far behind. No chance of ever swimming back there now. But that didn’t matter; he was smooth sailing in most sublime place any person could imagine. It was faultless except for a couple things. The light here was actually painfully bright. It seemed pervasive across all the decks. It reflected off the water, the deck, the dinnerware, the cutlery, the clothes of the guests around him, everything reflected this blinding light. Sunglasses wouldn’t do him any good here because it was so radiant. He had left everything behind when he plunged into the ocean to board the ship by another way. This ship had filled him with awe, but now he was awfully uncomfortable. He would have preferred to be in the shade of the night.
The other thing was the hospitality of the captain and son as they made their rounds. The people loved to be in his presence and the captain and son loved having them on the ship with them. They were so loving, so joyful, so peaceful. The guests were not at all repelled by the light that emanated from them, but instead leaned into it. This reminded the man of something. What was it? Ah, he recalled having seen a painting of the last supper where a disciple leaned onto Christ. It was like that. Their pure souls were agape to receive the light with an absolute trust that had no reason to lean away. They loved him. And they were so unlike the man. It was revolting.
While the man had been pondering this, the captain with his attending crew members approached his table. The man wanted nothing more than to get away from him as far as possible. He was thinking about taking a plate of food in search of a darker spot on this ship if that were possible, but the captain spoke to the man before he could try and slip away. The captain asked,
“Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?”
The man looked at his own clothes which seemed just fine for this party and then he looked at everyone else around him. And he saw it. The garments of their life were clothed in humility and righteous acts. They were illuminated, but his own clothes had this dull darkness of pride. The guests whom he had seen on the port had all been transformed and they all looked on the captain and his son with adoration. They looked on each other without ego, without competitiveness, without selfishness. But he could not bear to look on them. He had no words to explain himself and his unlawful entry. He was speechless. He was afraid. He knew that whatever he answered would be the wrong answer and so he made a shrugging gesture of uncertainty and befuddlement.
The captain was most disappointed and spoke to the crew. They lifted the man out of his seat and pulled him away from the table and hauled him out of the wedding party as if he weighed nothing. Now he was really starting to regret the decision of ever trying to board this ship. He should have done things differently back on the port. He should have demanded of that son to let him in on his own terms. Now he realized that there was not going to be any place for him on this once-in-a-lifetime voyage, but he didn’t want it anyway. Tears streamed down his face as his heart was filled with anger at the captain, rage at the captain’s son, and fury at the unworthy people on this top deck. Who do they think they are anyway? He gnashed his teeth at them as he was thrown overboard. As he fell from the ship he had no remorse, no love for the captain, no love for the son, no love for anyone, but himself. He didn’t want that infernal light on him, he didn’t want their insufferable love, he didn’t want the eternal grace of this place. He wanted to be as far away from it as possible. And so his regrettable disembarking wish was granted.