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I had a dream.
In my dream, I found myself walking down an old cobblestone street. There were buildings on both sides that were nearly two stories high. It reminded me of something that you would read in a novel by Charles Dickens set somewhere in Europe.
It was cold outside, and so everyone was scurrying about a little bit faster than what you would consider a normal walk.
As I proceeded down the street, it opened up to what appeared to be some type of town square. It was a big open space with several streets intersecting in the same area. It was wide and open, somewhat circular in design.
I stopped for a moment to watch people passing through. It was at that time that I noticed a peculiar old man who was standing out on the street corner opposite where I was. He was trying to hand something out to people who were passing by. From my observation, he wasn’t successful in getting anyone to take what he was handing out.
He had a hood over his head and a long coat that ran the length of his body, which appeared somewhat ragged and old, with a pair of gloves to protect him from the wind, as it was chilly.
I remember watching as many individuals would look at him and then quickly scurry away as he beckoned them to come over and accept his paper. I watched a younger couple come out from one of the buildings nearby. They were both wearing exceedingly fine dress. The woman had a fur-lined coat. Her hands nestled snugly inside a matching fur-lined muff. The man wore a nicely pressed suit and a black top hat. As the old man turned in their direction, the woman quickly grabbed her husband by the arm and pulled him away.
No one would stop. Not one… until me. Something was curious about this man, and I felt drawn over to him. He was different. He seemed kind and humble. “Who would stand out this long in the cold and hand out leaflets?” I thought.
I wanted to see what he was doing. I approached him.
As soon as I came up to him, he slowly opened his glove-covered hand so that I could see what he was holding. My eyes were led right to it. It wasn’t a leaflet; it was a beautiful ticket. It looked old, scripted like one that you would receive if you were commissioned to attend a grand ball of the time. It glistened in the light.
He said that he was offering them for free to anyone who would take one. The price had already been paid, and all that anyone needed to do was to take one.
I wanted a ticket.
“Why wouldn’t anyone take a free ticket?” I wondered? He wasn’t asking for money…but certainly there wasn’t anyone willing to take one.
At that moment, the man looked at me with piercing eyes and said, “You can hand out tickets too, if you’d like?”
Then my understanding was opened. And I woke up.
(Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy. Therefore, go into the highways, and as many as you find, invite to the wedding.’ So those servants went out into the highways and gathered together all whom they found, both bad and good. And the wedding hall was filled with guests.)