The outer darkness seemed to cling to Miriam like the tattered blanket wrapped around her shoulders. She shivered in the cold evening air as she sat in a doorway outside the temple, begging for money so that she could buy some bread to get her through the night. Jerusalem was a hostile place for a young widow in Jesus' day, and as she heard some strangers approaching with laughter and singing, she drew further into the doorway and her own world of darkness. Someone else's celebration was too much for her to bear. But when the strangers saw her, they stopped. One of them sat down beside her, gave her some warm bread, and said, "The king is serving a banquet tonight for the wedding of his son. He'd like you to come to eat at his table and celebrate with him. Will you leave your tattered blan…