October 9, 2011 - Pentecost + 17

The King Invites Everyone He Sees

Matthew 22:1-14

Pentecost + 17 – October 9, 2011

Guest lists are tricky things, aren't they? When Andy & I got married, the guest list was the subject of much conversation and debate, and - sometimes - verged on the edge of outright argument. We had a limited budget, so we had to limit who could come, and what with both of our big extended families and our friends and the seminary community, we spent a lot of time trying to figure out who we needed to invite and who we wanted to invite, and ultimately we ended up going the route that the wedding planning advice industry suggests – we had an A list and a B list. We sent out our first round of invitations to the A list, and as we started getting RSVPs and found out who would not be coming, we were able to send out more invitations to the people on the B list.

See, we were working from a limited set of resources. We only had the money to host a very certain number of guests, and so even though that felt kind of bad to sort our family and friends that way, it's what we had to do to keep the reception from getting out of control. And even then we weren't able to invite everyone we wanted to invite – and there was a whole group from the seminary that we invited to the wedding ceremony at the church, but not to the reception.

We human beings usually do work from a sense that there are limited resources. If we're going to invite this person, then someone else is going to be left out. Not just with weddings, but in so many other ways. We see it in the ways people talk to each other about politics and economics and immigration and a host of other topics. If one person is to be a have, then someone else ends up being a have not.

We even do it in the spiritual realm. We get this sense that there's not enough room for everyone, or that some people are more worthy of being part of God's kingdom than others. That's part of what's going on underneath this parable Jesus tells in the gospel this morning. This is still part of the on-going confrontation between Jesus and the Pharisees and other religious leaders. I forget at this point what round we're in – and we've got at least another to come next week. But remember, in the timeline of the Bible, this is Holy Week. We're fast approaching the climax of all of these events in the last days of Jesus' life, and everything is heating up. The Pharisees have been pushing Jesus about who is he and what authority he has to be coming in and messing up their system and their ideas and teachings about God – and Jesus has been pushing them right back. And part of what he is pushing back against is their preconceived notion that they have the direct line to God, that the laws and rules and rituals they depend on and teach others will be what gets them invited to be a part of God's kingdom. They think that because they are stingy in their invitations that God must be too. Their way of thinking implies that God's resources are limited, that God's love is limited.

And so Jesus tells this parable to shake them up, to shake them out of that line of thinking. He wants them not to rely so much on what they think they know and instead open their minds to a new understanding, a new experience of who God is.

“The kingdom of heaven,” Jesus says to them, “may be compared to a king who gave a wedding banquet for his son.” The king has great joy in this day, long-planned and prepared for. The save-the-date cards had gone out; now everything is ready – the hall is decorated, the food is cooked to perfection, the band is warmed up and ready to go – “Come to the party!” the king says. There are those who refuse to come – they're too busy, they have more important things to do.

The party is still ready and waiting, but in order for there to be a party, you need to have guests. And so what does the king do? He sends his servants out into the streets, with this instruction, “Invite everyone you find to the wedding banquet.”

Invite everyone you find. Well, they may be the B list, but it's certainly not the way Andy & I treated the B list. Even with openings in our invitations, we still had to be careful how many additional people we invited. But the king says, Invite everyone you find!! Fill the hall to overflowing – there's more than enough room, more than enough food, more than enough drink.

That's what we see Jesus doing throughout the gospels – always going out and inviting everyone he saw, always crossing the line to invite the B-listers – and the C-listers, and the D-listers – and as far down the alphabet you wanna go – the way Jesus lived and treated everyone he met showed that his Father's banquet table had enough room for everyone. Everyone is invited. We think that God operates out of the same limited resources that we have, but God's love does not have limits! God's love is infinite. God's love expands to all, beyond our wildest dreams and expectations, certainly beyond our longest guest-list. The invitation to be part of God's party is open to everyone – you just need to come, and put on God's wedding robe of grace and mercy and forgiveness.

The banquet is ready! Ya'll come!


Amen.