Sermon 26 Nov 2023 - Steven Lottering

The speaker starts by sharing funny excuses parents have given to teachers. Then, they introduce a parable from Matthew 22 about people making excuses to not attend a wedding feast. The parable is an illustration of how many are invited but few respond. The speaker explains that Jesus' life and teachings show that all are chosen, but many choose to opt out. The parable also highlights the inclusive nature of God's invitation, as both good and bad are invited. The speaker emphasizes that the parables should not be taken literally, but rather understood in the context of Jesus' conflict with religious leaders. They conclude by discussing the significance of the wedding robe symbolizing acceptance of God's gift and the invitation for all to be part of God's family. Just before we turn to our scripture reading, I came across some excuses that were given to teachers, and these are apparently real notes written by parents to teachers. The first one says, Dear school, please excuse John from being absent on January the 28th, 29th, 30th, 31st, 32nd and also the 33rd. Another one says, Please excuse Brian for being, it was his father's fault. It's always the father. Please excuse Sarah for being absent. She was sick and I had her shot. Sally won't be in school a week from Friday. We have to attend her funeral. Maybe that was the one that got shot. Please excuse Jennifer for missing school yesterday. We forgot to get the Sunday paper off the porch. When we found it on Monday, we thought it was Sunday. I guess we're all good at making excuses at some point in life. The parable that I want to share with us this morning, taken from Matthew 22, 1-14, speaks about people who make excuses to not attend a wedding feast, which is a picture of something else, but we'll get to that in a few minutes. Let's turn to Matthew 22, verses 1-14 first. Jesus again used parables in talking to people. The kingdom of heaven is like this, he said. Once there was a king who prepared a wedding feast for his son. He sent his servants to tell the invited guests to come to the feast, but they did not want to come. So he sent other servants with this message for the guests. My feast is ready now. My bullets and prize cards have been butchered and everything is ready. Come to the wedding feast. But the invited guests paid no attention and went about their business. One went to his farm, another to his shop, while others grabbed the servants, beat them and killed them. The king was very angry. So he sent his soldiers who killed these murderers and burnt down their city. Then he called his servants and said to them, My wedding feast is ready, but the people I invited did not deserve it. Now go to the main streets and invite to the feast as many people as you can find. So the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, good and bad alike. And the wedding hall was filled with people. The king went in to look at the guests and saw a man who was not wearing wedding clothes. Another translation is, not wearing his wedding robe. Friend, how did you get in here without wedding clothes, the king asked him. But the man said nothing. Then the king told his servants, tie him up hand and foot and throw him outside in the dark. There he will cry and grind his teeth. And Jesus concluded, many are invited but few are chosen. Thanks be to God for this word to us. Friends, just before I continue I just want to say that parables are not meant to be taken literally. They are stories that Jesus uses to illustrate something and he often uses exaggeration. And so we must be careful not to take this literally but to seek to unpack it. But before I get there, just another story about a new family that moved into the neighbourhood. And of course the folk of the Methodist church decided to reach out to the family. So when they arrived at the doorstep they were surprised to find that the family had 12 children. And for the most part they were poor. They invited the family to church and said goodbye. Later that week the church responded to their need. They delivered a package to the family and said, we want you to know that you and your entire family are welcome at our church any time. We brought you these gifts and we want you to feel comfortable and at ease in our congregation. We hope that you can use these. And they left. The family opened the package to find 14 suits of clothing. Beautiful clothing for every member of the family. Sunday came and the congregation waited for the family. And they waited and waited. But the family never showed. Wondering what could possibly have happened, after lunch they returned to the home. And found the family just getting back, all dressed up in their new clothes. We don't mean to be nosy, but we'd like to know what happened, they said. We had hoped to see you this morning in church. The father spoke up and he said, well we got up this morning intending to come, and we sure do appreciate your invitation. But after we showered, shaved and dressed, wow we looked so proper that we went to the Anglican church. Many are invited, but few respond. Many are invited, but few respond. I think that's at the heart of what Jesus is saying. In fact, I'd like to add that I believe that Jesus' life, death, resurrection, everything about Jesus says in fact that all are chosen, but many opt out. That's what happened. Those that were chosen decided not to go. And so the wedding was open to all who wanted to come. Even those who would not normally have been invited were welcomed into the wedding banquet. In order to understand the parable a little bit more, I think it's helpful to understand a bit of the context of that time in particular. Because Jesus was using very real stories that people would have been able to relate to. But 2,000 years later and so many miles away from where this originally happened, we may not understand fully the context. So we need to note firstly that it was custom in those days to invite people to something as important as a wedding banquet for a king's son. You would send out those invitations months before the time. You'd send out the invitations very early. And so to opt out when you receive an invitation to something as important as that so early would not only be silly, but it would actually be very rude. Then secondly, we need to notice that what was not customary was for the person throwing the banquets to offer a second chance. In fact, the king here in the story that Jesus tells sends his servants again and it's almost as if he's begging the people to come. And now we notice that not only do they opt out of the invitation, but in fact some get violent and kill the servants. We recognize that God's grace always goes beyond the ordinary. And I think that's one of the first things we need to note. We then see that because those who were invited didn't respond, that the king says, go and invite everybody you find. All are invited. In fact, we're told that good and bad alike are invited. You see at that particular time, Jesus was, if you look at the context of the parables that Jesus was telling, he's telling them in the context of, he's having a conflict with the religious leaders of the day. The scribes and the Pharisees, the religious leaders. And he has this conflict and he tells these stories in that context. So we really need to read these. They're not parables that are meant for everybody. They are, but more specifically, they're aimed at those religious leaders. You see, God chose a nation. God chose a person, Abraham, to build a nation that would be a light to the world. A light to all the nations. So the idea was God set apart a group of people so that they would in turn bring everybody to God. But time and time again, the chosen people failed in their task. And the whole Old Testament is full of stories of the people of God failing time and time again. Ending up in exile. The temple destroyed. The city of Jerusalem destroyed. And always God forgets. And gives them another chance. And another chance. And another chance. Jesus sends the prophets over and over again. And many of the prophets were ignored or killed. So I think that is the context of the parable. And then Jesus comes. The Son of God himself comes. And the invitation through Christ's life is to all people. Good and bad alike. Jesus doesn't discriminate. Jesus is in fact criticised by those very same religious leaders for joining with tax collectors, prostitutes, Samaritans who were considered to be the enemy, the evil ones. Not the good. And yet Jesus spends time with these people. Sinners, irreligious people, Gentiles, even people with physical or mental disabilities were not allowed in the synagogue. So that the people who were meant to be a light to the nations, welcoming all into the synagogue, into God's presence, so to speak, symbolised by the synagogue and the temple, were now putting up barriers and saying, no, you're not welcome. So once again, they had missed the point. But in Christ, all are invited. All are invited. And not only are all invited, but all are given new clothes to wear, so to speak. And that's where the second part of the parable comes in. You see, it was custom again in that time, and you see examples of this in the Old Testament, that the king or the host of the banquet would provide clothing, a robe, so that people didn't feel like they had to dress up and they couldn't compare themselves with one another. The king provided clothes. Everybody could come to the feast, just like in that story that I told at the beginning, where the Methodists gave clothes so that people didn't feel embarrassed coming to church. But they looked so good that they went to the Anglican church. But that was the custom of that time. And so what we see happening here is, when the guy is found at the wedding feast without the wedding robe, it means he's rejected the gift. He's rejected the gift. Just as so many others are invited, just as all are invited, but many opt out. That's what this person did. But the reality, I believe, if we try to understand this for ourselves, is that all of us have been invited into God's family. Through Christ, all are invited into God's family. This morning we celebrate some folks who are committing themselves to that publicly, to coming into God's family, to which they already belong. But they're making an outward display of that. And we need to recognise that when God invites us, God renews and cleanses us. We are a new creation. See, that's the clothing, so to speak, that God gives us. God clothes us with new garments. But they're not real, they're not clothes, they're not outward clothes like this. We are to be clothed, and we are clothed, in the righteousness of Christ. We are clothed with the life of Christ, so to speak. John Wesley said that the righteousness of Christ is the sole qualification for salvation. The righteousness of Christ. Not our own, that's the gift. The gift that we're given. The clothing that we're called to put on, the robe that we're called to put on. But the choice is ours. Will we accept the gift, and will we live that gift out? Or will we reject it, as so many did? When we accept the invitation, we accept a whole new way of living. And here I'm not only speaking to those who respond to the invitation this morning, but to all of us. As we respond to the invitation to join God's family, to be a part of God's love, to extend that love to the world, we accept a new way of living. God doesn't just invite us to a once-off banquet. God invites us to become a part of God's family. To always enjoy the banquet. And when we accept that gift, we also accept the responsibility that goes with that. We are now children of God, and we should live as such. William Barclay said, grace is not only a gift. Grace is a grave responsibility. We have a responsibility to live out the life to which we are being invited, if we accept that invitation. There's a story told about a fisherman called Aaron. Aaron lived on the banks of a river, walking home with his eyes half-closed one evening after a hard day's work. He was dreaming of what he could do if he were rich. We've all had those dreams, right? As he walked along, his foot struck against a leather pouch filled with what seemed to be small stones. Absentmindedly, he picked up the pouch and began throwing the pebbles in the water. When I'm a rich man, he said to himself, I'll have a large house. And he threw another pebble into the river. My wife and I will have servants and rich food and fine things. And he threw another stone into the river. And this went on until all the stones, until he had one stone left. And as Aaron held the stone in his hand, a ray of light caught it and made it sparkle. And he realised suddenly that he wasn't just throwing ordinary stones away, but valuable gems. He was throwing away the very real riches in his hand. While he dreamed about an unreal vision of the future. Unreal riches in the future. He had what he needed in his hand. But he was dreaming about something that was unreal. How many of us respond to the invitation to God's life by giving ourselves fully to God? You see, this journey that we're on is not, and the commitment that these folks make this morning, is not just to a church, a building. It's not just to coming to church once a week for an hour, and if the service goes on a bit too long, we get ready and see. The commitment that we make when we choose to respond to the invitation to God's life is to live our whole lives differently. And to use the gifts that we've been given to allow others to experience God's life. So that all can be welcomed in to the reign and life of God. Someone once put it this way, Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a car. Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than going to a garage makes you a car. You see, it's more than committing ourselves to this as we see it. We commit ourselves to the fullness of the life of Christ offered to us all. And with that, I want to close off with some words from Philippians chapter 4 and verses 8 to 9. In conclusion beloved, fill your minds with those things that are good and that deserve praise. Things that are true, noble, right, pure, lovely and honourable. Put into practice what you learnt and received from me. Both from my words and from my actions. And the God who gives us peace will be with you. Now I don't pretend to say, as the apostle who wrote this said, put into practice what you've learnt from me. Because it's not about me, it's about Jesus. And Jesus offers us the invitation to become a part of God's family. And with that comes the responsibility to live differently and to extend God's love to all those in need. Especially, Jesus talks about elsewhere, the least of these. Those that are often considered not worthy. Those are the ones that we are invited to share God's love with. And so we've all been given a gift. And we have to choose what we're going to do with that gift. Let's pray. Gracious and loving God, we give you thanks for your gift of life. Fully given through Christ our Lord. Through his life, death, resurrection and ascension. As we respond to your gift of life, to the banquet feast that that represents in so many ways. We pray that you would continue to work in and through us to extend your love to all people. We pray today for our world. May empty tables be filled. May dry wells overflow. May the lost be reconnected and the outcast be invited to the feast. May wars end and peace prevail. We pray today for our nation. God, our leaders. God, our children. Protect all those most vulnerable. We pray for those impacted by fire and floods. Signs of a changing climate. And we pray for all those who put their lives at risk to assist others in emergency situations. We pray for our church. For our leaders in every denomination. May they find ways of raising up what we hold in common so that together we may be the church in action. We pray today for ourselves and each other. And in the quiet we bring the names of those most dear who need help and holding. Guide us, source of love, to wear your garment of grace. To see the face of Jesus in the people we meet. And to participate in the work of the Spirit as she brings wholeness and hope. We pray all this in Jesus' name as we commit ourselves to choosing the life he gave for us and sharing that gift with others. Amen.