Sermon 15th October 2023 – 20th Sunday after Pentecost
Text: Matthew 22:1-14 – You are invited
Jesus has used quite a few parables in recent weeks to give us a picture
of what the Kingdom of Heaven is going to look like. He used examples of a fine
pearl, a great treasure, a mustard seed, a treasure found in the field, a net
cast into the sea to catch a load of fish. But here we have an imagery of what
life in the Kingdom of Heaven looks like. It looks like a wedding feast. And
what a beautiful image that is. If you’ve ever been to a wedding and a wedding
reception you know how much effort goes in for this to be perfect. This is the
bride’s special day – it has to be perfect. You can’t have a hair out of place.
You have wedding rehearsals to hopefully prevent any last minute uncertainty. The
hair and makeup is started at the crack of dawn. The photographer arrives early
to capture every preparation of the big day.
One of the hardest parts however of a wedding is getting the invitation
list together. Weddings are expensive – a meal you might pay $30 to $50 in a
restaurant can end up around $200. So you refine the list – you have a back up
list so if someone can’t make it you can invite them because you would have
already paid for them. I remember with our son getting married that because of
Covid we were even ringing people the day before the wedding to invite them
because someone had come down with Covid.
In our bible reading we have a King giving a wedding banquet for his
son. It’s hard to imagine that anyone would say NO to a royal wedding - such an
elite invitation yet this is what we find. But not only did they say NO they
got angry at being invited: They made light of the invitation and went away,
one to his farm, another to his business, while the rest seized his slaves,
mistreated them, and killed them. Not wanting the day to be ruined the King
extends the invitation to anyone who is prepared to come. It didn’t matter if
they were on the A list – anyone, good or evil was invited. Through this
parable we see that the King is a gracious King wanting nothing more than to
invite people to his celebration and for some unknown reason his invited guests
reject him.
This is a picture of our world condition. We have a God who loves the
world so much that he sacrificed his own Son for us.
We have a God whose desire is to have all of us live in heaven with him.
We have a God who wants to lavish on us all his love and abundance as John saw
in Revelation: A new Heaven and Earth, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of
heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. Where
there will be no more suffering or death – where nothing evil will ever exist –
and not only do people say no but they become violent and hateful to anyone who
tries to share the Good News with them. Just like how they treated the King’s
messengers who only came to let them know the sumptuous feast was ready for
them: They seized his slaves, mistreated them, and killed them. And yet this is
how we find more often than not the response to the Gospel in the world today.
But we are not to give in but, like the King, continue to go out to the
highways and byways to invite people to experience the joy of heaven. It’s so
hard to understand what is so offensive about an invitation to experience
heaven without anything required and yet that is what Jesus experienced and
what the church continues to experience today. But God is a gracious God and
does not treat us as we deserve. As we see in our Old Testament reading. Despite
all that God has done for Israel at the first opportunity they replace God with
a golden calf. The people demand from Aaron:“Come, make gods for us, who shall
go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of
Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.” Aaron took the gold from them
and cast an image of a calf; and they said, “These are your gods, O Israel, who
brought you up out of the land of Egypt!”
God was furious – he disowned them - let me alone, so that my wrath may
burn hot against them and I may consume them;
But Moses stood between God’s judgment and the rebellious people who had
rejected him. Turn from your fierce wrath; change your mind and do not bring
disaster on your people. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel. And what did God
do?
The Lord changed his mind about the disaster that he planned to bring on
his people. You see, God is not a vengeful God.
So often we read, as we read in today’s Psalm, the qualities of God as,
merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love.
Do you realise both the power and the responsibility that you have –
that the church has – in standing between God’s anger at how the world treats
him and the world. That’s why as Christians and the Church we pray for the
world.
Because, as we see in the parable of the wedding feast there is a time
of Judgment when those who reject Christ will face a judgment without the
covering of Christ’s forgiveness. When the king came in to see the guests, he
noticed a man there who was not wearing a wedding robe, and he said to him,
‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding robe?’ And he was
speechless. Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, and
throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of
teeth.
It’s unthinkable to imagine but there will come a time when all must
face God’s judgment – when every knee will bow and every tongue confess Jesus
Christ as Lord. As we read in Hebrews 9: people are destined to die once, and
after that to face judgment. Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins
of many; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring
salvation to those who are waiting for him.
So let us be like Moses. Yes there is so much antagonism and rejection
of the church but it’s not our place to call down fire and brimstone like James
and John wanted to do when the Samaritans rejected them: “Lord, do you want us
to call fire down from heaven to destroy them?” But Jesus turned and rebuked
them. No, let us be like Moses, praying for them.
Let us listen to Paul who said: Rejoice
in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to
everyone. The Lord is near. Do not worry about anything, but in everything by
prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to
God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your
hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. We can all get passionate and emotional
at times and wonder why people can’t understand that God loves them and offers
them eternal life in heaven. Just like I can’t understand why anyone would have
rejected an invitation to a Royal Wedding. But that’s the reality of Satan
turning the hearts of people against God.
But let us not be deterred from our faith that God can work miracles in
the hearts of hardened hearts. Let us keep valuing whatever is true, whatever
is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing,
whatever is commendable – and keep praying for the world and the God of peace
will be with you.
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