Invitations

 for First Presbyterian, Inverness

Matthew 22:1-14; Philippians 4:1-9

Out of curiosity, I watched the video of last week’s service, Rev Shane’s sermon on the parable of the vineyard. I agree with him. It would be easy to not preach about the parables that show up in the lectionary this time of year. But, without them, we wouldn’t have the whole story. So, we preachers do our best to bring them to you.

Can you imagine … The future King William of England sends you an invitation to the wedding of his son Prince George. The invitation is all-inclusive and includes airfare, hotel and meals for all the wedding activities. And you send an RSVP saying “no thank you.” That’s pretty unlikely, isn’t it?

But, what if some of your best friends from high school or college invited you to their wedding anniversary party? You weigh the advantages and disadvantages: the need to find a replacement for yourself at the Saturday Church yard sale, the cost of getting there, the hotel stay, the difficulty of air travel lately, the inconvenience of traveling with a walker or a C-Pap, and so forth. By the time you consider all that attending the party entails, you prefer to say “no, sorry, we can’t go.”

And your best friends hear this “No, sorry” from the whole group of friends. But they still want to have a party to celebrate, so they invite the friends they have made in the last year since they moved into the retirement community. These new friends love a party, so they accept the invitation. And the most obnoxious person in the group includes herself in the invitation. She’s loud, she makes fun of everyone in the nastiest way, and she has extreme body odor. Your friends quickly and not so quietly ask this guest to leave.

In the same way, Jesus tells a parable that is a real horror story. It’s filled with invitations and refusals, with violence, and a stunning rejection. And we just don’t get it.  Like many of Jesus’ parables, we don’t quite grasp the point. Sometimes, it’s cultural. We are 2,000 years from Jesus’ time and place and customs. Sometimes, it’s our failure to see the grace Jesus offers. And sometimes, it’s because the target of the story is not us. Or, at least we hope it’s not us.

Many of Jesus’ parables are aimed at criticizing the leadership – the king, the priests, the temple leaders. The ancient covenants and the prophets all emphasize care of the poor, the widows, the resident foreigner, but the leaders are doing their best to get rich and powerful at the expense of the poor folks.

This story doesn’t just happen as Jesus walks along the road on his way from city to city. It takes place in Jerusalem during what we call Holy Week – which probably lasted several weeks in real time. Day after day, Jesus goes to the temple with some of the disciples. Crowds gather, in spite of the lack of TikTok or Facebook notifications. Some come to believe because of his words and deeds. Some are just curious. And some are keeping an eye on him, to catch him in some blasphemy or law-breaking.

Already by this point in Matthew, Jesus has caused a disruption among the money changers and vendors. He has told stories about disobedient sons and violent tenants. He has declined to say by what authority he does what he does. Last week’s reading ended this way: ⁴⁵ When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they realized that he was speaking about them. ⁴⁶ They wanted to arrest him, but they feared the crowds, because they regarded him as a prophet. The leaders are hoping for any excuse to get rid of this guy who won’t stop criticizing them. So, back to the parable …

In this parable, while we are stunned at the violence, we are truly puzzled by the rejection of the guest who didn’t come wearing a wedding garment. I couldn’t find a true description of what this might be. Let’s just make up something – let’s say the wedding guests all were supposed to wear a red shawl. The refusal to wear a wedding garment was considered rude in that culture. This fellow wasn’t wearing even an old, dirty, red shawl.

Just to muddy the interpretation even more … It’s also possible that the verses about the wedding guest and “some are chosen” was added by a later scribe or editor who wanted to emphasize the need to make a choice to follow Jesus, or not.

By now, you are all probably saying to yourselves (or whispering to your neighbor!) that I haven’t said the real reason at all. And you’d be right. You may know this saying, “If you feed them, they will come.”

The real reason is probably that the person came just for the food, not for the celebration. The wearing of the garment indicated recognition of the specialness of the event. And the king noticed, reacted, and had the fellow ejected. “If you are not here to share in our joy and celebration, you don’t belong here!”

This of course does not mean that if you come to worship and are feeling sad or suffering from depression, that you don’t deserve to be here. On the contrary! Those who come to worship despite the way their heart feels know the joy that being in Jesus’ presence offers. We know that we will be supported and hugged – or not! – by the members of our community of faith.

Sally’s brother died on a Saturday. She didn’t sleep that night. And yet, she went to worship on Sunday, because: “Where else would I be?!” One of her close friends hugged her and said, “That’s really (bathroom word deleted).” And Sally cried through the service. She wasn’t there for the celebration, but she was there for the joy being with Jesus and his people brought.

The Apostle Paul has some more thoughts about Jesus and joy. (read Philippians)

Of all the congregations Paul has started, the church at Philippi is the most dear to him. They have helped him several times when he was arrested and in prison. Earlier in this letter, Paul has included an early hymn about Jesus, who emptied himself. He invites the believers to “be of the same mind as Christ.”

In our text, Paul singles out two women, Euodia and Syntyche. It’s true, it has been assumed the women have had some difficulties between them. But what if, instead, he is praising them for the way they are growing in faith and living more closely to the life of service described in the hymn? Can you imagine being singled out for special comment by Paul!? These three people have been particularly helpful in the ministry and he urges Clement to help them even more than he has already.

In this era of the Roman Empire, everyone is expected to worship the Roman gods, including the Emperor – who often declared himself the son of god, or even a god, depending on which guy was on the throne at the time. In about 49CE Emperor Claudius expelled the Jews and the Christian sect of Jews from the city of Rome. The Roman historian Suetonius wrote that Claudius expelled Jews from Rome because they were "constantly rioting under the leadership of Chrestus". Just a few years after the resurrection the Jews and the Christians far from Jerusalem were already, or rather still, having disagreements about who Jesus was.

This is what Paul is referring to: it can be a struggle to be a believer in Jesus Christ.  Even so, they should all rejoice. Reading this verse always reminds me of the song from Handel’s Messiah. I won’t sing – I promise you, you don’t want to hear me – but let those words and the music flow through your minds for a moment. Rejoice, rejoice, rejoice greatly. (If possible, play the music)

What are we rejoicing about? Jesus’ resurrection. Forgiveness. God’s love for all. And the way that love is expressed in our relationships with each other. We share the peace, here with one another. And we share it outside the congregation, with newborns and their mamas; with those moving into new homes; with those who are hungry; with those who need a kind word from someone, and so forth.

And here, Paul helps us live each day as if in the mind of Christ. Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.

It is hard, these days, to always think only honorable, pure, virtuous, etc thoughts. I don’t watch the news a lot; I figure if something happens that I should know about, someone will tell me. I delete 50 text messages a day without reading them. I don’t spend long on social media because I get frustrated. I wish there was a button on my TV to eliminate political ads as soon as I mailed my ballot.

And I try to treat all people as Jesus would, with kindness, respect, love. Which takes us back to the Gospel reading. Did you notice that with the exception of the fellow without the wedding garment, everyone was welcome at the party? The good and the bad – whatever that means? Even those who make it hard for us to think lovely, kind, honorable thoughts deserve just that.

Yesterday there were a series of posts, invitations really, in my Franciscan team messages to be prayerful about the upcoming election. Some are serving as chaplains at poll sites. Some are holding prayer vigils, in person or online. And so, I invite you, too, to be prayerful about the elections. Hold the candidates and the voters and the poll workers and the county elections office in prayer, that this election will be fair, honest, and safe for all.

Please pray with me. Jesus, you invite us to join you, wherever we are, because you are already there. Help us to see you in all people, and to be of one mind with you, giving and serving and loving, just as you did. Amen