From our Gospel lesson we hear the following, “But they made light of it and went away, one to his farm, another to his business, while the rest seized his slaves, mistreated them, and killed them. The king was enraged. He sent his troops, destroyed those murderers, and burned their city.” Wow okay such a warm, fuzzy, and inspiring Word of God. I know what I will do, I will chose to preach on the Old Testament lesson from Isaiah. “For you have made the city a heap, the fortified city a ruin.” Okay well that did not give me the inspirational and uplifting message I wanted to preach. I know I will go to the New Testament lesson. Surely that will be positive in approach and word. “for they have struggled beside me in the work of the gospel.” Let me try the psalm, surely there is good news there. “Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death.” So now perhaps I should have chosen track one instead of track two for this week.
Okay God very funny. All of the words we read this morning are not about the Good News. Where do I find the positive message to preach this morning? Rage, struggle, destruction, killing, valley of death. Fine, alright God what are you trying to do to me this morning? These people expect me to find a positive message. I read and reread the scriptures this morning and nothing, absolutely nothing. Fine, okay just fine, I dare you, God, to show me the message I am to preach this morning. I dare you…I dare you…I dare…
Wait, tell me what child, what person can refuse a dare? Maybe a few. How about a double dare? Even fewer. What about a triple-dog-dare? None. Often a great deal of puffing up and razzing, accompanies a dare, but by the time the goading gets to a triple-dog-dare, there can be no backing down.
For the third Sunday in a row, Jesus seems to be purposely goading the chief priests and elders of the people into angry retaliation for his words. Jesus is relentless in the message of these parables because of what is at stake: living in the “kingdom of heaven,” that is sharing in the divine wedding feast. Actually, Jesus is purposely goading all of us – not to angry retaliation in response to words, but to change our lives so that we might embrace Life itself. “Many are invited.” Only those who respond “are chosen.”
Jesus issues each one of us a triple-dog-dare. This dare we cannot refuse. We are to embrace conversion of life and choose to believe in Jesus and come to the wedding feast. We are all invited guests. Sometimes, though, we do refuse the invitation, like those in the parable, invited to the wedding feast of the king’s son. Despite Jesus’ goading, we sometimes refuse the dare and say no to the invitation.
The scandal of the refusal of Jesus’ invitation indicates why sin, the refused invitation is a metaphor for sin, is so damaging. Both the sin of those to whom Jesus is speaking in the gospel and our own sin. We, too, are invited to God’s feast because we share in a loving and covenantal relationship with God. Sin is our refusal to share in God’s feast and Life, and this refusal, damages our own relationship with God as well as with each other. A refused invitation is not simply a missed opportunity for a fine banquet. A refused invitation is a weakening in the relationship between host and guest. Like the wedding feast the king puts on for his son, God’s banquet will be served, too, and places are already reserved for us. Will you come? Will we accept the divine triple-dog-dare, to live in such a way that one day, we will share in the fullness of Life God offers and sit forever at the eternal wedding banquet of love?
Even when we refuse to come, God continually sends out invitations to us. God is relentless in calling us to live in the “kingdom of heaven” and participate in the divine wedding feast. This reminds us how much God wants to share in the divine Life and salvation with us. God sent the only Son to live among us and bring us salvation, even at the risk of the Son being killed. God’s banquet of Life is worth any cost to God. It ought to be worth any cost to us.
We are invited, for example, to the Eucharistic feast every Sunday. We come, but do we truly participate in this banquet? We are invited to a feast of generosity, our Journey to Generosity, through many opportunities to share our gifts with others. Do we willingly donate time, energy, resources to others? We are invited to a feast of relationships with family, workplace, neighbors, and friends. Do we share our values and spirituality with others? Which is the feast we choose? Will we come?
We can be so busy making a living, that we fail to make a life. We can become so obsessed with organizing life that we overlook the essence of life itself. God has invited each of us to the Son’s wedding feast – the fullness of God’s life in the resurrection. The only obstacle is our inability to hear and respond to the invitation, amid the noisy activity that consumes our time and attention.
I have to admit in my own spiritual walk, the wedding banquet I choose to feast at is filled with people I admire. People like Bishop Michael Curry, Henri Nouwen, Bishop Steven Charleston, and the Saint Francises of the world. Yet the same God who called each of them to their work, calls us to do the same. We are at a wonderful place here at St. Luke’s. We are growing spiritually, emotionally, and yes numerically. To do the things we feel God is calling us to do, means that we need each one of us to participate in the ongoing proclamation of the good news. That means we need each and every one of us, giving of our time, energy, and resources. We have started our Journey to Generosity in our commitment to this wonderful place. My prayer is that we will all take up the invitation by stepping up and making a serious commitment to this place we call our spiritual home. We need each and everyone to accept the invitation to be an active part of St. Luke’s.
The parables of the king’s wedding feast and the wedding garment, confronts us with the reality that we cannot be Christians without conversion. We cannot come to the feast of heaven while remaining indifferent to the empty plates before so many of the world’s children. We cannot love the God we cannot see, if we cannot love those we can see. The question posed by today’s gospel and the other readings, is how we respond to the invitation with excuses? Well we do not have enough money or people? With rationalization? Well we cannot do that cause we have never done that before. With refusal? Well we surely cannot do that because its too difficult. Every one of us – saint and sinner, faithful communicant and lost soul – are invited by God to be God’s guests at the banquet of heaven.
In answer to the questions above, let me repeat the question posed by today’s gospel and the other readings, is how we respond to the invitation with excuses? Well we do not have enough money or people? With rationalization? Well we cannot do that cause we have never done that before. With refusal? Well we surely cannot do that because its too difficult. All we have to do is accept the invitation God has offered and continues to offer. Give of our time, energy, and yes our financial resources, and yes that means all of us. St. Luke’s we can do this. We can do the things God is calling us to do. I challenge each of us to let the vision set the budget, not the budget set the vision. I triple-dog-dare us! Amen.
Ramblings of RevTigger 