Sermon 10-16-2011                                        (see 09-07-08                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              

Psalm 96:1-9                                                      

 Luke 14:15-24                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     

“An Open Invitation.”

Did you get the invitation?

How did you feel when you were not invited to an event you particularly wanted to attend? Not to happy, I assume!

To whom does God issue invitations?

PRAYER

     In the beginning of the reading of Luke today, Jesus is talking about the Kingdom of God as a wedding feast. A Jewish guest listening to Jesus got excited with the story that: “God will give a great feast to his own people. When he heard about the happiness for those who would be guests at that banquet, he was thinking of the Jews, and of the Jews only, for the average Jew would never have dreamed that Gentiles and sinners would find a place at the feast of God.”

                                                                            ( Barclay, Luke, pg. 192-197)                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              

So he said to Jesus: “Blessed is anyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!!

The Jew found such hope in Jesus’ statement, but again he never thought to include the Gentiles in the open invitation to the kingdom of God. This reminds me of a challenge presented this week in a lecture at ANTS. It’s all about interpreting the words of God, from one’s point of view. The speaker reflected on how in the times of slavery in this country, the masters of the slaves never thought to include the slaves as equals, to the kingdom of God. Eventually some welcomed the slaves while in their churches, outside the church they remained slaves and under their masters’ rules. God’s word can be inclusive or exclusive, oppressive or welcoming. For the masters several scriptural texts backed them to continue the oppression against their slaves. On the other hand, the slaves, found many texts that gave them freedom, and hope in the resurrection of Christ.

We still have those texts, which we value in the context of the story, but that we have put aside due to our reflections on history, experience, equality and justice.

The speaker at the lecture, Dr. Teresa Santiago, a New York daughter of Puerto Rican parents and a Catholic Theologian, posed the question: Are we not using some of the biblical texts today to oppress immigrants? She then pushed it a bit further asking: Are we not using some of scripture’s texts to reject the LGTB community from our lives, families and churches?

Yes, we can find in scripture well known texts to use to reject anyone. Just by the fact that a person does not think or see the gospel in the same way as we do, could be our reason to reject them.

What I believe is that there are still scriptural texts that are of affirmation for those who are rejected, discriminated against and oppressed who find hope in the midst of their struggles. They find a compassionate, loving, caring, merciful, and forgiving God.

Notice that Jesus is clear, “The guests were not to be relatives or rich (friends) who are likely to invite you back, and return the invitation. That is not God’s way. In God’s reign, the poor and those with disabilities, persons forgotten and even rejected (by society) are to be invited to the fellowship at the table. God’s love is compassionate and is extended to reach out to all people through Jesus, who is once again breaking the barriers of society to proclaim God’s (kingdom of) hospitality.” (v.12) (idem)

     God is offering through Jesus Christ, an open invitation to the Kingdom of God. The Jew

Jesus knowing that the Jewish man did not get it tells this parable:                    “In Palestine the custom was that, when a man prepared a feast, the day was announced long beforehand and the invitations were sent out and accepted; but the hour was not announced; and when that day arrived and all things were ready, the servants were sent out to gather the already invited guests. To accept the invitation beforehand and then refuse it when the day came was a great insult. In the parable the master represents for God.

The day of the festivity, the servants were sent out to remind everyone that this was the time and day to “Come, for everything is ready now.” (v.17b)

     But, as the servants knocked at the doors of the invited guests, “they all began to make excuses.” (v. 18a) Can we consider their excuses legitimate?

     The first guest needed to check on his newly purchased land. Obviously for him, that business was more important than the invitation.

     The second guest had recently bought five yoke of oxen and he was going to try them out that day. New possessions can sometimes take up the time that previously had been dedicated to worship, or a new house on the Cape, or a new car, a trip, etc.  The third guest called on had just got married, and he needed to enjoy his time alone with his wife, as this was an important commitment.”

Could the land be checked later? Can that business transaction wait one more day? Can a previous commitment override a feast at The Kingdom of God?

     Are you coming? Do you have a good excuse not to come?

     “The master gets angry at the regretful excuses that the servants brought from the guests.” (idem)                                                                                        Could the land inspection, oxen test-drive or expending time with the new wife have been accomplished later?  It wasn’t like any of the three were going anywhere. The master was not going to let the wrong priorities of others dampen the celebration or cancel his feast.

     “All is ready” the master said, and extending the invitation he sent the servants a second time saying: “Go out at once into the streets and lanes of the town and bring everyone you find into the banquet: the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame.” (v. 21c)

     “God’s inclusiveness for justice and equality for those marginalized and rejected by society as outcasts are now also guests at the table. The message of Jesus “…reached out to despised tax collectors and Samaritans, even to the Roman soldiers who crucified Jesus. It reached out to the put-down women and children, to the poor, and to persons who were physically and mentally challenged.” (The Word and You, year C, p. 3)

     As the servants counted the guests coming they realized that there was still room for more. So a third time the master orders: to go into the roads and the hedges, and compel them to come in, so that my house may be filled. Here God’s invitation is extended to the Gentiles.

We read in Galatians 3:28 that in Christ, “there is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; (and I add, no longer gay or lesbian, no longer immigrant or legal, no longer differently able) for all of you are in Christ Jesus.”    

God is a God of inclusiveness, and that is the basic message of this text.

     If we truly think about this invitation, we are the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame, we are them spiritually, and we are in need of restoration, vision and healing. 

     What is God’s invitation saying to us?

That we are blessed… we are blessed because God’s invitation is for all the people equally without exceptions.

I end with one of my favorites slogans of the UCC. “No matter who you are or where you are in your life’s journey you are welcome here.”

Are you welcomed here?

You are welcomed here and in the Kingdom of God. Amen!

BENEDICTION

In the words of Paul to the Philippians, I will only change rejoice for be blessed

Be blessed in God always; again I say be blessed!

May we go out in the world filling blessed by God’s invitation.

And May the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding,

guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen!