15/10/23
Philippians 4:1-9
Matthew 22:1-14
Good Morning! It is wonderful to finally be with you! Thank you to everyone who has made me feel very welcome since I moved to Charlwood and especially at my licensing service on Tuesday. Many of you will know that I am also the Lead Chaplain of Gatwick and that started this past week too. The plates are already spinning!
Part of moving and starting something new usually involves invitations. My airport email has received a steady stream of invitations to various events and meetings. I have also been extending invitations to the Church Wardens and some key volunteers to meet with me. I did notice that party invitations have been lacking – but that too will be rectified.
When we invite someone to an event, we expect a response. Preferably yes and yet ‘no I cannot attend’ is an acceptable answer. To receive no response is generally unacceptable and often seen as rude. It is often more painful to have our invitation ignored or dismissed than an honest ‘no I cannot’.
Some invitations are more serious than others and have farther reaching consequences. I received a letter this week from the Diocese of Southwark inviting me to participate in a couple of events in the first year of my incumbency. There was a lovely description of one event; I would meet new colleagues and get some core skills training on a residential course at the lovely Diocesan retreat centre. They even have two potential dates to attend, whichever suited me better.
The invitation ended with the following: The Bishop of Southwark has a firm expectation that all new incumbents will attend this programme. This is an invitation with expectation and consequences.
Our Gospel reading this morning is one of those parables of Jesus that is not so easy to understand and certainly less easy to preach about! That does not mean that we can avoid or ignore the bits that we find difficult. The parables of Jesus are meant to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable. This one certainly does. Parables are also meant to show us who God is and who God is not.
Many people would read this parable as God playing the role of the king. Jesus is the king’s son whose wedding it is and the Jewish people are the guests that are invited but do not show up and then get killed for it. The people who are rounded up at the last moment, the unwashed good and bad, are us Gentiles. This understanding, while neat and tidy, flattens this story and avoids looking at what it is really about.
The other problem with this flat reading is what it says about God. Is he really a tyrannical king who kicks out the guests when they turn down his invitation to be killed in the streets while the city burns? I think not! If we believe that God is our loving Father who ultimately wants what is best for us, the idea that He is like this king is wrong.
Where does that leave us?
Jesus is comparing the invitation to the kingdom of heaven to a king who gave a wedding banquet for his son and the invited guests did not come. Maybe we have invited family or friends over for a meal or a party and they did not turn up. Maybe they forgot, or there was a falling out or they got a better offer.
Both of these invitations have consequences; for good and for bad. This is what we do not like. I volunteered as the Police Chaplain for Thames Valley in Slough for the past 5 years. It was a fascinating role! Ultimately the police are dealing with the fallout from the consequences of people’s actions; generally the wrong ones. People resist arrest, do some crazy things not to get caught; all in a bid to avoid the consequences of their actions.
If you invite someone over and they don’t turn up; there are consequences. You have wasted your time cleaning and cooking; you have spent money on food and drink that might go to waste. Likely your feelings will be hurt at the lack of consideration and respect shown. While annoying, these consequences are not life threatening, salvation and eternal life is not at stake.
The consequences to the refusal of the invitation into the kingdom of heaven are far more severe. There is a sense of anger and urgency in Matthew’s story (maybe this is what makes this parable hard to understand). Part of the anger is generated at the beginning of the scene.
The King is throwing a party for his Son, it will be glorious and spectacular, a big celebration, people would beg, borrow and steal to get an invitation. Yet the invited guests do not seem to care about their current and future King. What should have been party time turns into a war zone. This rejection of him is both personal and corporate; they not only reject him but their share in the future nation he represents. The murderous response to the king’s slaves shows the depth and nature of human hostility towards God.
The second point of anger comes out of the sense of urgency in that the banquet is ready to start. The food is on the table and the drinks are poured. There are some cultural considerations here: invitations would have already been sent and accepted. Prior to email invites, calendars and clocks, second invitations to a feast were usual. They took a long time to prepare so it was helpful to be notified again.
The customary second invitation, this time with a specific message, is sent and on this occasion the people would not come. The people will never again get invited to a royal wedding. The invitation has been rejected. Not only do the people not come, they do not care.
The King, however, does not give up. He throws open the invitation to all. It is unconditioned, but it is not unconditional. Consequences remain. Just as the wedding guests must dress in an appropriate way for the feast; repentance and faith are needed to enter the kingdom of God.
In telling this parable, Jesus is warning his disciples against a naïve underestimation of the power of sin. Some people will experience ‘the outer darkness’ for failing to accept the invitation. Throughout the parables in Matthew 21 & 22, Jesus wants his audience that they are in real danger of passing up their chance to share in the kingdom of God. Jesus and the kingdom of God go together and cannot be separated.
If you reject the Son, you reject the Father, the King. Many of those listening to Jesus, like the invited guests, did not want to believe this.
Do you believe this? How are the churches of St Nicholas and Emmanuel handling the invitation to join in the kingdom of God? Are we extending the invitation to both the good and the bad? I ask this both as individuals and worshipping communities. Will we accept it? Will we put on the right clothes and attend?
St Augustine reflected on this passage, ‘the garment that is required is in the heart; not on the body.’
We should consider the words of St Paul in his letter to the Philippians when extending invitations: let your gentleness be known to everyone, do not worry about anything, pray and ask God with thanksgiving.
As I begin my ministry here and at Gatwick, I want everyone to know that they are invited, are welcome. Not only to church but into the kingdom of God. No one is beyond God’s reach or falls so short of Jesus’ love – despite what they may have been told or believe about themselves. I do not want anyone to be thrown into the outer darkness, neither should you.
Let us not be deceived. The invitation is there, we are all on the guest list. We need to be dressed and ready. Ready to be changed into the people God made us to be, ready to celebrate and share in the Good News. The banquet is set and ready. Are we?