Sermon
Matthew 22:1-14 October 11, 2020
Many are Called
We used to think hosting birthday parties and
banquets was challenging figuring out how to invite people and where to seat them
and if we invited enough or the right people. We used to fret over the feelings
of everyone involved worried that someone would feel left out or we would lose
funding if we didn’t seat the right people next to each other.
Parties and banquets in the days of covid have
possibly been as turbulent as this allegory given to us by Jesus in the gospel
of Matthew.
We have this story for us about a king and his desire to host a fabulous party.
This is a striking story told by Jesus according
to Boring’s commentary in NIB, “in which all invited guests to a dinner
party refuse to come at the last minute, so the host rounds up people from the
street to come who find themselves at a party they had never dreamed of coming
to.”
This parable is the climax of a three parable
set. First the parable of the two sons, then the tenants in the vineyard and
now this king and his banquet. This is a parable of instruction in the early
church.
It’s a message for those who have answered the
invitation to the grace given through Jesus Christ. It’s a reminder of the
cost and the hardships that those who choose Jesus will have to face.
In the early church the truth of accepting the
life as a follower of Christ was to risk one’s life. There was no
doubt that the life of the people post destruction of Jerusalem was turbulent,
confusing, full of distrust, difficulties, an upheaval of religion, it was
scary!
Remember the gospel of Matthew was written after 70 AD, after the destruction of the Temple.
The Jews had no central place for faith.
And
Christians were just beginning to figure out their identity.
Life
was hard.
Folks had trouble figuring out who to trust and where to go.
Sometimes in
harsh stories like this it’s troubling to find the message of the love of
Jesus.
Yet, it begins with overt hospitality.
The king
wants people to come to a party that celebrates his son!!
What a gift!
A wonderful
opportunity is laid out for many to come and be in the presence of the Father
and the Son.
And at the
last minute his guests refuse.
And at the
second invitation the guests treat the messengers of the invitation in the same
manner the prophets of the Old Testament were treated as well as the early
church missionaries,
they were
killed for brining good news,
they were
killed for bringing the truth.
This story presents a strong indictment
to those of us who read it even centuries later.
Even though this was written to a specific
group of people in a specific time during a specific traumatic historical
period, it has perhaps, the possibility to place before us this question. “How
might we come to acknowledge specific things in our lives that might indict us?”
(Working
Preacher)
The truth is
that a king who loves his son wants to celebrate his joy with everyone.
How often have we hoped to share our joys with others only to be rejected?
Our heavenly
Father not only wants to celebrate his son with everyone
but wants us to receive this gift and then go out and live it.
Notice how he sends his messengers into the
streets to invite everyone to come-so similar to the Great
commission we will read in Matthew 28.
How do we receive the invitation from God to
come to the banquet?
The invitation is always there and yet,
it is more often rejected than it is received.
In the 10 commandments we hear in the very
first commandments that describes our God “I am the Lord your God, who
brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, you shall
have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether
in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth
beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to
them or worship them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God.” It is no
wonder that the Matthew allegory shows an enraged God of the OT carrying out
wrath at the refusal of his people to love him in return.
It begs the question for we the people of the
new covenant of God’s love in Jesus Christ, how do we embrace our
accountability to the love freely given to us?
Will we
disregard the invitation with arrogance?
Will we
reject the hospitality of our Lord?
Will we refuse to be clothed in Christ?
Even though all sinners and saints have entered
into the house of the king, there is one who still refuses to receive the gift
of identity in Christ and sits there in disdain in the kings own home mocking
him by not donning the robe of his child.
And
so the king has no choice but to throw out the one who mocks him.
One
who mocks,
one
who refuses to be identified with the son
cannot
serve the king
for
the father and the son are one.
You see,
friends, many are called!
From the
beginning of creation God has called us.
God has
never given us the choice.
God has
proclaimed, “You shall be my people.”
And again, in Jesus Christ God proclaimed, “From his fullness we have all received grace upon grace. The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.”
We are not our own.
God has claimed us with a life of purpose. We have a responsibility.
It is time
to accept the truth that many are called.
It is time
to accept the truth that being called is to be loved.
It is time
to accept the truth that you are one of the many that have been called.
Put on
the clothes of Christ.
In these days of covid we’ve found some
fabulous ways to celebrate our Lord with-drive by birthdays, outdoor worship,
virtual communion, painting work days, video Sunday school.
God has not stopped calling many,
let us accept his invitation with our whole lives.
Let us sing the new song of joy and let us
serve with love. Amen.
Rev. Monica Gould
Resources: NIB Eugene Boring; Working Preacher
Matthew Skinner; Feasting on the Word Year A
