You’re Invited Matthew 22:1-14
Perhaps you have heard of the family that moved into the neighborhood and the little country church decided to reach out to them. When they arrived at the doorstep the members of the church were surprised to find that the family had 12 kids and were for the most part poor. They invited the family to services and said goodbye. Later that week the church responded to their need. They delivered a package to the family and said, "We want you to know that you and your entire family are welcome at our church anytime. We have bought you these gifts and we want you to feel comfortable and at ease in our congregation. We hope you can use these," and they left. The family opened the package to find 14 suits of clothing, beautiful clothes for every member of the family. Well, Sunday came and the congregation waited for the family, and they waited. The family never showed. Wondering what could have possibly happened, after lunch the members of the church returned to the home and found the family just getting back, all dressed in their new clothes.
"We don't mean to be nosey but we would like to know what happened. We had hoped to see you this morning in church," the leader of the church inquired.
The father spoke up. He said, "Well, we got up this morning intending to come. And we sure do appreciate your invitation. But after we showered, shaved, and dressed, why we looked so proper we went to the Episcopal Church, uptown."
That's a funny way of talking about a serious problem. Invitations are sent to many to come to church but so few people respond. It's frustrating. Many of you have reached out to neighbors or friends and asked them to come to church and you know all to well the disappointment, how few respond.
Maybe that is why we find this morning's parable so familiar.
The Gospel for the day tells it: a man gave a marriage feast and no one showed. He sent his servants out and found everyone too busy. Some even treated his servants badly when they were reminded of their invitation. So he went out into the streets and dragged in anyone who would come, and finally the wedding reception was full.
To those who heard the story from Jesus' own mouth, there was special meaning: The guests who had been invited and didn't come were the Jewish people. They had been invited by God years ago to be his chosen family, and yet when God's son came into the world they turned down the invitation. The result was that God invited those who had not originally been his chosen people, who never even expected an invitation into the Kingdom of God in the first place. The way the writer of Matthew saw it, the consequences of refusing this invitation were terrible. Verse 7 tells how the king sent his army against those who refused. Now, I want to tell you that many scholars argue that particular verse was not a part of the original Scripture and can probably be explained by remembering that Matthew wrote about A.D. 80, just ten years after Jerusalem had been destroyed by the Roman army. The temple was completely razed and the city was leveled.
Disaster had come to those who had refused to recognize the Son of God when he came. But it would be a mistake to simply look at this parable in light of what it said to the people who heard it for the first time. Let's take some time this morning to carefully consider what this Gospel has to teach us in our own lives today.
The invitation that God gives to us is one to a feast as happy as a wedding reception or a rehearsal dinner. The invitation God gives us is a joyous one. It is to joy that we are invited by our king. It is joy that we miss if we refuse and do not attend the banquet. Jesus was the kind of person who often withdrew for prayer and meditation; but a great majority of his ministry was in the "swing of things." He went to wedding receptions. He attended banquets of sinners. He took part in parties that the Pharisees held. Christ broke the dismal, religious laws of the temple and the Hebrew people. He often celebrated with those folks as well as suffered and mourned with them. Jesus never pictured God as a tyrant who had to be appeased by long, sour faces. God is a God of love and of joy.
A woman arrived late for a wedding. As she came rushing up to the door, an usher asked her for her invitation. "I have none," she snapped. "Are you a friend of the groom?" he asked. "Certainly not!" the woman replied, "I'm the bride's mother."
You and I are invited to a wedding feast of joy, and we are the friends of the king. Let's be honest and admit that the things which make us ignore the invitation of Christ aren't always bad in themselves. These people did not go off on some wild or immoral adventure. When Luke tells this same story, he tells us that one person went to check on his real estate, another on his livestock and business, and another had family affairs that kept him away. These are all legitimate reasons for being absent. It is so easy to be busy with the things of earth that we forget the things of eternity.
“Oh, I have to cut back on my giving to the church; my 401-K lost 20% of its value this week.”
“Oh, I just can’t come to church today, I have company visiting.”
“I can’t reach out and feed the homeless; I have too much to do as it is.”
We can become so preoccupied with the things which are seen that we forget the things that are unseen.
We so often tune our ears to the claims of the world that we cannot hear the quiet voice of Christ as He invites us to his banquet.
Probably the biggest competition for our loyalty to church and our Savior and living the Christian life is good causes in the community and in our lives. Good causes but not the best. Our involvement in social groups, in lodges, our recreation, television programs, and even our job, are certainly good reasons for arranging our priorities.
Yet, we can be so busy making our living that we forget to become really involved in the most fulfilling life possible.
It's an easy temptation to give our energy and our cash and our loyalty to the second best cause, rather than the supreme cause which is Christ and his church.
I like this invitation from the King, the invitation we read about this morning, because it tells us very much about the kind of invitation Christ issues to us.
He doesn't try to frighten us to get us to come to the banquet. Rather, he appeals to us with this story of all those who did not come and what they missed because of their refusal. And if we refuse the invitation today, some day we will be heart-sick as we realize what we have missed all those years. We will know then that we have cheated ourselves out of a rich and fulfilling life.
You and I have a great banquet prepared for us. God invites us to come and celebrate with him. The door is open, the invitation issued. We must not allow anything to get in our road. A feast of love and companionship and peace and security is ours. God wants us to have it. He pleads with us to please come.
If you have held back, really not given in, not surrendered to Christ and his church, if so far you've just been a wary spectator – a feast is waiting for you – the banquet is ready.
This invitation isn't just for outsiders and unbaptized and unchurched people. We who have been members of the congregation all our lives are especially invited to finally and completely answer the invitation and come in to the feast in a new committed relationship to our Savior.
This parable says in its last analysis that God's invitation to us is the invitation of Grace. This isn't an awards banquet. Those who were gathered in from the hedges and highways had no claim on the king at all - they could not have, by any stretch of the imagination, expected an invitation. Still less, could they have deserved it. This invitation came to them because the king was a wide-armed, open-hearted, generous, hospitable kind of person. And that's the kind of God who invites us. It was grace which offered the invitation and grace which gathered the people in.
There is a second little parable added to this one to explain the responsibility of accepting the invitation: "The king went in to look at the guests and he saw a man who was not wearing wedding clothes. Friend, how did you get in here without wedding clothes?' the king asked him. But the man said nothing. Then the king told the servants, Tie him up hand and foot and throw him outside in the dark. There he will cry and gnash his teeth.' And Jesus concluded, For many are invited, but few are chosen' " (Matthew 22:11-14).
The first parable tells us about the open invitation to come to the feast, and how we, as Gentiles and sinners who do not deserve It, are gathered in. This parable tells us that it is true that the door is open to all people, but when we come in, we must bring with us a life which seeks to do God's will in all things and in the process, fit the love that has been given us. This kind of gracious invitation is not only a gift, but also a tremendous responsibility. We are told that when we accept his wonderful gift, we must change our lives and work at being worthy of His loving invitation.
This parable has nothing to do with the kind of clothing we wear to church, but it has everything to do with the kind of life we show as an example in the community where we live. When we come into the wedding feast of our God, we must put on the clothing of mind and heart and soul that is responsible and responsive to the gift that has been given us.
When we realize what a gift this invitation to God's kingdom is to us, we too will try our best to ring true. We have been invited to a grand feast of worship today, and as we come, our lives ought to be changed. If we come prepared to worship, ready for prayer, conscious of our sins, then worship will be worship indeed.
I beg you this morning; remove the excuses, give up the reservations, don't hold back any longer. Open your hearts to Christ and say "yes" to the invitation. There is a new and exciting life waiting for you if you'll just come in. It's an invitation to a feast and you're the one invited!
