Sermonhelp.Com | Full Text Sermon | Discussion and Reflection on the Texts | Worship Helps | Sunday October 10,
1999 ~ 20th Sunday after Pentecost Anatomy of a Spiritual Disaster Local customs and practices can be a shock to newcomers. I recall coming from a church in the Eastern United States to serve a parish in the Midwest. In my Eastern parish, most people who were invited to a couple's wedding reception would also come to the church for the marriage ceremony. At the first wedding I officiated at in my new Midwest parish, there were at least three times as many people at the wedding reception as there were at the church for the ceremony. "I didn't realize so many people were invited," I said to the groom's father, "And there are so many at the reception." His response was one of those culture shocks. "Oh -- nobody goes to the church around here." The matter of fact way in which he responded almost added to the shock. Personally, I have never grown used to the custom of non attendance at the ceremony, while showing up for the party. I still think it's tacky. Maybe even insulting. *** Jesus' parable about the King who gave a wedding banquet for his son goes to the question of insulting God. And once again, the parable is directed at the religious leaders of Israel. This is the third of three parable which Jesus aimed at the chief priests, elders, Sadducees, and Pharisees. Here are the critical points Jesus is making -- three issues that strike at the core of the disaster that has become the spiritual heart of the religious leadership of the day.
In brief: "You are not doing God's will!" "You are not producing anything worthwhile for God!" "You are rejecting God's gracious invitation!" Takes no genius to figure that all of this is causing the religious leaders to get up on the wrong side of the bed. If they have their way, Jesus will pay with his life for this. They will have their way! *** There are some serious questions emerging from these three parables that beg asking in our personal spiritual lives and in our life together as a congregation.
Here's a thought that gives me pause as I desire to quickly answer all of these questions in the affirmative. How important it is to us to feel that we are doing God's will, living fruitful lives in God's eyes and especially that we are receiving of God's invitation to live in relationship to Christ. But -- it strikes me that the chief priests, elders, Sadducees and Pharisees all considered themselves very much on the positive side of these questions! How much more wrong could they possibly have been? Jesus says they are insulting God! A child's question might help us get a bit closer to understanding how this could all come about. Most of us who have children -- or even nieces and nephews -- will one day have to give an answer to some form of the question. "If Jesus was so good, why did they kill him?" The standard answer of how it is that there are bad people in this world and bad people wanted Jesus killed does not really hold water. The religious leaders of Israel were not "bad" people in the traditional sense at all. They did not rob, rape, plunder and murder. They would not cause our property values to drop. Most ordinary folk thought of them as "good" people. Really good people. The child's question forces us beyond the surface and plunges us into the depths of the human heart. The fact is -- we would rather see the source of difficulty as being "out there" instead of "in here." It is the ability we develop early on to pitch the "blame game." Have you ever experienced the child who is actually caught with his or her hand in the cookie jar and still manages to say it is "brother's" fault? Jesus penetrated the surface and went to the core of the leadership's heart. They had become filled with self and emptied of God. It is something that can happen to any of us, but it is an especially hazardous thing for those in religious leadership -- clergy and lay leaders alike. We can be so busy on behalf of God that we are too busy for God! Here's the "killer" fact of this strange thing of being involved in religious undertaking. When we are too busy for God because we are so busy on behalf of God -- our "busyness" becomes "business" and our relationship with God is subtly turned into a rationalization for our personal agendas. [Go over this again -- slowly -- and give it some thought before you say it. Your message may take an entirely different turn when you process this personally!] The result is "religion without relationship" and talking "about" God instead of talking "to" God. The horror of all this is that the closer we imagine we are to God, the further away we get. What was once about God turns out to be about me. And just let somebody tell us that all of our energy and work is devoted to the opposite of what God really wants. This is tough stuff to look at -- especially if I look at it in the mirror. *** Is there any sense at all in which you can relate to those religious leaders who thought themselves so close to God? I think I can. I try to imagine myself backed into a corner by Jesus and having him point out that everything I thought was my best spiritual stuff turns out to be worthless. The Apostle Paul knows what it is like to have to admit that his best religious efforts were nothing but "rubbish." Those are his actual words in our epistle reading for today. Here's the power center of the texts for today. Paul admits that his religious efforts were worthless. He then says he has given up everything he once counted as so very important religiously so that he could know Christ -- so that he could know the power of being in relationship with the One who had risen from a grave. This was the stuff of life -- not the old way he had valued so highly. Paul's key? Relationship with God comes before religion about God. God invites us into a relationship with Christ. That relationship is represented as a banquet given by a king in our gospel reading. In other words -- a relationship with Christ is a life long, and even eternal reality filled with joy. The bible always represents the kingdom of God as a celebration. I am invited to this celebration. You are invited to this celebration. Shall we tell God we are too busy to attend? Shall we tell the Lord of life that we have other plans for our living that do not include God? That is to say, shall we insult God? *** Jesus comes and calls us to look carefully at our relationship with God. If we are attentive, we discover that the incisive questions have disturbed our complacency. A prayer comes to mind. "Lord, help me to choose your will, to be fruitful for you in my living and to choose your invitation to a relationship with you." And then there is one last detail. There is a guest at the wedding feast who shows up without a wedding garment. Not only is he excluded from the wedding reception. He is thrown out into an "outer darkness" of horror. What a strange twist in the story! But an important twist. All of us have been invited into a relationship with the Living God. It is a relationship the bible describes as a feast or a banquet. It is all about hope, joy and love. It is a relationship we would very naturally choose if we understood the invitation at all. But -- this is no small thing. This is not a "take it or leave it" offer. This is the Lord God of this Universe calling out to us to attend the celebration! The garment we need to wear is the garment of acceptance, humility and obedience. We accept the invitation to life. We humbly agree that God's way for our living is better than anything we can come up with. We bring our lives in line with God's desire to grow Christ like qualities in us. In other words -- we "put on" the wedding garment. And why would we not? Even this garment is a gift of God's love and grace. "Many are called, but few are chosen," Jesus said. The chosen are those who look carefully at their inner lives and decide to reach out and embrace the love and grace of God. Remember the words of the groom's father I told you about at the beginning of this message? "Oh -- nobody goes to the church around here." The people in Jesus' parable have said, "Oh, nobody's going to the wedding feast -- we're all too busy." Sometimes, I look over the landscape of our religious freedom in most of Western culture and think to myself. "People are sure busy these days. It's so hard to find time for family, friends, husband, wife..." and I wonder, "Is it possible that I -- that we -- could find ourselves among those who are too busy to attend the feast of God? Too busy for a relationship with God?" I can hear the people in Jesus' story saying things like, "Oh, don't get me wrong. I love the King! I think he's a great king and I sure appreciate the fact that the king is always there when we have a need. And if I just wasn't sooo busy, I would love to go the the wedding feast -- you know how it is!" And you know something? I am afraid sometimes that I do know how it is -- all too well. And then I pray that God will mercifully keep me -- keep us from declining a wonderful invitation to the joy of kingdom celebration! Discussion and Reflection on The Texts Connections in the Texts It was Tielhard de Chardin who said, "Joy is the most infallible sign of the presence of God." A wedding is a time for joy and an invitation to the wedding banquet of a son of royalty would be an occasion for great joy. What a wonderful thing to be invited to celebrate with the royal family! Isaiah points to the eschatalogical hope of the "feast" that God will bring about when all the divine plans are brought to fruition. The feast is a celebration of the elimination of oppression and all that is wrong. Paul's contribution to the discussion focuses on the qualities that are to characterize our lives in light of the fact that we are destined to share in the feast of God. Rejoice! While Isaiah portrays the feast in physical terms of a great feast, Paul lifts up the spiritual-emotional terms of kingdom fulfillment -- "the peace that passes understanding." Likewise the 23rd Psalm speaks of a life of peace and tranquility where the Great Shepherd is in charge. The texts could be blended into a great discussion of Holy Communion or Eucharist as the central experience of the people of Christ who affirm the joy of the banquet and the certainty of the victorious outcome of the Divine intent. While there is a somber note to the Lord's Supper, there is the promise of fulfillment and joy in the kingdom of God. Jesus declines to partake of the bread and wine at that Last Passover, but says that he will eat and drink with his disciples "new in the kingdom of God." [Mk.14:25 & Lk.22:16] If you decide to take these texts in this direction, a good theme would be, "Eucharist is a Certain Promise of Joy." Matthew One of the issues this parable addresses is the danger of a cavalier attitude toward our relationship with God. Some years ago, a man in the congregation made a comment that went along the lines of, "The Jews rejected Jesus, so the Lord made the church God's people instead." Meanwhile, I could name very few people who took the notion of church membership and worship more lightly. He had an attitude that said, "I'm a member of the church and that means I am okay with God." If he was busy sailing -- he had no time for "the banquet". He is easy to target because there is nothing subtle about his attitude. Yet, I become a bit uneasy when I ask the text to crawl deeper into my attitudes and assumptions. One of the ways Matthew helps me to examine my relationship with Christ is to take me to the mirror and ask, "How much like a wonderful celebration -- a royal wedding feast -- is my relationship with Jesus Christ!" Make it clear to your listeners. "People -- we've been invited to a royal celebration!" Isaiah The beginning of the text reminds one of the Psalms. It is a prayer of thanksgiving. Within this psalm-like beginning, there is a theme that resounds throughout scripture. "You have been a refuge to the poor, a refuge to the needy in their distress." One of the tests of God's people in the judgment is whether they were attentive to the poor. [Matt. 25:35] In Luke's gospel, Jesus begins his ministry with the affirmation that he has been sent to bring good news to the poor. [Lk.4:18] This speaks to the invitation God issues in Matthew's parable. Finally, God invites all those who were not on the original invitation list. The poor, the outcast, the rejected and despised will be at the feat. The words of Isaiah 53:3 come to mind... even Messiah is "despised and rejected of men..." The vision of Isaiah 25:6-9 is one of the wonderful "fulfillment" passages of scripture. The victory of all that is right over all that is wrong provides the central drumbeat of hope throughout scripture. Verse 8 will be picked up once again in the book of Revelation when the vision of fulfillment is complete. The words are spoken countless thousands of times each year over the graves of persons we lay to rest in hope. "And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away." [Rev. 21:4] Philippians One of my favorite themes of all time on this passage is contained in a full text sermon on a part of this passage. You will find it at: "Antidote for Anxiety" One of the ways you could go this week is to use the Philippians passage and do a meditation of the juxtaposition of the physical and spiritual perspectives of what it means to be in the Kingdom of God. Matthew and Isaiah look to the physical representation of a feast. Paul and the 23rd Psalm focus on the inner qualities of peace and security under the reign of God. Either way -- it is good to know the Lord! Call To Worship (Based on Psalm 23) Leader: Gather us together today O
Lord, A Prayer of Dedication The gifts we bring to You today, Almighty God --
are but the
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