Loving God, you invite us to come and to worship, to give thanks and to be healed.  Transform our hearts by the power of your Spirit, enabling us to receive you with joy and to live a new life; through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

    Imagine that you are getting married.  The invitation has been sent out to all those who are most important to you: your family and your friends.  However, as your wedding day approaches, you discover that not one of those people is actually going to come.  Some of them are working that day.  Some of them have work to do in their garden or on their farm.  Some of them have bought some large items in Grand Forks and need to go pick them up.  And some of them haven’t given you any excuse at all.  They’re simply not coming.

    However, because all of them have cancelled at the last minute, it’s too late to cancel the caterers.  So what are you going to do?  Can you even imagine going ahead with the wedding and inviting people off the street to come in for dinner?  Can you imagine having complete strangers at your wedding, and some of them coming in and not even being respectful – people who have just been given a free meal?  For most of us, it’s beyond our comprehension that our family and friends might be that rude, let alone complete strangers.  And yet, do we ever act this way toward God?

    In the parable that Jesus tells, it is the insiders that receive the first invitation to the wedding banquet, followed by the outsiders.  For those in the first century, they would have heard echoes of Jews and Gentiles – with the chosen people being invited first, and then the Gentiles.  However, in which group are we?

    Presumably, since we are actually here, we are closest to the second group – the ones who get invited in off the streets.  Yet, I also hear echoes of the first group in the people that I talk to these days.  We invite people (and God invites people) to come and to worship and to join in the feast, and almost everything else seems to be more important.  Sorry - I’ve got a soccer game that day.  Sorry - that’s family time.  Sorry - that’s my only day to sleep in.  Sorry - I’ve got a race that day.  Pretty soon God will be pulling them in off the streets again.

    Yet, for those of us who are here, perhaps we are among the group that has been invited to the wedding banquet and has come.  We are here because of a free invitation – one that we do not deserve but was nevertheless given to us.  We are here because somebody invited us - a family member, a friend, or even a stranger.  Ultimately, we are here because of Jesus, who makes us worthy to come into God’s presence, and who covers us over with his own righteousness and salvation.

    Even so, in spite of God’s free gift, today’s parable brings with it a word or two of warning.  First of all, we are told that people both good and bad respond to the invitation and come to the feast.  Just like in the parable where the weeds grow together with the wheat, there are those in the church who live as though they believe in Jesus and there are those in the church who don’t.  It seems that both good and bad are found there until harvest time.

    As well, there is the seemingly difficult to understand situation where a guest shows up without a wedding robe.  Apparently, even for the ones invited in off the street, there was a little more required than simply showing up.  In those days there was a particular kind of dress - or robe - that was appropriate for a wedding, and even those who couldn’t afford a wedding garment would borrow one from somebody before going. A guest showing up without bothering to get a wedding garment would be entirely disrespectful.

    In the same way, those who are invited into God’s church are expected to repent and to leave their sins behind.  We are expected to clothe ourselves with the righteousness and the new life that Jesus brings, which is freely given to all those who are ready to turn in a new direction and believe in Jesus Christ.  However, it is still the height of disrespect to accept God’s invitation without acknowledging our own sinfulness and looking to Jesus for forgiveness and the power to live a new life.

    The thing is that God not only invites us to the feast, but to a new life.  It is this new life that ultimately leads to the heavenly feast described in Isaiah, where there are no more tears, and there is no more death, and it is time for gladness and rejoicing amidst the wonder of God’s salvation (Isa. 25:6-9).  Yet, even now, we get a foretaste of the feast to come as God’s love and salvation are shared with us in his Holy Supper.  For us, it is bread for the journey in the midst of life’s challenges and a tangible reminder of how much God has done for us through Jesus Christ.  For us, it is an occasion for thanksgiving, or eucharistia.

    For most of us, the simple fact that tomorrow is Thanksgiving Day on the calendar doesn’t necessarily mean that we are in a thankful frame of mind.  Some of us are anxious or worried.  Some of us are fearful.  Some of us are feeling overwhelmed.  Some of us wish we were in better health or were more secure financially.  Some of us see only problems and don’t much feel like being thankful.

    However, no matter what things we might be dealing with at the present time, God steps in through today’s Scripture readings and extends an invitation to us.  God steps in and invites us to the feast and to new life.  God steps in and invites us to pray.  God steps in and invites us to allow him to be our shepherd.  God steps in and invites us to rejoice.  God steps in through Paul’s letter to the Philippians and shows us the value of thanksgiving.

    Essentially, these verses from Philippians give us an alternative to worry.  “The Lord is near” (4:4).  So don’t worry, but pray!  Pray - make your requests known to God - but don’t just ask.  Give thanks!  Why? - Because it affects our attitude.  It affects our confidence in prayer when we give thanks for those prayers that have already been answered.  It affects our perception of how big our problems are when we give thanks for all of the blessings we have received.  It affects our peace of mind and leads to the peace that passes all understanding filling our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus (4:7).

    So, come.  Come, and pray and give thanks.  Come to the green pastures and the still waters.  Come to where the Lord is near.  Come, and repent, and give thanks.  Come, and rejoice and have peace.  Come to the banquet that God has prepared for you.  Come with Jesus, his Son, who purchased your invitation with his own blood.  Come, and receive forgiveness and new life, and live as a grateful member of God’s own family.  Leave your worries and your fears behind, and come, and live a new life.  Come, for you have been saved and redeemed.  Thanks be to God!  Amen.

Lectionary 28(A) / Thanksgiving                        Matthew 22:1-14
October 9, 2011                                Philippians 4:1-9
St. Luke’s Zion Lutheran Church                        Psalm 23
Pastor Lynne Hutchison                            Isaiah 25:1-9

 © 2011 Lynne Hutchison  All Rights Reserved