Extending the Invitation

Rebecca Sheridan
Sunday, October 15, 2023
Matthew 22:1-14

    What’s the lamest excuse you’ve given to get out of something you really didn’t want to do?  My dog ate my homework?  I’m not feeling well?  It’s my mom’s birthday? I have jury duty?  Last Saturday after witnessing the violence unfold in Gaza, three of my local rabbi friends called me to ask if I would show up to an Interfaith prayer vigil for peace in Israel Monday night. I actually did have something else, but I rescheduled, because when your friends are hurting and scared, you show up for your friends, right?  There were 500+ people at this vigil, and most participants were Jewish.  I was glad that as a Christian pastor, I was there.  But I was pretty disappointed in some of my other Christian colleagues who were invited and didn’t come. I know it was last-minute, but when the Holy Land is at war, saying “I’m sorry, I’m busy,” seems a little insensitive.   
In our busy lives, it can be difficult sometimes to know when showing up is really important.  When we hear Jesus tell this parable, we might think, how could anyone possibly fluff off an invitation to the kingdom of heaven, the wedding banquet that has no end?  Of course, all of us sometimes make up excuses for why we have more important things to do than attend to our spiritual lives or take our commitment to Christ seriously.  Sometimes we might relegate being a part of a church community as just another club or activity we are involved in.  Once again, Jesus causes us to reexamine our priorities today in thinking about how important our faith really is.  
This parable also causes us to rethink not only how we receive Christ’s invitation to God’s heavenly banquet, but how do we participate in God’s kingdom work of inviting others to join us at the banquet?  The king sends his servants into the main streets to invite everyone they find, both good and bad!  Do we limit our invitations to the people we like, or the people we think are “good church people?”  You know, the average Christian invites someone to church once every sixteen years. That is not a very good track record.  Do you count yourself as someone who is a reluctant or shy, very occasional inviter?  If so, it might be worth looking at why you don’t invite folks to church more often.  There may be things about our church that we could improve so that we’d feel more comfortable or dare I say it, more excited, about inviting people, even strangers, to church.  Is there someone to greet a visitor at the door warmly or help them find their seat?  Do people even know which door to enter, or where to go when they arrive?
As a visitor here myself in August, I was pleasantly surprised to have our neighbor behind us help our family find where we were in the worship service and help us know what to expect when going up for Holy Communion. I can tell you, as a visitor to many churches, not many people have the awareness or take the initiative to proactively make guests comfortable.  We have to look at going to church with new eyes, thinking about everything that might be unfamiliar or awkward if someone has rarely if ever gone to church:  flipping around in the hymnal to the bulletin, small pages in the front and large numbers in the back.  When to stand and sit.  What is Holy Communion, can I take it, and what do I do if I take it?  If I want to talk to the pastor or someone else in the church, how do I reach them?  If I want to get more involved, what opportunities are there?  When we are used to church life, we forget how difficult it can be for someone to not only accept an invitation to come to church, but to want to come back.    This parable of Jesus is troubling in some ways because he uses more of the “stick” than the “carrot” motivational approach with threatening words specific to Matthew’s gospel of being thrown into the outer darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth.  There is a lot of violence in this parable that makes us uncomfortable, probably.  The reality is, people are not motivated to engage in a life of faith or come to church because of guilt or fear of damnation much today.  Our second reading from Philippians offers a good counter to Jesus’ more ominous words in the gospel today that as Christians we are motivated to invite and respond to the invitation out of joy, not fear.  “Rejoice in the Lord always, again I will say, rejoice!”  Paul encourages us.  Perhaps our own reluctance to invite others to Christ’s banquet is because we have made to light of Christ’s invitation.  We have missed the joy of worship.  We have forgotten the point of our faith bringing us together, people of all shapes, sizes, colors and backgrounds at the best banquet party ever, a party that even the introverts of us enjoy!  What gives us deep joy in serving the Lord and being a part of a church community?  When we start to answer that question, responding to the invitation positively comes easier, and becoming a joyful inviter of others to God’s banquet becomes easier still.  May we rediscover the joy of serving and praising the Lord, and invite others to see what they’re missing.  Amen.