Matthew 22:1-10
The Rev. Dr. Robert S. Langworthy, preaching
October 11, 2026
For decades Penn and Teller have been one of the most popular acts in Las Vegas. They are amazing illusionists and very funny. Penn, the taller of the two, identifies as an atheist. Though repudiating Christianity, he finds fault with Christians who do not evangelize, saying that their silence suggests they either hate non-believers or are coldly indifferent to their welfare. For, if they really believe what they say they believe and really care about others as they say they do, they’d feel compelled to speak of Jesus to others. After all, they claim He can do more for folks than anything or anyone else. Thus, when they don’t talk about Him because they find it awkward and uncomfortable, they are not acting like Jesus who made sacrifices for love’s sake, but like narcissists who only think of themselves.
God always opens His heart, His arms, His home to everyone. Like the king in today’s parable, He sends out His servants to invite folks to come to His party and enjoy His extravagant and festive grace.
Many turn down the invitation. Though their declining to join His party disappoints Him, it does not deter Him from reaching out and blessing all who’ll let Him. Despite all the rejection, He remains resolute in His intention to fill His house with good cheer and laughter.
Because His party is not for members only, because His guest list is not exclusive, He keeps sending out His servants, ever further afield, to extend His kind offer to anyone they find. His servants even hit the streets where the prostitutes ply their trade and the gangster boys plan their next shakedown. Persevering in their mission, His servants finally “gathered all whom they found, both good and bad” to pack His house with a mixed bag of humanity – from “choice” top shelf folks to the “dregs of society”, from the impressively virtuous to the shamefully guilty, from the deeply spiritual to the profoundly shallow. The crowd the king ends up with is such that you’d want to count the silverware at the end of the night. I suspect He takes the risk of loss with the hope that, after experiencing His lavish hospitality, some will leave His party different than how they came into it.
The king’s standard for inclusion is nothing but grace. No guest deserves to be there. No guest has a claim on the king’s generosity. Everyone enjoys His largesse as an unwarranted kindness that He gratuitously gives them, whatever their moral quality; and thus many untrustworthy folks have free run of His house – with all its rich luxuries, exquisite furnishings and expensive food. His home is theirs, not by any virtue of their own, but entirely by a virtue in Him alone. His hospitality is an unearned gift offered out of an unrestrained love disproportionate to each one’s loveliness.
Fred Craddock, a Presbyterian and a professor at Emory University, now deceased, noted we can read this parable in any or all of three different ways. First, it can be heard as a description of history. The servants of the king whose invitations are rejected represent the prophets of Israel whose messages were rejected by their people over the centuries. The burning of the city alludes to the destruction of their capital Jerusalem by the Romans in 70 A.D., a disaster viewed then as God’s punishment for the people’s unrighteousness. The extending of the invitation to those off “the street”, those “both good and bad”, symbolizes God’s reaching out even to Gentiles ignorant of biblical ethics.
Second, the parable can be heard as an explanation of the church’s nature as a mixed bag of folks made up of many who’ve been excluded from every reputable social circle, but whom the king chose to treat like family.
Third and finally, the parable can be heard as a warning to the church that it must avoid turning into an honor society more concerned with the celebration of its own than with welcoming those who’ve been turned away everywhere else – whom Luke in his telling of this parable took as epitomized by “the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame” flocking to God’s open house party.
To follow Jesus is to follow in the steps of the king’s servants who, no matter how often turned down, still reach out indiscriminately to invite everyone to the party.
How do we do that? Most importantly, we pray God will give us eyes to see the opportunities He creates to make an invitation, though we can’t presume the right to be so bold until we have earned it by our respectfulness, kindness, integrity, sensitivity and humility.
The first day of a language class for missionaries preparing to serve the Gospel in a Chinese-language culture, the teacher entered the room after all the students were seated. She said not a word as she walked up and down every row, and then silently walked out of the room. Shortly, she returned and asked the class, “Did you notice anything special about me?” No one came up with anything until one student raised her hand and said, “You were wearing a lovely perfume.” The class chuckled. “That’s my point,” the teacher said. “It’ll be a long time before any of you will know Chinese well enough to communicate the good news of Jesus with words. But until you do, you can exude the sweet fragrance of Him by the quality of your life.”
Yes, we never get a second chance to make a first impression; and, yes, people must see what we’re about before they can hear what we’re about. Yet, we can’t expect deeds without words to convey the meaning of the good news. While it’s true that words without deeds are dead, it’s also true that deeds without words are dead. While it’s crucial we demonstrate genuine care for people and self-sacrificial devotion to improving this troubled world, if we never get around to speaking of Jesus, folks might just think we’re better than average people or might take our actions to preach a doctrine of justification by works (that is, of getting right with God by doing enough right things). What matters more than what they think of us is what they think of Jesus because of us. Our works communicate the good news of God’s grace in Christ only if accompanied with words of explanation and invitation.
How do we find the right time and place to speak up about Jesus? By keeping an eye peeled for the chances God opens up and then testing the waters to see what’s fitting and appropriate in the immediate context.
It’s important not to force things and overreach. As we engage in casual friendly chat – say, by marveling over the beauty of the sky while waiting with someone for the pedestrian light to change or by asking if we might help someone with a heavy box at the UPS store – we’re content just to make gentle, non-intrusive human-to-human contact with someone. Who knows where God might take things from there? The ice might be broken and a bridge might be built, and somewhere along the line we might be granted the privilege of sharing about Jesus’ loving grace.
More often than not, people will show no interest in such matters; and many who do will turn down our offer of friendly dialogue about it. But we never want to miss out on a God-given promising moment lest some miss out on the king’s party and all the blessings He lavishes upon His guests.
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