Matthew 22:1-10
The Rev. Dr. Robert S. Langworthy, preaching
March 9, 2025
Last year, Kalina and Shane Pavlovsky planned a dream wedding reception at Oregon’s beautiful Barn at Scappoose Creek. But it ended up leaving them terribly disappointed when, of the 40 guests who had promised to be there, only five showed up. Kalina told a reporter, “It was a feeling I can’t even describe, having to smile and walk [into that nearly empty room].” It was, she said, “The biggest punch [in the gut] I’ve ever felt”.
The couple’s sad entrance into the reception room was caught on video. Partly to process her feelings and partly to show how lovely the venue looked with its white lights and exquisite draping decorations, Kalina posted the video on TikTok where, within the first month, it had 12 million hits, with over 20,000 comments. Kalina added this one of her own: “What did we do to deserve this? Are we bad people? Why couldn’t we matter enough for people to show up?”
I don’t know whether it would console Kalina if she realized it; but now she knows how God feels: the hurt, the sadness, the disappointment – when He throws a party and almost no one bothers to show up.
Toward the end of His earthly ministry, as He faces increasing rejection, Jesus tells this parable: A king throws a party to celebrate his son’s marriage. To it he invites everyone he’d like to think of as one of his oldest and best friends.
Back in Jesus’ day, the dates for weddings and such were not as firm as they are today. So, as a courtesy, it was common practice for a host to notify the guests a second time when everything was ready and the moment had arrived for the festivities to begin.
It turns out that most of the initially invited are making “light of” the event, and have already decided not to take the trouble to attend or even to send their regrets – preoccupied as they are with matters they deem of greater importance, “one to his farm, another to his business”. The king and the joy he wants to share don’t matter that much to them. They feel they have better things to do, and they resent his insisting on a reply. In fact, some of them are so annoyed at having to register their intentions that they mistreat his messengers, and even kill a few – for which evil they get paid back.
Yet, the king is resilient and resolute about having a party that does justice to the moment – and his son. The king refuses to let anyone’s rejection ruin his celebration. So he expands his invitational outreach further afield, that his house would yet be “filled” with revelers who will, by enjoying his extravagant hospitality, do right by his son and future daughter-in-law. The king sends out messengers every which way to reach out to everyone they can. They hit the streets to indiscriminately invite to the party everyone they “find” (that is, happen to come across), regardless of whether they’re “good” or “bad”. No standard for admittance is applied, not even on moral grounds. No one is excluded!
When Luke recounts today’s parable in his Gospel, he adds that the king instructs his messengers to reach out to those who were often marginalized and deemed undesirable guests: “the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame”. The king’s invitation extends even to those normally excluded; and no ethical standard, aesthetic standard, consideration of congeniality, demand for familiarity, judgment of worthiness or appropriateness is allowed to rule out a single soul. For this king’s party, no one will be overlooked or turned away.
In the parable, the king stands for God the Father; the son, for Jesus; the wedding banquet, for the church living out its calling in worship and fellowship; and the first invitees, for those old, so-called “friends” of God’s who’ve lost their bearings, come to major in the minors of life, gotten caught up in the thick of thin things, and thus grown unwilling to make time for their king.
If we are not careful, we can become like those old friends of God. We can so preoccupy ourselves with lesser things that we don’t have the time and energy we should for God and become unavailable to join the parties He throws. Those lesser things may be necessary things that we let claim more of our attention than they deserve, so that we disregard His invitation in order to take care of our “farm” or “business”. Sometimes those lesser things are gifts God gave us. The Internet, social media and endless TV options are blessings; but each of them can use up a disproportionate amount of our mind space and heart space, and distract us to such an extent that we lose touch with our desire for God. That can cause us to just never get around to responding to God’s invitation to experience a deeper and happier life with Him.
God loves everyone and wants everyone to enjoy the higher pleasures one comes to know at the parties of His grace. That’s why He wants us to drop everything to join the fun and festivity of His lavish hospitality – and why He keeps inviting in more and more people!
Of course, His indiscriminate reaching out to both the “good” and the “bad” – that is, to whomever His messengers “find” — leads some to think God has no judgment and makes a lot of wrong choices in the company He keeps.
But here’s the truth: No one is in themselves good enough company for God. But we can belong in His blessed household, not by the quality of our character or conduct, but by two things alone: 1) His loving, gratuitous kindness and 2) our individual decision to believe we have a place at His table merely on the basis of His goodness.
Therefore, everyone is asked to come to His party, accept His acceptance of them, and welcome everyone else who decides to join the fun. But no one gets past the bouncer if they can’t be bothered, even by God, to be diverted from their lesser preoccupations.
None of us measures up so as to merit God’s salvation. There is for us no possibility of it apart from God’s making “wrong choices”. I am glad He made the wrong choice of inviting me to a party I have no right to attend, of sharing His love and joy with me, and of holding a place for me in His household.
Let all of us for whom that’s happened give thanks for such grace by becoming His messengers who reach out and invite still others to join the party!
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