Proper 28, Year A

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Readings: Exodus 32:1-14; Psalm 106:1-6, 19-23; Philippians 4:1-9; Matthew 22:1-14

The king announces a royal wedding. As for any wedding there are many preparations to be made. The hall is booked. Caterers are hired. The guest list is prepared. Invitations are sent out. The RSVPs start to come back. Much to the king's amazement, there are many excuses. A farmer declines the invitation. All of a sudden he has far too many chores to do. Likewise a person who runs a business says no to the invitation. It seems far more important to amass personal wealth than to attend the king's function. Their own responsibilities come first. One of the invited guests goes so far as to beat up the slaves when they come with the invitation.

For the most part, the reasons for ignoring the invitation seem valid enough. Responsibilities come between guest and acceptance of the invitation.

This is precisely what happens in human experience at such times. The possibility of encountering God arises in our lives. Such moments – moments of synchronicity, times of blessing, happenings that we know could only be God at work in our lives, times when we know God is with us – happen over and over again in our daily lives. Yet we find good excuses for ignoring such moments. It is not rejection so much as prioritization. We do not intentionally make light of God's invitation. We simply give more weight to other things. It is easy to dismiss such events and to attribute them to the mundane.

We intend when we have time, to worship, to do Bible study, to learn more about the church and to become more involved in our spiritual quest. We have every good intention. But we never actually accept the invitation that sounds deeply inside ourselves. We never allow God to transform our lives.

Back to the wedding feast! This time the king invites everyone to the feast. It is an open invitation. There is perhaps one catch. You have to accept the invitation to enjoy the party. Apart from that, there are no qualifications or standards to meet. You simply have to show up.

How can you refuse such an offer? Such is the grace of God that all are invited. We simply have to respond to God's call. We can still make those same excuses. No one is forced to respond to God's loving grace. Things often come in the way of our response – job, career, family, paycheck, goals, even religious exercises – can become excuses. We have to respond. We must recognize who we are and what we have become by the grace of God. We must accept that we are graced.

It all sounds so simple. Why is it that we are so prone as humans to ignoring God's call? Why are our hearts not so filled with joy at the love of God that we can't help but respond? It seems on a beautiful Thanksgiving weekend in what must be the most wonderful country in the world that it should be a simple matter of will. But we are not, on the whole, overwhelmed by God's love.

The wedding feast again! And here comes the real problem with the parable. One of the guests comes improperly dressed. The king deals with it harshly. The man is tossed out – not just out of the wedding feast – out of the kingdom. "Unfair!" you say. "Just because he doesn't get dressed up in tuxedo and cummerbund he is bound hand and foot and tossed out of the kingdom." What is going on here? If the king is such a loving king, inviting to all, how can he suddenly turn on someone for not dressing properly? It doesn't make sense. Everything in us says that it is not fair.

To get an understanding of what is going on here, we need to read between the lines. The king confronts the man about his attire; he is speechless. The man knows that he has done something wrong. His silence speaks volumes. He reminds me of Ralph Kramden on the Honeymooners. When he knows he is wrong he simply follows after Alice spluttering but with no words coming out. God is simply asking him, "Why are you still sinful, still refusing my love, still unrepentant, still cold towards me?"

Who of us really has an excuse when confronted by God? We are surrounded by God's providence, taught by the church, nourished by Christ's flesh, nurtured by his word, washed in his blood, coaxed by the Spirit, and sought, hunted and pursued in a million ways. What explanation could we possibly give for our ultimate failure to comprehend the love of God?

Truly we have struggles in our lives that make it difficult to respond. But deep down they are not enough of an excuse to flee conversion or to refuse a change of heart. There are many aids to conversion in our lives – the sacraments, Scripture, the prayers of faithful people, friendships. We have a choice to make. We can still refuse. It is up to us to respond. What is the quality of our acceptance? What investment do we have in being the guest? What is the depth and reality of our involvement in the Christian community?

God invites all human life to experience the presence of the divine. For us today the invitation can come from a friend. It may be an inexplicable longing to get back to the faith. It can be the discovery of the church by one’s children and the pressure to respond. It can be a conversion experience.

God wants God’s house filled, not with people who don’t want to be there, but with people who do. There is a choice to be made. You have opened yourself to the invitation. Don’t let the invitation go to naught. There is no time to be lost. Dress yourself in the joy of the party. Live its celebration in righteousness and grace.

And remember, we are to invite the poor, the blind, the lame, the homeless, the hurting to join us at God’s banquet feast. We are to go to them and invite them to be part of the banquet, to be part of God’s kingdom.

The king wants us at the banquet. Everything is prepared. The tables are groaning with fine food. The invitations have gone out to all and sundry. It remains only to open our hearts, minds and souls to God's wonderful grace. How can we refuse such an invitation? See you at the feast!