Do you remember bull sessions? At least that’s what
we used to call them when I was in college. We were around 18 to 22 years old. We used to sit and talk late into the night, figuring out what we
believed about the meaning of life. We were laying the foundation for the rest
of our lives, whether we knew it or not.
“Well, my friend, we’re older, but no wiser.” We
don’t talk much about the meaning of reality; we’re too busy surviving –
working, preparing for retirement, or retired and crossing off items on our
bucket list. We don’t have much time for deep discussions about life, but of
course our questions remain. We still wonder what it all means, and as we get older,
we wonder even more.
One Option
There
is a dominant answer in our society – that is, life is meaningless. Many people
assume that there is no real meaning to life, so they live for the moment and
enjoy what we can do today.
Some
of you may have read a delightful and funny exposition of this point of view: The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.
Douglas Adams wrote the first part of this multi-volume series in 1978, and now
it has expanded to six books, retelling the same story in various contradictory
versions. The first book of this fantasy series presents the idea that a
supreme race of philosophers built a gigantic super-computer (named “Deep
Thought”) to answer the question of “life, the universe, and everything”. After
several million years, the computer spits out the answer: 42. The philosophers
are upset, but the computer reminds them, “You only asked for the answer. You
didn’t ask for the question.”
Deep
Thought then builds them an even greater organic supercomputer (“whose merest
operational parameters I am not worthy to calculate” – sound familiar?), which
turns out to be the earth. Finally, we find out the question: “What do you get
if you multiply six by nine?” Of course, the answer is not 42. Life does not
add up. Reality has no meaning.
A side note: A quick exploration of
Wikipedia gives a variety of other explanations for this juxtaposition of
question and answer. What I have said here is my own view, which is consistent,
I believe, with the larger work of The
Hitchhiker’s Guide.
Douglas
Adams is often extremely funny (depending on your sense of humour), and his
books are fun to read, but the basic message – life is meaningless – can
paralyze us.
Another Option
Jesus
tells his parables to describe the kingdom of God. When Jesus describes “God’s
Reign”, he is letting us know what the fabric of the universe we live in looks
like. In our parable this morning, and in the parables surrounding it, Jesus describes
the way that God relates to humankind, whom God made, and indeed to the whole
of creation.
This
parable appears in a section of Luke sometimes called, “The Road to Jerusalem”.
From Luke 9:51 (As the time approached
for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem) until
the “triumphal entry” described in Luke 19, Jesus is walking to Jerusalem with
his disciples. As they walk together, Jesus teaches them the central message of
the gospel.
The
parables, with their description of God’s Reign, contain the central message of
the gospel. The good news is that Jesus has come as God’s Chosen Messiah, and
that all who repent (turn away from their own path to walk in God’s path) become
part of God’s Reign.
What
does God’s Reign look like? Or, to put it another way, what does the God who
reigns look like? From our parable, and from the parables surrounding this
passage, I note three basic characteristics of God, and of God’s Reign.
1. God is Joyful
God
This
image of a banquet or feast at the end of time comes from Isaiah 25: 6 to 8 and
is repeated in various places, including Revelation 19: 6 to 9. The image of a
banquet or feast conveys joy, and indeed joy is a fundamental quality both of
God as God and of our life in God.
The
old hymns say it well:
It is joy unspeakable and full of glory,
Full of glory, full of glory;
It is joy unspeakable and full of glory,
Oh, the half has never yet been told.
Or,
if you prefer Keith Green: “I’ve got a river life flowing out of me …” Pure
joy!
Paul
says it clearly, writing from prison in Philippians 4: “4 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it
again: rejoice! 5 Let your gentleness be evident to
all. The Lord is near. 6 Do not be anxious about
anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving,
present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of
God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds
in Christ Jesus.”
It
follows that God’s people live lives of joy. We live often in difficult
circumstances full of loss and hardship. But the underlying current of our
lives is “joy unspeakable, and full of glory.” Too many people think that Christians
are sober, with no laughter or fun. You remember the old children’s game: “Quaker
Meeting has begun, no more talking, no more fun. No more chewing chewing gum. Starting
now...” Then everyone keeps completely quiet; the first person to smile or
laugh or talk loses the game.
That
jingle makes a neat children’s game, but it does not describe life in Christ.
We are people of joy. You know how joy works. When a loved one dies, if the
relationship was good and the deceased person deeply loved, laughter rises as
the family gathers and grieves. Joy bubbles along beneath the surface of tears.
Joy does not remove our grief, but rather joy allows us to grieve more fully;
joy heals us.
An
implication of living with joy is that we work against anything in this world
that strips people of joy. The exercise of power against marginalized people
robs them of their joy; therefore, such abuse works against God’s Reign. As
people of joy, we walk with the marginalized and dispossessed because they are
also part of God’s banquet. That thought is clearly echoed in the parable as
the master sends his servants out to gather the marginalized from the highways
around his house.
A Side Note: I add that when we identify
with the marginalized, we often find that they know the joy of the Lord better
than we do. They teach us to know the God of Joy!
2. God is a
Seeking God
Jesus
pictures God as one who seeks the lost. That note comes through more clearly in
the parables that follow in Luke 15, but it is present here also in our
parable. The servants go out into the roads around the master’s house seeking
guests for the banquet.
If
we examine ourselves carefully, we could tell stories of how God sought us and brought
us into God’s family. My grandfather used to remember how he gave his life to
Christ as the congregation sang the parable found in Luke 15: “There were
ninety and nine that safely lay in the shelter of the fold, but one was out on
the hills away, far off in the distant cold.” He knew that he was that lost
sheep, and he knew that Jesus had sought him and found him.
God
wants us also to be a seeking people. We keep our eyes and hearts open to the
needs of people around us. As God sought for us, we seek also for others who
are in need. Our parable reminds us to live with open hearts and open hands,
ready to help whoever needs our help.
3. God is an
Invitational God
We
come to the third characteristic I note this morning. This is the one you see
in our title. I suggest that this quality builds on and expresses more fully
the first two we have seen. God invites us to life. God invites us to eternity
with God. God invites all people to the Great Wedding Feast of the Lamb and to
build our lives on God’s constant presence active within.
God’s
invitation goes with God’s seeking. God seeks the lost sheep in Luke 15 and
carries it home. The invitation of Luke 14 reminds us that the lost sheep can
in fact refuse the invitation. The first guests in the parable say “No” to the
master’s invitation. In Matthew 22, Jesus tells another parable about the
Messianic Feast at the end of time. Here also the master sends the servants in
the streets to bring in the marginalized people of the world; this time one of
these people comes, but he does not prepare for the feast. He is in turn thrown
out of the banquet.
This
act of judgment reminds us that the invited person can refuse the invitation. It
doesn’t matter if the refusal gives plausible excuses or bad excuses; any
refusal on our part excludes us. However the guest says no, refusing the invitation
excludes the invited guest. This is a sobering and difficult truth, but it is
true.
A
side note:
The excuses of Luke 14 are a mixture of plausible and implausible. The first
excuse (I bought a field) may suggest the world of business – but it would be a
bad buyer who had not checked the field before buying it! The new team of oxen
suggests farming, but again, what kind of farmer would buy a piece of equipment
before checking it out? The third excuse – I just got married – has the weight
of Scripture behind it. Deuteronomy 24: 5 states: “If a man has recently
married, he must not be sent to war or have any other duty laid on him. For one
year he is to be free to stay at home and bring happiness to the wife he has
married.” But if his marriage was so close, why was he accepting an invitation
to someone else’s wedding banquet? In any case, the way that the excuses are
set aside makes it clear: Neither the claims of business, nor of farming, nor
of family are acceptable when used to refuse God’s invitation to join God’s
reign. God’s Reign comes first, before anything else in life.
All of this
stands against interpreting the last command – “compel them to come in” – to mean
that we have no choice when God invites us. We have a choice: The most
important choice in our lives.
When
we combine God’s invitation with God’s seeking, we realize that God holds out
the invitation relentlessly. I think of a close friend who refused God’s
invitation in her life until she lay dying of kidney failure. She told her
daughter, “I’ve wrestled with the devil, and I’ve lost.” Her daughter told me
then of my friend’s last words before dying: “I’m going to Jehovah’s Land.” I
believe that when she admitted her failure, God renewed the invitation to life,
and she is now at God’s eternal Wedding feast. God’s invitation remains open
until we leave this life.
God
is an invitational God, and God wants us also to live invitationally. God wants
us to invite people into our lives and to invite them to join us at the Wedding
Feast of the Lamb.
This kind of living is hard. Living this way means
that we keep ourselves open to others – even to other people who can hurt us. I
remember a close friend who thought that I had betrayed him. Lois and I used to get together often
with him and his wife, but, feeling that I had betrayed them, they closed the door to
further contact. Living invitationally with my friends means remaining open to
the hurt they can bring to us. Our natural response is to close the door
against them as well. I believe that God wants us to keep the door open to a
return, even if that return opens old wounds.
Jesus
of course is the example, remaining open to his enemies even on the cross. His
example is expressed well in a prayer from the Anglican Prayer Book:
Lord Jesus Christ, you stretched out
your arms of love on the hard wood of the cross that everyone might come within
the reach of your saving embrace: So clothe us in your Spirit that we, reaching
forth our hands in love, may bring those who do not know you to the knowledge
and love of you; for the honour of your Name. Amen
Some
people don’t like this prayer because of its “transactional nature”. I see in
it rather God’s eternal openness to us, accepting our rebellion into his arms
of love and welcoming us to the Wedding Feast of the Lamb – if we will say yes
to his invitation.
Some Closing
Thoughts
God, then, is God who celebrates, God who seeks,
and God who invites. God wants us also to be a people of joy, who seek those
separated from God and invite them to join the party.
The parable makes it clear that this invitation
is for everyone. The religious professionals in his audience recognized
themselves among the first guests. The “people of the land”, the marginalized
people of Israel, recognized themselves among the guests brought in at the end.
The truth is that everyone is invited.
Two basic points emerge from what we have said.
One is that we can accept or refuse the invitation. Refusal appears
unthinkable, but many people do refuse God. We then continue to seek them,
trusting that God’s relentless love will reach them. Two is that God wants us
to imitate God and remain open to everyone, even those who can hurt us most. Such
openness requires God’s Spirit in us. None of us can live this way if God’s
Spirit does not energize us. But if God’s Spirit is flowing within us, we will
live this way naturally. When you get into the best party for eternity, you
want everyone else to join you!
Steinbach Mennonite Church
5 August 2018
Text
Luke 14: 15-24
The parable of
the great banquet
15 When one of those at the
table with him heard this, he said to Jesus, “Blessed is the one who will eat
at the feast in the kingdom of God.”
16 Jesus replied: “A certain man was
preparing a great banquet and invited many guests. 17 At the time of the banquet
he sent his servant to tell those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything
is now ready.’ 18 But they all alike began to make excuses.
The first said, ‘I have just bought a field, and I must go and see it. Please
excuse me.’ 19 Another said, ‘I have just bought five
yoke of oxen, and I’m on my way to try them out. Please excuse me.’ 20 Still another said, ‘I
have just got married, so I can’t come.’
21 “The servant came back and
reported this to his master. Then the owner of the house became angry and
ordered his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town
and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame.’ 22 ‘Sir,’ the servant said, ‘what
you ordered has been done, but there is still room.’ 23 Then the master told his
servant, ‘Go out to the roads and country lanes and compel them to come in, so
that my house will be full. 24 I tell you, not one of
those who were invited will get a taste of my banquet.’”
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