Invitational Living

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.’”

More Immigrant Thoughts

I wrote recently putting down in writing some of my thoughts about immigration. North America faces significant immigration, due especially to the pressure of immigrants from Central America. Refugees from Syria and other conflict regions are also knocking on the door, but the largest number comes from Central America.

In this blog, I want to continue thinking aloud, taking special note of the objections that many of my friends make to my basic ideas. I counsel a fundamental openness to other people, including those in need who come to our borders. Canada is more open to immigrants and refugees than the USA is; but there is a significant fear in both countries that refugees will flood our country, to our detriment. I want to address some of these concerns.

First, I observe that, although I disagree with my friends, I do not assume that they are being unreasonable or are otherwise bad people. Too much of our political discourse assumes that people who disagree with us are motivated by evil intent. In the USA, some conservative figures (often radio or TV figures) have beaten a drum for many years, saying that Democrats are trying to destroy the country. Now, during the Trump presidency, I hear many liberals beating the same drum – about conservatives.

For any fruitful conversation to take place, I assume that many of the people who disagree with me have good reasons for their position. We may still disagree, but I seek to address the issues, not attack the people who hold them.

Second, here are a series of possible concerns with brief responses:

1. Legal Immigrants are good. Undocumented workers are bad.

There is truth to this viewpoint. I advocate following the rules. When we immigrated to Canada, we followed required procedures. There are at least two qualifications I think of: 1) When an immigration system breaks down, people are more likely to go around the rules. So, fix the system; don’t demonize the people! This point applies especially in the USA. 2) When conditions are so bad that people can no longer live in them, they will go around the rules. Again, don’t demonize the people; work at dealing with the conditions that push them out of their homes.

2. Immigrants are good. Refugees are bad.

I disagree with this idea more fully than with the first idea. Beyond our citizenship in any one country, we are part of the human family. When someone in our extended human family is in distress, we respond – just as we would like someone else to respond if we were in distress.

A further reason I disagree with this idea is that refugees of all people know what it is to go hungry and experience destructive poverty. Immigrants in general tend to be hard workers, and refugees are often the hardest workers of all. Helping them get on their feet costs us something up front, but they will give more back to the country that takes them in than it costs us in the first place.

3. Immigrants in general are a danger because they use our resources and take our jobs.

As the reader may guess from #2, I disagree. The USA and Canada both have low birthrates. Our economies require more children than we are having for our various social programs (such as Social Security in the USA and Social Insurance in Canada) to work. Immigration provides the necessary people for our economies to thrive. I note that, if this reasoning were valid, the economies of the USA and Canada should be in crisis, but they are not. They are healthy and growing. I see immigration as a positive good.

4. Immigrants and Refugees from Central America are infiltrated with gangsters and criminals. Even if many of the refugees are telling the truth, we cannot take the risk of allowing the bad people in with the good.

I get this fear. I understand why we want to keep criminal elements out of our country (in the USA or in Canada). A full response goes beyond this brief blog, but here are a few thoughts: 1) Such gangs are a real problem. In Winnipeg, Asian and African gangs recruit young people in the park, whose families have just arrived and are staying in the Welcome Centre beside the park. This is a problem! 2) Gangs flourish for a variety of reasons, such as high unemployment especially among young people and high drug use in North America (so that the gangs run drugs to us). 3) One of the best ways to combat gangs is to allow faith-based groups access to immigrant families to work with them and help them integrate into the community. Canada (and to a lesser extent, the USA) have a counter-productive fear of allowing faith-based groups to work freely. This idea requires a lot more thought on my part before I say anything more about it. 4) It is more effective to work at eradicating the financial and political problems in the countries immigrants come from than it is to try and stop them coming. If there is a gang problem in Guatemala, help the government of Guatemala to develop its economy and to eradicate political corruption. Most people would rather stay home. They tend not to leave home unless home becomes unlivable.

My own personal view is that we overstate the danger from immigrants many times over. Most Arabs and North Africans are not members of ISIS. Most Central Americans or Asians are not gang members. Most immigrants and refugees are ready to work hard and make a new home here – a good home that benefits us as well as them.

I welcome pushback on any of these thoughts. I am an ordinary citizen (dual: Canada and the USA) with ordinary experiences, trying to think through one of the challenges that we face today.