The Gospel: Matthew 22:1-14
Once more Jesus spoke to the people in parables, saying: “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding banquet for his son. He sent his slaves to call those who had been invited to the wedding banquet, but they would not come. Again he sent other slaves, saying, ‘Tell those who have been invited: Look, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready; come to the wedding banquet.’ But they made light of it and went away, one to his farm, another to his business, while the rest seized his slaves, mistreated them, and killed them. The king was enraged. He sent his troops, destroyed those murderers, and burned their city. Then he said to his slaves, ‘The wedding is ready, but those invited were not worthy. Go therefore into the main streets, and invite everyone you find to the wedding banquet.’ Those slaves went out into the streets and gathered all whom they found, both good and bad; so the wedding hall was filled with guests. “But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing a wedding robe, and he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding robe?’ And he was speechless. Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ For many are called, but few are chosen.” Prayer: Lord, you have promised that when two or three gather in your name you will be present with them. We depend on that promise today and pray that you will move among us. Lord, we pray that you have inspired Mike's preparation, that you will enliven his presentation, and that you will empower our application. Amen The Message: Well, I have to admit that my first thought when I read through the Gospel reading for this morning was the song we sang often at youth gatherings in the 1960s. "I cannot come to the Banquet, don't bother me now, I have married a wife, I have bought me a cow." To tell the truth, we actually used to sing: "I cannot come to the Banquet, don't bother me now, I have bought me a wife, I have married a cow." But, anyway, enough of the foibles of my youth. This is another difficult parable, isn't it? Here is a wealthy person, a king, who wants to celebrate the marriage of his son. He makes all kinds of preparations and then sends his slaves out to invite everyone, friends, neighbors to come and celebrate this wonderful event with him and his family. But the response is less than enthusiastic. Everyone who is invited seems to have an excuse why they can't make it. Matthew records it this way: "But they made light of it and went away, one to his farm, another to his business, while the rest seized his slaves, mistreated them, and killed them." The king reacts and responds with a vengeance: "The king was enraged. He sent his troops, destroyed those murderers, and burned their city." Whew, I am glad I never received an invitation to that wedding. Then the king decides to fill the banquet hall with anyone he can gather up: "Then he said to his slaves, ‘The wedding is ready, but those invited were not worthy. Go therefore into the main streets, and invite everyone you find to the wedding banquet.’ Those slaves went out into the streets and gathered all whom they found, both good and bad; so the wedding hall was filled with guests." You would think he would be a happy man. But he suddenly discovers someone who is inappropriately dressed. He reacts and responds again. And not in a caring and compassionate way. Jesus concludes this parable by saying "For many are called, but few are chosen." I don't know how many times I have heard that quote in my life. The interesting part to me is that it was rarely used in reference to the parable that it appears with here in Matthew. Now, I am not going to attempt to interpret this parable for you this morning. I am going to readily admit it is a hard piece of scripture to make a lot of encouraging comments about when it comes to our current spiritual lives here and now. I will say that usually, when we hear Jesus refer to a king in a parable we expect that Jesus will be teaching something about God. But the actions and reactions of this king in this parable don't lend themselves to how we want to see God, do they? Now, the casual, almost indifferent way, that the people responded to the invitation does remind me of the parable from last week. On a positive note, this king, unlike the wealthy man from last week, does seem to be present among his neighbors. But he certainly doesn't seem to be someone any of them wants to spend a lot of time with. He doesn't seem to be someone that they know a lot about about. We would be tempted to say we understand how this casual and indifferent attitude towards this king has developed. His harsh responses and reactions don't draw the neighbors to him. He doesn't seem like someone that people would want to spend a lot of time with. But this is a parable that Jesus told, and that Matthew recorded. A parable that has been passed down through the centuries to us. So, what might we gain from reading and thinking about this parable? One element I want to raise for conversation's sake is "fear." We don't do a lot of talking about how much we fear God in our modern, scientific, rational world. Scripture says in Proverbs 9:10, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.” Then it says in Proverbs 10:27, “The fear of the Lord prolongs days: but the years of the wicked shall be shortened.” I wonder how much time we have given to study, or developing our ideas, of how we should reverently and thoughtfully consider how we experience and express our fear of the Lord? Fear can motivate us, either in a negative way or in a positive way. In our Old Testament passage, the people fear that Moses has abandoned them. They want to build an image of a God so that they don't feel alone and abandoned. Moses fears what the Lord will do to the people who have built the Golden Calf in his absence. Moses pleads with God not to let "his wrath burn hot" against the people. Moses pleads with God to remember the promises he made to the people through Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Moses rightly fears God and seeks his compassion and forgiveness for the people of Israel. Moses has a healthy fear of what God could and might do. He pleads with God and God relents and spares the people. In the passage from Philippians Paul fears what will happen if Eudia and Syntche continue in their destructive behavior. These two women, who Paul remembers, as people who struggled alongside him in the work of the Gospel, and who he says have their names written in the book of life. Unless they settle their differences it could have a destructive impact on the church. Paul encourages the church in Philippi and also encourages us because we have the opportunity to read his words, to focus on things that bring God's blessings in our lives. When we are focused on these things we do need not fear God. "Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Keep on doing the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you. My prayer for us all this week is that we will find the grace of the Holy Spirit to motivate us to love and good works for the love of the Lord and the coming of the Kingdom of God. The Gospel: John 14:15-29
“If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him because he abides with you, and he will be in you. “I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you. In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I live, you also will live. On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. They who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me, and those who love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them.” Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, how is it that you will reveal yourself to us and not to the world?” Jesus answered him, “Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words, and the word that you hear is not mine but is from the Father who sent me. “I have said these things to you while I am still with you. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything and remind you of all that I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid. You heard me say to you, ‘I am going away, and I am coming to you.’ If you loved me, you would rejoice that I am going to the Father, because the Father is greater than I. And now I have told you this before it occurs, so that when it does occur you may believe. Prayer: May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable in your sight, LORD, my rock and my Redeemer. The Message: Well, welcome to this first in our new series of Sundays@Five. "Be still and know...." I am hoping that this series will be a little more interactive than what we have done in the past on Sunday evenings. Now, don't panic I am not going to ask anyone to come up front and speak about their experience with stillness and reflection. But we might have a conversational approach to this topic. I have printed a page of resources that came to me from Church Publishing. If you want to do some reading and reflection on your own those books are available. You can take that sheet and purchase the books for yourself. This is a topic that a lot of people have written on and there are all kinds of retreats, even at Bellwether Farm, where you can dig into this practice. The Pandemic changed all our lives. Now, I don't know about you, but I know I discovered some things about my spiritual practices because of the imposed restrictions on our lives during the Pandemic. Before the Pandemic I often found myself saying: "Oh, I wish I had more time, I know that I need to spend more time with the Lord, I am just so busy." "I know that I should take more time for quietness and for reflection but I just can't squeeze it into my life right now." Then the Pandemic happened and we found ourselves restricted in how much we could go out, we found ourselves spending much more time at home. What I didn't find, overall, was that my "quiet" times, my spiritual reflection times, increased. Now as it progressed I did begin to consider how I was using my study time, or my reading time. But I didn't find myself saying: "Wow, thank you Lord for all of this new time to dig deeper into the word, into prayer, into my relationship/conversation with you, into my examination of how I can improve my communication and relationships with others in my community." If I am really honest, I actually found myself chaffing against the changes that I felt were "imposed on me." I found myself becoming anxious about the circumstances that seemed to be out of my control. When I focused on those that seemed to open the way for other anxieties and concerns to rise up. I have to confess that I actually found myself allowing those concerns and anxieties to feed on one another and gain greater power and influence in my life. So, as I look back now, and I think about the spiritual practice of "being still," I have to admit that I have a lot to learn about how I can make the best use of the opportunities that I have for "stillness" in my life. Our new theme song for this series really touches me. But, I have to say, not in the way that I thought it might. I thought when I first heard this song that I would be encouraged that my spirit would be uplifted. Now, please don't get me wrong this is a very encouraging and uplifting song. But I have to admit there is also an element of admonition in this song. There is a command for me to respond, there is a need for me to. Recognize who the Lord is. The song reminds me of the decision that I have to make to "Be Still." Lord help me now to face this battle My strength has failed and my eyes can't see Through the waves of doubt that take me under In the chaos I hear you speak Be still and know that You are my God Be still and know that You are enough Though my heart is racing still You're in control Be still and know that You are my God You brought me rest in times of struggle I lay my head down at Your feet The storm in me that I can't wrestle Is calmed when I hear you speak You are faithful And Your love endures forever Yes, Your love endures forever You are able In You I'll stand forever Yes, in You I'll stand forever You are faithful And Your love endures forever Yes, Your love endures forever You are able In You I'll stand forever Yes, in You I'll stand forever So, as we begin this series I want to give us an opportunity to stop for a minute and reflect on our daily schedule. To think about when we have scheduled our quiet times? Now, I want us to think about: How much quiet time do we have in our quiet time? Do we stop and consider what we have read? Do we have a time to just sit and allow the Lord to speak to us? Are we making the best use of the "restrictions which are placed on us?" I know that recently I had a doctor's appointment and as I sat in the waiting room, I almost automatically pulled out my phone and began checking my messages. Perhaps I could have spent that time in a different way. Now, most of you are probably much better at this than I am. I am sure that you use your scheduled quiet times, and your unscheduled quiet times much more productively than I do. One of the things I have found helpful for me is to have "triggers" or perhaps "alarm signals" to remind me of what I could be or should be doing. You know, like your morning alarm that goes off to remind you that you should be getting up in the morning. I find that for me my thoughts, or my reactions, are really good triggers or alarm signals. When I notice that I am getting frustrated I can sometimes use that as a reminder that I should or could be behaving in a different way. I recently used the word "chaffing" in one of my morning sermons. I used it when I referred to the people of Israel in the Desert. I also used it about Moses and how he felt about the people. Chaffing is not a word we use a lot these days but it is very descriptive, isn't it? When we find ourselves chaffing we know that something isn't the way it should be or the way we would like it to be. Perhaps I could or should use that chaffing as a reminder that I need to take some time to consider, take some time to reflect, take some time to be still. If you look at the lyrics of the Jeremy Camp song I think you can see he was inspired by the disciple's experience in the boat in the storm. What was Jesus' response to the storm and also to the disciples? Be Still! I hope that as we go through this series, that we might learn a little more, about how to make use of the stillness and quiet in our lives. |
Archives
April 2024
Categories |