Nineteenth Sunday after Trinity

Isaiah 25.1–9 Psalm 23 Philippians 4.1–9 Matthew 22.1–14

Most people attend a wedding with happiness in their hearts and smiles on their face. Occasionally there will be the one who has tears in their eyes and sadness in their heart, sadness at loosing a son or daughter. Regardless, a wedding is a special event and has its place in the life of a community. Many will know the occasion is taking place and will sometimes gather to watch the happy couple as they begin their new life in the local society. What vehicle will the bride by? Will it be a posh Rolls Royce, or on a trailer pulled by a tractor? Will it be the local taxi service or some old vintage car, full of style and mystique? The options are numerous and I have seen many of them.

Now let Jesus come onto the scene. We are in a different time frame and with different social ways. A king is hosting his son’s wedding. Invitations will have been sent out some time before, an early warning that the wedding was to take place soon..ish. The date and time are made public knowledge much nearer the event. Jesus is accusing the Jews who had been invited by God to be his chosen people. Likened to a wedding with the Jews being the invited guests, when the time came for the guests to attend the ceremonial wedding feast, they refused to come. God had called them just as he calls us. In the parable the Jews refused any involvement. In today’s life God still calls to us and we have the opportunity to hear him and respond.

We may hear and try to follow the ways of his Son. But it is not always an easy path. So, we stray and take what may seem the easier option of being aware but not a lot more. We are in danger of being like the Jews of old. Hear that we have been called but still go our own way.

There are others who may hear the call but do not even give it a second thought. Here we are comparing them to the sinners and the Gentiles of the parable. They, we are told, would never have expected an invitation. Today we have about us those who also would never expect to receive an invitation from God.

God is giving an invitation. It is to a feast, a happy occasion. To be called by God to be a Christian is a moment of joy. Christianity is not a gloomy leaving behind all that you find enjoyable, a life of laughter. It is to be a part of a happy fellowship.

Those who were invited made their excuses for not attending. They may well have been quite valid and important reasons. Yet it is so easy to get carried away with the work of daily life. One can get so involved that everything gets put to one side, including God.

Then the call is made and God requires our presence rather like the second call to the wedding guests giving the date and time in the very near future. The wise, after the first indication that they would be invited to a wedding had made preparation, were ready to attend at a moments notice, to respond to God’s call. The others, who took the attitude of ‘getting ready in due course for a banquet takes time to arrange’ would have received the second call, made themselves ready, and attended the feast only to find the doors closed.

There are many lessons that may be learnt here but one involves our very being. How do we present ourselves before God. The workers in the field who wore their finest garments waiting for the call to attend the wedding would have soiled their clothes with dust and mud possibly. But they would be in a state of readiness. Once upon a time it was the rule that one’s Sunday Best was worn to go to church, or we put on decent and fine clothes when we go to a friend for an evening celebration.

This parable is not aimed at how we dress ourselves to go to church. We can wear our Sunday Best, yes, or we can wear a smart pair of jeans. The choice is ours. The point is not that we are showing off our finery but a measure of preparation. Do we approach God with a silent prayer, in real reverence and with true self-examination? Then we are ready to receive the invitation.

Collect for the Nineteenth Sunday after Trinity

O God, forasmuch as without you

we are not able to please you;

mercifully grant that your Holy Spirit

may in all things direct and rule our hearts;

through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,

who is alive and reigns with you,

in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

one God, now and for ever.

Amen.