Sermon for the 4th Sunday after Trinity

Sunday 19th June 2005

Preached by Rev Brian Parker

Your invitation

The daughter of friends of ours is getting married next month. The other night we called in and she was up to her eyes in sorting through the replies to the wedding invitations. It promises to be a great occasion and at the last count it seems many people have indicated that they will attend the reception – the wedding banquet no less.

It’s a familiar story.

When Jesus told the story about a leading Pharisee who planned a ‘great banquet’ and ‘invited many guests’ he cut through Jewish proprieties and more, he made it clear that the Kingdom of God was not boxed in by social boundaries.

Like so many of the main characters in Our Lord’s parables, it’s fair to speculate that the host character in ‘the great banquet story’ is based on someone Jesus knew.

So this leading Pharisee has laid on a banquet worthy of his status in the community. Such banquets happened regularly. The invitations went out well in advance and on the day the servants summoned the guests.
It was all part of the social game – the host’s peers, people of substance and standing in the Jewish community, would attend to maintain his social status.

These banquets were, we might say, calculated rituals, rooted in privilege and with an eye to the host’s advancement in say political circles or business networks. In due time the invitation would be reciprocated in accordance with social proprieties.

This kind of scenario and motivation around great banquets is familiar. It’s common currency and embedded in the way societies and various social groupings work.

In these days of media celebrity, the so-called celebrity circuit is a modern, albeit tacky, example of this kind of activity.

We all know about it when the Beckhams lay on a ‘bash’ don’t we? And what a frenzy and envy is generated in some circles as news leaks of a big party. The one that ‘you know who’ is to attend!

What goings on there are to get an invitation to that one! It’s about wanting to be seen. The Ulster Tatler syndrome takes hold!

The ‘great banquet’ in the Mediterranean of Jesus’ day displayed much of this kind of social manoeuvring behind the scenes and at the event itself.
The motives of both the host and the guests were often shallow and calculating. The invitation list had ‘you know who’ included and norms and protocols reinforced social barricades.

But it was different for the host in Jesus’ story. The guests who had previously said they would come made excuses at the eleventh hour.

The three representative excuses recorded by Luke identify the would-be guests as persons whose lives are ruled by their possessions and their family relationships. “Many” were invited but “they all” made excuses.

This was a severe let down for the host. It was a social calamity that would surely ruin his standing in the community and bring shame on the family.

Many of those listening to the story would have understood. They would have nodded knowingly. That’s the way it was in their social circle.

But Jesus wants to shake them out of their fixation on social status and their calculating motives. He wants to challenge them to become more inclusive.


Consequently Jesus tells them how the host in the story rejects the social games that his peers play. The host repudiates the need for their approval. ‘The done thing’ is not necessarily the right thing.

Jesus is telling a story about a transformed society. The host whom Jesus affirms will include anyone among his guests – no one is too wretched to be counted as a friend.

Now the invitation criteria have nothing to do with power or business advantage or social status. The new list recognises no barriers such as occupation, family heritage, religious grouping or poverty.

And as the story unfolds Jesus shows compassion on those who, because of their upbringing in sectarian culture, presume they are excluded from the banquet. Jesus explains that such people are not only summoned to the banquet but also ‘led in’ to the feast.

Others who think of themselves as outcasts are ‘compelled’ to come because their whole life experience makes it impossible for them to believe that they would be invited. They need to be convinced by love.

So Jesus is telling the high-powered, socially elite Pharisees that God’s Kingdom is not their exclusive the birth right. People in an altogether alien social world to them are included in the Kingdom. That’s God’s truth.

Moreover the invitation is extended without obligation. Jesus is talking about a new social order and a new community that is grounded in gracious and uncalculating hospitality.

The Pharisees are challenged to look again at their social relations and attitudes to others, especially with those who have long been considered ‘unclean’. They are also challenged to take a hard look at their motives in extending invitations and offering hospitality.

In the eyes of God they are required to become an inclusive society and to take down the barriers that exclude and diminish other people.

This social vision is a cornerstone of Biblical teaching. It is drawn from Abraham’s vision of a gracious God “who has filled the hungry with good things.”

It is drawn from the ancient injunction to the people of Israel to “love your enemies, do good to them without expecting anything back.” It is Isaiah’s vision: “The Lord Almighty will prepare a feast for all peoples.”

So in telling this story to the Jewish establishment, Jesus rejects the superficial, man-made divisions that permeate their culture and lifestyle.
The feast in the Kingdom of God is by open invitation. “Come unto me all who travail and are heavy laden and I will refresh you”.

That’s God’s way. That’s the measure of God’s hospitality and His motive is love –unconditional and undeserved love. In that light and in receiving such a unique and personal invitation, any excuses are trivial and unworthy.

Amen.