The Church of St. Paul and Incarnation, Jersey City NJ
October 11, 2020
Year A, Proper 23: The Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost
Exodus 32:1-14
Psalm 106:1-6, 19-23
Philippians 4:1-9
Matthew 22:1-14
God Does Not Give Up On Us
When I first reflected on today’s Scripture lessons – especially the story of the golden calf and Jesus’ Parable of the Wedding Banquet – I thought of…Christmas.
Not Christmas in general, but a particular Christmas, a particular Christmas Eve, maybe about five years ago.
That year, the weather was very mild. It was so warm that, even before the late service, I was able to stand outside and welcome people as they arrived for church.
You know how it is on Christmas.
Usually all of the regulars are here, plus people we may only see a couple of times a year, and also at least a few people who have never been here before.
It’s wonderful.
Anyway, this particular Christmas Eve, I was standing outside, welcoming friends, acquaintances, and strangers, including a woman I recognized from the block, who, to the best of my knowledge, had never come to any of our services.
We actually had a few moments to have a very pleasant chat on the steps, and then I directed her to the usher for her bulletin, and that was that.
Now, I don’t want to brag, but I think we do a pretty good Christmas Eve here.
Our church is always beautiful, of course, but it’s even more beautiful when it’s dressed up with garlands, wreaths, and poinsettias.
Everyone looks so nice and most people are pretty happy to be here – it is Christmas, after all.
The music is over-the-top great - and the sermon is usually pretty short.
So, what’s not to like, right?
Anyway, at the end of the service, as usual, I was both exhausted and buzzing with energy.
Gail was still leading the choir in the extended rendition of “Go Tell It On the Mountain” – why dontcha? – and the music was just bouncing off the walls, with the congregation happily singing and clapping along.
I was standing at the back of the church, greeting people as they were leaving, exchanging wishes of “Merry Christmas.”
When it was the turn of the woman from the block who had never been here before, she looked pretty happy, I thought. So, I said something like, “I’m glad you were here. Hope you enjoyed it. Maybe you’ll join us again sometime.”
And she looked at me and with a perfectly pleasant expression and said, “Oh, I don’t think so.”
And then she made her way out of the church.
Ugh. Ouch.
Now, I’ve been doing this long enough that I don’t take things like that too personally, but it was hard to not be a little stunned, somewhat hurt, by her rejection.
And, to make matters worse, she lives on the block.
So, that means, in the years since, I’ve seen her many times. And I’ve been tempted to ask her why she was so sure she wouldn’t be back – why she had rejected us – but each time I’ve decided to leave well enough alone.
I’ve thought, well, should she ever change her mind, she knows where to find us.
The story of God and us is a story of invitation.
God invites us to be friends in the garden.
God invites us to be God’s people forever.
God invites us to feast at the banquet.
God invites us to be the kind of people we are always meant to be.
The story of God and us is a story of invitation – and, for the most part, it’s a story of us rejecting God’s invitation.
The story of God and us has been a story of us straying, looking elsewhere for meaning, satisfaction, comfort – and, most of all, love.
And yet, despite all of that rejection, for reasons known only to God, God continues to extend the invitation.
God does not give up on us.
In today’s Old Testament lesson, we heard about a real low point in the story of the Israelite exodus from Egypt to the promised land.
Moses has been up on the mountain with God for longer than expected, and the people lose faith – they lose faith in the God who had led them out of slavery and through the wilderness – the God who had given them manna to sustain them during their journey.
The people grow impatient and lose faith in God and in Moses – and, you kind of get the feeling that they’ve been itching to get themselves a new god anyway, a god more like all the other gods of the ancient world.
Although the Israelites had received a special invitation from God, this time – and not for the last time - they choose instead to be like everybody else.
So, they instruct Moses’ brother Aaron to come up with new gods for them to follow.
And Aaron instructs them to chip in their gold to this effort – which is interesting, right?
By giving their gold, the Israelites are literally invested in worshiping these new idols – and I can’t help thinking of people today who invest so much in the idols of the world – devoting their whole lives to pursuing wealth or fame or power – and, yet, they always seem to end up so unhappy.
There’s a cost to rejecting God’s invitation.
Anyway, Aaron fashions a golden calf, and the Israelites bow before it and sacrifice.
Meanwhile, up on the mountain, God sees what’s going on and is not happy. In fact, we’re told that God threatens to destroy the people for their terrible rejection.
But, Moses saves the day. He very cleverly reminds God that it will make God look bad if the Israelites perish (God, what will the Egyptians think?). And Moses reminds God about Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob – and the promise of countless generations more numerous than the stars in the sky.
And so, once again, God does not give up on us.
So, by now, maybe you’ve forgotten about today’s gospel lesson – the rather disturbing parable of a king who was none too happy about being stood up by the guests he had invited to a lavish wedding banquet for his son.
Not only did they decline the king’s invitation but, we’re told, that the guests seized the king’s slaves, mistreated them, and even killed them.
The understandably enraged king sent his troops to destroy these guests and even burn their city.
And then, the king extended the invitation to the people out on the street – the good and the bad – and, presumably, they all had a fine time – except for the one person who was not wearing a wedding robe - who was thrown out of the party and into the “outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
So, what are we to make of this parable that certainly seems to suggest that, actually, maybe sometimes God does give up on us.
But, that can’t be right.
And, what are we to make of this parable that doesn’t sound very much like Jesus’ teaching on forgiveness – his call that we are to be like God and forgive seventy times seven times – that we are to offer infinite forgiveness?
Well, I think today’s disturbing parable only makes any kind of sense in context.
The Evangelist Matthew places this parable as part of a larger dispute between Jesus and the chief priests and the Pharisees, the religious professionals who are suspicious of Jesus.
I mean, who gave this “nobody” from Nazareth the authority to teach and to heal?
After all, Jesus did not have the required paperwork - he had not been officially licensed to do any of this – at least, not as far as the priests knew.
And, there is another bit of context for us to consider: by the time the Gospel of Matthew was written, it was clear that most Jewish people did not recognize Jesus as the messiah – and, on top of that, by the time the gospel was written, Jerusalem, including the Temple, had been destroyed in the year 70.
And, it was tempting - and wrong - for these early Jesus followers – and for Jesus followers ever since – to see the catastrophic destruction of Jerusalem as punishment by God.
But, what does any of this have to do with us?
What might this difficult parable have to say to us today?
Well, first, for religious professionals like me, it’s a reminder that God is going to call use who God is going to call and use – even if they’re not officially licensed by the church.
And, since Jesus had so much trouble with the religious professionals of his time, my colleagues and I are called to humility – to not get full of our selves. Instead, instead keep our eyes open for God on the move in unlikely places and surprising people.
Second, no matter how Christians have understood this parable, it’s important for us to remember that God has made an eternal promise to the Jewish people – it’s divine invitation will never be canceled, no matter what.
And, third, and this is for all of us, what we wear to the banquet is important.
Now, I can’t imagine that Jesus was ever concerned about wearing the right clothes, so I think the person who got thrown out of the banquet for not wearing a wedding robe is a reminder for us that we are called to more than just showing up to the banquet.
We are called to clothe ourselves with righteousness, to live lives that are filled with mercy, generosity, and love – that’s the outfit we’re supposed to be wearing.
We are meant to clothe ourselves with the words of St. Paul: “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice.”
And, we really can rejoice because the story of God and us continues.
For reasons known only to God, despite all the golden calves we make and worship and invest in, despite rejecting God all the time, God continues to invite us to the banquet.
God does not give up on us.
So, you know what? I think the next time I see our neighbor from Christmas Eve, I’m going to get over myself and just say, hi.
Amen.
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