Great Supper Luke 14

Glory to Jesus Christ, in the name of the Father,

and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

So as we quickly are approaching Christmas, there's

so much to do. I was at the dentist the other

day, and the dentist asked me, am I ready for

Christmas? I said, no, I haven't done anything

yet. And then she proceeded as she worked on

me to talk to her assistant about what they do

for Christmas, which is very nice and distracting,

so I don't have to think about what's going on

in my mouth. But I thought, well, what do I have

to do? This may sound over -religious, but I

am a priest. to prepare for this incredible parable

of the great supper. St. Matthew, in his account

of it, calls it the wedding feast supper. And

that's the sense that I'd like to think about

it today. So chapter 14 of the Gospel of St.

Luke begins with Jesus being invited to a dinner

party. And it says, That the Pharisees were watching

him. They wanted to see if they could trip him

up. And Jesus, knowing that, says, what do you

think? A man comes in. He has dropsy. It's some

kind of renal liver problem, as far as I can

determine. I'm not sure. And Jesus says, what

do you think? Is it lawful on this Sabbath day?

Because it was a Sabbath day dinner. To heal.

And they're not going to say anything. And he

heals this man. And then he says. He says. Look

it. When you have a dinner party. Don't invite

your friends. They're going to invite you back.

They're going to be. Somehow. Obligated to invite

you back. Don't invite your friends. But invite.

Because you're looking for respect and honor

for them, so you invite them over. He says the

first shall be last, and the last shall be first.

It's better, he says, when you have a dinner

party, invite the poor, the maimed, the paralyzed,

the blind. I'm not sure we do that. We're probably

not too good at that. He says, do that because

then you honor God. You don't expect anything

back from anybody. They can't return the favor

or the invitation. And then Jesus tells this

incredible parable about the great supper. A

certain man, of course we understand this to

be God, made a great supper, invited many. Again,

St. Matthew calls this the wedding banquet. Invitations

go out to a select group of friends, of which

no one comes on the day of the celebration. You

heard all the excuses. They're all still currently

and regularly in use, and they revolve around

work, family, and time off. Notice the man who

says, the first man says, well, I have to do

this. Pray. Have me excused. The second one says

the same thing. The last man says, oh, I just

got married. He doesn't say, I'm sorry, I can't

come. All these are good things in and of themselves.

Work and property and family. They're blessed.

They're wonderful things from God. I'm not going

to dwell on the excuses. Let me just point out

one thing about them. Not one had anything to

do with anybody else for help. Perhaps if one

had said, oh, I'm going to Catholic Charities.

I can't be there now. That might have been different.

It's all selfishness. And they're all mundane.

They're all mundane. The host is miffed. He's

embarrassed by his empty banquet hall. So what

does he do? He does exactly what Jesus just said

to his listeners, the Pharisees, those looking

for honor. When you give a dinner or a supper,

do not ask your friends, your brothers, your

relatives, nor rich neighbors, lest they also

invite you back and you be repaid. But when you

give a feast, invite the poor, the lame and the

blind, and you will be blessed because they cannot

repay you. For you shall be repaid at the resurrection

of the righteous. The failed banquet became a

heavenly banquet. I have three hopefully brief

points for you. This parable tells us that every

single human being is capable of hearing the

invitation from God. We're created in the image

and likeness of God. We're tuned to that frequency

naturally. To hear the Holy Spirit. To listen

to the Holy Spirit in our heart. To pray. To

hunger for God. To see God's hand in everything

in all creation. To see the glory of God. The

firmament proclaims the glory of God. It says

in the psalm. But the capacity to see, to hear,

to perceive, to know. is so broken and wounded

in us. It's somehow hurt by all the distractions,

the mundane distractions. So the invitation is

rejected. Jesus is here telling the Pharisees

in a story about a banquet that the prophets,

the forefathers, the foremothers have been calling

out the invitation. For generations to God's

beloved people. His chosen people. The Jewish

people. Now all is ready. Come. Come. This is

what it means when Jesus says repent for the

kingdom of heaven is at hand. It's a good thing.

It's an invitation. The second thing. Because

everybody is capable of hearing and receiving

an invitation from God. Through Christ by the

Holy Spirit. The church has to continue. the

parish must continue offering these invitations.

It's in the nature of the church to continue,

to invite others, to welcome them. Not just those

that we think would be good additions to our

parish, because they're capable, but those who

are in need of God's mercy and healing and love

and fellowship and food. And help. This is evangelism.

This is what we continue to do. We must not be

Scrooge like. Miserly in the way we do it. This

liturgy. The agape meal. Our agape love. Aren't

events for friends to come and admire the beautiful

place. Each and every church. Service is this

invitation to come to the wedding banquet of

the Savior. To enter into the kingdom of God

where people can experience grace and peace and

the burden lifted from their soul. But we have

to be willing for God to do that. Thirdly, those

who received the invitations. Obviously did not

attend. The church says, read this gospel two

Sundays before Christmas to your congregation.

Obviously it's not for the Pharisees. They're

gone, as I like to tell you all the time. This

is for us. This is for us to contemplate, to

meditate, and sometimes to convict ourselves

that perhaps we are like those who don't really

respond. Sure, we're here today, but the message

is for us. Truly, this is preaching to the choir.

We are supposed to hear this and say, how do

I fit into this? Is that me? This invitation

is not like other invitations. There are those

who actually want to come to the banquet. Let's

just say the liturgy, the divine liturgy, and

would come every single week. They're desperate

to be with God, to know God, even if they don't

know that, to be here where God feeds his people.

Who are those people? Exactly the ones that Jesus

said, the maimed, the poor, the hungry, the lonely.

They're going to run to the celebration because

they don't have another celebration. We have

lots. And, you know, we kind of feel tired and

full and taken up by them. I saw a news article

yesterday about the inevitable famine coming

to Sudan. 30 million people at risk of starvation.

30 million! Can you imagine? I can't. Due to

war and greed of the situation, the violence

there. Those in that horrible situation will

have a quite different understanding of what

it means to be invited to a wedding feast. I've

been to, I don't know how many wedding celebrations

and receptions. The ones we had this year were

marvelous, beautiful. I've been to plenty where,

you know, Elvis Presley starts singing I Can't

Help Falling in Love and Then I Need to Leave

before Journey starts with Don't Stop Believing.

But this is not like that. This is not like that.

What is it like? What is this like? St. John,

in his vision in the book of Revelation, says

this. Listen carefully, brothers and sisters.

And a voice came out of the throne, saying, Praise

God, all ye his servants, and ye that fear him,

both small and great. And I heard, as it were,

the voice of a great multitude. And as the voice

of many waters and the voice of mighty thundering

saying, Alleluia, for the Lord God omnipotent

reigns. Let us be glad and rejoice. Didn't we

just sing that? And give honor to him for the

marriage of the Lamb of God is come. And his

wife has made herself ready. That's the church.

And to her it was granted that she be arrayed

in fine linen. clean and white, for the fine

linen is the righteousness of the saints. And

he saith unto me, Write, write this, Blessed

are they which are called unto the marriage supper

of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are

the true saints of God. He that sat upon the

throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And

he said unto me, Write this, for these words

are true and faithful. And he said unto me, It

is done. All is ready. What glorious words from

God to St. John. The church is this marriage

supper of the Lamb. Christ is the Lamb of God.

Each liturgy is the taste of the kingdom of heaven.

Don't we sing on Holy Week? Behold, the bridegroom

comes at midnight, and blessed is the servant.

whom he shall find watching. St. Innocent, Bishop

of Kherson in Russian, the 19th century says

it. We hear, but we don't hearken. We hear, and

instead of preparing ourselves spiritually to

meet the bridegroom, we take care of the externals.

We ceaselessly indulge in worldly vanities and

distractions as if we will remain on earth forever.

How many Christians... There are who are already

ending their lives. Who don't even know that

their soul has a bridegroom. And that they may

even live to see his coming. This parable of

the great supper. Invites us to Bethlehem. To

the birth of Christ. But then it catapults us.

It takes us all the way spiritually. To see the

second coming. And why God became man in the

first place. You see Jesus. in the arms of his

mother, not with the face of an infant, but one

wise, the Son of God, the Word of God, the Logos.

You see here, in his second coming, the Lord

ruling all creation in glory at the banquet of

the Lamb in which we are all invited. This is

a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ.

and the Church. To him be glory, now and ever,

to ages of ages. Amen.