Mission Vineyard Sermon March 15, 2026 John Aureli / Vanessa Torrijos

I've already spoken too much, which why

I'm so glad that I have somebody to help

me this morning. Vanessa, would you come

up please? We are in a series. Yeah,

we are in a series called radical

invitation. The radical invitation of

Jesus. And this week we are talking

about the radical invitation to invite

everyone, even those you wouldn't invite

out of your own bias, to the banquet of

the feast of the kingdom of God. to

invite everyone that everyone is invited

to where Jesus is. Everyone's invited.

That's the radical invitation. Now, uh

Vanessa, we have talked for years and

years uh because we've had some fun

together and I have dug ditches

together. We have done very very foolish

fun things. We've thrown axes together.

We've had dinner together. It's been

some fun years. Um and really really

grateful to both your invitation. Uh I

don't know if our leader and I would get

out of the house without it, but um over

the years um I have been witnessing your

growth of faith. I mean, you were

baptized how long ago? How many years

ago?

>> Uh I was baptized as a baby.

>> You were baptized as a baby and then

baptized as an adult here.

>> Yes.

>> Like a year and a half ago.

>> Like a year and a half ago. There's been

an amazing sense of growth that I've

seen on you. You you've journeyed

through all kinds of disciplehip. But as

we talk about the radical invitation of

Jesus and inviting everyone, I'm curious

if you uh would talk just a little about

what that invitation has looked like to

you uh over the years since you grew up.

>> I think for me the invitation

was always there as a kid because

um I was raised Catholic. I was sent to

Catholic school. Um, I always felt the

sense of God's presence as the father.

Like I I experienced him as a loving

father. Um,

>> and my concept of Jesus was perhaps a

little bit less defined or my

relationship with Jesus. um maybe

because it was less focused on in our

home and in our um at school, but also I

think because of this uh using Jesus

more as a divine mediator, like you're

praying in the name of Jesus. You're

filled with the spirit, but you're

communicating with the father. Um I

never grew up with this concept of like

Jesus is my life or brother or anything

like that.

>> Yeah.

very very different um very different

upbringing in that respect with our our

tradition. Um and a lot of Catholic

schooling did focus on doctrine on like

the source of our morals um on church

history and saints and stuff but we did

have like retreats and things like that

where we focused more on heart change at

times.

>> Um yeah that was that was like my

upbringing.

>> Yeah. And and so great faith upbringing,

invested in a church, invested in a

Catholic school and

>> and um oh actually when I was seven we

did uh like first reconciliation just

like when you start confessing your sins

um for a priest and first communion and

for me that was that was a real

invitation. Uh I started to feel more

like the weight of not lying to my

parents cuz that's a sin. um I separate

me from God and feeling like the real

holiness of being invited to communion

and being included in that.

>> You started feeling like the gravity

class of what sin is and like even as a

seven-year-old like oh no like this is

real to me.

>> Yeah, this is real.

>> Yeah,

>> it was really important. Um,

but as I started to get older, um,

especially once I hit like middle

school, high school, um, I started to

have the usual questions or or maybe

they're not usual for other people, but

I started to grapple with like suffering

um, and evil in the world. And I was

very like intellectual and like study

focused. And I I wasn't getting the

sense that the answers weren't

satisfactory, you know, um the answers

that I was getting. Huh.

>> Is that your goal faith wasn't

satisfying the

>> satisfy?

No. No. Um and and I was surrounded, it

felt like, by adults who were really

intelligent, um and who I looked up to,

who thought Jesus was a man and just a

teacher and not really

um the son of God. And so there was like

kind of like a fracture in terms of like

oh well when we grow up we stop

believing in this story and like when we

know better. And so by the time that I

got to college I stopped going to mass.

I stopped identifying as Catholic. I did

explore other faiths because I always

felt like God was real. God's there. The

divine is there. Um and I wanted to

understand it. I was also kind of pissed

at God because of an unexpected death

that happened and probably because I

couldn't understand the world the way I

wanted to

>> which is not unusual right I think each

one of us we we have some sort of belief

or faith and it hits this place of

disillusionment and so I think what

you're experiencing is not unusual

>> yeah um so I I looked at other faiths I

read their scriptures I I studied their

ways of life and I kind of decided they

all had some commonalities and they had

little nuggets of truth, but there

wasn't really a good way of knowing what

the actual details were of the divine.

Um, I was at that point like a trained

scientist. Like you can't test faith in

a lab and that sucks. It's very hard for

a skeptical scientist uh to stomach

that.

>> Yeah. And you were surrounded by other

scientists that were saying, "No, we

can't test it, so we can't tell

through."

>> Yeah.

>> So then what happened? Then I went to

medical school. Um

and it was sort of a reversal of

everything that had happened before. Um

suddenly I was surrounded by people of

faith like people who believed in

Jesus's death and resurrection. Um

Hberto who would not leave me alone like

he would find me wherever I was

studying. Um,

my best friend, LA, who's still my best

friend, um, is Catholic and like knew

the way to my understanding was to feed

me a book for every question I asked

her. Um, Michelle, who was sort of like

she rounded out everything. She was like

the level-headed New England Protestant

um, who I would go to whenever he wrote

a song especially crazy. I'd be like,

"Wait, do you also believe this? Because

if you do it, they're like going to be

awesome,

>> right?

>> Leto's usually on a scale of 1 to 10

anything. He's he's like 11 or 12.

>> The volume is up there.

>> Yeah. Yeah. And so when he was too,

right?

>> Very up.

>> Talking about scripture all the time,

too. And

>> every time that we'd get into an

argument about like religion, he would

like his trump card would be like ups

from the Bible. I it would like be kind

of like a slap in the face and it would

end as a conversation because I was like

I can't argue on this plane and it's

really frustrating. So because of that I

joined a Bible study group.

>> I don't know how this work and I know

you're married now. I'm just curious if

you would ever recommend this as a

courting tactic.

lot lots of arguments,

>> but as far as but as far as faith is

concerned, his desire and like

exuberance around faith pushed you to be

like, I'm going to a Bible study so I

can argue with him back.

>> Yeah.

>> And all my friends are there

>> and all your friends are there.

>> Literally, everybody that I know that I

care about is in this Bible study group.

So now I'm in this Bible study group.

And by the way, we're going through

Luke.

>> Yeah.

>> Like uh cuz Luke's doctor and like

there's a bunch of healings. And so it's

a great way to process all of the pain

and suffering that we are like front and

center to and yet completely incompetent

to participate in the healing part of

it. So going through a scripture

>> where that was

>> where that was happening was really

helpful. Um

and so conversion or decon conversion

was like a really slow journey for me at

this point. I was participating

um and yet like halfway out the door at

the same time. Um but I had this really

strange week all of a sudden that it was

as if I had like I'm on the edge written

on my forehead because random strangers

would come up to me um and talk to me

about Jesus or the Bible.

>> Yeah. Like people that were unhoused

janitors.

>> Yes. The janitor showed me like a video

on conversion in the gospel and the del

tech guy who came and fixed my computer

and like changed out my motherboard was

like oh by the way like you know the

scripture that I was like

>> what about what like what do you this is

like the conversation that I need to

have right now. Now we we we talked

about this a little bit and I have a

guess that HCO was not only exuberant to

you but he was exuberant on this evening

prayer as well. And so like these

supernatural random janitorial geltech

moments do happen to people but

generally when you're praying for them.

I just want to let you know like if you

have somebody that you're hoping would

be able to experience the love of Jesus

personally that happens when you start

to pray. That's

>> right.

>> You don't just have to try to court them

with Bible verses. pray for them. And

when you do, God, there's just something

in the special sauce of the kingdom

where God invites us in to engage with

him through prayer. And this is the

stuff that happened.

>> And so you had a moment

>> in the dark

>> in my bed alone in the middle of the

night where I was willing to whisper out

loud, Jesus, like, I think you're real.

I think you did die and like you were

resurrected for our sins.

>> And I that's the tipping point because

when you say something when you're so

scared to say something out loud uh like

Voldemort and Harry Potter

>> Yeah. Right.

>> Like it has power.

>> Yeah. And so saying Jesus, you're real.

>> Yeah. And and realizing that like I I

couldn't even say it like full volume in

front of people,

>> but but it was there. You know what I

mean? That's that's where it was like.

Okay.

>> Awesome.

>> So, fast forward. I'm gonna fast forward

because we we have a scripture that we

want to get through. I want you to lead

us through. But the reason why I ask you

to do this is because at some point you

came to our church.

>> Yes.

>> And you were hungry for something else.

>> And there was somebody else in the

church that had been raised uh you know,

homeschooled and like very much knocked

in the science world.

>> Yeah. And I think she was kind of scared

of you, but she

but absolutely loved you. I think she

was absolutely intimidated by your

ability to challenge.

>> Interesting.

>> And and you I don't know how I don't

know how

>> I made this.

>> You did this matchmaking thing where

you're like matchmaking.

>> Destiny needs a friend.

>> I lied to you.

>> And I And I think you told Yeah, you

told you told me Destiny needs a friend.

And I'm pretty sure you told her

essentially the same thing. Plus,

Vanessa also doesn't seem to be able to

read the Bible.

>> It was It was It was a spiritual thing,

but like for all the hunger and

intellectual power and function you had

reading the scriptures really was

difficult.

>> It was like totally locked out. Like I

was totally locked out. And it was

really bizarre because I had been

called, it felt like, to book up Isaiah

for years. I had been like picking up

impulsively by commentaries and studies

on Isaiah. And I couldn't think heads or

tails of it. And after the first

conversation that Destiny and I had

together about doing this little Bible

study fellowship get together thing that

we were going to do, she was like,

"Vanessa desperately needs historical

context." So we decided to go through

the Bible chronologically.

And so you guys dug in from Genesis all

the way through.

>> We did. And we were supposed to only be

reading excerpts, but then something

weird happened and all of a sudden the

Bible was like a page turner and I

couldn't put it down.

>> Was like, "Okay, we're reading it all."

>> You read everything and then like Good

Disciplehip was supposed to work. At

some point it was like, "Oh, maybe we

should invite some other people into

this, too."

>> That was another John. Yeah. Yeah.

>> You're welcome. And so

and then Destiny moved uh Destiny and

James moved away which broke all of our

hearts.

>> Uh but you continued to lead the study

and you continue to this day Thursdays

in the morning.

>> Thursdays in the morning

>> and you dig into the scriptures with a

bunch of other ladies and it's so fun.

>> Yeah.

>> I'm not there but I hear it's so fun.

>> And so with that I I want to allow

Vanessa to introduce us to the scripture

that we're engaging today from Luke 14.

Luke 14 is the radical invitation that

Jesus makes to the banquet of the lamb.

It's the wedding feast of the kingdom of

God. So, Vanessa, tell us about this

passage.

>> Okay. So, um in this passage of Luke,

Jesus has been invited to this like the

big deal Pharisees house. Um and the

Pharisees, in case you don't know, are a

group of Jews during Jesus' time that

care so deeply about God's law. like

they're really good Jews, but sometimes

they get so caught up in the letter of

the law that they totally lose his

heart. They lose love. So they become

appalled by things that Jesus does. Like

he heals on the Sabbath. How dare you?

And like he invites and has meals with

like sinners and stuff and they are

trying desperately to stay away from the

state of state of sin as much as

possible.

>> Yeah.

>> So they invite him in as the honored

guest teacher. Um but really like

they're trying to find ways to trap him

and glass time. So, at some point during

the dinner, somebody raises a glass and

makes this toast. Blessed is the one who

will eat at the feast in the kingdom of

God. Um, and this is, and I think it's

up there at some point, this is a really

common toast actually at the time. Um,

it actually looks back to Isaiah, all

the fall prophets, Isaiah 25:6. Um, and

Isaiah 25:6

it's like a hope of like that we're all

going to be there at the resurrection.

And really, there's an app canned

response, too. Jesus is supposed to be

responding like, "Oh Lord, grant that we

may all be among like we'll be counted

among the righteous and worthy to sit at

the table." Um, but Jesus really likes

defying expectations

and uh and really unapologetically so.

So, he replies instead with this really

uncomfortable parable about who's

actually going to be at the table.

So Jesus was a reply. A certain man was

preparing a great banquet and he invited

many guests.

At the time of the banquet, he sent his

servant out to tell those who had been

invited, "Come. Everything's ready. Like

I slaughtered everything. It's all been

cooked. Like, come on in."

>> But they all began to make excuses. The

first said, "I've just bought a field. I

have to go and see it. Please excuse

me." And another said, "I have just

bought five yokavoxin, and I'm on my way

to try them out. Please excuse me. And

these are terrible excuses in case

you're wondering. You would definitely

check out your cattle and the land

before buying them. It would be like

buying a house today without doing an

inspection or an appraisal or like not

test driving a car and just buying a

lemon. Like

um so still another says, "I just got

married so I can't come."

Weddings back then and still today are

usually planned really far in advance,

so there would be no reason to give a

last minute excuse to this dinner party.

These are all flaky and disingenuous

guests that are basically saying, "I

don't care how much work you put into

this dinner. I have better things to do

than spend time with you, which is so

hurtful." So then the servant came back

and reported to his master, and then the

owner became really angry, obviously. in

order discernment. You know what? Go out

quickly to the streets in the town um

and the alleys of the town and bring in

the poor, the crippled, and the lame.

The Pharisees are going to be kind of

queasy about this because these are

probably people who can't or won't

follow the purity.

Sir, the servant said, "What you ordered

has been done, but there's still room."

Then the master told his servant, "Go

out to the roads and the country lanes

and compel them to come in so that my

house will be full.

>> I tell you, not one of those who were

invited will get a taste."

So this last part would have been really

upsetting to the Pharisees

>> because these are lawabiding Jews and

they could have seen themselves as the

original people invited to this table

and now they're being told they're going

to be left out while everyone else even

non-Jews even people stained by sin are

going to get to come to the kingdom

feast.

>> I'm I I think I'm blown away and I

almost want you to repeat it again. Like

the excuses basically boil down to I

don't care how much you prepared for

this moment to feast with me. Yeah.

>> I'm too busy for you.

>> Yeah. That's what it amounts to. That's

what Jesus is saying rejection of him

amounts to

>> because he's done a lot of preparation.

>> Yeah. Like God has been preparing

through all of history for Israel's

Messiah. Like he's he's been preparing

like the entire world for Jesus.

>> Yeah. Can we dig into that just a little

bit? Because this is not the first time

that God made an invitation to be in his

presence, right? Yeah. from the

beginning all the way to the end he's

making this invitation. So first let's

start at the garden

>> in the beginning.

>> In the beginning

>> so really in Genesis 2 and 3 already you

see that God is inviting us into this

beautiful intimacy with him. The world

is created like a Russian nesting doll.

And so God makes the land but in the

land you have this special place called

Eden. But inside of Eden on this

mountaintop you plant this beautiful

garden. And smack in the middle of this

tree of life, which is as close to the

heavens as it could be, it's at the foot

of God's throne. He puts Adam and Eve

right there. And he says, "I'm going to

teach you how to co-rule creation with

me. I'm going to make you wise rulers,

and we're going to do this on like

leisurely scrolls through the garden."

Beautiful image.

>> Yeah.

>> But Adam and Eve

>> don't like it. Don't care how much you

prepared for this, God. I'm too busy.

They want wisdom of their own. They want

to take it of their own strength. And so

they reject the invitation in their cast

away from the tree of life and out of

the garden.

>> But God doesn't stop there.

>> No.

>> He makes a temple.

>> Yeah. So then the temple essentially

mimics the same sort of uh special like

to really give you the idea that there's

a special space where you're invited

into. And so the temple is on this mount

in Jerusalem and there have you have the

outer courts and then you have the inner

space and then inside the inner space

you have the holy of holies where the

fullness of God's presence resides. But

unfortunately

not everybody is invited. You can only

go into the inner courts if you're

Jewish on pain of death. And only the

high priest once a year after like

ritual cleansing to make sure that we're

not staying by sin can actually walk you

through to the holy of holies to be in

God's presence.

>> So this invitation continues to be made

and we're going to talk about the most

beautiful invitation which is Jesus. I

want to just break for a moment because

we've said for a couple times and it

seems like humanity is very good at this

at saying, "I know you've prepared this

so much for me, but I'm too busy or I'd

rather or

what is it you think that distracts us

as God continues to invite us into his

presence? What are we distracted by?

Like what is it that keeps us feeling so

busy? Like why is that such a big

battle?

>> We want our own will

to make this work like we we want our

own plan to be enacted and we want to

get things like we want to have our own

provision.

>> It's really scary to trust in God that

he's going to teach us that he is going

to provide for us. Um not only that like

you want to be the judges.

>> Yeah. How dare God say if I'm good

enough, if I can come into the holy of

holies or if I know, how dare he say?

>> We want to judge not only that like

we're enough. We want to say whether

we're enough or not,

>> but we also want to decide who else gets

to be invited.

>> Yeah.

>> Who else is enough?

>> We're really good at that. Social media

has made it like really easy to say

who's not enough.

>> Yeah.

>> Yeah. It's really really sad. I you know

uh I think I find that this current

social

tension that we have going on today uh

the current issues

uh I think you know if I'm going to name

something as a parent especially you

know my kids are older now but as they

were young children especially I feared

um

>> are the people that I'm going to be

around going to be dangerous for them?

Is this world going to be dangerous for

them? who's against me is is sort of the

wall that I continue to put up. And uh

my desire really is to is to be more in

the place of next to Jesus. And you know

there's something about the servant in

the scripture too where you have to

imagine that as he was reporting back

the rejection and the rejection how

Jesus must have felt and and how the

servant must have been able to see that

what it was like for the servant to go

out and say come Jesus wants you at his

table and

um and the grief and I I wonder how much

God is grieved too when we're not even

worthy to go out and invite the ones

uh that wants the table.

>> Yeah,

>> I think but it's it's so important.

Let's get to this final invitation that

Jesus is so powerful to make. Uh he is

making through this table an invitation

that's live with us right now.

>> Yeah.

So Jesus points out in the passage um

that the thing about this feast is that

now his life, his death and resurrection

have reshaped the invitation. And so now

the invitation is the cross is the tree

of life. Like he is inviting us right up

to there. He was the second Adam. He was

the obedient human. Um and he died for

all of us to make us worthy to be

obedient. He's the spotless lamb that we

welcome at the temple. He's the one that

replaces all the ways that we can earn

our way in. He replaces all those ways.

And if we just surrender to him,

>> it not only opens the way for us, but it

opens the way for everybody who we might

think is not true.

>> Yeah. That was God's plan like

throughout the entire history was to

bless the nations through Jesus. Not one

specific ethnic or social group, one not

one specific nation or political group.

But in Acts, we see that everybody who

accepts Jesus's invitation to the way of

the cross receives the fullness of God's

grace.

>> Yeah. And that opens the door for

everyone. We become mobile trees of

life, mobile temples in the world. You

guys have sheets in front of you and I

want to make sure that we're looking at

them just for your own posture and and

in your own disciplehip. There's a

question on the back which says, "What

social issues cause you to call someone

an enemy who Jesus may want to invite to

the banquet?" It's a challenging

question, but it's one that I'm curious

about as we look at this day and age

that is so divisive. How the church is

really called to be the one that isn't

divisive. The church is the one that's

called to be the source of life and

strength and the one that's carrying the

cross and carrying the invitation for

those that are outside.

uh the ones that didn't even know that

they were uh invited.

And when we recognize those

distractions, we recognize our biases,

we can turn from fear to love.

The radical invitation is for those who

know that they don't deserve to be at

the table. The radical invitation, if

you don't remember anything else, the

radical invitation is for those who know

they don't deserve to be at the table.

And that's why everyone must be invited.

And one reason why we may not invite is

because there's something about us that

believes that we earned it.

But the more that we do invite, the more

we lean into the posture that says, "I

haven't earned it. In fact, I don't

deserve to be at the table, and that's

why I must invite everyone."

So, I told you we were going to do

communion in the Eucharist a little bit

differently today. And so, I'm going to

ask those who are serving today to

prepare because we're going to move into

a way of communion today that is

postured both towards God and also to

the world. And so, on those sheets, I

want you to begin here. God is moving

towards you, inviting you into his

presence. God is moving towards them,

inviting them into his presence. And if

you're that servant of Jesus that's

going out, who are you sending the

invitation to this week or month? Would

you take a minute and just think who has

not been invited or who needs the

invitation to the banquet table, to the

grace, to the cross, to the presence of

Jesus. Would you take a minute and maybe

you don't have a pen, but you have a

phone or something like that. Would you

write down three names right now?

Heavenly Father, would you reveal to us?

You're the ones with the with the

invitation. Lord, would you reveal to us

who is meant to receive these

invitations?

>> Let's wait for just a moment.

And those with little kids that have

been crying during the service, they

sound worse to you than they do to us.

>> So, your kids are welcome here, however

they are. We love them.

>> They're not.

That's right.

>> Don't worry about it.

>> We love that your kids are here.

So beyond that invitation, if you had

the posture to be able to write down

those names, we want you to know that

the invitation is for you.

For those who have not felt like they

are worthy, this is a moment for you to

recognize how much Jesus invites you to

his table. Wherever you're at today,

>> you may not be feeling like you're

worthy. But if you believe, and again,

there's power in that witness. You heard

Vanessa talk about it. That simple

whisper, Jesus, I believe you died for

me. I believe you. I believe you rose

from the dead, conquered death, and

conquered sin. I believe you are Lord,

and I want you to be Lord of my life.

simple simple words

that allow us to be blessed at the table

of Jesus. And so, Vanessa, there was a

posture that that helped you as a young

Catholic at the mass and still does when

you visit mass. Your parents, I'm sure

there's an invitation to the table of

Jesus. That's really powerful.

>> Yeah, it's really wonderful. um in

Catholic mass when we come to the Lord's

table, the priest says, "Behold, this is

the lamb of God who takes away the sins

of the world." um and he actually

continues very similarly to the toast in

our passage, but this time referencing

Revelation, the book ending the Bible

here. Um so he he references Revelation

Revelation 19:9

19:9. Blessed are those who are invited

to the marriage supper of the lamb. But

our answer as a church is not actually

to hope that we're good enough to be

present at this table and to be counted

among the death guests. Our answer is to

recognize that each and every one of us

is unlikely.

>> And so we actually adopt Matthew 8,

which I think will be out there. Um and

we say as a whole congregation, Lord, I

am not worthy that you should enter

under my roof, but only say the word and

my soul shall be healed.

So,

>> so is he worthy is the question.

>> Not are you worthy. Is he worthy? Is he

worthy to cover your sin? Is he worthy

to heal you?

If he is worthy, would you stand?

Father, we come this morning knowing

that we're not worthy to be at your

table, but because of your invitation,

we come and we receive. Yes, Lord. Yes,

Lord. Yes, Lord. Yes. And with that

invitation, God, we also think of those

that are feeling unworthy today that

need that invitation.

And we say, "Help,

help, help.

God, as you receive us today at your

table, I ask that you would help us see

one another as made worthy by you and

your cross. Nothing more, nothing less,

so we could go out today filled with

your spirit and filled with the hope

that you are there.

>> Come Holy Spirit, bless this table this

morning. We ask in Jesus

So, I'm going to ask that you would come

if you are knowing that Jesus is worthy

to forgive your sins, that Jesus is

worthy to conquer death, that Jesus is

worthy to be Lord. The table's open to

you. Come and receive.