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.