Proper 23 - living in the love of God

      Philippians 4: 1-9, Matthew 22: 1-14

Through September and into October,  I have really enjoyed the richness of late Summer and early Autumn. We have had quite a few harvest festivals – and still have a couple more to come, and we have been thinking about “the season of creation” and our place as stewards within this world God has made.

 

But it’s sometimes quite helpful to turn from global issues and huge themes to something much smaller and more intimate.
How can we fill our lives with the good things which God wants to give us?

When St Paul writes the letter to the church at Philippi, he gives clear instructions
‘All that is true, noble, just, pure, loveable, attractive, excellent, admirable, think on these things’.

 

 

 

If we can fill our minds and our lives with what is good, then we will experience joy – the joy of the Lord, the joy that comes from knowing we are children of God living in God’s world and surrounded by God’s love. This, says Paul, brings peace to each one of us, enables us to show others consideration, and takes away all traces of anxiety.

 

And in case we fall into the trap of thinking ‘well, it’s alright for St Paul to say “rejoice in the Lord always” – maybe he didn’t have much to worry about!’ – the letter itself tells us that Paul wrote this letter from prison, under sentence of death. Not the most obvious of circumstances to write ‘rejoice in the Lord always’.

Yet from his prison cell, Paul tells the people of Philippi to get their priorities right and whatever happens around them, to stay connected to God’s love.

The problem with human nature is that we can behave as though God’s love was a reward for doing good:

when actually we know, if we stop to think about it, that God’s love is a free gift to us.

If our life and our heart is cluttered with all the things we think we should be doing we can miss the simple, liberating truth of God’s love for us.

So when the news seems full of despair, or you’re anxious about your family’s future, or your days feel rather dark… St Paul tells us to rejoice in the Lord, to focus on those things which are true, noble, just, pure, loveable, attractive, excellent, & admirable, and most of all to rest back in the love of God.

And yet, being in a loving relationship with God is not just a passive acceptance of God’s care: we are required to act, too.

 

Jesus tells the parable of the wedding banquet.
Those who are originally invited don’t turn up.

They each have excuses –but they each refuse to come. The host of the banquet decides he must fill his hall with guests – and so he sends his servants out into the streets to round up anyone they can find and invite them in to eat and drink.

So far, this is a wonderful story about God’s generosity and the free gift of God’s love for everyone. This is good news for anyone who thinks they are not good enough for God – God comes and finds us and welcomes us into the banquet. See how generous God is – even those of us who think ourselves not fit to be God’s guests find ourselves at God’s table.

 

But then comes a second part of the story. The host finds a man who is not dressed properly for the banquet, and has him thrown out. At first reading this is hardly fair – the man was virtually dragged in off the street so how was he to know that he needed to wear his best clothes?

Think for a moment what would you do if you were invited to a party at the last minute?

You’re sitting on the sofa, pyjamas on, drinking your cocoa and watching the TV. Your doorbell goes… and it’s your next-door neighbour inviting you in to join a party because they haven’t got enough guests. You could make your excuses and slope off back to the sofa, or you could decide to go & quickly change into your glad rags.

But what you wouldn’t do is go straight in without changing out of what you were wearing, as if you were doing them a favour by being there. If you’re invited to a party, however unexpectedly, you try to respond appropriately and look the part.

That is the point Jesus is making.

The invitation to the banquet is sudden and unexpected, and the new set of guests are all jolly lucky to be there. But there is still something expected of them – they should try to dress right and look right, behaving like the honoured guests they are.

To do otherwise is to fail to understand just how marvellous the invitation and the banquet actually are.

The kingdom of heaven is like this.

God has invited us to share in his love and mercy. It is an offer so wonderful it is like being invited unexpectedly to the sumptuous feast. Our reaction can hardly be ‘well, that’s alright’, with a shrug – like going into a grand party in our gardening clothes.

 

God’s love is extended to each one of us, and in wonder and thanks for his amazing mercy we want to ‘smarten ourselves up’ and react to God’s love.

 

We know the things Jesus said about how we should live – love your neighbour, love God, seek peace and joy - these are the appropriate ‘clothes’ for the people of God’s kingdom. These things are our response to God’s invitation: as loved children of God, we are expected to love God and love others in return.

Here, today we are freely invited by Jesus to join God’s banquet for all those God loves. All can eat and drink and know God’s love for them.

Yet as honoured guests we are also expected to live the part – to go from here as God’s people to share God’s love with others.
So go with the food God gives, strengthened to be God’s own for the world, in the name of Jesus.
Amen.