WHO DO YOU EXPECT?

Dr. Richard J. Henderson October 12, 2008

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Isaiah 25:6-10
Luke 14:15-24

Introduction

Have you ever said to yourself, "What if I threw a party and nobody showed up?" Maybe you said it when you have sent out invitations and requested an RSVP, and you haven't gotten any back. Is anybody going to come? Or maybe you thought about it when you got the RSVPs back and it's time for the party, but nobody's there yet. What if I've done all this work and nobody's coming?

We went to a birthday party last weekend where the family had invited 80 people. It was time for the party to start and only 25 people were there. The planners were worried and afraid that the guest of honor would be disappointed. I asked, "Did you ask for RSVPs?" They said, "In our family people don't respond to RSVPs; then they just show up, so it doesn't do any good to ask them to reply." They were wondering last weekend if they had thrown a party and almost nobody was going to come to it. As it turned out, lots more people came and the party was a great success.

I

This parable that Jesus tells is something like that weekend situation. In Jesus' parable a man prepares a huge banquet and invites lots of people. In Jesus' time the host would send out announcements about the party and people would respond whether they were coming. Then, when everything was ready, the host would send out word that it was the time to come to the party.

So in this party the invitations have gone out and people have said they were coming. Now the man sends his servant out to tell them that everything is ready for the party and they should come. The servant says, "Come now because everything is ready."

But one by one they begin to make excuses for why they can't come even though they said they would. One man says he bought a farm and has to go look it over. Another person says he bought five teams of oxen and has to try them out. Another says he married a wife, and so he won't be able to make it.

What are we to make of these responses? Are these legitimate reasons not come to his banquet when they have said they would?

II

Dr Ken Bailey, who was our Faith Enrichment speaker several years ago, spent his whole career in the Middle East. He is very aware of not just the current customs of the people there, but also of the customs in Jesus' time. He says that these responses are excuses, not reasons. Some of them are laughable.

For example, the man who says he bought a farm and had to look it over makes you wonder if he could possibly have purchased property without first inspecting it carefully. In Jesus' time he would have been given every detail of what the property was like - where the trees were, if there was a well, what the grade of the land was, etc.

Plus, the dinner party would have started late in the afternoon, and he would have had all day to go check the property, even if he wasn't bright enough to look at it before he bought it.

The second man says he bought five teams of oxen and he has to go look at them. It's ridiculous to think that he would have bought them sight unseen. Dr. Bailey says that would be like a man today calling home to say, "I cannot make it home tonight for dinner because I have just signed a check for five used cars, which I bought over the phone, and I am on my way down to the used car lot to find out their age and model, and see if they will start."

That would never happen. And it is insulting: he is saying these five oxen are more important to him than the banquet that his friend has planned. It's a lame excuse.

The last excuse is that the man has gotten married, so he can't come to the banquet. He had to know well in advance that he was going to get married, so why would he RSVP that he could come to the party if he knew he was getting married? His response says that he has already gotten married, so why does he need to stay home?

People of the Middle East are very conservative about talking about marriage and their relationships with their spouses, so for him to suggest that he has to be with his wife would be considered not only insulting, but rude.

Clearly these are lame excuses. The people don't want to be bothered with the party or they don't want to be with the host. They have said they would be there, and now they are making up excuses to get out of it.

III

Since they aren't coming, what should the host do? Shall he cancel the banquet? All the food is prepared; he can't do that.

The host is furious. But instead of canceling the banquet, he decides to fill the banquet hall. He sends his servant out to the streets and alleys to invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. Since those he invited don't want to come, he is inviting everyone, including those who face physical challenges. When he has done this the servant says there is still more rm. Then the host says to go to the back roads and the country lanes until his hall is filled with people.

It seems clear that Jesus is saying that he has extended an invitation to the chosen people of Israel. The people whom God called, and led out of slavery and into the Promised Land are invited to receive the Son of God, but they refuse. Since they have refused, he is reaching out to everyone. He has prepared a great feast and the hall will be filled. So if the Chosen People have turned down Jesus' message, he will offer it to others.

Those who seemed like the right people couldn't see the value of their invitation so he took the message to all of God's children - even to those many thought would never respond.

IV

The heart of the message here is to get out the good news to everyone who will respond. That includes speaking to people no one else thinks should be invited and those no one thinks would ever accept. It is not for us to judge who should be offered Jesus' good news. God works with all people.

This parable reminds me of the fact that Christianity in the U S has been declining while it is fervently alive in places around the world like South America, Central America, and South Korea.

When Castro eased the restrictions on the Christian faith in Cuba, leaders discovered that there were thousands of underground churches that were worshipping and studying the Bible. Those who received the invitations were too busy to go, but those who desperately wanted this good news rushed to be part of it.

I have been struck by two recent memoirs of faith. The first is by the novelist, Anne Rice. For decades she has written dark, haunting stories, often about vampires. Several years ago she converted from atheism to Christianity and began to write novels which helped us imagine what boyhood life was like for Jesus as he grew up. Her spiritual memoir is aptly titled, Called Out of Darkness: A Spiritual Confession.

The second memoir is by screenwriter, Joe Esterhaus. He has written screenplays for some disturbing films. He too had a religious experience that changed his life seven years ago. He recounts it in his spiritual memoir, Cross Bearer: A Memoir of Faith.

One of the most interesting things about these conversions is that no one would ever have expected either one of them. These were people who, if not opposed to Christianity, certainly showed no interest in it. And yet, they made dramatic changes in their lives to embrace this faith.

You and I can't determine who will be called by God or who will respond to God. We think we know who is on God's invitation list and who is excluded but the truth is everyone is invited and we can't know who will accept.

Conclusion

Don't try to guess who should be at God's great banquet. Go out in the streets and the alleys, the back roads, and the country lanes and invite everyone. Don't try to narrow down who should be at God's grand feast; just invite everyone. And expect to be surprised.

Amen

© Richard J. Henderson 2008