I like weddings. I do. I think they have the opportunity to be one of the best days of anyone's life. Not just for the bride and groom but for all present: the new in-laws, the wedding party, the guests, the minister, the musician, everyone. My wedding was on a hot August night in 2003. Lacy and her mother had decided the wedding would be a classic formal wedding. The invitations we sent out included the words, “Formal Attire Required” or something to that effect. You may think it is rude to require guests to wear certain attire; but there is a time to suit down and a time to suited up, as Barney Stinson would say. A wedding at 7:00 pm is a time to suit up according to A Gentleman Gets Dressed Up.
Not only does a gentleman or a lady dress up for a wedding, they always say yes to the invitation. A gentleman/lady never turns down an invitation to a party, wedding, or banquet. Even if an excuse can be made, you are to never turn down an invitation unless you have already committed to a previous engagement. You are also to accept the first invitation you are given and not wait for a better offer. A gentleman/lady always accepts the invitation.
Jesus compares the kingdom of heaven to a king who gave a wedding banquet or feast for his son. All the who's who have been invited and when the feast is ready, the king sends his slaves out to tell them the party is ready. But the invited guests made light of the invitation; one went away to his farm, another to his business, while the rest seized his slaves, mistreated them, and killed them. Enraged, the king sent his troops, destroyed those murderers, and burned their city. Then he says to his slaves, “The wedding is ready, but those invited are not worthy. Go into the streets and invite everyone you find.”
The invited guests repeatedly refused the invitation to the wedding. They refused to come in for various reasons, some had work to do, some had businesses to run, others wanted to start a war. At one time they were worthy of the invitation to the wedding. Whether they were friends of the king or part of the high society that frequents the king's court does not matter. What matters is the point being made: those who were invited now find themselves unworthy because they refused the invitation; and the invitations have gone to others. Perhaps then, we could also say the church can be compared to a king who held a wedding banquet for his son.
The American church has spent a vast amount of money conjuring up programs, making numerous phone calls, sending out fliers, letters, emails, newsletters, building bigger church marques, all in the hopes that they will attract and gain members. Christian organizations and conventions spend an innate amount of time creating new specials that the church can spend ungodly amounts of money on in order to attract members. Yet, I bet if we were honest with one another, if the church was honest with itself, we would admit that these programs, fliers, events, letters, etc. are not really aimed at the lost or non-church folks. They are aimed at those who are inactive in their church membership.
Every church minister hears, “We think you should do this and this so we can have so and so back.” Or “So and so didn't like the previous minister, so hopefully they like you because we miss them.” Or “I stopped coming because so and so was a member and I didn't like them but I'm back now because they died.” True story. Every minister knows first hand when a church member talks about church membership, deep down they are talking about inactive members.
The church can be compared to a king who threw a wedding banquet for his son. How often have we organize an event and send out an invitation to every church member only to find the ones who come are the ones who we know and those we hoped to see have said, “Sorry, too busy” “Sundays are our only day together as a family” “We've got baseball” “It's hunting season”? For some reason the church continues to send them an invitation, only to have that invitation rejected or made light of; yet there remains a group of people who are desperately looking for a place to belong. How long will the church continue to worry about inactive members and ignore the ones who are here? How long will the church continue to invite the so and so's while ignoring the hurting and downtrodden? How long?
The Christian community is often more concerned about the people who aren't there then the ones who are. When I was a youth minister, students or parents would show for an event or Bible study and say, “No one's here. Where is everybody?” while 15 people sat in the room. I would laugh and sarcastically reply, “Well, we're here so does that make us no one? I mean are we not people?” Taken back they would reply, “I mean...you know what I mean.” Our mentality as the church is to think, “No one's here” instead of “Yay! You're here!” How often have you looked across the pew and thought, “I'm so glad who's here is here”? How often have you looked across the pew and asked, “Where is everyone?”
I think, in an odd way, that is the point Jesus is trying to make. The church leaders have continually rejected the invitation to the wedding. They have more important things to do then to go to a wedding. They thought they didn't need to respond to the invitation. They thought they would always be included, invited to the king's court. After all, they're important people. But the kingdom of heaven does not wait for those who continually reject the king's invitation. Eventually, their invitation will go to those who want to be invited.
The church can only wait for so long for the so and so's and who's who accept the invitation to come back until the food gets cold and the party guest leave. The wedding banquet goes on with or without us. The food is prepared and ready. The music is blaring and the people are dancing. The doors are open but the party won't wait forever for us before it starts. It will begin with us or without us. That is the kingdom of heaven. It is a place that will not wait until we're ready for change. It is a way of life that gives us limitless grace while giving us limitless demands. The kingdom of heaven is given to those who accept the invitation to be a part of it and live into it.
Imagine that you are throwing a party. Guests begin to arrive but you do not see your best friends. What do you do? Do you wait until they show up or do you start the party? It doesn't mean they can't join in later. It simply means the party will start without them because those who are there, those who accepted the invitation are worthy. The kingdom of heaven is not a kingdom that waits to get started. And that's the point Jesus is trying desperately to make with the chief priests and the church elders. “The kingdom of heaven will be brought forth whether you want to be a part of it or not.” The longer a church waits for prodigal members to return, the sooner the church will discover they have ceased to exist and find those who would have accepted the invitation are no longer interested.
A few years ago, I watched a movie called, Yes Man, starring Jim Carrey. Jim plays Carl Allen who is stuck in a rut with his negative attitude. He was a “no” man; always saying no to anything. He would say no when his friends wanted to hang. He would reject every invitation because he didn't want to go. Then one day he runs into an old colleague who invites to a self help seminar. Carl reluctantly goes to the seminar where he learns about the power of yes. Carl discovers that living in the affirmative, by saying yes to the invitations life gives him, amazing and transforming experiences.
After watching the movie I decided to do a life experiment and say yes to every opportunity life gave me except when those opportunities proved to be unhealthy for me, such as doing drugs or playing chicken on tractors with Kevin Bacon. Saying yes to the invitations God presented me led me to a better a life; a life that was full, a life that finally had meaning. It is that type of life I believe saying yes to the invitation to the opportunities God gives us is what brings about a better story. A story that reflects that of a wedding: celebration with music, food, and dancing.
I need to be clear. When I refer to living life to the full and the fullness the invitation offers us, I am speaking to something more than just the invitation to eternal life. I am speaking to living the life God is providing for us here and now. The church often concerns itself with the eternal and beyond. Asking the question, “What's heaven like?” or “How do we know?” We concern ourselves with raptures and end times because it's unknown. All our imaginations are left with are vivid images described in our scriptures. But I believe the invitation Christ refers to in this parable goes past the unknown and into the known. I believe the invitation to the banquet was an invitation for the elders and chief priests right then and there. The feast was ready after all.
The kingdom of heaven is often compared to a wedding and a banquet. A dinner held in honor of those married into the kingdom. I've been told that there will be a great feast, with dancing and drinking, (the Baptist will frown at the drinking) but the feast will be epic. The wedding party will be one to remember. However, I truly believe we do not have to wait until the final days or until our death to live into this story. The wedding banquet is ready, all we have to do is show up, turn the music up and let the sounds of the party bring all those who are looking for invitation in. In other words, let us not wait on the who's who and the so and so's before we start the party. Because the food will get cold and people won't wait around. Let's celebrate the wedding that is to come and the wedding that is already here.
No comments:
Post a Comment