Reflection: Invitation
Harmony Presbyterian Church
Sunday October 11, 2026
10 AM
Exodus 32:1-14 (worship leader)
1When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered around Aaron, and said to him, “Come, make gods for us, who shall go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.” 2Aaron said to them, “Take off the gold rings that are on the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.” 3So all the people took off the gold rings from their ears, and brought them to Aaron. 4He took the gold from them, formed it in a mold, and cast an image of a calf; and they said, “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!” 5When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made proclamation and said, “Tomorrow shall be a festival to the LORD.” 6They rose early the next day, and offered burnt offerings and brought sacrifices of well-being; and the people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to revel.
7The LORD said to Moses, “Go down at once! Your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have acted perversely; 8they have been quick to turn aside from the way that I commanded them; they have cast for themselves an image of a calf, and have worshiped it and sacrificed to it, and said, ‘These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!’” 9The LORD said to Moses, “I have seen this people, how stiff-necked they are. 10Now let me alone, so that my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them; and of you I will make a great nation.”
11But Moses implored the LORD his God, and said, “O LORD, why does your wrath burn hot against your people, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? 12Why should the Egyptians say, ‘It was with evil intent that he brought them out to kill them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth’? Turn from your fierce wrath; change your mind and do not bring disaster on your people. 13Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, how you swore to them by your own self, saying to them, ‘I will multiply your descendants like the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have promised I will give to your descendants, and they shall inherit it forever.’” 14And the LORD changed his mind about the disaster that he planned to bring on his people.
The Hebrews in the wilderness. How anxiety born of distrust and fear breeds bad decisions – like idolatry. We pony up our valuable to make plenty of Golden Calves as an excuse to revel and feel good.
We now come to the parable of the Great Supper, found here in Matthew 22: 1-10 and in Luke 14: 16-24. Luke’s version is much tamer, less violent.
When reading scripture, especially the parables, Framing Questions are useful:
To whom it is spoken? Them – the chief priests, elders, the big boys…
What is the reaction in the text to the parable? They want to kill him…
What is the take home message? That’s up to you…
We like Scriptures to make us feel good about ourselves. Well. Jesus often doesn’t.
Matthew 22:1-14
1Once more Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying: 2“The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding banquet for his son. 3He sent his slaves to call those who had been invited to the wedding banquet, but they would not come.
4Again he sent other slaves, saying, ‘Tell those who have been invited: Look, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready; come to the wedding banquet.’
5But they made light of it and went away, one to his farm, another to his business, 6while the rest seized his slaves, maltreated them, and killed them. 7The king was enraged. He sent his troops, destroyed those murderers, and burned their city. 8Then he said to his slaves, ‘The wedding is ready, but those invited were not worthy. 9Go therefore into the main streets, and invite everyone you find to the wedding banquet.’ 10Those slaves went out into the streets and gathered all whom they found, both good and bad; so the wedding hall was filled with guests.
11“But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing a wedding robe, 12and he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding robe?’ And he was speechless. 13Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ 14For many are called, but few are chosen.”
Title: Invitation
Probing Questions
1. How often does eating and partying together factor in our lives? Who do you invite to your parties?
2. How would you feel if you gave a party and nobody came after they said they would?
3. When have you been unexpectedly brought into something you didn’t think you deserved?
4. When did someone else take your place because you were rude or stubborn?
5. If you are an orthodox chief priests, elders, pharisees who believed only righteous and pious Jews would feast at the messianic marriage banquet, how would you respond to this parable?
We’re going to focus on versus 1 to 10 because versus 11- 14 are an add on parable that deserves its own time.
What we have here is a wedding – a good and merry time for all. My family have been known to do a conga line.
So, let’s get some Hebrew background about weddings. After all, the Bible is filled with marriage imagery. It is a major metaphor of God’s relationship with God’s people. We the blushing bride and God the groom. And to a people use to hardship and daily anxiety, they want something for which they can hang onto. Often, we hear they hang onto a false idol.
And to a people use to drudgery and scarcity, the Bible is filled with prophecies promising that in God’s kingdom, it will be a land of plenty.
Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that the plowman shall overtake the reaper,
and the treader of grapes him that soweth seed;
and the mountains shall drop sweet wine, and all the hills shall melt.And I will bring again the captivity of my people of Israel, and they shall build the waste cities, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine thereof;
they shall also make gardens, and eat the fruit of them.
Amos 9: 13-14
Or as Woody Guthrie sang:
Green pastures of plenty from dry desert groundFrom the Grand Coulee Dam where the waters run downEvery state in the Union us migrants have beenWe'll work in this fight and we'll fight till we win
It's always we rambled, that river and IAll along your green valley, I will work till I dieMy land I'll defend with my life if it beCause my pastures of plenty must always be free
This universal hope of better days. Plenty of work. Plenty of harvests. Plenty of satisfaction. Freedom. A chance to dream.
~~~
A wedding banquet is a major event, a really big deal. Well, it often is fr us. It always involves a marriage feast. We do like to bond over food. You lovely buffet at Presbytery. Not an altar but a communion Jesus where we join Jesus at the table. I particular love that line from “To Kill a Mockingbird: “Neighbors bring food with death and flowers with sickness and little things in between. Boo was our neighbor. He gave us two soap dolls, a broken watch and chain, a pair of good-luck pennies, and our lives.”
Remember also these ceremonies take place in a close knit community, literally dancing in the streets. A promise of love. A promise of growth. A promise of new babies to be born. A promise of a future.
“And they’ll be one child born in the world to carry on, to carry on.”
Plus it is a a great honor to be invited, and it is an obligation by those who accepted the invitation. Invitations are done in person. When the King’s servants show up your doorstep, you pay attention. In person. No Save the Date emails. No invitations in the mail with a stamped RSVP.
Get ready for the party. I’ll send my servants out when the food is cooked and the wine poured.
But those invited brush off the servants. How rude. They make light of it.
Other servants are sent a second time to those who said yes. This host is swallowing his pride, almost pleading with them to come to the party.
Adding insult to injury, those invited offer lame and rude excuses. Worse, it was the custom that should a guest be prevented for a good reason from attending, it was the obligation of the host to send a covered dish plate.
So, not only are they ungrateful in insulting the host, they expect the servants to bring them their share.
Nope. Not going to happen. Not on my watch, says the king, hot under the collar.
Now, understand, the banquet will happen regardless. The meat is on the barbie.
Guess what? You will miss out. Others will be get to enjoy the feast, that is, once they are convinced – because they can’t believe they are invited – that they are now invited. What a surprise.
Remember to whom this parable is addressed? The big boys who cannot understand how Jesus welcomes those with whom they in their righteousness would never dare associate. Jesus, a good Jew wanted to recover Judaism.
Back east, we have plenty of large sanctuaries complete with large balconies. Down south, the balconies were where the slaves were allowed to sit and worship. I wonder where Jesus would have sat.
What a shame for those first invited to decline the chance for a party and to celebrate the king and his son. Only al they had to do was, having said yes, go and enjoy.
Yes, you’re invited.
A Presbyterian Church selfie: Meet a seminary friend. Paul’s church in Jersey had a basketball court in their parking lot. Local fellows started playing there on a regular basis after school, others joining after work. Their language wasn’t the cleanest. The neighbors complained. Paul spoke to the young men. They apologized and cleaned up their language. The neighbors again complained because of the noise, sometimes going past twilight. Paul finally realized why the neighbors kept complaining. The young men were African-Americans. The subject of the young men became an item of discussion at church meetings, more so in the parking lot after worship. Paul again went out and spoke to the young men and made a deal with them and narrowed the time when they could play. Paul was looking for a solution. Paul wanted them there. He thought it had potential for outreach. Then one day the church leaders voted to remove the basketball backboards. Paul wrote his resignation that night.
Time to minister to those who deserve ministry
What a shame how Paul’s congregation missed out on an opportunity, to miss out on the gospel creating community.
This is what God’s kingdom wants for us, so why do we ruin it so often?
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