Latest / Belin Memorial UMC / Rev. Will Malambri - "Speechless"
Transcript
- Belin Memorial UMC: Maystanding for the hearing of the gospel. Before we do, I want to say how good it feels to be in here and how nice it looks. So thank you to everybody who made it possible. Those who worked on it, those who were patient during it, and those who are here to celebrate it, and who worship with us online, celebrating the goodness of God among us. I'm grateful for all of that. Hear now this story from the Gospel according to Matthew, chapter twenty-two. Once more Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying, The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding banquet for his son. He sent his slaves to call those who had been invited to the wedding banquet, but they would not come. Then he sent other slaves, saying, Tell those who have been invited, Look, I prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet. But they made light of it and went away. One to his farm, another to his business, while the rest seized his slaves, mistreated them, and killed them. The king was enraged, he sent his troops, destroyed those murderers, and burned their city. Then he said to his slaves, The wedding is ready, but those invited were not worthy. Go therefore into the main streets and invite every one you find to the wedding banquet. Those slaves went out into the streets and gathered all whom they found, both good and bad. So the wedding hall was filled with guests. When the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing a wedding robe. And he said to him, Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding robe? And he was speechless. Then 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. For many are called, but few are chosen. This is the word of God for the people of God. Thanks be to God. You may be seated. This time next week I will have married my one hundred and seventy fourth woman. Not bad for someone still married to the first of those. 174 weddings, and not only has not one wedding gone like the one Jesus describes in his parable, no couple has ever asked to have that read at their wedding. I asked them, what scripture do you think would be good for you, for your wedding? And none have said, you know the one where they talk about being seized and mistreated and killed? Enraged, destroyed, burned, outer darkness, weeping, gnashing, we'd like that one. It's not just weddings. Most of us don't want to hear Jesus talking like that. And yet this parable isn't the only time. Remember the Sermon on the Mount? The scripture that we are more comfortable with? Remember that sermon when Jesus said, Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven? On that day many will come to me and say, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and cast demons out in your name and do many deeds of power in your name? Then I will declare to them, I never knew you. Go away from me, you evildoers. Another teaching that has not been selected for wedding services. We like the Jesus that welcomes, that calls, that serves, that makes things good for us. The one who provides barrels of wine for wedding receptions. I have read that one at some weddings. One of those times was New Year's Eve, 8 p.m. wedding. It was in a town that still abided by thy rule about what you wear at what time of day for weddings. I don't know whose authority came up with those rules about what you wear when. Who decides that one tuxedo is right at noon and a different one at eight? Suits are okay sometimes, but not others. I don't know why. I wasn't a debutante. So I asked my chief information officer what I should wear. Her standard reply, wedding, party, whatever it is, is something like, well I'm wearing, which does absolutely no good for me. I don't know how to translate what Sally's wearing into what I'm supposed to wear. I do know that those who wear what they're not supposed to get noticed. We'll notice with envy, how did he get to wear that? Or will notice with scorn, did you see what she was wearing? Stand out and you get noticed. This is embarrassing for me, so you'll like it. It also makes a point, so I'll share it. When I was a freshman in college, that same debutante invited me to a party in my hometown. It was a croquet party. Which is not even the most embarrassing part. The invitation clearly said to wear white. I could not believe that in 1994 in the United States of America people would actually wear all white. What man wears white shorts or white pants and a white shirt to an outing in this country? England, maybe, but this was not the Wimbledon Croquet Championships. It was a backyard party in Rock Hill, South Carolina. So I wore white shorts and a pastel shirt. Thank you. That's how I felt. I thought it was the epitome of what you would wear at a croquet party. It seemed so croquetish as to be a model, but I spent the entire two hours there regretting my choices in life. There I was at what became my last croquet party for my life. Maybe you know the feeling of standing out. Not quite matching the rest of the crowd, feeling uncomfortable in a setting that should have been good. But at least you knew to show up. I may have wished I had not shown up once I got there, but I accepted an invitation from a beautiful girl and I went as promised, which was better than not going. In Jesus' parable, those who had accepted the King's invitation decided not to show up. It was custom in those days to send an early invitation to help people know that they were invited to a party and then send a reminder the day of to say, remember, today's the party, we look forward to seeing you today. In the parable, those who had originally said they would show by the time the party came around had excuses why it was not the time for them. And in our day we may think their excuses were valid, business to attend to, schedules. We have fluidity in our schedules. We we have better opportunities to come along. So we don't understand what a great affront this was to the king. But they dared to dishonor the king, dared to not show as they had committed. And then they dared to raise the affront by some of them taking his servants and Killing them. It's one thing to refuse grace, it's another to attack it. So the king's response was harsh. He sent his troops in to kill those murderers, to torch their city, which was his city. And the story could have ended there. He could have let that be that. But he didn't. The king tried again. He expanded the guest list. He told his servants go into the streets and invite everyone. And they went and gathered all they found, both good and bad, so that the wedding hall was filled with guests. And those of us who are not on the original guest list, and those of us who realize that we are not good enough to deserve it, say thank you. Thank you for grace that is universal. And we add, stop the story there, because this sounds like Jesus. The good and the bad. Everyone invited to celebrate at a party that we don't have to pay for, can't pay for, don't deserve, and get to enjoy, stop the parable there. Jesus doesn't. The offer of grace is universal, the acceptance and adherence is not. Jesus adds one more element to the story. One of the people that was dragged in off the street for the wedding that night was not dressed correctly. He stood out. People noticed. It may not have been in pastels, but he was also not wearing a wedding robe. That enraged the king again. The king showed what happens when people who are invited don't adhere. So imagining reading this parable this coming Saturday at the wedding, in front of those guests who aren't dressed quite right. How did you get in here without the right clothes? Throw them into the out of darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Where'd we get out? People would start to advise, you know, you should check Emily Post before you go to a wedding at b Blaine Memorial. Wedding advice reels would go viral. Till someone finally said, You know, Jesus' point really wasn't about what clothes we wear. Emily post or whoever gets th make those rules can make those rules, but his parable is how it's about how you dress in life. Whatever the good or the bad were up to before they were brought into that wedding banquet. They did not come to the banquet with a wedding robe in their pocket. They were brought into the mix. And once there they figured out what was needed. They figured out how they were supposed to dress, how they were supposed to act, how they were to be to honor the king and his family. And they all seemed to get it. Except this one. This one guy, good, bad, we don't know what he was like. He showed up and he did not pay attention to how the banquet was going, how the others were acting, how he was supposed to dress in there. He was so focused on the free food and the free drink that he failed to realize that he was completely out of step. They may have thought that he was only there to be served. That the whole point of the banquet was to make him happy. The groom, the bride, the king, whatever. It's about him. It's like he said, Lord, Lord without having any idea what that meant. Did not care enough to find out. When he could have joined the chorus singing praises to the king, he was silent. When he could have joined others and actually honoring the king's son, he chose not to. When he could have thanked the king for the grace that invited him in, he was speechless. consequences to a self serving nature. The man was thrown out for not dressing like he should, for not learning what it means to be brought into the banquet, for not appreciating and responding to the grace offered to him. Not accepting grace. Not adhering to the calling? has consequences. In the parable that's represented by a missing robe and by being removed. But those who heard Matthew's gospel knew this meant something else. They knew that Jesus meant something like what the Apostle Paul told the Colossians, scripture we read at weddings often. As God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. Above all, clothe yourselves with love. It is not enough to show up and make this celebration about your personal gain. The kind of party that some people throw for themselves and no one wants to attend. To believe is to act. To be part of a community of faith is to learn the ways of the faith. To accept an invitation is to be willing to fulfill the commitment that comes with it. Jesus is consistent. The good and the bad are welcome. Fill up this place with those who want to celebrate him. Just not those who think the celebration is only about themselves. Find a way in word and deed to let your acceptance, adherence, and appreciation be made known in the Don't be speechless when there is so much good to say and do.