Weekly Sermon | cedarvalley

Pentecost 20A October 11, 2026 Matt. 22:1-14

I admit I have more questions than answers when it comes to understanding this parable, we have today and it all stems from some of the things going on in our political system these days that got me to look at about the dark side of this story. The standard interpretation of this parable is a warning about what happens to you if you refuse the invitation to the “wedding banquet” and aren’t properly dressed for the occasion. But the first problem I have is with the king himself. Typically, we think of the king as God but the king described in this story is not at all like the God I have come to know in Jesus, much less the kind of authority figure I would put my faith in. This king rules by means of threat and violence and vengeance. By contrast, the God I know in Jesus rules with love and compassion and mercy.

And that got me thinking about who would turn down such an invitation in the first place. To be invited by the king to any occasion, let alone the prince’s wedding banquet, is an honor not easily ignored but it happens. In recent years we have seen professional and collegiate sports teams turn down an invitation to the White House after winning championships because of political differences. For them, they refuse as a protest to policies the administration upholds. Maybe that could be the reason these quests came up with their excuses, lame excuses at that. Maybe they were protesting this king because his words could not be trusted or because there was no justice in the way he ruled. Maybe they didn’t attend the wedding banquet because, in their eyes, the king was unworthy of his title.

And while it is hard to justify mistreating and killing the king’s slaves who were just doing their job and delivering the message that everything was ready. It is easy to understand why people who are living under a tyrannical ruler and are feeling powerless, might do what they did. But it is also hard to justify the king’s response. In his vengefulness, he sent his army not only to punish the offenders, but to burn down their city and bring destruction upon everyone who lived there.

And yes, it is in keeping with our understanding of how God works that the king would invite everyone from the streets to fill his banquet hall. But it is troubling to me that this second invitation is made only after the “real” guests didn’t show up. Had they come, those from the streets would have never been invited and would have been left out in the cold. It leaves me to wonder if the king, instead of being moved by kindheartedness to include outsiders, was only trying to fill the room to protect his fragile ego and not suffer the embarrassment of a failed party in the eyes of his family and friends.

And another thing, I doubt that Jesus would have been among the first invited to the wedding banquet. If anything, he would have been among those gathered from the streets, “both the good and bad alike.” Indeed, as this story comes to close, I can’t help but wonder if Jesus is the one without the proper wedding robe … the one who could not and would not pretend to honor a bully-of-a-king by putting on the expected attire. Who, on behalf of all of us, was thrown into utter darkness, standing in solidarity with those who know only weeping and the gnashing of teeth.

Like I said at the beginning, I was left questioning at the dark side of this story. I could be looking at it all wrong and feeding you a bunch of baloney in my sermon today. Still, we say that the Bible is a living word that can take on new meaning in new days. And isn’t it just as likely that the kingdom of heaven is found with those who protest and refuse to bow to repressive powers that cause the innocent to suffer and who allow injustice to thrive when authority throws its weight around and destroys those who get in its way?

Anyway, you have the fruits of where my imagination took me as I reflected on this parable. For better or worse, it is what it is. Still, I think it is in keeping with the way Jesus often turned things upside down and inside out when he told his stories. The only thing left to answer is this, “what do you think?” What do you think the kingdom of heaven … the reign of God … is like?

Pentecost 7B July 7, 2024 Mark 6:1-13

We see in our gospel reading for today the continuation of a theme that has been running through the life and ministry of Jesus from the beginning. Again and again, Jesus has been forced to deal with rejection: rejection for what he teaches, rejection for what he does, and rejection for who he is.

The Pharisees criticize him for healing on the Sabbath. His disciples chastise him for sleeping in the middle of a stormy sea. Even his mother and his family try to get him to stop working so hard because his zealousness is proving to be an embarrassment to them. And today, Jesus returns to his hometown of Nazareth and it happens again. The people who sat next to him in worship, who celebrated with him at festivals, who watched him play and grow up, can’t accept what he has become.

At first, listening to Jesus teach in the synagogue, these family friends and neighbors are astonished by his eloquence and spiritual insight. They are impressed: “Where did he learn all of this?” they ask each other. “How did he get to be this good?” they wonder. “When did he get so wise all of a sudden?” they question. “After all, he is one of us. Up until recently he was just a local handyman, patching our roofs, framing our doors, and fixing our wobbly tables and chairs.” What happened? Where did Jesus get all of this?

Well, the answer to their questions is that he got all of this from them. He got it from his parents and siblings and relatives. He got it from his teachers at the synagogue. He got it from the values kept by his neighbors and from the stories he learned of his hometown heroes and his local scallywags. Jesus, in essence, is a mirror, showing them who they are and the role they played in shaping his identity and his place in the world. And the same is true for us. So much of what it is that makes us who we are and the things we do is shaped by our environment. And the history we carry and the people who have left a mark on our lives play a big part in our identity.

But their amazement suddenly shifts and they take offense at him. Someone in the crowd – perhaps a jealous neighbor, or maybe a childhood rival, or possibly the village gossip who loves to stir up trouble – questions the fact that Jesus has stepped out of his lane and ignored his place in the community. “He was one of us and now he thinks he’s something more – he has become something we didn’t expect him to be – something that doesn’t fit into the box we put him in.” And their doubts leave him powerless to do what he would love to do for them – what he has done for so many others.

But before we judge them too harshly, let’s imagine that we are also standing among his homies wondering the same thing ourselves. Like them, how often have we missed the holy among us because we could only see what we wanted to see? How often have we missed the new thing God is doing in Jesus because what we could only see is the old and familiar? How often have we not allowed Jesus to surprise us?

I remember something a wise friend told Pam and me when we were newly married. She said that we should surprise each other every once in a while with something unexpected. That surprise, she said, keeps the intrigue and the mystery of love alive in a relationship. I believe that part of the gospel mission for us involves an element of surprise. Because our openness to being surprised, keeps us open to the intrigue and mystery of God’s deep love for us so that it doesn’t get old and boring and meaningless.

My prayer for you, my friends, is that when you listen to Jesus you can hear a new thing God is doing underneath the comfortable traditions and the familiar habits of your faith. I pray you will be surprised by the mystery of the abundant life God has for you in Jesus – a life filled with love and grace … with mercy and forgiveness … with freedom and peace. May you have the eyes to see and the ears to hear the surprising good news God has for you in Jesus Christ, our Lord.