From The Pulpit: Uninvited

(An excerpt from my sermon preached on July 21, 2013. The text is Luke 14:14-25, The Parable of the Great Dinner.)

... As much as this parable is about God giving a warning to those who are invited not to miss the great dinner, it is more so about God finding a way for the uninvited to get there. The main characters are not the three who miss the banquet because they are too busy, but instead are those who get to come in their place. At its core, this parable is about the inclusion of the excluded: the poor, the crippled, the blind, the lame, and those who have nothing better to do than wander aimlessly in the streets.

From their perspective, and from the perspective of those who are excluded in our society, this is not a challenging story at all. It is a beautiful story, a story of hope, a story of promise, and a story of freedom that gives them assurance that the coming of God’s Kingdom will not leave them behind.

If we look through the history of the Bible and the history of our own nation, it is breathtaking to realize just how many times God has made manifest the inclusion of the uninvited - and how much God is doing the same thing today.  If we are willing to look for it, and if we are willing to work for it, we will see similar glimpses of the Kingdom whenever those who are accustomed to being on the outside are invited in and given a seat at the table.  

This parable boldly proclaims this good news of liberation for all of those groups who face prejudice and exclusion. But it’s also good news for those who might feel uninvited on a more individual basis. Some of us might identify with the invited group, but at times - because of difficult circumstances in our lives, or because we find ourselves in a place where we don’t fit in - at times we feel like we have personally been uninvited from the table of God’s blessing. Sometimes, we feel like we are left wandering alone in the street while the party is going on inside without us.

So the good news is that God’s grace invites us all in, and that God’s love is especially given for those who feel separated, for whatever reason, from the glorious Kingdom that is being brought forth in our midst.

So the challenge that this Parable of the Great Dinner gives us is to be watching and to be ready for the unknown times when the Kingdom breaks forth, and to work today to include those who are uninvited. But the good news that lies beyond this challenge is so much greater. For the eternal party that God is throwing invites us all, insider and outsider, rich and poor, healthy and sick, seeing and blind, able-bodied and lame, busy and wandering. What a great party this is going to be!