28th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A)

Sunday, October 12, 2008
St. Clement’s Catholic Church; Saratoga Springs, NY

Isaiah 55: 6 – 9
Psalm 145: 2 – 3, 8 – 9, 17 – 18
Philippians 1: 20c – 24, 27a
Matthew 20: 1 – 16a

One busy bride had planned for a wedding in the middle of June, so she mailed her invitations at the beginning of May. By the beginning of June, she was distraught because so few of her responses had arrived. On the day of her wedding, however, even those guests who had responded were no-shows. Her wedding day was supposed to include 150 guests, instead only the couple’s immediate family, five close friends, and the wedding party’s significant others were in attendance. What went wrong? Her printer had mistakenly listed the date of her wedding for the middle of July! In fact, when the depressed bride returned from her two week honeymoon, her post office box was overflowing with invitation responses.

The parable today told by Jesus follows closely with what he heard last week. It speaks of how God thru the years has offered his love to the people of the world. His messengers to come to the feast were the prophets, some who were mistreated, some killed – all because they were the messengers brining the invitation to be part of God’s family. Finally in the course of history, God sends his only Son and for simply extending the invitation of His Father’s love, the people of his time not only rejected the Son but put him to death. The parable still holds true for us today – the invitation is there and while we might not be killing the messenger we may be ignoring the message.

I am sure that many of you who have already been married the bride to be spent many hours going over what their wedding invitation would look like. The wording is to be exact, the design is to be perfect but in the story I just shared there was a mistake in the invitation and many who should have been invited never got a chance to respond. All of us if we host a party and send out the invitations would be heartbroken if we were all set for the party and no one showed up.

Once again today we have all been extended an invitation – the invitation comes from God himself to join him as part of his family. There is no misprint, there is no misunderstanding, and the invitation comes to each one of us loud and clear. Our God is inviting us to join him, not just for a banquet to share his love, his compassion, his forgiveness. It is an invitation that is offered not just to a few but to all who hear his word. Think about how you might feel if you know someone who is hosting a party and you are one of the few who does not receive an invite. With God the invitation is extended to all, there are no favorites, no one’s invitation has gotten lost in the mail. The Good News is that we are all invited! The challenge is that it is up to each one of us to respond.

The response to be part of God’s family demands from us not just a onetime response either. Often when we respond to a wedding we send in our response, we check off whether we want the chicken, the fish or the steak and we forget that how we responded until the actually day of the wedding. Our response to God’s invitation is not like that – it requires a daily response. For those of us who were baptized as infants our parents responded for us. At our confirmation we stepped forward and responded to God’s invitation for ourselves. For those who are married, hopefully when you said I do to your spouse on your wedding day was not the last time you did so. The vows you spoke to your spouse hopefully are words that you speak in one way or another to each other on a daily basis. As a vowed religious and ordained priest I renew my vows each and every morning. It is a daily response to God’s invitation to follow him. Each morning as the sun rises in the east and we turn over to hit the snooze alarm we also wake to receive the Lord’s invitation; an invitation that demands a response from us.

In our first reading we hear more about God’s invitation. “On this mountain the LORD of hosts will provide for all peoples. A feast of rich food and choice wines, juicy, rich food and pure, choice wines.” (Isaiah 25:6) The prophet Isaiah talks about God’s people being invited to a great banquet – a banquet that will include choice food and fine wine. A similar invitation is extended to us this morning to come to the banquet of the Lord here on this mountain, here at this table. At this table the Lord invites us to partake in the best food possible – to share in His Body, He invites us to share the finest wine -- to drink from the cup of His Blood. The celebration is here this morning and we have chosen to say yes to this invitation. But again it has to be stated that this invitation is extended to all and extended to us each and every week.

We come to this feast, to the table of His Body and Blood, not alone but we come to this celebration with our brothers and sisters. We come to the table of plenty with others invited to the family of God. This is a celebration that includes young and old, rich and poor, saint and sinner. The invitation from our God is the Good News that we gather to celebrate today. However, with every Good News that we hear there is a challenge – the challenge is in our hands, the challenge for us is how we respond.

Today, all people are invited to be part of God’s family and share in God’s love. Just as with any invitation the RSVP to God is an important choice that we have to make. Today let us celebrate the love that God offers us. Today let us rejoice in the compassion and forgives we are invited to share. Today let us look around and see our brothers and sisters that we are invited to share the love of God with. We have a wonderful chance to say yes to the Lord’s invitation – that is not just Good News but it is Great News. But an invitation is useless unless there is a response. Today the question for each and every one of us is: what will our response be today. May it be a response of yes to be part of God’s loving family. AMEN!