guests”: Luke 14.16 (NIV)
A couple of weeks ago, I was at
the General Assembly as a Commissioner.
I found it very interesting,
some of the debates and many of the speakers were really very interesting.
But two other things stay in my
mind…..
the first thing is a set of
statistics put before the Assembly by one of the Councils of the Church of
Scotland, which show very clearly that the Church is still steadily declining
in numbers.
And the second thing that stays
in my mind ?
the
lunch I had with other ministers I know in the Hub,
which
is the festival centre and bistro at the top of the Lawnmarket………….
The statistics about decline and the lunch are connected
!
You see, my earliest memory of
worship is standing at the age of 4 holding a hymnbook with my mother, singing
a children’s hymn during a service.
And the Church we were in then, is now the bistro where I had lunch ten or so days ago.
I know many in the
but
the Church in
Here in
But as always…….. there is a greater reality,
which
is the gospel !
The living Word of the gospel, we
are discovering,
speaks
to us in ever fresh, ever new ways whatever our situation.
And there is a living Word in
what we read this morning from Luke’s gospel,
there
is a Word for us today……..here, a message of enduring hope……..
This morning we read a passage from
Luke’s gospel, the word of Jesus.
Here is a wonderful parable
told by the Lord Jesus, about a great banquet, a great feast, given, we are
told, by a certain man.
In the typical Middle Eastern fashion
of the time, there were two invitations:
we see that in the parable. The first invitation was to see if you were available on a given day; and the second invitation came on the day itself, to let you know that the food was ready.
So, the man’s guests accept the
first invitation, they say they will be there………
But, when the second invitation
comes, on the day itself, and the food is actually ready the three wealthy
guests invited all give excuses.
The first man tells us that he
has property to look over, a piece of real estate – a green field site, that he
has bought so he can’t make it.
The second man says that he has
just taken delivery of 10 oxen, that’s enough pulling power to take on any
field of any size or acreage.
(In medieval
He wants to try them out – so
of course, cannot come.
And the third man has just got
married –
but we
are not told when – it could be six months before
but it
is clear that this is another excuse………
None are able to come.
So this time the man who has arranged for the banquet,
sends out the servant – to bring the poorest in the city, in the streets and alleys, the blind, and the lame in for dinner.
And when they arrive, this good
man insists on sending out the servant again, this time to the hedgerows, the
by ways, the lanes, to find the destitute
and invite
them to come to the feast.
Now, different commentators
have brought out the rich meaning of this parable in different ways:
Some have understood that
here in this parable Jesus is describing
His own ministry –
Jesus had come to invite
men
and women into
the
open fellowship, the shared
companionship, communion together in the
However, the Pharisees and
teachers of the law had turned down the invitation, but the people on the edges
of society had heard His invitation and had come in in numbers: the parable, then is about Jesus calling the poor into the
kingdom.
Others tell us that here in this
parable
Jesus is telling His hearers to
take God’s invitation to come into the kingdom, while they still have the
chance
otherwise
that invitation will go elsewhere
the
parable, then is about responding to the urgent call to come into God’s kingdom
.
But if we step back a little, there’s
one other way of reading this parable
and it’s
this:
In the parable the invitation
was turned down by those wealthy men,
but
instead of abandoning the feast, instead of forgetting all about it
the
man in the parable sends out and gathers in the poor, the destitute, the
powerless from the country lanes, the highways and byways !
This parable, then, also speaks
to us of the living God who is gracious to those beyond, to those far away !
Is this not what the living God
is like ? our loving Father
in heaven,
who
comes seeking us ?
and though men and women reject that loving call, still the invitation presses on to reach out in grace to those who are beyond, to those far away – to the weak and the powerless ?
Why, the message here is one of
the sheer loving grace of God from end to end,who
comes looking for us – as the Shepherd looking for the lost sheep.
Who comes looking for us – in
His own Son, our Lord Jesus.
This is an invitation which
presses on to reach out in grace to, and include,
those
who are beyond, to those far away, the weak and the powerless
those at the edge of things………..
In this parable it is those who are weak, or powerless, or on the edge who hear the message of the Father’s love and grace most clearly and most
gladly ?
Is there a word here for us today ?
I am certain there is.
What is it ?
It is this:
It does seem that in the years
ahead
many
of us in the Church of Scotland will be entering a new era,
an era
of weakness, and, perhaps, powerlessness……….
We may find ourselves in an
unfamiliar place,
no
longer at the centre of life in this land,
but at
its edge………..
now –
these wonderful words of Jesus declare to us, guarantee to us
that if
we find ourselves at that place – weak and with little power…..
the
grace of the living God will be there ahead of us !
And while we might find ourselves
on the edge of things……….
nevertheless
we will be at the very heart of the kingdom
- perhaps in closer fellowship with our Father in heaven than we have ever known !
That is the message of the
great prophets – Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel,
and it
is the message of the New Testament……..
sounding like the ringing of a
Church bell carrying across the fields on the breeze - sometimes stronger,
sometimes quieter,
but all the while sounding……….
In the face of life’s greatest
demands on us, deepest challenges,
there
is a greater reality, the grace and love of the living God in Jesus Christ,
who
seeks us and finds us………..wherever we are…
And the other two readings we heard
this morning add even greater dimensions to this, deepening our confidence and
giving us secure gospel foundations.
Take up and read the second
chapter of the book of Acts
and
you will see that the Church in Acts is made up of those who are held together
in Jesus, who know Him, who pray
together, break bread together, and share together - what they have, their
burdens, their hopes, their lives.
That’s the Church in its
essentials
and in
the times ahead, even if we lose much,
the
place and the power we once might have had……….
the
Church will still be the Church……..
we do not become less the Church because we are smaller, weaker – but more the Church.
The Church of Jesus Christ, men
and women………
who
know Him, and share His death and resurrection life.
And to lift our gaze yet higher
than this
we learn from 2 Samuel that it
is the living God who is Lord, who watches over His people, who guides them in worship, and watches over
them whatever the passing years may bring………and still does in His Son, our Lord
Jesus Christ.
So whether we are strong or weak – He is Lord.
To pick up the great ground of the gospel, the groundswell of the gospel once again, to hear a word for ourselves here and now……….
as a
Church, were we to find ourselves in an unfamiliar place,
no
longer at the centre of Scottish life,
but at
its edge………..
in a
society largely indifferent to the things of Christ, the things of the Spirit.
We will still have the
inexpressible riches of the gospel, the redeeming power of Jesus and His
sacrifice, the healing forgiveness of the Cross,
and new life in Him.
We will still be held, always
included in the grace of the living God
Who is gracious to those
beyond, to those far away.
The time ahead may be a time of:
learning
to rely much much more on the Living God,
learning
to lean much more upon the Father for all things……..
so finding
a new purer and deeper trust in our loving Father
who
seeks us and finds us………..wherever we are…
whether
near or far away……….
AMEN