Bible Text: Luke 14:15-24 | Preacher: Pastor Dorry Newcomer | Series: The Apostles’ Creed | The Apostles’ Creed, in its earliest forms, was compiled within approximately one hundred years of Jesus’ life.  It is the summary statement of what most Christians believed at the time, and it became a primer of Christian thought that new Christians needed to understand and confess belief in, in order to be baptized.  By reciting the Apostles’ Creed, we are grafting ourselves on to the vine of Christ, as we discussed last week.  We are connecting to the long line of people who have found God in the story and person of Jesus.  Just standing and saying the creed is a sign of our desire to BE ONE with all Christians throughout time and place.  We are part of the holy catholic church.

Jesus did not talk much about the church.  It largely didn’t exist yet!  But he did talk about the ekklesia, which literally means “gathering”.  Jesus came to usher in a new kingdom, a new community if you will, based on love.  He gave us stories, such as the one we read just moments ago, to help us see that this new kingdom is open to anyone who will come, the least and the lost we often say.  And this great banquet is presided over by a king who allowed himself to suffer and die so we could find our seat at the table.  Jesus does not just invite us to a banquet where there is plenty.  He himself became the plenty.  We get the honor of eating with, and feasting on, the very presence of God!

I can hardly think of a more prestigious invitation.  You have probably played that icebreaker game, “If you could eat dinner with any famous person, living or dead, who would you pick?”  I might say Albert Einstein, and ask him if I can run my fingers through his curly hair.  Is that too much information?  I’m sure you have your own ideas about who you’d most like to dine with.  But this fantasy is based on the unlikely notion that the famous person would want to eat with you.  Once Albert Einstein found out I only wanted to meet him for his hair, he would probably decline the invitation.  The odds of Bryce Harper actually saying yes, or Carson Wentz, or Julia Roberts or Taylor Swift, or whoever it is that you’d most like to meet, the odds of them wanting to meet you are slim.

But there are no odds at all when it comes to Jesus wanting to meet us.  It is not a possibility.  It is a surety!  It is a done deal.  It is guaranteed.  Anyone in the whole world who wants to come to the banquet, they are welcome.  No dressing up required.  No special arrangements need to be made.  No need to make a reservation, or put your name in and wait for the little device they give you at the hostess stand to start buzzing.  The banquet is already ready for us.  The banquet of God’s kingdom is always ready for us.

In our scripture lesson today, Jesus has just told a story to explain to the Pharisees that God welcomes everyone into God’s family.  Remarkably, one of the men who heard this story summed it up by saying, “Blessed is anyone who will eat at the feast in the kingdom of God!”  Eating this feast is a sign that you are in, that you are accepted and loved by God, and that you will be taken care of forever.  All good, right?  Interesting, then, that the very next story Jesus tells is about how, even though this feast is so good, no one wants to come.  The invited guests all have excuses as to why they cannot come to the banquet.  They’ve bought a field.  They have new oxen.  They just got married.  Excuses as to why they cannot come.

Growing up at church camp we used to sing, “I cannot come to the banquet, don’t trouble me now, I have married a wife, I have bought me a cow.”  Except we used to invert the words and sing, “I have bought me a wife, I have married a cow!”  That was a silly take on a song that actually tells a very serious story.  God offers a seat at the banquet table, with abundant food and beautiful decorations and music and dancing–but the original invitees don’t want to come.  They are so focused on following the rules and excelling in righteousness that they don’t think they need a gracious invitation.  They can earn whatever salvation they need through their own good works.

When they won’t come, the host of the banquet brings in the second string.  When there are still seats, they bring in the third string.  People no one else wanted.  People who knew they couldn’t earn salvation on their own.  People who knew they had no hope of ever being good enough.  They were the only ones willing to come.

Everywhere Jesus went, he attracted a crowd of listeners.  But the ekklesia was a very small percentage of the people who met him and were exposed to his ministry.  Not everyone wanted to admit that they even needed a Savior, much less go against the establishment and believe that Jesus was the Messiah.  I suppose not much has changed.  Today, all kinds of people are exposed to the ministry of Jesus, which is accomplished in a diversity of ways through the church as an institution and through Christians as individuals.  But for a variety of reasons, people struggle to accept the invitation to join in the kingdom banquet.

And sadly, I think this is true even for many people who already consider themselves Christians.  This week I went to a workshop on church finances, and the presenter told us the most recent polls show that United Methodists give away, on average, just 2% of their income to church and charities.  And over 1/3 of all United Methodists report giving away nothing at all.  Zero.  We know the Old Testament standard is 10%, and although Jesus never said to give 10% of your money to the church, he did instruct us to go beyond that.  So from a mathematical standpoint, United Methodists, as well as almost every other Christian denomination, are falling way short of their giving potential.

This low rate of giving has real world consequences.  If you go to the United Nations website, you will see that 21,000 people die every day from malnutrition and nutrition related causes around the world.  That’s 7.6 million people a year.  The good news is, this number is actually half what it was 25 years ago!  Do you know what has made the biggest difference in the number of people dying from malnutrition?  Christian giving.  There has been some governmental programming, but the bulk of the improvement comes directly from Christians giving through their denominations, and to organizations like World Vision, Compassion International, Oxfam, and Church World Service.  Just think:  even with our relatively low level of giving, we’ve been able to cut in half the number of people dying from malnutrition.  Imagine what we could do if our giving level would rise from 2% closer to 10%!!!!

Our low level of giving is a spiritual issue.  What that says to me is, people are still not really accepting Jesus’ invitation to the banquet.  We might come to church faithfully, we might take communion every time it’s offered, we might even really love being part of a church.  But that truth that we are invited to a banquet with the most famous, important, and influential figure in the history of the world—that is still lost on us.  People think nothing of dropping $200 a ticket to go see their favorite band, or thousands of dollars to go on vacation.  But we are not captivated enough by God’s great love for us to give a significant portion of our income to the church.

I have to tell you, I came home from that workshop convicted.  I openly shared in worship last year what Phil and I have pledged to this church, and we are honoring our pledge.  Every two weeks I write a check, and Phil puts it in the offering plate.  Phil and I have always gotten a lot of satisfaction out of giving to the church, even before I was a minister.  Church is the place that introduced us to Jesus!  This is a place we want to support.

But when I went home and did the math, I realized, we are not giving 10% of our income away.  We are giving less than that.  In a few weeks our church like many others will send out pledge cards.  I have already started praying about what to write on that card.  I know God is inviting me to give more, and when I think about Jesus inviting me to the Great Banquet, how can I say no?  Because I have fields and a mortgage?  Because I have oxen and a car payment?  Because I have a spouse and a family and a social life?  Pray that God does not hold me excused from fully accepting God’s invitation to fully participate in God’s great love for me!

Several years ago General Conference did, in my opinion, something really good.  They voted to change the wording of our membership vows.  What is printed in our hymnals has been updated.  Instead of saying, “Will you be loyal to the United Methodist Church?”, we now ask everyone, “Will you be loyal to Jesus Christ, through the United Methodist Church?”  Our loyalty is to Jesus, and our giving should reflect that.  Even if we’re upset at our denomination or sad because our church isn’t perfect.  No church on earth is perfect.  Regardless of what is happening in a local congregation or in a denomination, Jesus is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow.  His invitation to us never wavers.  I pray our response to his invitation can become one that is more whole-hearted, whatever that looks like for each of us.

This image of the Great Banquet is one of the most joyful stories in the whole Bible.  Everyone is invited!  The poor, the lame, the nobodies, the people who at the school cafeteria never felt like there was a table of friends for them to eat with—all of us are invited by the KING OF THE UNIVERSE to be his guests at the feast.  It is through these underdogs, these imperfect, weak, sometimes fickle people that God will establish a new kingdom.  The underdogs become the victors.

It’s been 2,000 years since Jesus lived, died, and rose again, the Church is still here.  People are still finding hope and peace in the gospel of Jesus Christ.  Jesus never said the Church would be the dominant force in society—in fact, he talked about how a little leaven makes the whole loaf rise, how a little salt is all you need, how even mountains can be moved with a faith the size of a mustard seed.  Jesus never said that Christianity would be popular. But he did say the Church would persevere.  Even the gates of hell will not prevail against the Church.  The church is God’s desired vehicle for continuing the work begun by Jesus on earth.

That is one of the reasons behind World Communion Sunday.  Did you know that World Communion Sunday began here in the state of Pennsylvania?  It was actually in Pittsburgh, at Shadyside Presbyterian Church, in 1933.  The pastor wanted to find a way to help Christians see how interconnected they are with each other.  From Pittsburgh the ecumenical movement grew to be endorsed by the National Council of Churches, and then began to be promoted worldwide during World War II.  What a powerful wish, to have communion among Christians be a way to hold the world together!  Circumstances have changed.  But the world still needs the Church to stand up against evil, work for peace, and promote health and healing and justice.

To say I believe in the holy catholic church and the communion of saints is another way of saying, just as the Holy Spirit dwells in me, I know he dwells in the soul of every believer.  Even though there are differences in terms of theology and practice, every believer is on equal footing when it comes to God’s grace.  Every Christian only comes to the table through Christ’s generous sacrifice.  And having that in common makes our differences much less important.  As we come to the table this morning, let us do so gratitude.  Jesus wants to meet us!  Jesus wants to serve us!  Jesus wants to fill us in ways that last forever.  This invitation has gone out.  Will we RSVP with our whole hearts and souls and minds and strength?  Thanks be to God for God’s bounteous gifts.  Amen.