The Reading from the Holy Gospel according to St. Luke. (14:16-24)

The Lord Jesus Christ taught this parable about the great banquet. He speaks of a man who planned a large banquet and invited many guests. Yet those who were invited began to make many excuses for why it was not a convenient time for them to come to the banquet. This inspired the man to send his servants out yet again and to invite others until finally the banquet was full.

Who is this man that invited the people to a great banquet? We can say that this is God or His Son Jesus Christ who send out His servants with invitations. Who are the servants? They are the holy apostles first sent out by Jesus Christ. Today we would say that they are those who were appointed by the apostles such as the bishops, priests and deacons, and perhaps others…

What is this banquet? Is this a reference to heaven above? Yes. But is it only a reference to the afterlife that awaits godly people? No. Our eternal life cannot be disconnected from our lives here and now. They are connected. Moreover, our spiritual life cannot be disconnected from our physical life. They are both connected. So the banquet is certainly a reference to the heavenly kingdom but it not merely the heavenly kingdom. The banquet is also here and now. Our Lord Jesus says “the kingdom of God is within you.”

It is also a reference to what we are doing when we come together as “church.” We don’t come together merely for fellowship or to sing a few songs. We come together to worship the living God. We begin every liturgy with the words “Blessed is the Kingdom.” This signifies that a change is happening. That we have left the world and are entering a new place, a new state of being, a new land. We are entering the kingdom of God. This is one of the reasons why we must build churches and why the churches must be ornate with iconography and beauty not bare white walls because the church is manifesting the kingdom and it’s realities to the world around it. The walls of the church declare an often hidden reality, God and His saints are with us in this place. This place filled with the mercy of God and His grace, becomes a part of the kingdom because Christ has conquered it with His love.

Likewise, each of us becomes personally a participant in this kingdom. We are told in the parable that the man had his servants invite people personally! We are a group who are in communion with one another, but we first participate personally. Before we become a community, we are individuals. We are invited as individuals and we are called to accept or reject the invitation.

The first time that someone is invited is when they first encounter the gospel teachings of Our Lord Jesus Christ. They feel called to change their way of life, to repent, to come to Him. For others this might happen later after they have been in the church for sometime, such as children who are baptized at a young age but have not internalized and accepted their relationship with the Lord. They may come to a moment where they metaphorically stop arguing with God. Where they “lay down their arms and surrender.” Where they cease to fight against God and His ways, and finally allow Christ to declare His victory and conquer their hearts and their lives.

In the passage we find that many who were invited never took the invitation seriously. Our Lord is telling us something about reality isn’t He? He is telling us that although people are personally invited, some of them have other priorities in their lives. They have somehow lost focus on what is most important. We could and we must say that some of you are here physically but the heart and mind are elsewhere. No warmth or love for Christ or His Church or His kingdom. It’s nearly the same being too busy to accept the invitation. But to accept the invitation is to give your heart and your attention to Christ as much as it is possible. In our own lives we might say, I’ll take my relationship with Christ more seriously but first I want to get married. Or we say, I will focus on Christ but first I want to have a successful career. Or we say “I am serious about Christ but I am unwilling to give up my sinful ideas and desires and habits.” But brothers and sisters, we need Christ and not vice-versa. He desires us to sit at table with Him and the saints and what is necessary for us is to accept the invitation with joy and gratitude. We never deserved the invite in the first place, it came only by grace.

Our response is one of joy, gratitude and heartfelt desire to run towards Christ and His kingdom daily. But we can’t run towards Christ while we are weighed down with all of the others stuff. We would be just like the folks in this passage. One has to tend his field and the other has to take care of his oxen and another has to focus on his wife.

St. Cyril of Alexandria says of them: “By senselessly giving themselves up to these earthly matters, they cannot see things spiritual. Conquered by the love of the flesh, they are far from holiness. They are covetous and greedy after wealth. They seek things that are below but make no account in the slightest degree of the hopes that are stored up with God. It would be far better to gain the joys of paradise instead of earthly fields and temporary furrows.” Commentary on Luke, Homily 104.

Let us not be like those men in the parable, who put other things before Christ. The first sign of this is how we approach and desire and focus ourselves for the earthly feast of the Divine Liturgy. This is our entrance into the kingdom. I leave you with another quote from St. Cyril who says, “Come, for look, all things are ready.” God the Father has prepared in Christ gifts for the inhabitants of the earth. Through Christ, he bestowed the forgiveness of sins, cleansing away of all defilement, communion of the Holy Spirit, glorious adoption as children, and the kingdom of heaven.” May we enter and receive this feast with the saints and holy ones of God!

Source: Sermons