Homily, Extending the Invitation to Feast at God’s Table
Twentieth-Second Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 25A, 2023
Good Shepherd Episcopal Church
Tequesta, FL
The Rev. Derek M Larson, TSSF
Today’s Lectionary Readings:
Deuteronomy 34:1-12
Psalm 90:1-6, 13-17
1 Thessalonians 2:1-8
Matthew 22:34-46
In the name of God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.
God’s Kingdom is a feast! That’s what we’ve been talking about the last couple of weeks. And how we have all RECEIVED an invitation to feast at God’s table, and how we are all called to RESPOND to an invitation to feast at God’s table. And today how we are all asked to EXTEND to others that invitation to feast at God’s table.
How many of you like feel-good stories? I’ve got a good one for you this morning, perhaps you have heard it. Back in 2016, Wanda Dench, like so many of us have done was preparing for Thanksgiving dinner. After having organized the time, the menu, the grocery list, she reached out to family to let them know when to come, by texting them. “Thanksgiving dinner is at my house at 3:00pm. Let me know if you’re coming. Hope to see you all” she texted. A few minutes later she got a text back, “Who is this?” So she responded, “your grandma” with a cute grandma emoji. She received a text back, “grandma? Can I have a picture?” “Of who?” she said. “You lol”. So she takes a selfie and sends it back, “Here I am at work.” She then gets a selfie sent back to her of a complete stranger. “You are not my grandma,” it said, with some laughing emojis. It was the wrong number! But then another text came in, “Can I still get a plate tho?” To which she promptly replies, “Of course you can. That’s what grandmas do…feed everyone” with a pie emoji.
So Wanda Dench, and this 17 year old stranger, Jamal Hinton, exchanged information and really did get together for Thanksgiving! And then they did it again the next year. And the next year. And the next year. This Thanksgiving will be the eighth in a row that Wanda and Jamal have gotten together, and through the years they’ve formed a wonderful friendship through all the ups and downs of life. And all because of an accidental text, and a grandma’s invitation. “Of course you can. That’s what grandmas do…feed everyone.” I love that line, “That’s what grandmas do…feed everyone.” It’s a cute story isn’t it?
In today’s gospel passage, Jesus is yet again met by the religious authorities who challenge him with a question, “Which commandment in the law is the greatest?” Now keep in mind there are 613 commands in the Torah, 248 “thou shalts” and 365 “thou shalt nots.” So this is quite a task to pick the greatest. But Jesus knows his commandments well, and the question doesn’t seem to phase him in the least. In fact, the first part of his answer was easy and he quotes Deuteronomy 6:5, the Shema, which every Jew prayed daily. And then he throws in a second commandment for good measure, Leviticus 19:8. And both of these passages start with the same word: Love.
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind” and “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Love. “On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” Love is at the center of it all.
And the thing about love is that you can’t really do it alone. Love is not meant for one person. Because the nature of love is community. Love always seeks someone outside of itself. It always reaches out to embrace another. Love is the invitation to be in relationship.
And if that is the nature of love, than that is the nature of our faith. Jesus says, that’s what the law and the prophets hang on. The nature of our faith is the reaching out beyond ourselves to welcome another into relationship. Into community. There is no such thing as private faith or private Christianity. To be a Christian is to build community. It is reach out towards others. Like grandmas who feed everyone, that’s what we do. We reach out to others.
The kingdom of God is a feast. And at that feast is a table. And around that table are chairs. And if you sit at that table and look to your left, you’ll notice the table stretches on farther than you can even see, even wrapping around the curve of the earth, and if you look to your right you’ll see the same thing, an endless table stretched as far as the eye can see wrapping around the earth. And at this table are the people of God. Those living and those who have died. Those near and those who are far. But if you look you’ll notice the table is not yet full. If you look you’ll see empty chairs all around you. In fact, right next to you is an empty chair.
It is not enough to simply sit at the table of God without inviting someone to join you. The nature of love is invitational. It reaches out to others. Like grandmas who feed everyone, that’s what it does.
Here at Good Shepherd we experience a taste of that heavenly feast, don’t we? Here at Good Shepherd we get a glimpse of real, loving community. We see it in the way we take care of one another. We see it in the way we pray for one another. We see it in the way we feed one another. Each one of us has found a seat at the table here. But there are some empty chairs too.
Now don’t get me wrong, the success of the church is not about the numbers. I have no interest in being a mega-church. I’m not talking about filling pews. I’m simply saying to be a loving community of faith means to always be inviting people in. There’s always room for more. When was the last time you shared a table with your neighbor? When was the last time your faith moved you to share love with a stranger? When was the last time you invited someone into this community? It is not enough to simply receive and respond to God’s invitation, we are called to extend that invitation to our neighbor.
Today with your bulletin you’ve received an invitation card. As we think about what this community means to us, and how it has been a vessel of God’s love in our lives and how God is calling us to support it in the year ahead, I invite you to take that card and give it to someone. It’s a simple gesture. Just give it to someone. It could be a neighbor or a friend. Someone you meet at the coffee shop or the grocery store. But if this community means something to you. If you have been touched by God in this place, then take that card and invite someone to be part of this community. Extend the invitation to feast at God’s table.
These are the greatest commandments: to love God and to love neighbor. And love always welcomes more people into community. That’s what we do…we welcome everyone. Amen.
Thoughts on Faith 