All are Invited, All are Welcome! GOSPEL: MATTHEW 22: 1-14

Whenever we share a meal with those we love, there is a sense of joy, community and belonging which is experienced by those around the table. Stories are told and new memories are created. We all love to share a good meal in the company of our friends and family.

The same was true at the time of Jesus. We know from the gospels, that Jesus sat and ate with many people. He often ate with those who were ignored, hated and dismissed. Nobody was excluded or dismissed by Jesus; all were invited, welcomed, and included.

In the gospel this Sunday the image and symbol of the meal and banquet are used to let us know how generous God is. The table is set and the food is ready. However, those invited gave various excuses why they could not go to the feast. In response, the king invited and welcomed strangers, good and bad alike. They were the ones who enjoyed the food and wine.

Like those that were invited for the banquet, often times we have the perfect excuse not to be where God wants us to be; not to come into His presence and spend time with Him. I have an important business meeting, I have to go and check the goods I ordered for which have just been delivered, I just got married, and so and so forth. We naively believe God understands since they appear to be “genuine” reasons. Yes, those invited for the banquet weren’t lying, they were laying the facts as they were, but they didn’t realize that what they were simply saying to God ; Lord, what You are asking me to do is not that important, there are more important, urgent and pressing needs that require my attention. Your own need, your own request can wait, these other things can’t wait.

Jesus calls us by our name and invites us to come to the feast. It is up to us whether or not we accept this invitation. We are all invited personally to the table of the Lord. We come as we are, not how we would like to be. However, we too often go our separate ways, to our farms and businesses. We’re too busy, too tired, too distracted. There’s work to be done and money to be made. We make light of the other’s life and what is being offered. We’re convinced we have better things to do and better places to be. That’s what the first-invited group did. What they did not realize, and what we sometimes do not realize, is that there is no life outside the banquet, the kingdom. This can be very true of us if our preoccupations lead us not to heed Christ's call to follow Him.

Let us embrace God’s invitation and respond positively. When we show up and be present, we discover for ourselves the worthiness God has always known about us. That’s when our lives begin to change. It is an invitation to aim at the good life. No matter how low a stature I seem to have in life, I am welcome. I will shake off the rags of my injustice, my less good self and dress in the clothes of a new, more loving person.