Homily for October 12, 2008 28th Sunday of the Year
If we had time to do Bible study this morning, this would be a wonderful text to demonstrate the theories of modern Biblical interpretation. At the base of the Gospel today is a simple story. Somebody throws a party, and when it's time for the party, the guests can't come. So he goes out and he invites anybody he meets to the party.
I had a friend years ago who used to throw parties at the last minute, and he'd call his friends and nobody could come. So he'd go down to the neighborhood tavern and say, "I'm having a party at my house. Come." And I think that fits the Gospel.
Mark and Luke tell this story and it's a simple story. Matthew tells it, and it's a king having a banquet for his son. People start murdering each other, and the banquet is interrupted so the king can conduct a war and burn cities and towns. Then Matthew adds the story about the wedding garment. Mark and Luke don't have that.
So if we were doing Bible study, I'd say why did Matthew change the story, and how does it fit the point that Matthew is trying to make? What do you think he meant when he added the story about the wedding garment? We're not going to go there today.
But I asked you at the beginning to pay attention to anything that bothered you. Did anything bother you about the Gospel today?
You felt sorry for the guy without the wedding garment. How many of you felt sorry for that guy? How unrealistic can you get? You go out to the streets and alleys, and at the last minute you say, "Come to the wedding banquet" and then you get mad because they're not dressed for a wedding. Why do you think Matthew felt the need to add that to his story?
I want to give you a hint by referring to our parish mission statement: Holy Cross is people offering worship that's connected to people's lives and says everyone is worthy to be here. Do you buy that? "Everyone is worthy to be here." We don't care where you came from. We don't care what your past is. There's no behavior criteria to determine whether or not you're welcome.
Now, is there a potential problem with that? Yeah, what's the problem with it?
Okay. That's not where I was going to go, but it's there and it's realistic. Dwight said we don't always welcome people for our, into all of our customs. You may be welcome to come, but you might not be welcome to come to communion.
A friend of mine has a reference in which he talks about "collie dog churches," and in some respects Holy Cross could be a collie dog church. Now what he means by a collie dog church is one that is warm and friendly like collie dogs, but barks at strangers. Are there ways that we might bark at strangers?
Anyway, anybody see another problem with saying everybody is worthy to be here?
You mean I might say something?
Okay. Something might be said as a congregation that everyone might not truly believe. It's not been unheard of, that people have problems with some things that are said in church.
We have to learn to welcome different opinions and not just tolerate them. Yes, I mean --
Yeah, it's easy to say we do it, but not to really do it. Or it's easy -- yes?
[Inaudible.]
Okay. Good, can I, can you say that?
Just to think of it as a going forward thing. Everyone's welcome to come, but then, what is your personal interior intention once you get here, and what do you do with it going forward?
Thank you. You know, I had my homily all ready and you all didn't go where -- but as John said, we have to welcome diversity of opinions.
Where can I say where I was going to go? Where I was going to go with it is sometimes people have the problem, okay, so we're -- and Jackie came close to it -- we're all welcome, but does that mean nothing is going to be asked of us?
Yeah, let me come closer to you, would you mind? Okay.
What I said was, what about welcoming another religion, as well as another culture? I may be looking for another type of religion. I may be accustomed to one religion, and I might decide I want to change it. So here I am.
Thank you. So what about welcoming another religion, as well as another culture? And what about, finally -- by the way, the reason Matthew added that wedding garment story, at least the Scripture scholars say, is that he wanted make it clear: Okay, you're all here, but let's not pat ourselves on the back and say God isn't going to ask anything of us, or God isn't going to ask us to seek to do God's will, or God isn't going to ask us to seek to change our life or be converted.
So that's why Matthew added that, and I think your answers all gave examples of what it means to be converted. It may not be where I think we need to go to be converted, but collectively God calls all of us.
I want to close with my letter in the bulletin that was prompted by a discussion with somebody last week. We were talking about a member of our parish, who will remain unnamed, who, in this person's mind, exemplified living the Gospel in the sense of justice and charity. And the question this person was asking me is, why do we place so much emphasis on believing the right things and saying the right things and not doing the right things.
Well, sometimes I think that's a false division between believing and acting, that the ideal is for right living to lead us into right believing and right acting, and for all of them to go together. But that conversation prompted me to throw out this question, and I'm going to close with it.
In the prophet Micah, chapter six verse eight, God is entering into judgment with his people, and the people answer, "Well, how shall we come before the Lord?"
And God answers, "You have been told, O mortal, what is required, that you do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with your God."
Remember a couple years ago when we were arguing about prayer in the legislature? I suggested to somebody, what if every day they just read Micah 6:8, "You've been told what is required, do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with your God." What if they read that every day for 10 years, and after they got that down, moved on to more sophisticated forms of prayer?
What if, when we baptize babies, instead of just saying, “Do you believe in God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit,” what if I were to ask you, “Do you promise to raise your child to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with God?"
And what if the creed we said was that? I think I might try that today, not that I am trying to substitute that for another creed, but I think it's a good question, don't you, that we might imagine as we come into God's presence God saying, "I've told you what I want. Do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with me."
I had a friend years ago who used to throw parties at the last minute, and he'd call his friends and nobody could come. So he'd go down to the neighborhood tavern and say, "I'm having a party at my house. Come." And I think that fits the Gospel.
Mark and Luke tell this story and it's a simple story. Matthew tells it, and it's a king having a banquet for his son. People start murdering each other, and the banquet is interrupted so the king can conduct a war and burn cities and towns. Then Matthew adds the story about the wedding garment. Mark and Luke don't have that.
So if we were doing Bible study, I'd say why did Matthew change the story, and how does it fit the point that Matthew is trying to make? What do you think he meant when he added the story about the wedding garment? We're not going to go there today.
But I asked you at the beginning to pay attention to anything that bothered you. Did anything bother you about the Gospel today?
You felt sorry for the guy without the wedding garment. How many of you felt sorry for that guy? How unrealistic can you get? You go out to the streets and alleys, and at the last minute you say, "Come to the wedding banquet" and then you get mad because they're not dressed for a wedding. Why do you think Matthew felt the need to add that to his story?
I want to give you a hint by referring to our parish mission statement: Holy Cross is people offering worship that's connected to people's lives and says everyone is worthy to be here. Do you buy that? "Everyone is worthy to be here." We don't care where you came from. We don't care what your past is. There's no behavior criteria to determine whether or not you're welcome.
Now, is there a potential problem with that? Yeah, what's the problem with it?
Okay. That's not where I was going to go, but it's there and it's realistic. Dwight said we don't always welcome people for our, into all of our customs. You may be welcome to come, but you might not be welcome to come to communion.
A friend of mine has a reference in which he talks about "collie dog churches," and in some respects Holy Cross could be a collie dog church. Now what he means by a collie dog church is one that is warm and friendly like collie dogs, but barks at strangers. Are there ways that we might bark at strangers?
Anyway, anybody see another problem with saying everybody is worthy to be here?
You mean I might say something?
Okay. Something might be said as a congregation that everyone might not truly believe. It's not been unheard of, that people have problems with some things that are said in church.
We have to learn to welcome different opinions and not just tolerate them. Yes, I mean --
Yeah, it's easy to say we do it, but not to really do it. Or it's easy -- yes?
[Inaudible.]
Okay. Good, can I, can you say that?
Just to think of it as a going forward thing. Everyone's welcome to come, but then, what is your personal interior intention once you get here, and what do you do with it going forward?
Thank you. You know, I had my homily all ready and you all didn't go where -- but as John said, we have to welcome diversity of opinions.
Where can I say where I was going to go? Where I was going to go with it is sometimes people have the problem, okay, so we're -- and Jackie came close to it -- we're all welcome, but does that mean nothing is going to be asked of us?
Yeah, let me come closer to you, would you mind? Okay.
What I said was, what about welcoming another religion, as well as another culture? I may be looking for another type of religion. I may be accustomed to one religion, and I might decide I want to change it. So here I am.
Thank you. So what about welcoming another religion, as well as another culture? And what about, finally -- by the way, the reason Matthew added that wedding garment story, at least the Scripture scholars say, is that he wanted make it clear: Okay, you're all here, but let's not pat ourselves on the back and say God isn't going to ask anything of us, or God isn't going to ask us to seek to do God's will, or God isn't going to ask us to seek to change our life or be converted.
So that's why Matthew added that, and I think your answers all gave examples of what it means to be converted. It may not be where I think we need to go to be converted, but collectively God calls all of us.
I want to close with my letter in the bulletin that was prompted by a discussion with somebody last week. We were talking about a member of our parish, who will remain unnamed, who, in this person's mind, exemplified living the Gospel in the sense of justice and charity. And the question this person was asking me is, why do we place so much emphasis on believing the right things and saying the right things and not doing the right things.
Well, sometimes I think that's a false division between believing and acting, that the ideal is for right living to lead us into right believing and right acting, and for all of them to go together. But that conversation prompted me to throw out this question, and I'm going to close with it.
In the prophet Micah, chapter six verse eight, God is entering into judgment with his people, and the people answer, "Well, how shall we come before the Lord?"
And God answers, "You have been told, O mortal, what is required, that you do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with your God."
Remember a couple years ago when we were arguing about prayer in the legislature? I suggested to somebody, what if every day they just read Micah 6:8, "You've been told what is required, do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with your God." What if they read that every day for 10 years, and after they got that down, moved on to more sophisticated forms of prayer?
What if, when we baptize babies, instead of just saying, “Do you believe in God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit,” what if I were to ask you, “Do you promise to raise your child to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with God?"
And what if the creed we said was that? I think I might try that today, not that I am trying to substitute that for another creed, but I think it's a good question, don't you, that we might imagine as we come into God's presence God saying, "I've told you what I want. Do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with me."
Labels: Homilies
posted by Fr. Larry Voelker at
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