What are YOU wearing today?

A sermon for Sunday, October 9, 2011. Pentecost 17 - Proper 23.

Year A - Pentecost 17 – Proper 23
Trinity Episcopal Church
October 9, 2011

This morning we continue our preaching series on personal wholeness, authenticity, reconciliation and healing, and the scripture passages appointed for the day are incredibly rich in their imagery.
There is that beautiful passage from first Isaiah in which he foresees a time when the lord will make for all people a feast of rich food and well-aged wines – what’s not to like about that? -- when the lord will remove the shroud that is cast over all peoples, and the lord will swallow up death forever. It is a beautiful message of hope for a people whose lives are going to get a whole lot worse before they get better.
Then we prayed Psalm 23, certainly the most well-known psalm with that beautiful image of God as a shepherd who protects and cares for his sheep, sheltering them from all harm and giving them peace.
The passage from Philippians contains one of the best known passages to Episcopalians – the blessing that is written on page 367 of the Prayer Book.
And then finally in the Gospel we have that beautiful image of the King going into the streets to invite EVERYONE to the palace for a wedding banquet. Everyone’s invited to the party.

But wait a minute! You don’t really want to hear about any of this stuff. I’ll bet what most of you really want to know about is the guy at the end of the story – whatever happened to him? You know, I always think that nothing says “welcome, hope and healing” like getting bound in chains and being thrown into the outer darkness . . . Here he is, minding his own business, sitting at the café with some friends. And then along comes the king’s servants and herds them all over to the palace so the king can have guests at his party. Okay – so far so good. But the next thing he knows is he’s being jacked up by the scruff of his neck, tied up with chains and thrown outside because he’s not wearing the right clothing. What’s up with that? Doesn’t that just tweak at every liberal bone in your body – someone is thrown out for not having the right outfit on?

It’s Okay – Jesus hasn’t lost his mind. Remember, it’s a parable – which means it’s a story about one thing that represents something else. And to understand today’s parable, we have to read it in its proper context as the last of three parables in a row that Jesus has told:

Two weeks ago, we heard the parable of the two sons: One who said “Yes” but did not go, the other who said “no” but did go. The message: The “in” religious leaders are hypocrites, and it is those outside the religious establishment who actually respond to Jesus.
Last week we heard the parable about the wicked tenants in the vineyard. People were invited in – they took advantage of the owner’s hospitality, and the owner replaced them with other, more faithful tenants.
And today we have the king being spurned by the top of the guest list and so he then goes to his “B” list, and they can’t make it either. So he goes to his “C” list, which is sweeping people in off the streets. We all have probably done that, right – We only have room to invite Jack and Mary if crazy cousin Josie and her husband can’t come.

Now this whole wedding banquet imagery brings us right back to the passage from Isaiah we heard this morning, referring to a king who provides a party for his entire kingdom – and that’s the message Jesus is trying to get across in the parable: This is what the kingdom of heaven is like: the expected guests may not be there, and the ones no one would expect to see are included.

But what about our friend who gets tossed out? Remember, it’s a parable. The “clothing” being referred to is not the clothing that people saw, it’s the clothing inside, the clothing of their heart. Jesus is saying that God’s grace is freely given to us all – it’s a gift, undeserved, unearned. God invites us all – but that relationship is a two-way street. God gives us unconditional love – but unless we embrace that love, it just washes over us and we are left in no better condition than we were in beforehand. To reject God’s love, or to not engage it, means that WE choose to stay the same, WE choose our own desires instead of God’s. It means we are clothed in ourselves rather than clothed with Christ.

You know, one of the central tenets of our Christian faith is that Christ emptied himself of his divinity to make room for our humanity. A corollary to that is that we are called to empty ourselves of our humanity in order to be able to clothe ourselves in Christ’s divinity. This past week, we celebrated the feast of St. Francis of Assisi, perhaps the most beloved of saints, but also perhaps the best example of emptying oneself for Jesus’ sake among our holy men and holy women . One of the reasons we love him is because he is associated with cuddly, furry little snuggly animals who these days come to get blessed and get a treat from the priest. But what made Francis great was that he could have been a millionaire, but instead chose to give all of that up for the sake of the Gospel and “putting on Christ.”

I’d like you to take a look at the passage from Philippians to highlight two portions of it.
o You see that third complete paragraph where Paul writes, “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice.” And then look at how he instructs them: He says, Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Do not worry about anything, but in EVERYTHING by prayer and supplication with THANKSGIVING let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

o Then take a look at that next paragraph – same pattern. Paul writes, Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is leasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Keep on doing the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, AND THE GOD OF PEACE WILL BE WITH YOU.

o In Both cases, Paul is telling us the relationship between Kingdom values and our own inner peace and wholeness. If you DO this, then THIS will happen to you.

So the problem with our friend at the end of the story isn’t really about what he was wearing on the outside, but what he had in his heart on the inside. Jesus invites us all into his life – he is proud to claim us as brothers and sisters in our baptismal faith. But the invitation is only the beginning. Gospel living for us has to be more than a concept that appeals to us in the abstract; you know, “I like the idea of being Christian”; Gospel living is known and identified by its fruit, and that fruit is a transformed life – a life that is observably different BECAUSE of the gracious invitation we have received. All of us are invited – but not all of us respond to that call. Jesus is suggesting that when we respond to the invitation, we are “putting on Christ,” just like a guest would put on a wedding robe.

This morning we welcome Carter Richard Coggshall as the newest member of the Body of Christ. Because he is only around 1, his parents, his Godparents, and all the rest of us will renew our own baptismal vows even as we make those vows on behalf of Carter. This morning Carter is clothed in a baptismal garment. Jesus is reminding us this morning that all of us are invited to his party, to wear our baptismal garment each and every day -- but the choice of clothing is up to us.

Please pray with me: Gracious, merciful God, your invitation is indeed wider than we can ever imagine. It includes each of us no matter who we are or no matter our station in life – we all have equal need of your grace. Here today, as we welcome Carter into your extended family, we accept your invitation and promise that we will seek always to clothe ourselves in you. Amen.