Sermon for the 20th Sunday after Trinity (Oct 22 2023).
By pastor Carsten Mølgaard Hansen.
“Many are called, but few are chosen.”
I do not know about you, but to me the gospel reading for today seems harsh. The picture I have of a loving God seem to be somehow contradicted when I read biblical readings about how humanity on judgment day is divided into two groups:
Those who are ‘worthy’ and ‘ready’ to attend the party, and those who will be thrown ‘into the outer darkness’.
In my sermon for today I will argue that the biblical reading is not all that harsh though. The easiest way of doing it would probably be not to acknowledge what the reading is talking about by undermining the image of the parable.
As a Lutheran pastor the easiest way of doing this is to turn towards the reformer of the church, Martin Luther. Luther grew up as a catholic monk, and as he read texts like the gospel reading for today, he was filled with fear.
He wanted to attain heaven. He wanted to deserve heaven. And therefore, he did a lot of acts of penance.
But just as me, every time he read texts like the gospel reading for today, he could not stop thinking, that it contradicted the picture of a loving God that he had on his mind.
Eventually rumors tells that he talked with his confessor about how he felt. And the confessor promptly told him:
“You’re a fool! God is not angry with you, but you are angry with God!”
It took some time for Luther to understand, what his confessor meant, but in the end, Luther discovered how it was not up to him to attain or deserve Gods mercy and favor. He stopped looking at himself as one who had to accomplish something to be invited to the wedding.
Rather – and in the eye of today’s gospel reading – he found that he was like one of those who were gathered to the wedding on the street. And all he had to do was to say ‘yes’ and go to the wedding.
History tells us what happened after Luther had made his discovery. But in regards of today’s gospel reading by contextualizing with Luther we are encouraged to gaze upon the loving act of God rather than the fear of the ‘outer darkness’. At least – and in alignment with Luther – so I will argue.
God’s mercy is not something we should attain or deserve. Nor is it only given to a limited number of people – those who are invited. Rather, God wants to embrace all of us. Even those who are good and those who are bad as the texts state when it reads:
“Those slaves went out into the streets and gathered all whom they found, both good and bad; so the wedding hall was filled with guests.”
In a way I am satisfied with the fact that we had just had a baptism, because what happened during the baptism in the light of today’s gospel reading was, that the family of Brooks responded to a call of gathering.
They responded, came in here, and said ‘yes’. Brooks. As an infant he does not know what he is responding to. And therefore, it can seem weird that infants are baptized as they have no chance of comprehending what it is all about.
But for Luther it was a point that no one really is able to fully comprehend what faith is all about, and that is the reason infants are baptized. Faith is solely about responding. Responding to a call.
I hope that I with this said have shown you how the harsh reading for today is not all that harsh after all. And how the reading in fact is an expression of God’s love.
Because what the texts states is that faith and salvation is available for all. Not just a small group of people who are formally invited. All are invited into the warm and loving embrace of our heavenly father.
Some of you might sit and wonder though how it can be that not all are baptized? How come some choose not to attend the wedding?
The best way of answering this for me is by coming with a small personal anecdote:
Once I was on a hiking trip through the Scottish Highland. It was a trip I embarked upon alone. The trip was 150 kilometers and for parts of it you would not pass shops for several days.
The trip probably is the most famous hiking trip through the highlands and therefore several people hiked with me. Some not the entire way – only for a day or two – others the full trip just as me.
People did it at their own pace. Some also took detours, meaning that you would get to know a lot of people. Some you would only see once. Some you would meet again and again.
On the trip I remember how there was a group of three people that I met again and again. It was a mother, her 10-year-old daughter, and a friend of the daughter.
During the last days of the trip, I did not see them though. I had taken some detours and they had gotten in front of me for some days. But as I reached the end of the hike which is at the bottom of the highest mountain in Great Britain – Ben Nevis – I was reunited with them.
Due to my diabetes, she had been a little worried about me, but I told her that I just had taken some detours. Also, I told her that I planned to take another detour the following day as I planned to hike to the top of the mountain.
She told me that she really wanted to go, but the kids were not able to do the hike, and therefore they just planned on taking a smaller hike along the river.
The following day as I embarked upon my hike to the summit, the woman came running towards me. “I want to join you.” She said. After spending some days at the camp site, she had gotten to know an older couple living at the campsite and they told her that she would regret if it she did not go to the top.
They could not go anymore but had done the trip a couple of times and loved to come back. Not for the sake of the trip, but for the special atmosphere at the campsite. They told her that they would love to look after the two girls if she wanted to go.
Truly to me the elderly couple, the kids and the woman grasped the opportunity – said yes as they were gathered – and got the best out of it. It was not regarding a wedding, but the circumstances I think share some similarities with what I had said was important in today’s Gospel reading.
Now I told you this anecdote was about how or why someone can choose not to attend the wedding. Truly they choose to attend. But the anecdote is not over. Because I did not choose to attend.
In the beginning I did. I hiked with the lady all the way to the top and back. It was fantastic and we had fun and laughed even though we did not have much in common but the road and the desire to reach the top.
But when we came down from the hike, she asked me if I wanted to join her, the kids, and the elderly couple for dinner, and I said ‘no’.
To this day I still regret how I turned her invitation down. I am sure the meal was not great. After all there is a limitation to what you can cook on a Trangia. But for heaven’s sake: Of course, I should have said ‘yes’.
Throughout our lives I think all of us can look back at situations where we did something that we regretted. Situations where we did not grasp the opportunity and said ‘yes’ to a gathering.
And I guess this is the very reason why all people are not baptized: Sometimes – even though we are not all sure of the reasons – we just turn opportunities down. At least it is something that I have experienced through several occasions.
Luckily though, the gathering for the wedding banquet resounds every day of our lives. It resounds every Sunday here in church. It resounds in nature and in silence, in acts and in words. It resounds in love.
And eventually one could hope that everyone would say ‘yes’. At least that is my pious wish. And I guess it is the wish of God as well. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. ‘
Amen.