Homily 703 – 14APE
Holy Transfiguration Orthodox Church, Ames, Iowa
September 6, 2026
Epistle:  (170) 2 Corinthians 1:21-2:4
Gospel:  (89) Matthew 22:1-14

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, One God.

What would it take for you to turn down an invitation to a party with royalty?  Or maybe more accurately for our day, to turn down an invitation from your supreme boss – your boss’s boss?  Your largest client?  The most important person in your world?

Such an invitation would, for most of us, not be taken lightly.  Particularly if our risk of not attending was perhaps imprisonment or death.

That is one of the questions that Christ asks of us today.  We are the invited ones.  The Jews were the invited ones.  All humanity is the invited ones.  The Jews were perhaps first – and they begged off.  In the name of business, they said to the King, the Creator, “no thanks.”  I’ve got better things to do.  I have to focus on me – I can’t focus on you at the moment.  I’m more important than you.

It wasn’t that they felt unworthy.  It was that they felt overly worthy.  They were feeling too good, too full of themselves, too arrogant to attend.  The party was beneath them.

Weddings are, at the core, community events.  There is no other reason to get married in a ceremony than to proclaim the union to the community.  Now days, that may not be the reasons for having a wedding, and frankly, I don’t understand why weddings and marriage are important to those who seek to do so outside the community, particularly the community of faith.

But whether we speak of an Orthodox Church crowning, or the exchange of vows in the Western tradition, it is required that there be witnesses.  In fact, one can say that it may be more about the witnesses than about the couple, or the sponsors, or the clergy involved.  Because what is the significance of an unwitnesses promise?  An unwitnessed commitment?

Not only did the King in our parable send invitations, he sent personal representatives to express his desires in person.  The people responded by beating and killing and treating them horribly.  Such was the fate of the prophets.

Those people were removed from the community.

But the idea of community is so important that the King creates a new community.  That old community didn’t want to honor my invitation, so I’ll get a new community.  And so He does.  His servants go out and scour the lands, inviting people to the king’s house.  This was an invitation one dare not refuse.

Particuarly if you were already aware of what happened to the first invites.

What is interesting to me is that this party, this wedding feast, was indeed a celebration.  Yet, it was also an invitation to judgement.

Perhaps you thought it was “come as you are.”  How silly of us.  No, we had to put on our best clothes, whatever they were.  We put on the wedding clothes, the formal event clothes, what we would call in the South our “Sunday best.”  Because we would be in the presence of the King.

And we would be judged accordingly.  The King finds someone who chose apparently to come in less than their best.  We’re not told what kind, but perhaps dirty, smelly, work clothes, farm clothes with the stench of whatever mix of livestock and sweat.

Now, in a modern context, we see this as unfair.  We see this happening and we see being judged for something that maybe couldn’t be helped.  But that isn’t what is happening here.

What we see is, like in the first group, selfishness.  We see people that waited too long, and didn’t prepare.  Their presence was obligatory, but their refusal to prepare was their way of rejecting the invitation, without outright rejecting it.  It was, what we might call today, passive aggressive.

So as we look at this story, we need to ask ourselves – why is Christ telling us this?  Why is the Church telling us this?  I mean, we understand that in that time and place, Christ was communicating to the Jews that they were no longer invited, and to the others, to be prepared to step into that role.

But why us?  Why now?  Brothers and sisters, we are today invited to the same feast.  Even those who don’t realize it are invited.  And we refuse God.  We indulge ourselves.  We cast God aside and pursue our own desires and dreams and goals.

We fail to prepare.  That preparation isn’t unknown to us – it is known throughout humanity, for those who believe and those who have never heard the name of Jesus Christ.  Because the garments we put on for the wedding, for the judgement, to be the best we can hope to be, is self-sacrifice.

And not just self-sacrifice, but sacrifice toward another person.  Toward the person in need.  Toward the person who is hurting.  Even when – maybe especially when – it inconveniences us.

That is the essence of the virtue we are being asked to clothe ourselves with.  Whether or not we accept Christ, or are baptized into the Orthodox Church, or whatever, all of humanity has the innate response to those in need to help.

We can, and often do, fight that urge to help, by saying we’re too busy, or too important, or too tired.  We have other, more important obligations to attend to.

And saying that, we cast ourselves out of the community, into that place of darkness and gnashing of teeth.

The message for us is straightforward, I think, although it isn’t easy.  The message is to care about others more than you care about yourself.  That your salvation is tied up in the salvation of everyone.  The Church can help you find that path to cutting away your ego and pride.  So that you can and will be beloved in the Community, the Kingdom of God.

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, One God. Glory to Jesus Christ!