Twentieth Sunday after Trinity, Sunday, October 29th, 2017
"So those servants went out into the highways, and gathered together all as many as they found, both bad and good:" (St. Matthew 22:1 ff)
In the Twenty-Second Chapter of the Gospel of St. Matthew, Our Blessed Saviour is telling the story of the king who made a marriage-feast for his son. Now, as the story goes, Our Lord says that the invited guests "made light" of the invitation and decided not to show up for a variety of reasons: . . . . . "one to his farm, another to his merchandise . . . ." Now the fact that none of the invited guests showed up once the feast was ready upset the king greatly. As a result the king instructed his servants to bring guests to the feast, no matter who they were. Our Lord continues the story as He relates the instructions of the king to his servants: "Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage. So those servants went out into the highways, and gathered together all as many as they found, both bad and good: and the wedding was furnished with guests." Now, there are a number of things we could say about this story but I would like to point out two important considerations:
1) The first thing I would like to point out in this story is that the servants invited as many as they could . . . . and Our Lord continues . . . . "both bad and good." Why would Our Lord make the statement "both bad and good?" Remember the main reason why Our Lord is telling this story to begin with is that He is comparing it to the Kingdom of God. So, we should always remember that God has love for both the "bad and good." Our Lord died on the Cross for both the "bad and good." And Our Heavenly Father invites both the "bad and good" to be with Him in Heaven. How often though do we not show love to those whom we deem to be "bad?" How often in our life do we not reach out to certain people because we think of ourselves as "good" and them "bad?" Our Lord came to this earth to tell everyone . . . . both bad and good . . . about the Kingdom of God. He came to instruct everyone in regards to His Heavenly Father. He did not come to just save the "good." He came for the "bad" as well. If Our Blessed Saviour did not differentiate between who was "good" and who was "bad," why should we?
2) The second consideration we should make point to remember is that the original invited guests did not show up because they were more concerned with other things. Our Lord states that the original invited guests "made light of it, and went their ways, one to his farm, another to his merchandise . . . " How many of us in the world "make light" of God's invitation because we are too concerned with "things of the world." How many of us are too distracted by things in the world to even pay attention to what God is calling us to? The world offers so many distractions that catch our attention and divert us away from God. We need to be always vigilant to stay focused on God and not on the things of the world. This story should help remind us of the importance of this fact that we should stay focused on "things of above" and not on "things below."
Please join us on Sunday, October 29th, 2017 as we gather together to worship Our Blessed Saviour. St. Margaret Church meets every Sunday morning at 9:30 AM to listen to the Word of God and to receive the Blessed Body and Blood of Christ at Communion time. We worship at the beautiful chapel at Marquette Manor, located at 8140 N. Township Line Road on the Northwest side of Indianapolis. Please join us.
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