Year A, Lectionary 142
Life with God is nothing but joy, a feast, a banquet. God offers us to join in this kingdom, to be in relationship with the source of joy. So why do we reject this invitation? Why do we seek fulfillment in other things that will not satisfy us?
“So the only image we have in the Old Testament of a wedding garment, that's explicit, is tied to the messiah dressed in the wedding garment of righteousness, being clothed with salvation”
“the joy of heaven begins now. The kingdom of heaven begins now. And Jesus is begging you, come to the feast. Stop refusing the feast.”
“So no one can stop the will of God, no one can stop the plans of God. We are only privileged channels, for our help ultimately comes from God.”
“Which means, authentic Christian disciplehip means choosing to be who God created us to be. Whoever and whatever that might be.”
“Have we surrendered our will to the will of God in such a way that God is renewing the face of the earth, day by day, moment by moment, to the glory and praise of nothing and no one else but God?”
“Sisters and brothers, you and I have been invited to a banquet as well. By our baptisms we've been invited to follow Jesus, to live his values, to build his kingdom.”
“The grace of God is not only a free gift but it is also a responsibility”
“There comes a moment in every human life when explanations come to an end and we simply stand before God as we are”
“This is no, you know, simple invitation to an ordinary wedding feast. It's an invitation to God's kingdom, it's an invitation to God's banquet, it's an invitation to the banquet of the Messiah.”
“If we are to be effective in loving relationships, we have to not be so exhausted that we can't love”
“It doesn't matter what you show up in, but it does matter how you show up. We are asked to show up with arms open to God's grace and love, open to one another, ready to be active participants in the kingdom.”
“To say 'yes' to walk the synodal way is to commit to being part of reknitting the fabric of our belonging to God, to one another, to this beautiful creation, and to Christ's living body in the world”
“Relationships matter, are you in one with the Lord?”
“It is those who are really hungry for food, hungry for belonging, and hungry of God, the ones who get to attend the party of the kingdom”
“But Jesus tells us that accepting the invitation to the feast means allowing God's grace to change us. The wedding garment represents transformation but we do have to put it on.”
“God wants you close. Everything is ready. Stop giving him another 'I am coming.' Give him your 'here I am.'”
“If we are living in the house of the Lord then it should show in how we maintain our dwelling, in how we treat one another, and how we love the residents of this house, of planet earth”
“We have to stick with the text. We have to stick with it, with all our questions, we have to struggle and there we know that somewhere in there, God is there to be discovered.”
“That's how much God loves us, that he's willing to give us the best. And then the question for us is that: are we willing to give the best back to him?”
“Putting on Jesus is the requirement for the wedding feast”
“And so the Lord says once you come to the kingdom party, leave your bitterness at home.”
“we cannot afford to take for granted the invitation that God gives us to come to his table, we cannot afford to take lightly our destiny to know him, our desire to love him, and our call to serve him in this world so that we can indeed be happy with him in the world that is to come”
