2nd Sunday Of Pentecost - Committing To An Invitation

Dominus vobiscum.

Brothers and sisters, on this second Sunday after Pentecost, we are invited to hear from the First Epistle of Saint John as well as a brilliant parable from Gospel of Saint Luke.

Before I begin, I would like to humbly ask you to do me a favor. Think of a time in your life where you had something to be proud of. Say, you just had a baby or you got a new job or a promotion or any other accomplishment in your life. I am willing to wager that most of you, when recalling that event, you felt happiness or even joy. Who wouldn’t, right? If you’re like most people, you would tell someone else about that accomplishment and very often the following statement would be expressed:

“This is a cause for celebration!”

Now, I’m not suggesting that the celebration has to be this grand banquet of epic proportions. It could be something as simple as you going out to Burger King or someplace and having a meal with your closest family and/or friends. One of the reasons why we do this, I believe, is because when we have cause to be joyful, we want to spread that joy to others. Yes, in many ways it is about you and your accomplishments, thus it would be a candidate for the sin of pride. Don’t get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with feeling pride in your accomplishments, so long as it is not narcissistic. Believe me, people will know the difference between the narcissist and the humble!

Whether or not you celebrated this accomplishment that’s in your mind with others, let us continue with this example. Say that you invited your family and friends to an outing to celebrate this accomplishment. Nowadays you’d go onto your phone, maybe to Facebook or Twitter, or you’d simply start texting everybody who you want to invite and send them all invitations to this event. To make this as desirable as possible, you included in the invite: “Free food and open bar!” While I’m not in favor of people getting so drunk that they fall under the sin of gluttony, the fact that no one has to pay for anything is really inviting.

Finally, the time of the party comes. All the food and drinks are prepared, the music is on something appropriate, and your house is spotless. The hour of the party is upon you, and you let everybody know that if they’re not already on their way to start the trip because all the food is ready to go. Not too long after, your phone goes off, and it’s not what you wanted to see at all. You’re getting texts of people saying that they can’t make it….

“I’m sorry, I just proposed to my girlfriend, we won’t be able to make it.”

“Hey, I really hate to do this to you. My mother invited me last minute to an outing and I can’t get there in time. Sorry!”

“Yo dude...yeah...I completely forgot about your party! I’m still in bed. Rain check?”

This would be upsetting. Imagine if everyone who you invited said the same thing?! Everyone who you invited canceled on you at the last minute. Imagine how upset you would be. At first, you would be upset, then you would probably be furious, and then after a while, you would probably feel anguish. After all, you catered the whole event with food and drinks that might go to the trash instead of to your stomachs.

It is at this point you could do one of two things. You could go berserk and in a sorrow induced rage, or, you can do what this man did in the Luke’s gospel:

“Then the master of the house, being angry, said to his servant: Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor, and the feeble, and the blind, and the lame” (Luke 14:21).

Imagine going out into the community, or going to those who are barely acquaintances and telling them, “Hey, I’ve got all this food going to waste! Come and have a party with me!” In Luke’s gospel, the Servant had to go back out and find even more people to his Master’s party. Imagine telling your new guests to go out and spread the word that if they show up soon, they’ll have a good chance of being fed!

What a way to rescue the party.

Recall the people who you did invite. Of course, you would feel angry with them for canceling on you at the last possible moment. You would probably have excuse after excuse that is floating in your head that you have to sift through. As a Christian, you want to be able to find the goodness in their hearts and eliminate the possible legit excuses. So you’d go through your phone and you read what the excuses are, hoping to find the obvious reasons why bailing out of your party would be acceptable. Imagine if there was an emergency and someone was in the hospital, or if their car broke down or got into an accident, or if someone replied to the original invite, “I might not be able to make it, I’ll do my best.” Those are the more obvious forgivable excuses.