19th Sunday after Pentecost 20 Oct 2019 Sermon

19^th Sunday after Pentecost 20.10.19 Challenge

We speak of the heavenly banquet, one image of Heaven.

It is an appealing vision, to be at a banquet, able to eat and drink all we want, freed from all our usual anxieties.

The Mass also can be called a banquet, where we are fed something of far greater benefit than any earthly banquet could give us.

To these banquets we are invited, but with the invitation comes a challenge.

We cannot merely enjoy ourselves just yet; there is work to be done.

That work could be described as the whole range of what it means to be a disciple of Our Lord, a child of God, a member of His Church.

It means we have to keep the commandments, choose good over evil whenever there is such a choice.

It means we have to love our neighbours, forgive our enemies, look after those in need, give thanks constantly to God, trust in God at all times, try to convince others of the rightness of these matters.

This last point is extending the invitation to the banquet to others.

There are a thousand points and sub-points which spring from all these things.

Taken all together they are the ‘work’ that Our Lord asks of us when He issues the invitation to follow Him, to take up our cross daily in His service.

We are not just passengers on this train; we are working as well!

If we come to Jesus Christ we get a whole deal. Sins are forgiven, we are transformed , filled with his charity and other virtues and we are being sent out whatever that might mean for each person.

The man without the wedding garment had accepted the invitation but not the challenge. He was not of one mind with the host, meaning Christ.

If we seek simply to take the benefits that Christ offers, without exerting ourselves in any way, then we run the risk of losing everything.

When we truly encounter the mercy of Christ we will spontaneously want to live by the new understanding that we have just received.

St Matthew, on being called by Our Lord, immediately invited his friends around to share his joy (Mt 9,9-13). And no doubt some of them would have been converted as well. Zacchaeus, a similar story, wanted to pay back fourfold whatever he had stolen (Lk 19,1-10). The woman who washed His feet with her tears was showing gratitude for mercy received (Lk 7,36-50).

This is how we know whether we have accepted the Lord’s invitation or not; are we in some way transformed by the encounter with Him?

We will want to be active in God's service, as we consciously rise above our previous faults and sins.

So the invitation always includes the challenge. We accept both.

We will want to know love and serve Him, not to break out on our own agenda.

God is not to be sidelined or relegated to somewhere down the list. He must be the first we are seeking to please.

Many do not see that; all the more reason why those who do see it must exert ourselves in putting His will into effect (thus the Challenge).

We thank God for creating us, for inviting us to share in His glory; for challenging us to work in His service, until we can finally partake of that Banquet that has no end.