When I can read for fun, I enjoy reading mysteries. I remember reading the Happy Hollisters when I was in late elementary school. It was about a family who figured things out. When I go on vacation I have read a number of books by James Patterson and Tess Gerritson. I like to figure things out. Some of these stories leave you until the very end before everything falls into place.

Jesus likes to tell stories that leave us scratching our heads, such as the parable of the wedding banquet which is our Gospel lesson for today. Over the years we have often tried to equate God in some way with one of the characters. That doesn’t work this time.

When we try to compare God to the king, at first it seems to fit as the king was inviting everyone to the wedding banquet. The wedding banquet sometimes has been thought of as the final banquet where we all sit down with Christ. But people don’t seem to be interested in coming.

This celebration and how it went reflected on the king. Thus, when people started refusing to come, needless to say, the king was not happy. He sent his slaves or servants out to entice them with what he was offering at the banquet. They made light of it and some even took his slaves, mistreated them and even killed them.

Now the king was enraged. He then sent his troops to destroy the murderers and burn their city. Now this is where it is difficult to compare the king to the God that we know. God’s invitation to the eternal banquet is not shrouded in violence. God freely invites all people.

Then he sent his slaves out to the streets to gather all the people, good and bad. It was important for him to look good and thus he needed to fill the banquet hall. When the king came out to greet his guests, he noticed that one did not have the appropriate attire.

Now I am not sure what the king expected as the people that were there, were from the streets. I’m surprised that more were not appropriately attired, but then maybe the story only needed one to make the point. The king had expectations for this banquet, even though he had to basically have his staff go out and find people.

The point that we can take from this parable is that God invites everyone to the banquet. Everyone is part of God’s family. This is why we cannot compare the king to God. God invites all and does not throw anyone out. God accepts us where we are at. Now that makes sense, but we had to dig through the parable to get there.

Jesus doesn’t always make it easy. Jesus wanted to make sure that the people were listening, the chief priests and Pharisees and I’m sure others were paying attention too. He knew that culture may have said that the king had the power to do what he did. It was his party, and he was the ruler and there were expectations for the proper attire.

The chief priests and Pharisees were placing expectations on the people in regard to the law. Once again Jesus was trying to point out that they were not modeling it nor had the correct interpretation of the law. Could Jesus then be related to the rejected man as they were both not people’s expectations?

What would have happened if the man who was not dressed appropriately would have stayed? Who was he going to hurt? It was really about the king’s expectations and how the king would be looked upon by others. If he didn’t make a scene, I guess people would have thought less of the king.

Remember last week Jesus quoted Psalm 118 and said that the very stone that the builders rejected was now going to be the cornerstone. Jesus was referring to himself. Jesus was upsetting the applecart. Jesus had a new interpretation of the law. One that saw the law out of the eyes of love.

Jesus saw the law as a way to give structure to the kingdom, the community. It seems that this is what God intended when he gave the law. It was now being used for the gain of individuals and not the community. Has it changed?

Last week I mentioned the black race and the horrific things that we as the white race did and continue to do to them. This is the same as with the Indigenous People. The true history for both of these races and our treatment of them need to be told truthfully.

As we learn the true history, we will be able to see more and more of the rejection of people because they were different than we are. Different does not mean less than. Unfortunately, this seems to be part of our human nature.

What I also see in history is that the world revolves around land and control. As history went on money was also included. History continues to repeat itself right up to today.

Could part of what we see in the Middle East be history repeating itself? Unfortunately, we cannot change what is going on in the Middle East. I believe what we can do is to learn the true history and to work on not repeating the rejection. Our anxiety gets in the way of listening to the stories of our brothers and sisters of other races. Most of them are not easy stories to hear, but they are all important.

As Christians, it is not our call to go and tell them what to do let alone that they must believe in Christ. So many people of other races have a distrust of the white race, they may not even trust us even if we choose to share our faith. Recently, I have been having conversations with my trainer, who is white, and he wonders about the church’s rejection of races and minority groups in general.

I believe one thing that we are doing honors what we have learned from our Indigenous people and that is the work of our Green Team. The Indigenous People have known how to care for the land and so many in the past would not listen to their wisdom. We are being respectful of the land and using the natural resources that God has given us and this is honoring the wisdom of the Indigenous People.

As we continue to move through this time of transition, I challenge us to really listen first to each other. When we get to looking at the needs of the community, to try and find ways to welcome and affirm other cultures and races in our community.

In the kingdom of heaven which Faith Lutheran church is part of we are called to view and treat all races and cultures equally and affirm them and not reject them. God’s love through Jesus is for all equally.