You’re Invited
Original sermon given on the Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost, October 11, 2026 written and delivered by Pastor Jeff Leininger at First Saint Paul’s Lutheran Church.
Watch the sermon live.
“Receiving the Son”
Matthew 21.33-45
Matthew 22.1-14
You’re Invited
In the name of the Living God and the risen Christ. Amen.
Her name was Evelyn Gellert, and she was the oldest member of our previous congregation, Bethany Lutheran, on Narragansett. Some of our members might remember Evelyn from Bethel, Lutheran on the west side. In her 90s, Evelyn was sight impaired, had many aches and pains, and was slight enough that it looked like she could be blown over by a stiff wind.
Now, Evelyn was an amazing saint of God, but she could also be quite stubborn. Every Sunday morning, she insisted on getting herself to church. Walking down the large flight of steps of her duplex, hiking with cane in hand through a not-so-great Westside neighborhood in all kinds of weather and taking the bus all the way down North Avenue to church. We begged, we pleaded to give her a lift. We even tried intercepting her at the bus stop! But Evelyn wanted to make her own way to worship like she had done as ever since she was little girl.
When I offered to bring her communion, to come visit her rather than her coming out to church, she referenced this morning’s parable. “But I’m invited,” she said. “I’m invited to a banquet by a King. Why would I not come?”
Jesus is on his way to his death when he tells this parable. It will be a bloody affair, and also an emotionally taxing affair — an aspect I don’t think we always fully appreciate: the very people he’s come to save will reject him — his own, his flock, the ones God invited and called and loved and exhorted. And by rejecting Jesus they’re rejecting the invitation of God himself.
In the parable, the refusal to attend was more than just a lame excuse. It’s a rejection of the King. They’re saying something about the King by not celebrating his son.
The message of the parable was not subtle. The story is spoken against the religious leaders — the Scribes and Pharisees of Jerusalem — "You’ve rejected the prophets before me, now you’ve rejected me.” And when you reject the son, you reject the Father. And now the wedding feast will be opened up and given to others. Who’s now gathered in from the highways and byways? Gentiles, tax collectors, sinners, people who are empty, people with nothing to offer the Lord — the good, the bad, the ugly, the beautiful, the educated, the ignorant, the “got life all sorted,” the “just trying to keep it together today.” It’s now offered to all who, by honoring the son, honor also the King of Kings.
It’s offered to us even today. Here. Now. The doors to the banquet hall of victory have been flung open. Founded upon the sacrificial, life-giving death of Jesus, it towers up into his glorious resurrection, given to all who believe and are baptized. The imperative for us today: do not reject the invitation. Don’t toss it in the garbage, or delete it from your spam folder, or just not bother to text back. It’s from the King of Kings, creator of the universe. It’s real. It begins now. You’re invited by the king. Why would you not come?
This parable has a wonderful invitation, of course, but concludes with a judgement. There is an outer darkness. It is outside the feasting banquet hall and away from the presence of the king. And even those who are invited might not always remain within. It brings great fear and trembling to even think about it and it’s hard to talk about — the man in the parable was speechless too.
Let me be clear: the robe we need to wear in the banquet hall is the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ: the one who fulfilled every requirement of God’s righteous law for us; who was the perfect human being in line with the Father’s will; he was love and truth incarnate. All that he has to give is given to us through faith in his name. All that we fail to be, he is for us. And we are given the wedding garment of Christ Jesus to wear by believing in what he’s done and being baptized in his name. The banquet prepared by Jesus. The garment given by Jesus. The doors have been opened to us by Jesus.
As for Evelyn, well, we struck a compromise. She’ll get herself to church, but we’ll take her home. And now she’s in her eternal home, the banqueting hall, the feast of victory, with the king himself. She got there because she was covered in the robe of Christ’s righteousness, and that’s how we’ll get there too. You’re invited to a banquet by a king. Why would you not come?
Come soon Lord Jesus. Amen.
Image Source: Millais, John Everett, 1829-1896. The Marriage Feast, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt University Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. https://act.library.vanderbilt.edu/artworks/55983 [retrieved October 14, 2026]. Original source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Marriage_Feast_by_Millais.jpg.
