“You Were Invited to the Banquet”: A sermon by The Rev. Sari Ateek
The Rev’d Sari Ateek, the Palestinian-American rector of St. John's Episcopal Church Norwood Parish in Maryland, (son of Rev. Naim Ateek) gave a profound sermon on 15 October on how to live into the Gospel's core commandment to love your neighbor (even your enemy) in the context of ongoing crimes against humanity in Israel-Palestine.
The sermon begins at 15:33 on the recording.
“You Were Invited to the Banquet” A sermon by The Rev. Sari Ateek
(St. John’s Episcopal Church, Norwood Parish October 15, 2023)
Once more Jesus spoke to the people in parables, saying:
“The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding banquet for his son. He sent his slaves to call those who had been invited to the wedding banquet, but they would not come. Again he sent other slaves, saying, ‘Tell those who have been invited: Look, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready; come to the wedding banquet.’ But they made light of it and went away, one to his farm, another to his business, while the rest seized his slaves, mistreated them, and killed them. The king was enraged. He sent his troops, destroyed those murderers, and burned their city. Then he said to his slaves, ‘The wedding is ready, but those invited were not worthy. Go therefore into the main streets, and invite everyone you find to the wedding banquet.’ Those slaves went out into the streets and gathered all whom they found, both good and bad; so the wedding hall was filled with guests. “But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing a wedding robe, and he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding robe?’ And he was speechless. Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ For many are called, but few are chosen.”
– Matthew 22:1-14
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I want to begin this morning by saying thank you for all the kind and caring notes and voice messages I’ve received from you this week in light of the heartbreaking situation in Israel- Palestine. It’s been a very lonely week, not because you and others haven’t reached out, but because being a Palestinian in America right now feels so incredibly isolating. And to be perfectly honest with you, I’ve spent the week wishing that I didn’t have to preach today.
Initially I wasn’t going to say anything about the situation back home because it just feels too close and too heartbreaking. But last night, for some reason, I decided that letting you in on my personal thoughts on where God is in the midst of all of this would probably be the most authentic approach since that’s all I’ve able to think about. And so what I pray you’ll get from my sermon today is something that ultimately applies not only to Israel-Palestine but extends far beyond – to encompass life and faith and what it means to be human.
In this morning’s Gospel reading from Matthew chapter 22 we hear the parable of a King who gives a wedding banquet for his son. The parable, Jesus tells us, is about what the Kingdom of God is like. So, this King sends his messengers to notify all those in the kingdom whom it says “had been invited” in order to let them know that it’s time for the banquet. And we’re told that those who had been invited came up with different reasons and excuses for why they couldn’t attend.
And we get the sense that this banquet in the parable represents the main event that God has been preparing us for. A banquet that has been long in the making. A banquet to which residents of the kingdom had long been invited. A thing of good news, celebration, and life-giving communal connection. A banquet for which the King had spared no expense. And the question/perplexity that the parable seems to demand is this:
“You were invited to the banquet, and you chose not to come?!”
This cosmic banquet tells us something about the nature of what God has been moving us towards, and ultimately preparing for us. It’s a thing of good news, celebration, connection, and Joy... far from what we’ve seen this past week in Israel-Palestine.
You were invited to the banquet, and you chose not to come.
Jesus called this banquet the kingdom of God. A world, a reality, an experience, a state of affairs – available to us here and now – that mirrors the tranquility, and oneness, and goodness of God. Jesus showed us the way to this banquet in concrete terms. And almost everything he taught us about this “way” had to do with how we treat others; how we choose to see ourselves in relation to others; how we exercise our power in relation to others. If you live this way, Jesus taught, you will come to experience in concrete ways the goodness and the abundance of the Kingdom of God, both in this life and the life to come.
You were invited to the banquet, and you chose not to come.
There’s a prayer that I’ve shared before in one of my videos. A prayer that I’ve carried on a bookmark in my Bible for many years. It goes like this:
Pray not for Arab or Jew,
for Palestinian or Israeli,
but pray rather for ourselves, that we might not
divide them in our prayers but keep them both together in our hearts.
(“Based on the prayer of a Palestinian Christian” – Author unknown)
What I find so powerful about this prayer is that it names the core human tendency that is (and has always been) at the root of human conflict and suffering: the tendency to divide people in our hearts. The tendency to believe that those with whom we identify or are loyal to have a higher moral claim on justice and happiness than others.
8 along with half the Palestinian population at the time, and who has personally and consistently e It’s a universal tendency which manifests itself as an assumption that we bring with us into our relationships, especially in situations of disagreement and conflict. An assumption that we often have little reason or motivation to confront or challenge within ourselves. The assumption that those with whom we identify or are loyal to (including ourselves) have a higher moral claim on justice and happiness than others.
Jesus devoted so much of his teachings to breaking down this assumption - not because it feels “spiritual,” but because he perceived (practically) just how insidious and disconnecting and destructive it is. Because he perceived that this tendency and assumption is one of the main obstacles preventing humans from experiencing the richness and the abundance of the banquet; of living with connection and safety and celebration with others. The tendency to divide people in our hearts.
One of the hardest things for me this week has been the overt and unexamined demonstration of this human tendency... and there seems to be something particular about the Palestinian-Israeli struggle that lends itself - in some ways almost uniquely so - to this type of toxic division in which we separate Palestinian and Israeli in our hearts.
The way the media has covered the events of this past week is a chilling example of this:
What’s covered and what’s not covered.
Who’s interviewed, and who’s not interviewed.
Who’s faces you see and who’s faces you don’t see.
The way loss of life is described for one group vs. for the other.
The ways in which language is used to humanize one group and dehumanize the other.
I’m telling you; this week alone has made me second guess everything I’ve ever heard in the media – not because there isn’t truth in what is being reported, but because it’s not the whole truth.
As a Palestinian whose family was displaced by the Zionists in 1948 experienced oppression and dehumanization by Israel for being an Arab - even though I hold an Israeli citizenship (and I’m somebody who has never come even close to experiencing the desperation of living in a place like Gaza)... It’s painful for me (as you might imagine) to hear the media describe the actions of Hamas as “unprovoked.”
Hamas’ attack last Saturday was abhorrent and inhumane, and is to be condemned. But no more than Israel’s systematic and inhumane violence against Palestinians. One is the unsanctioned violence of the oppressed, the other is the sanctioned violence of the state. One is the violence of a displaced people desperate for justice, the other is the violence of a people desperate to eradicate threats to its safety. And if we believe that one of these is justified while the other is not then we have fallen into the trap of dividing human beings in our hearts... of believing that some people have a higher moral claim on justice and happiness than others.
You know, there’s only one time in the Gospels where Jesus tells someone that they are close to truly experiencing the Kingdom of God. It takes place when a religious scribe comes to Jesus asking him what the most important commandment is, and Jesus responds with the words of the Shema:
Jesus says,
“The first is, ‘Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”
And the scribe responds and says:
“You are right, Teacher; you have truly said that ‘he is one, and besides him there is no other’; and ‘to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the strength,’ and ‘to love one’s neighbor as oneself,’—this is much more important than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.”
And when Jesus hears that the Scribe has truly comprehended the essence of Jesus’ message, he says to the him:
“You are not far from the kingdom of God.” Mk 12:28–34.
Love your neighbor as yourself. One of Jesus concrete teachings on how to interrupt the tendency to divide people in our hearts. Love your neighbor as yourself. That’s the ticket to the banquet.
So, if we were to flip the perspective in this way, we might ask ourselves, for example, “How might we feel if it were 2.2 million Jews who were stranded in the Gaza strip today instead?” or “How might we feel if it were a group of young Palestinians at a music festival who were massacred instead? If we discover that this elicits a different emotional response or connection to the suffering there, then the question is Why is that? Maybe it’s because we have a tendency to divide people in our hearts; the tendency to subconsciously believe that those with whom we identify, or have an affinity, or are loyal to have a higher moral claim on justice and happiness than others.
And if we choose to stay complacent in that place where people are divided in our hearts - where there are different standards for struggling for freedom, or different values on life - then we will not (not now, not ever) experience the healing power of the kingdom of God.
Until we value the life of the Palestinian child as much as we value the life of an Israeli child, we will never see the kingdom of God.
Until we value the life of an Israeli hostage as much as we value the life of an American hostage, we will never see the kingdom of God.
Until we value the life and dignity of a Muslim as much as we do that of a Jew or that of a Christian, we will never see the kingdom of God.
You were invited to the banquet, and you chose not to come.
So, friends, what I want to say today is that I am convinced (now more than ever) that if we want to see something different in Israel-Palestine, we have to do something different. If we want to see something different in any of our human conflicts, we have to do something different.
We either do things differently, or nothing will change.
Whenever people tell me that they are pro-Palestinian as a way of showing solidarity, I say to them “please don’t be.” The last thing we need is for people to be Pro-Palestinian or Pro-Israeli. The minute you choose allegiance to one group (as opposed to allegiance to the human family) you’ve become a part of the problem. What we need are more people who are willing to say YES to breaking the cycle of division.
If you think in terms of “us” vs. “them,” you’re still stuck in the cycle.
If you believe that violence is ok under certain circumstances, or that it’s ok towards some
people but not others... you’re still stuck in the cycle.
If you believe that revenge is ok under certain circumstances but not others... you’re stuck
in the cycle.
If your loss has a face but your adversary’s loss does not... you are stuck in the cycle.
If you still think in terms of “friends’ and “enemies,” you’re still stuck in the cycle.
You were invited to the banquet, and you chose not to come.
No! What we need are people who are committed to being pro-justice; pro-human rights; pro- respecting the dignity of every human being.
Rather than making our conclusions based only on what we are hearing in the news, we must be stubborn in defying the temptation to divide people in our hearts. Instead, must mature in the ways of the Kingdom and learn to ask questions like:
What am I not being told right now? Whose story am I not hearing? Whose face am I not seeing?
We must mature in the ways of the Kingdom of God. The ways that lead to life. It’s the only way to true and lasting change.
Pray not for Arab or Jew,
for Palestinian or Israeli,
but pray rather for ourselves, that we might not
divide them in our prayers but keep them both together in our hearts.