Sermon: The Twentieth Sunday After Pentecost

October 11, 2026

Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost

Proper 23

Barbara Marshall

Matthew 22:1-14

Focus: The invitation of God to work on discerning love is a serious privilege not to be ignored.

Opening Prayer

Loving God, we thank you for bringing us together today to hear and understand your word. Be with us as we continue to learn more about your presence in our lives. Amen!

What’s in your closet?

You are invited to a luncheon with friends. What’s in your closet to wear? Will you attend?

You are planning to attend a funeral of a dear friend who recently entered into Eternity. What’s in your closet to wear? Will you attend?

You are supposed to attend to a picnic at a park with your family and it is a very hot day. What’s in your closet to wear? Will you attend?

Perhaps the question should not be what to wear in the three situations I just mentioned. Let’s rethink a bit about what was read earlier in today’s Gospel about invitations.

The parable we heard was the final parable that Jesus gave in the temple. It is a bit challenging to understand. To explain the parable briefly, many cite it as being a symbolism of salvation history. The wedding banquet was given by the king (God) for the son (Jesus). Many guests were invited ahead of time and said they would come, but on the day of the wedding, no one came. In fact, some abused the slaves sent to invite them. The king (God) was furious and sent his troops to punish them.

The wedding banquet was ready, so the king (God) tells the slaves to go and gather all who are in the streets, good and bad, to the banquet. They come with the exception of one. He was singled out and taken away. This final piece is said to be not about physically being ready, but about leaving behind the old and being ready for the feast. In other words, it means being ready for God and presenting yourself to God. You are presenting yourself to God in such a way as to say, I have prepared myself and I am here. It is important to note that in Jesus’ culture, when one was invited to a wedding there were robes given to the guests to wear. The singled out man chose to keep his own clothes, thus not giving himself fully to God and to the feast. The king (God) told the attendants to “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.”

This difficult parable has been used to exclude people and bully people into living a certain way to get into the feast. However, this is really about God inviting us to come, choosing to come, and welcoming us to be ready when we are invited. Jesus is urging us to come to the feast when we are invited and to put on the “clothes” that God has provided for us. We are all invited into the kingdom of heaven. It is our choice to accept and prepare ourselves or not. It is a serious invitation that calls us to do serious work for the living. We are here to learn how to give and receive love. And when we fail to do this serious work, God will be our judge.

I discovered a story written three years ago that is a good example God’s invitation to come to the feast and provide clothing for others in need. It is titled

“Loose Ends”

Mary was knitting five baby sweaters, one for each grandchild’s future baby when she was suddenly diagnosed with lymphoma. She did not have much time to live.

As she dealt with the devastating diagnosis, the thing she worried about most was not being able to finish the sweaters. She worked on them until four days before she died.

That’s when Sarah became the “finisher.” Sarah is one of a thousand volunteers who complete unfinished fiber art projects for grieving loved ones through an organization called “Loose Ends.” The organization matched Sarah with Mary’s family. Sarah, an 86-year-old lifetime knitter, finished knitting the sweaters: soft, white acrylic wool with little owls on the front.

Sarah took on the project because she understood the importance of it. She said, “Because of my age, I feel more closely involved in how a family would feel. I sort of put myself on the other side. I couldn’t help but think how I would feel if I couldn’t finish a project and someone was willing to take it over.”

“Loose Ends” was started last fall by friends Masey Kaplan and Jen Simonic, avid knitters who know first-hand what it’s like to have friends reach out about finishing a pair of mittens or a scarf or some other handmade item left behind by deceased loved ones. The two friends created a website and put out a call for volunteers and unfinished projects left behind by someone unable to complete the handiwork because of illness or disability. The projects are completed at no cost, save for postage.

“Making something with your hands for someone is an expression of love,” Masey Kaplan explains, “and when I finish things and give them to people, I want them to know that I love them, and I was making this especially for them.”

“We’re connecting projects to a stranger who feels the same way, who will complete that gesture of love for another stranger so that the person who is grieving will get to experience that feeling we [crafters] know is important.”

The work of the volunteer crafters of “Loose Ends” is the “wedding garment” of Jesus’ parable in today’s Gospel. The projects they complete become the very embrace of the deceased knitter or quilter’s love for those for whom these sweaters and quilts and mittens and hats were designed. Our lives are pieces of the fabric of experiences of love and loss, swatches of kindness, compassion, justice and forgiveness from which, with the “thread” of God’s grace, we create a proper and fitting garment to wear to God’s wedding feast — a feast that begins in our own homes and workplaces, at our own tables and benches. And, as the volunteers of Loose End have found, we experience God’s grace when we help others complete their “garment,” be it a sweater for a beloved grandchild or a scarf for an elderly relative. God’s invitation to every one of us should inspire us to make our lives a “proper garment” that expresses our love and care in ways that will live on after we have taken our place at God’s wedding feast.

The story reminds me of our knitters of scarves and hats that we will be giving out to various organizations this holiday season. Thank you Inge, Pam, and Beryl and Grandma Collie who knits for her grandchildren!

Let us Pray!

Gracious God, we thank you for our time together today. Thank you for our Eucharistic Feast that reminds us that we are all invited and all are welcome at the table. Help us to remember to always be preparing our hearts and souls for you to come in our lives in new and amazing ways. Help us to be open to the invitations we are offered. Amen!

Resources for this Sermon

Connections for October 2023, Proper 23

Lectionary Levity by Markham and Gottlich, pages 85 to 86

Forward Day by Day for October 11, 2026

Sermons that Work, The Episcopal Church for Proper 23, Commentary by Lance Hope Loose Ends: The Washington Post, February 12, 2023.