The Primary Heralds of God’s Word

October 31st,2017 Categories: Pastor Kaji's Blog

In the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 22, Jesus tells the story of a king who sends out his slaves to go and invite people to an amazing banquet in honor of his son. And the slaves go, and they try to get people to come, and they keep turning the king down, until one day everything goes to hell. And the slaves go out, and instead of inviting a small group of people, they invite everyone. And everyone gets to come to the banquet – they’re good or they’re bad, anyone can be there. When I hear the story that Jesus tells of this banquet that’s like the kingdom of heaven, I get a little concerned, because he’s talking about slaves. Why would God need to send slaves for people to listen to? Then I realized something. What is more beautiful than uplifting the voices who would be the least likely to be listened to? And I realize that, in order to find God and to hear God most closely, we have to find the ones who were least likely to notice, pay attention to, the least valued in society. They are the first and primary heralds of God’s word. So, if you’re finding yourself feeling discarded or set aside, if anyone tries to tell you that you’re not important, realize that God speaks first through you. Amen.

Pastor Kaji’s full sermon is available here.