Paul didn’t preach for his own gain. He wasn’t trying to win friends. Actually, he made many enemies because of his preaching. The Jews weren’t happy that he preached Jesus as the Christ, the Messiah. The Greeks weren’t happy because he was preaching a way of life that said that their way of life was immoral. The pagans weren’t too thrilled either for the same reason. Paul preached to bring the Good News of salvation to all that would listen. He wasn’t worried about the consequences to himself, even though he had suffered beatings and torture as well as imprisonment because of his preaching. He made many converts in Thessalonica as well as in Philippi as well as other countries, such as Greece, but he wanted them to know that they were not alone in their new faith. He wanted them to know that what they had been taught was true, that they could depend on it, that it came from God. God was the only one Paul was trying to please. What about us? Who do we try to please? Do we try to please others, ourselves or God? We all know people who we might call “pleasers.” They will tell you what they think you want to hear.

I once was watching one of my favorite mysteries on television and the plot concerned a woman running for a state office. Her speech writer had quit and she asked one of the main characters to do the job for her. She was reading a speech she had given the week before to get an idea, and was told that it wouldn’t work for the next group because the first speech was for young mothers who cared about daycare and the next was for a senior citizen center. When she asked if the candidate really believed in daycare centers, he said that she did that day. We can choose who we please and how we choose to do it. Will it be God or man?

Paul didn’t preach for his own gain. He wasn’t trying to win friends. Actually, he made many enemies because of his preaching. The Jews weren’t happy that he preached Jesus as the Christ, the Messiah. The Greeks weren’t happy because he was preaching a way of life that said that their way of life was immoral. The pagans weren’t too thrilled either for the same reason. Paul preached to bring the Good News of salvation to all that would listen. He wasn’t worried about the consequences to himself, even though he had suffered beatings and torture as well as imprisonment because of his preaching. He made many converts in Thessalonica as well as in Philippi as well as other countries, such as Greece, but he wanted them to know that they were not alone in their new faith. He wanted them to know that what they had been taught was true, that they could depend on it, that it came from God. God was the only one Paul was trying to please. What about us? Who do we try to please? Do we try to please others, ourselves or God? We all know people who we might call “pleasers.” They will tell you what they think you want to hear.

I once was watching one of my favorite mysteries on television and the plot concerned a woman running for a state office. Her speech writer had quit and she asked one of the main characters to do the job for her. She was reading a speech she had given the week before to get an idea, and was told that it wouldn’t work for the next group because the first speech was for young mothers who cared about daycare and the next was for a senior citizen center. When she asked if the candidate really believed in daycare centers, he said that she did that day. We can choose who we please and how we choose to do it. Will it be God or man?

The Kingdom of Heaven is ready and we are invited. But are we like the original guests to the king’s wedding,  putting off the invitation and finding something else to do that they consider more important. We might also be like those invited to fill the hall when no one else would come, and grateful to be invited. And some of us respond gladly to the invitation and then just don’t show up. Again, this is directed first at the Jewish listeners who were promised a Messiah and saved from Egypt and then had better things to do than to keep God’s commands and even ignored or killed the prophets who kept trying to bring them back. The highways and the byways include those the Jewish leaders considered unworthy, the tax collectors, the prostitutes, the maimed, the lepers, the Samaritans and the Gentiles. The thing we have to remember is that all are invited to the banquet in the Kingdom. This includes those we consider worthy of the invitation and those we do not. In God’s eyes, we are all equal, all God’s children, all invited to the family gathering. Just like all families, there can be a little dysfunction, a few wayward children, but in the end families come together. We need to decide to answer the invitation, save the date, plan for the wedding and show up every day so that when the servants come to let us know that the banquet is ready, we will be ready to come.

“Wherever you go, I will go” is the first line of a song that was quite popular at weddings as it signified the willingness of the spouses to put each other first and to be faithful to one another “till death do us part.” Ruth was to become the grandmother of David, an ancestor of Jesus. Ruth is known for her love and for her fidelity, an example to all of us. Fidelity is a virtue not often practiced today. Fidelity in marriage is seen as a goal rather than a given. One cannot depend on the fidelity of employers in this day of closures and mergers. My sister retired with a gift for forty years of service. Today, well, you’re lucky to work for the same company for 10 years. It works both ways, of course, because employees can’t be depended on to stay with a company for too long either. Is fidelity important to us? What about fidelity to God and his word?

The one thing we know is that God is always faithful. God keeps his promises. He will never abandon us. Can we say the same? We are so lucky that God forgives us when we are unfaithful and sin. God has promised us since the time of Abraham that he will remain faithful no matter what; that even if we abandon him, he will never abandon us. May we work harder at being faithful as did Ruth, and know that when we die, we will rest in the arms of God.

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