Sometimes Jesus would be called a “glutton and a drunkard” by those outside his immediate circle.  Which tells us one thing: Jesus was probably a lot of fun to be around.  

Calm down.  I’m not suggesting that he was a glutton or that he often found himself inebriated.  What I am saying is that he often attended gatherings where people were eating and drinking in excess.

I am suggesting that he liked to go to parties.

It’s not just me that’s suggesting this: the accounts of Jesus are full of these memories.  In fact, the very first miracle recorded by one of Jesus’ disciples had Jesus turning water to wine at a wedding reception.  And not just any wine.  We are told it was the best wine at the party.  Vintage.  Expensive.  Good.

In fact, when Jesus wanted to describe what reality was like, what God was up to in the world, He would often tell stories about parties.  For Jesus, a party got closest to describing what being in the Divine Presence was like.

There are a pair of stories Jesus told about a powerful figure throwing a party for the neighborhood.  In both of these stories, the insiders are invited…and then the outsiders.  The twist in the story comes when the insiders to the party are the very ones that fail to show up.  But here is the punchline in each of these party stories: everyone is invited; the only ones who don’t join the party are those that don’t want to be there.

Because it isn’t a party if the guests are forced to come.  That would be a downer.  At least according to Jesus.

Perhaps Jesus’ most famous party story is the one about a father with two sons.  In this story, the younger son empties half of the family 401k, and heads off to find some parties elsewhere.  What he realizes, eventually, is that these parties didn’t just leave the family bankrupt; they’ve left him bankrupt.  And so he heads back, broke and broken, only to discover that his father is running in his direction, having invited the entire town to a party in his honor.  

What?  Really?  Really.

The twist in Jesus’ story is that not everyone is happy about this turn of events.  The older son isn’t too happy with his younger brother who has exposed the family to financial insecurity.  He isn’t too happy about a party thrown in honor of such a selfish, undeserving glutton and drunkard.  (Oh, and there may have been illicit sex involved on the part of this younger brother, too.  Is the older brother bitter about this, or jealous?)

At any rate, the older brother doesn’t want any part of this party.  But the father comes out to him as he came out to his younger son and pleads with him to come to the party anyway.  “All I have is yours…” the father reminds him.  This party is even for older brothers, who may have a proper sense of justice, but are consumed with bitterness and resentment along the way.  Like the other party stories Jesus tells, this party is for everybody.

And also like the other party stories Jesus tells, the only people not at the party are the ones who don’t want to be there.

Those that would never show their face at a party where broken people might be.  That would never share a beer with those they consider less than themselves: you know…the selfish.  The poor.  The sexually immoral.  Republicans.  Democrats.  Fundamentalists.  Atheists.  Uneducated.  Over-educated.

Those people.

They’re all invited, according to Jesus.  The party is for them.  It is a truth older than dirt that Jesus keeps digging up.  People want that corpse to finally be buried, to allow it to rot in the ground.  They always have.  Surely God’s favor is only based on our hard work, our goodness, our correctness.  Surely we shouldn’t have to make room for those other people.  Surely we can congratulate ourselves on being the insiders and damn the rest of the world to hell.

Jesus will have none of it.  There is a party being thrown and all are invited, if you can stand it.

The problem is, if you suggest that, you might just get called all sorts of names, glutton and drunkard being the least of them.