Matthew
22:1-14
Our parable this morning is a tough
one steeped in violence, weeping, and gnashing of teeth. There are spurned invitations and strange
wedding garments, odd turns of phrase and a general sense of dis-ease. Contextually, we are back in the temple. Those who have been attending worship
regularly will remember that Jesus has been busy talking with the religious
authorities. This is near the end of his
life and it is one of his final discourses with the temple elite before his
arrest. The religious rulers asked Jesus
about his authority to cause trouble and since then he has been pounding them
with one painful parable after another.
Last week he accused them of being wicked tenants in the Lord’s
vineyard. This week it’s a wedding
banquet and they are the unruly guests.
This parable is so offensive it sometimes causes me to wonder if Jesus
is overtly trying to stir up trouble. Is
it possible for the son of God to take things too far?
“The kingdom of heaven is like a king
who threw a wedding party for his son,” Jesus says. It appears that “save the date” invitations
had already been sent out and now was the time for the festivities. The king sends his slaves into the land to call
all of those invited to the party. Off
they head out to gather up the rich and elite, the holy and the special;
essentially the ruling class of the day.
But those invited won’t come.
So the king sends another message,
“Look, it’s going to be a great party.
The meat is cooked, the wine is poured, please come and celebrate with
me.” But those invited make light of the
situation. “I’m too busy right now,”
they say “I’ve got work to do and I can’t be bothered to take a break and
celebrate with you.” Some are even so
tired of the invitations that they kill the messengers. That seems a bit harsh doesn’t it? Who are these people?
Well, the king certainly thinks it’s
harsh and responds in kind by sending not his slaves but his army to destroy
those whom he had invited to the party. He responds to their rejection of him
by burning down their city. My
goodness! Makes you wonder where Jesus
is going with this parable doesn’t it?!?
The king now has his tables set for a
party but no guests, so he sends his slaves back out, this time to invite
everyone they meet. So, the slaves head
out and every person they see is invited to the banquet. Rich and poor, weak and strong, beautiful and
ugly, good and evil; everyone is invited to the party and everyone shows
up. The wedding hall is filled with
guests.
Now, this would be a lovely place to
stop the story but when does Jesus ever stop a parable at a nice place? The king comes into the party to find a man
there not wearing a wedding robe. He
asks, “Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding robe?” The guest is speechless; he just stands there
and stares slack jaw at the king. The
king’s reply is to “Bind him hand and foot, and throw him into the outer
darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” That’s not good. And here Jesus adds his own two cents to the
story “For many are called, but few are chosen.” That doesn’t sound good either.
I told you this was a tough one! Let’s dig deeper. If we connect this parable to the last one
Jesus told about the landowner and the wicked tenants, we can guess that the king
who throws the party is probably God and the king’s son is probably Jesus. That is a pretty easy connection to
make. It is not uncommon to refer to
Jesus as the bridegroom and the church as the bride and heaven as a great
wedding feast. We can find that theme in
the scriptures as well as in the theology of the early church.
So God is throwing a wedding party for
his son Jesus and there is a list of invited guests. People have received invitations; they have
been chosen and invited by God to join in the party. They have had prior warning about this event
and have had a chance to mark their calendars.
The strange thing happens when those invited to the party say they can’t
come at the last minute. How many of us,
if invited to a wedding change our mind at the very last minute because we are
busy with work? That doesn’t seem to be
very common does it?
But, let’s ask it another way. How many of us want to claim a relationship
with God but then when it comes down to it we make excuses in the end? Oh yeah, I’m a Christian, until someone asks
me to tithe, or asks to me to share my faith with others, or asks me to stand
up for the little guy, or asks me to make a real change in my life for the sake
of the gospel. We want to be invited to
God’s party, but when the invitation comes we find we actually are a lot like
those in this parable. When it comes
down to it we are suddenly busy with work and family and other
commitments.
Let’s move into the happy middle. The king has his tables laden with bounty and
he needs guests so he sends the slaves to gather everyone they find. This is a wonderful story now. Everyone on the street and in the alley is
invited to this wonderful party and they all come. The wedding hall is filled with guests both
good and bad. This image of gathering in
all people brings to mind other parables Jesus tells like the wheat and the
weeds, or the net that caught all kinds of fish. The good and bad are present at the wedding
banquet just as the good and bad are held together in the kingdom of God. The kingdom of heaven will be full not of the
people we expect, but of the people we think are least likely to be there. Frankly, this is where I wish the parable
ended. This is where I find abundant
grace. But unfortunately for me, Jesus
continues on.
The king comes into the banquet and
finds a fellow without the proper wedding attire and then throws him out into
the outer darkness. What is that about,
and what is the wedding attire? I’ve got
to tell you that I found a lot of different answers to that question but none
of them were really satisfying. Some say
the wedding attire is the baptism of Christ, or the righteousness of the
saints, or the resurrected body, or a transformed life in Christ. Could be anything! And some say that the problem was not the
fellow’s clothes but that he had no answer for the king and therefore he was
not fruitful, drawing on our parable from last week.
What I think we can gather from this
part of the story is that not all who believe themselves to be guests actually
belong at the wedding banquet. Some who
think they are invited to the wedding, might have really been invited, but
might show up in a state that nullifies their invitation. Yes, you are invited to the banquet, but
unless you respond properly to that invitation, say with a heart clothed in
Christ, then you are not really welcome to the party. How many people can you think of who think
they have earned a trip to heaven for this or that reason but their lives don’t
really show the fruits of their faith?
Maybe this is about them?
To take it further, maybe this is
about us? What makes us think we have
what it takes to come to the party? Sure
we’ve been invited, but how have we really responded to that invitation? Maybe this guy had responded to the
invitation by coming to the party but not really in the proper spirit and that
is what this wedding garment thing is all about. Yes, we respond to the invitation of
discipleship, but often not with the whole of who we are.
And so we end up with that last line
from Jesus, “Many are called, but few are chosen.” Many are called to the party, many are
invited to the wedding banquet but few are chosen to actually be there. We are all invited but in the end we don’t
all measure up to the call of that invitation.
This is one of those parables where
grace rubs up against judgment. We all
love grace and it is wonderful to think that everyone, good and bad, is invited
to the wedding party. But there can be
no grace without judgment. And all of
those parables about the good and bad together, from the wheat and the weeds to
the fish in the net, end with a sorting out of who is good and who is bad. So, it should be no surprise to us that
eventually the king comes to the party and begins to throw out those who are
not really worthy of being there.
Now, I don’t know about you but this
parable makes me uncomfortable. It
certainly upset the religious leaders that Jesus was telling it to. After they heard Jesus say these things they
immediately went out and plotted his death.
Is that what Jesus wanted? I am
still a bit stuck in the place of wondering why Jesus took it so far that day
in the temple.
I am going to guess that this parable
makes you a little uncomfortable too. I
try not to have two heavy hitters in a row, but I think our multiple Sundays of
offensive parables probably gives us a good idea of what it felt like to listen
to Jesus in the temple that day. You know me, and you know I preach grace ten
times more than I preach judgment, but maybe some weeks it is good to be
reminded that Jesus warns us that judgment is a part of this process.
We all have been invited to the
wedding banquet of our Lord. But things
don’t simply end at the invitation. We
are invited into discipleship, but when the rubber meets the road we often make
excuses about why we aren’t living the fullest Christian life possible. When it comes down to it, whether I preach it
or not, we will be judged by how we respond to God’s invitation. And if that makes us uncomfortable, then
maybe that’s a good thing. While you
might come to church every Sunday wanting a pat on the back, maybe what you
really need some days is a kick in the rear.
This parable certainly does that.
“Here you are, you have been invited to the Lord’s party, now what are
you going to do about it?” Jesus asks.
“For many are called, but few are chosen.” Jesus certainly asks a lot of us. By the grace of God, let us respond
accordingly. Amen.
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