Exodus 32:1-14
Psalm 106:1-6, 19-23
Philippians 4:1-9
Matthew 22:1-14
We have all been to weddings. Many of us have played a part in one, whether our own or someone else’s. I remember the tedious process of deciding who would and would not be invited to our own wedding, knowing full well that some who were invited would not attend and others who would go uninvited would be upset and feel slighted. It’s not really a fun process.
In the lead up to the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton one of the most significant media conversations swirled around the topic of who did and did not get invited. World leaders and celebrities alike waited to find out if they made the very short list of invitees and some commentators concluded that anyone of importance that went uninvited was being publicly snubbed by the British royal family.
Today’s Gospel reading presents the opposite scenario. Instead of lining up to clamour for a limited number of invites, we see the movers and shakers of the society turning down the invitations. Let’s begin by looking at Matthew’s Gospel, chapter 22 verse 14.
And again Jesus spoke to them in parables
As we see throughout Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus is speaking to a crowd of significant size, a crowd that consists of everyday Jews as well as the leaders like the chief priests and the Pharisees. These latter two groups, the religious leadership of Roman-occupied Israel, had already decided that they didn't like Jesus. The two verses that close out chapter 21 give us a clear picture to how they felt about him.
When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they perceived that he was speaking about them. And although they were seeking to arrest him, they feared the crowds, because they held him to be a prophet.
Once again Jesus is teaching to a large crowd that includes many of his disciples. In addition to his supporters, this crowd includes a group of powerful people who don't like him. These religious leaders have been following Jesus’ ministry for a while now and they are keeping a close eye on the things that he says. They have already concluded that he is making false claims and must be stopped but they are waiting for the right situation to make their move. Politics, not kindness or mercy, are what keep them from stopping Jesus at this point.
The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son.
If you have seen The Godfather Part II, you will recall the opening of the film with hundreds of people celebrating the confirmation of Michael Corleone's son Anthony. In attendance are hundreds of people including a U.S. Senator and a symphony orchestra. A pretty elaborate celebration to say the least.
In the time of Jesus wedding feasts would last for several days and include parties and celebrations in all corners of the country. Hopefully we’ll see something similar in a few weeks, when the Tigers win the World Series. This wedding is a significant, elaborate event in large part because of the personal meaning to the king. Finally his son, the heir to his throne, is establishing himself publicly and getting married. In many ancient cultures, marriage was one symbol of a rite of passage to adulthood, and the prince’s wedding announced to the country that he was truly the heir apparent. This affects the future of the kingdom. It matters.
and sent his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding feast, but they would not come.
If you have the nerve to say no to the king, one of two things must be true about you. You are either crazy or you really don’t like the king. Why else would you skip the opportunity to eat at the king’s table?
This tension between king and people tells us that Jesus is drawing heavily on the relationship between the Jews and their Roman authorities. We know that the Jews resented the Roman occupiers and their allies including the Herodian kings. It is probable that Jesus drew from the people’s personal feelings toward King Herod and the Roman state in this parable.
Again he sent other servants, saying, 'Tell those who are invited, See, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding feast.' But they paid no attention and went off, one to his farm, another to his business.
Thanksgiving with my family is a bit like this feast. Sure, we have the traditional Thanksgiving spread of turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, and all of that. But since we’re a small family, my grandparents always insisted on having the things everyone liked. So on top of the standards we had a ham, sometimes chicken, nachos, pasta salad, and probably 8 types of pies for deserts. A serious feast that produced a car trunk load of leftovers for each of us.
You have to love the negotiating tactics from both parties. The king insists that this isn't just any old feast but the best of the best (my grandmother probably helped coordinate it!) Not to be swayed by his offers, they ignore him again, focusing on their business interests instead. They really don’t like this guy and his family, so they head off to their farms and their businesses while the rest seized his servants, treated them shamefully, and killed them. The king was angry, and he sent his troops and destroyed those murderers and burned their city.
It’s hard not to react with a “what the heck” at this verse. We went from a “no thanks, not interested” to “you know, this second invite is really annoying so...stab stab.” I believe Giles and I check the standard “not attending” box for RSVPs, I can’t think of a situation where we killed someone because we couldn’t attend their event. By rejecting the invitation to the wedding, these men were symbolically rejecting the future authority of the prince and heir to the throne. Their open rebellion in this act signaled future trouble for the prince. Their rejection is both political and personal.
Drawing on the burning city imagery, Jesus reflects to his listeners the treasonous actions that these men have taken against the king. In Jesus’ day, burning a city symbolized their place as your enemy and it has been suggested that he chose this as a symbolic nod to the burning of Jerusalem a few decades later. The king gets vengeance upon his enemies.
His actions reflect his heart for justice against those murderers and also signifies the king’s love for his son. His actions punish those who are his and his son’s enemies and removes any challenges they might have against the prince when he takes the throne.
Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding feast is ready, but those invited were not worthy. Go therefore to the main roads and invite to the wedding feast as many as you find.’
Now that those who took a stance against the king are removed, a closed, privileged event turns into a public celebration. People who didn’t fit the expectations for the king’s table were welcomed as never before, yet we see expectations placed upon them in the form of the wedding garment. Even those last minute invites still had to honor the king’s expectations.
Those invited to the kings feast were under his authority and, as a result, familiar with the nature of his kingdom. They were given a choice to participate in the feast in honor of his son, his rightful heir.
This feast was a symbol of drawing them more fully into the narrative of the kingdom, of drawing the into the close circle of the family and friends of the king. But they refused, accepting the status quo of their own lives and for some of them, violently rejecting the King's beckoning call.
As they heard Jesus share this parable with the crowds, the chief priests and Pharisees recognized that Jesus was talking about God sending the Messiah for his people but they rejected his invitation to serve his son. This parable surely added to the anger of the Jewish leaders as they sought to stop Jesus from continuing his ministry. As his audience, they were able to understand and identify what part they played in his parable and draw out the conclusions he was making.
As Christians, our task is like that of the chief priests and Pharisees: to be able to recognize ourselves in the parables. Identifying ourselves as Christians can be a form of protection from the recognition that we have become like the chief priests and Pharisees, whose assumption of responsibility for the tradition fills them with prideful presumption. Christians are tempted to rule like tyrants, believing that we possess the truth, a universal truth available without suffering. But Matthew makes clear that we cannot know the truth that is Christ without undergoing the training to be his disciple.
Like those invited in this parable, we often live as if we need no king, as if we are the rulers of our own lives. When we focus on our individual wants, needs and desires we tell God that we’re okay, that we are better off without him as the Lord of our lives. And we think there is little to know consequence to taking this option, the “ignore the invitation” path.
“But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had no wedding garment. And he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless. Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot and cast him into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ For many are called, but few are chosen.”
When we understand being a Christian as a simple “get out of jail free” card, as merely an opportunity to avoid eternal punishment, we neglect to put on the wedding garments of the Master’s house. We act as if we don’t need the food given by Jesus, the banquet of abundance and rejoicing that is prepared at the King’s table.
Why do we reject the banquet of the King?
Because there are rules and expectations to sit at the table. You have to be in the right outfit, you have to have a sense of manners and dignity. But God has expectations for us! The man who didn’t wear the wedding garment was punished! And what does this wedding garment look like for us?
It looks like the virtues bestowed upon us in our baptism!
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. (Galatians 5:22-24 ESV)
Why do we reject the banquet of the King?
Because we don’t want to sit next to so-and-so. Heaven forbid that we have differences of personality, of race, of culture. We like to spend time with people just like us! But St. John’s Revelation throws our expectations on their head.
After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” (Revelation 7:9-10 ESV)
“‘For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see. Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.”
(Revelation 3:15-22 ESV)
Today God calls us to come to His Table and celebrate his banquet. We gather around his table in a literal physical sense, but we also gather around his banquet table in the ways we gather as a community of God. He is present when two or more are gathered, Scripture tells us, and he rejoices and celebrates when we gather to worship and serve him as the risen Lord of our Lives.
Like the chief priests and the Pharisees, we know the story that Jesus is telling us, the story of God’s redemptive grace. We recognize the work that God has done in our lives or the lives of those around us, the life change, the renewed narratives of people’s stories. And he gives us the opportunity to respond to this invitation. But its on his terms, not ours.
And it is at this banquet that Christ renews the narratives of our lives, as individuals yes, but deeply and fully as a community around his banquet table. As God continues to weave the narrative of St. Jude’s, may we know Him more deeply and rejoice at the abundance of his love, grace, and mercy we find in His Presence. Together.
Image from Publiboda via a Creative Commons license.
