Eighteenth
Sunday after Pentecost - Proper 23 – Year A
October
12, 2014
Matthew
22:1-13
Once
more Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying: “The kingdom of
heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding banquet for his
son. He sent his slaves to call those who had been invited to
the wedding banquet, but they would not come. Again he sent
other slaves, saying, ‘Tell those who have been invited: Look, I
have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been
slaughtered, and everything is ready; come to the wedding
banquet.’ But they made light of it and went away, one to his
farm, another to his business, while the rest seized his slaves,
mistreated them, and killed them. The king was enraged. He sent
his troops, destroyed those murderers, and burned their city. Then
he said to his slaves, ‘The wedding is ready, but those invited
were not worthy. Go therefore into the main streets, and invite
everyone you find to the wedding banquet.’ Those slaves went
out into the streets and gathered all whom they found, both good and
bad; so the wedding hall was filled with guests.
“But
when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who
was not wearing a wedding robe, and he said to him, ‘Friend,
how did you get in here without a wedding robe?’ And he was
speechless. Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand
and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be
weeping and gnashing of teeth.’”
As the parent of two
girls, one of the things I have become quite familiar with over the
last few years are fairy tales and princesses. Anything pink and
'princessy' is almost guaranteed to be popular in our home. The
girls will spend hours watching princess cartoons and t.v. shows. If
we are walking through a store that has toys in it, it's almost a
sure thing that we will have to make a detour down the toy aisle to
look at the collection of dolls and accessories. I have watched
several Disney princess movies so many times I know the songs and can
sing along with them. Of course, that is nothing compared to the
conversations I have heard coming from the backseat in the van
regarding different princesses and their likes and dislikes, who has
the best dresses, the fanciest crowns, who likes animals and who
doesn't. Little girls like princesses.
But, I think people
in general like fairy tales of different kinds. Look at the
popularity throughout time of fairy tales and stories. We love to
escape to Nevernever Land and fly through the air with Peter Pan. We
listen with rapt attention each year to the story of the Nutcracker
at Christmas. In the last few weeks at school, the first graders
talked about Johnny Appleseed. Even more adult fairy tales are
popular; just look at the lasting impact the importance of a book
like Moby Dick, or the classic storys of Homer. Some of the most
popular television shows directed at adults are based on fairy tales;
Once Upon a Time has millions of people watching each week to see the
interaction of characters from fairy tales in the “real world.”
In the United
States, we don't have kings and queens that rule over us; and for
many people the ideas we have about royalty and castles comes from
the fairy tales we read and watch. I think for many of us, when we
think of a princess – we think of someone like Cinderella or the
Disney princess Sophia before we think of Princess Kate. The reality
for pretty much every single one of us is that we will never meet a
king or a queen, never dance with a prince or princess, and the only
castle we will ever be in is on a tour of one if we are lucky enough
to someday travel to Europe.
Fairy tales have the
effect of often making us believe things that are far beyond the
normal. The reality for royalty in the real world (though I'm sure
beyond the experiences of our life) are likely nothing like the lives
we imagine they have, or the ones we see created for us in fairy
tales. Today, our text is a parable, which is pretty much the
Bible's version of a fairy tale. And to make it seem even more like
a fairy tale, our story is about a King and an incredible party he is
throwing for his son. And, not just any party – a wedding party.
The whole kingdom will rejoice and celebrate – their getting a
princess!
I don't know about
you, but if I was ever to invited to a party at a kings home, by the
king himself, I would probably do whatever I needed to to be there.
It would be like being invited to meet with your favorite celebrity
or inspiration. We would carefully pick out what we would wear –
and probably go shopping to find just the right outfit. We would
worry and fret about what we would say, what we would do, how we
would act. For days and weeks before, all we could think about would
be the event. If you thought the planning and obsession with prom in
high school was intense, this would be that to the nth degree. This
could be the most incredible event you will ever experience. So, how
do the people in our story respond to the invitation from the King?
The make excuses not
to show up! It's the party of the year, perhaps the century – they
were invited to it, and they make excuses for not showing up. When I
was in high school we sang a song about this. We sang, “I cannot
come to the banquet don't bother me now, I have married a wife, I
have bought me a cow. I have fields and commitments that cost a
pretty sum. Pray hold me excused I cannot come!”
This parable, unlike
some, seems relatively simple to understand. Jesus is speaking to
the Jewish religious folk. He is pointing a figure directly at them,
and is making is clear that they play a role in the parable. They
are the ones who were initially invited by the King, (who is God) and
turned down the invitation. The Jewish community were the first to
be invited; yet, they have not responded to the invitation. They
have made excuses, they have gone off in other directions, seeking
after their own wants and desires. So, God has extended the
invitation to be part of the heavenly feast to those outside of the
Jewish faith – the Gentiles community. This is the gospel of
Matthew's explanation for the inclusion of those outside of the
Jewish faith. We too, though not having received the initial
invitation extended to Abraham and his descendants are invited to the
party in the second wave of invitations. Up to here, it all makes
sense. It's not that difficult to figure out.
But, those last few
verses are difficult. A person is invited to the party, they show
up, they are there, they are having a good time mingling with the
other guests, eating and drinking at the feast. Then, they are seen
to not be wearing the appropriate attire and are kicked out. How are
we supposed to interpret this? Someone invited by God to the
heavenly banquet, is a part of the party and then kicked out. There
is no agreement among theologians about what this means, who the
person is and what the robes represent. Some say the robe refers to
righteous living, others to the resurrected body, or to
post-baptismal garments. Still others say that it refers to being
“clothed in Christ,” as described in Colossians 3. That was
always the way I thought about this passage.
Yet, I think I've
come to a different understanding over the last week. The problem
I've always had with thinking about this passage and the expulsion of
the poorly dressed guest is two-fold. First, he was a guest. He had
been invited. The kings servants had gone out and invited everyone
to the party. It wasn't like he was crashing the party as an
uninvited guest. And second, at the core of my faith is the
understanding that we are saved by grace through faith. We are
invited, we believe the invitation and show up. To declare that the
only way we can remain at the party, or attend the party is to change
is to declare that we have a part to play that is of consequence.
Salvation suddenly isn't an act of grace on God's part, it's
something that we have power over, and I have a problem with that.
So, what to do.
Obviously this parable is in the Bible, complete with the kicking out
of the guest for a reason, and I firmly believe that the reason must
be in agreement with the theological understanding of being saved by
grace through faith. I returned to the passage, and took a close
look. Then it hit me, the guest never said a word. The king comes
up to him, addresses him as friend and asks, “Friend, how did you
get in here without a wedding robe?” And the man responds by being
speechless. He doesn't say a word. And I think in there is the
answer.
“How did you get
in here dressed like that?” He could have said anything, “I was
invited by a friend.” “I had nothing else to wear.” “I'm
headed out to work in the yard right after.” “I was on my way to
work when I got the invitation.” But, he doesn't say a thing. And
in not saying a thing, he also doesn't give the answer that is
correct. “How did you get in here dressed like that?” “I was
invited.” He was invited, by the King. Being, staying at the
party, at the heavenly feast, is about recognizing how it is you got
there in the first place. I can't imagine that the other guests were
all dressed appropriately, so this guest was singled out for a
reason. Because, when he was asked how he got in, he had no answer
to give. He didn't seem to know or be able to say that he was there
at the invitation of the King. The validity of the invitation had
nothing to do with the way the guest dressed, how he responded, how
he acted at the feast, it's about recognizing where the invitation
comes from.
If we all had to
dress appropriately for the heavenly feast, put on our best outfits –
whether external clothing or the cleanliness of our lives – we
would all be dressed inappropriately. None of us can dress ourselves
well enough to be in God's presence. What seems to matter to the
King in the parable, to God, is that we recognize how it is that we
are able to be present at the heavenly feast even though we are all
truly unworthy to be there.
How is it that we
are there? It's because of God, all because of God. God has reached
out in love to us. God has extended the invitation to us to join in
a heavenly feast in paradise with God. And we show up, we come in
response to the invitation. When we hear the voice of God calling
our name, inviting us to come, we come. We come in our best and in
our worst. We are invited and come good and bad as the parable tells
us. And how is that we are assured of our being able to be a part of
the celebration for eternity? By declaring that we are there because
of God, because of God's invitation. By not making excuses for our
appearance, by not making excuses as to why we can't be there. But,
by declaring that we are present, just as we are, because of the
grace-filled invitation from God.
We have all been
invited. We are all expected to be present at the party at the end
of time to beat all other parties and celebrations. What God desires
is that we know how it is that we are there. It's still all about
what God has done. It's still about the host rather than the guest.
It's still about being saved by grace through faith. May we all come
to recognize and declare, “We are here completely and totally
because of God and God's graceful invitation. And may we all look
forward to the day when we will gather around the table of God, and
take part in the heavenly feast for all eternity. Amen.
