“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.” We used to sing that song in Sunday School and laugh. We’d switch the words around and sing, “I have bought me a wife, I have married a cow.” We thought it was hilarious.
When I read today’s Gospel reading, I find it anything but
hilarious. This Gospel is troubling. It falls during Holy Week in the Bible
timeline, like the other Gospels we’ve been discussing the past few weeks. Jesus is in Jerusalem about to be crucified. The tension is escalating. He’s cleared the temple and disrupted the
temple banks and systems of sacrifice.
He’s been challenged by the priests and religious leaders about his
authority. He’s shared the parable of
the two sons, one says he’ll go to work in the field but doesn’t and the one
who says he won’t but then he does. He’s
shared the parable of the wicked tenants.
Now this parable: The
wedding banquet. It should be fun and
festive with good food, decorations, music, and dancing, but it is not. A king
is hosting a wedding banquet for his son.
No one comes. They are too
important, too busy. They even made
light of the invitation and killed the messengers. So he burns their city and destroys the
murderers. Then he sends his servants to
the main streets and invites everyone, both good and bad and they come. One guy isn’t properly dressed, though, and
he’s thrown out.
We usually equate the king with God. Does God throw a fit when God’s invitations
are refused? Does God destroy cities and
wipe out whole families? Does God care
what we wear to parties? I’m don’t know
what to make of this.
One way of handling it is to realize that there was no
punctuation in Greek that is the language this was written in. There could be a question mark on this
sentence, “Can the Kingdom of God be compared to a king who gave a wedding
banquet for his son?” Is this what we
know about God and God’s love, mercy, and forgiveness? Another way of looking at it is this, it may say
the kingdom of God is like this wedding banquet, it doesn’t say it is a
wedding banquet. There are some ways
God’s kingdom might be like this and some ways that it isn’t. Does God invite? Yes.
Is there a promise of a feast?
Yes. Does God like parties and
good food and good company? Yes. Do people refuse God’s invitation to
enjoyment and community? Yes. Do people have priorities above God that they
think are more important? Yes. Are there serious consequences to refusing
God’s invitation? Yes. Does God feel hurt when people refuse God’s
invitation? Yes. Do people kill God’s messengers? Yes. I
think of Martin Luther King, Jr. I think
of the disciples, like Stephen and Paul.
I think of the prophets in the Bible.
Yes, the messengers get killed.
Does God wipe out whole cities and kill murderers? I don’t think so, but you may disagree. As the Israelites moved into the Holy Land,
the Old Testament tells of wiping out whole villages, including men, women,
children and animals and that being God’s will.
I have a suspicion that people do these things and then give God
credit, or blame God. Also, you’ll find
later in the Bible that there actually are survivors, either among the
Israelites or who have moved on to another place. The destruction might have been exaggerated
and I hope it was. One view of this
Gospel reading is that this description of the King destroying the city and the
murderers is that this is a description of the way God was seen in the Old
Testament, but now God sees that isn’t a good way of handling things and
doesn’t do that anymore. Think of Noah
and the flood. There was so much evil in
the world that God brought a flood to drown everyone except Noah’s family and
enough animals to repopulate the earth.
But when the land dried up, God hung up God’s weapon, put a bow in the
sky, to show that God wasn’t going to resort to violence again, or at least on
that scale. God regrets drowning people,
destroying entire cities.
Does God destroy cities and murderers? We don’t know. We do know that cities rise and fall, that
buildings are temporary and that people die.
It isn’t going to last. You can
attribute that to God or to nature, but that is the way things are. Buildings crumble, people die. Sometimes people even get what they
deserve. Sometimes people face
consequences for their death-dealing actions.
Does God go out and invite all the people, both good and
bad? Yes! Saints and sinners are all invited to the
party with God, and they accept the invitation.
People are sometimes receptive to God’s invitation to joy and new
life.
Do some people come to parties dressed inappropriately? Yes.
Does God care how we dress? I
have a hard time believing that this is important to God. So is there something this wedding garment
signifies that gives us a clue about why this guy is in so much trouble? Some people think this garment is like being
clothed with Christ, or maybe being clothed with the armor of light. It has to do with putting on Christ or
not. Maybe this guy is hanging out on
the edges, not really joining in the party.
Maybe he thinks he’s too good for this kind of party that invites anyone
and everyone. Maybe he’s just observing
and not joining in the festivities. Does
that warrant being thrown out? And where
is he thrown? It doesn’t seem like a fun
place to go where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Finally we are left with the conclusion, “Many are called, but
few are chosen.” Are many called? I think so!
Are few chosen? I don’t really
know who is chosen or how. Are the
chosen self-selecting like these folks in the Gospel? Maybe.
Is that partly based on distractions and priorities? That could be. Are both good and bad chosen? I hope so.
Are all those at the wedding banquet chosen? I have no idea. What is the equivalent of the wedding banquet
today? I don’t know. Is it church?
I think that’s too narrow. Is it
community? Is it service? Is it lovingkindness? Is it joy?
I wish I knew.
This whole parable could instead describe the church, inviting,
then pouting when people don’t come.
Inviting and then being mad when someone doesn’t dress properly. I don’t know!
This is what I think we can learn from this parable. Watch for the invitation. It comes every day in hundreds of ways. It is an invitation to love and joy and generosity
and to community. Make God and God’s
beloveds your priority. Love the Lord
your God with all your heart, soul, and mind, and love your neighbor as
yourself. And have no other gods before
the one God who invites you and loves you.
Put aside your house and financial investments and selfishness so they
don’t get in the way of your relationship with God and all God’s people, both
good and bad. Those other things are
temporary and ultimately worthless, but what is worthwhile is community and
relationship and the love that God offers.
Be ready to extend the invitation yourself to unexpected people. All the ways you participate in the wedding
banquet—in service, in joy, in praying for someone, in comforting them, feeding
them, clothing them—invite others to join you.
Finally, don’t hang back or hold back—get involved wholeheartedly—this
is an opportunity you don’t want to miss, a feast that it’s an honor to
participate in, community in Christ that is necessary for life, joy that cannot
be contained.
One final thought is that this parable describes the complicated
relationship between God and humankind, kind of an impasse about invitation and
response. Remember that Jesus tells this
story during Holy Week. In 4 short days,
he will be crucified. And what does the
crucified Christ do? He goes to the outer
darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth and he releases those captives,
by his grace and forgiveness he unlocks the doors of hell and releases those
souls. By his love and forgiveness he
invites all to the banquet and one day we will all be there, not a single one
missing, celebrating the marriage feast without end.
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