Matthew 22:1-14
1
Once more Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying: 2 "The
kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding
banquet for his son. 3 He sent his slaves to call those who had been
invited to the wedding banquet, but they would not come. 4 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.' 5
But they made light of it and went away, one to his farm, another to
his business, 6 while the rest seized his slaves, mistreated them,
and killed them. 7 The king was enraged. He sent his troops,
destroyed those murderers, and burned their city. 8 Then he said to
his slaves, "The wedding is ready, but those invited were not
worthy. 9 Go therefore into the main streets, and invite everyone you
find to the wedding banquet.' 10 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. 11 "But when the king came
in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing a
wedding robe, 12 and he said to him, "Friend, how did you get in
here without a wedding robe?' And he was speechless. 13 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.' 14 For many are called, but few are chosen."
"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.”
- Parables are stories, first and foremost. They take everyday events and use them to get across a message that is beyond the everyday. They aren't fables like Aesop's fables. A fable uses animals or things of nature to get across a moral message. The fox wants the grapes and when he can't reach them, he declares them to be sour. The frogs want a king and are upset when the gods send a stork as their king. Parables use human things... like wedding banquets or field work or travel from Jerusalem to Jericho.
- Having said that, we have to note that there are fantastic things and ideas in every parable. The father watches for his so-called prodigal son all day long. A Samaritan takes care of an injured Jewish man when he finds him in a ditch.
- The parable we hear today is one of exaggeration in almost every way. The guests invited to the wedding refuse a royal summons for trivial reasons. They abuse and even kill the servants sent to announce the wedding feast. The king responds with a murderous rage and brutal military action... against his own country! Refugees and all sorts of folk, both good and bad, are then brought in to the banquet, but one unlucky fellow is thrown out into the “outer darkness” because he was not dressed properly! This “outer darkness” is not some back alley following a trip in some mobsters car trunk, but the cosmic cold and dark between planets! All the while, the feast is kept hot in the banquet hall!
- If you feel that this has a comic book feel to it, I'd agree. Wedding receptions in comic books aren't even as fantastic as this! So where is the good news here?
- At second glance (the first being the realization of the Batman-style of this story), we might be confused and frightened by the implications of the parable. Not accepting the invitation could lead to a really, really bad response. Coming to the feast improperly dressed leads to wailing and gnashing of teeth in the outer darkness. What's to keep us from being trussed up like a Thanksgiving turkey and hustled out of the hall by the hired muscle... simply because of a fashion issue?
- Well, it isn't a fashion issue. It's an attention issue. The original invited guests decided to tend to their own concerns: 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 man tossed into the outer darkness did the same. He neither dressed to come to the wedding, nor did he accept the hospitality offered him, since in Jesus day, the host of a wedding (especially a royal one) would provide wedding robes for all the guests. It appears that none of these people took the invitation or the situation seriously.
- Wedding banquets are a time of celebration and festivity. They are supposed to be fun and, in telling the parable, Jesus goes to great lengths to describe the banquet and the preparations: Look, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready; come to the wedding banquet. A party such as this would not be one to miss, especially since it was thrown by the king for his son's wedding! The original guest list and the man mentioned later not only put their own concerns before all else and refused what was offered; they refused to rejoice and be part of the party!
- Let me ask this: do we take our salvation and our relationship with God for granted? When we come to worship, do we come out of duty? Out of fear? Or out of a sense of gratitude for what God has done for us? I'm sure any of us might have mixed motives on any given day, depending on circumstances, mood, and health. Still what is our basic motivation for worship?
- We've all been invited in God's grace to be part of his Kingdom. Yes, we join in the ministry of God's Kingdom and we are – every one of us – ministers of the Gospel of grace. But is that all the Kingdom of God is for us? What about this? The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding banquet for his son.
- Considering what God has done for us in Jesus Christ and in daily grace, there is plenty to rejoice in. Our rejoicing may be tinged with sadness because of the losses we all bear in life, but even in that, God is no less good.
- Read today's Psalm again. Psalm 23 is a psalm of mourning in some traditions and is over-used in some styles of devotion. Still it is a thanksgiving psalm, remembering what God has done. It could even be a way of saying that we can be grateful and celebratory now and we can look forward to more of that when we “dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”
- This may not be a parable set with our celebration of Thanksgiving in mind, but it is a reminder of celebration. The Kingdom of heaven is something to be celebrated and to rejoice in, no matter what our state in life. We have been invited and we have been chosen in grace.
Look,
I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been
slaughtered, and everything is ready; come to the wedding banquet.
No comments:
Post a Comment