Foretaste of the Sermon to Come
A little nibble of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Sunday’s scriptures are Isaiah 25:6-9, Phil 4:1-9, and Mt 22:1-14
Jesus’ Parable of the Wedding Banquet is the obvious hiding in plain sight. Let’s not mince words. The King is God. The son is Jesus. The son’s wedding is the party of the century, not to be missed, and the King REALLY wants people to come to his son’s wedding banquet. This banquet is the Heavenly Feast in which all those enrobed in Christ’s righteousness will partake when Christ returns to make all things new. The original invited guest list is Israel. After Israel disobeyed, and killed the prophets who tried to bring them back into relationship with God, God destroyed Israel and is inviting the Gentiles and the remaining Jewish faithful to his feast regardless of their “goodness.” The doomed slaves who did the inviting could also be the disciples and countless others through the centuries who will be martyred for Christ’s sake. Even though the King lives in an honor/shame society and has been deeply shamed by his no-show guests, he is not too ashamed to keep sending out grace-filled invitations. It is unheard of that a king would keep inviting and would invite the unqualified only to clothe them himself in the robe of Christ’s imputed righteousness, but that’s our God. And, perhaps the banquet is the weekly meal of Holy Communion, the meal of already and not yet. Amazingly, you and I are the Bride, the Church, and so we are both in the wedding party and guests at the party as well as the guests at the Sacrament of the Altar.
But who is the poor guy who doesn’t have the right clothes? Historians say that it would have been customary for the host to provide the proper attire to their wedding guests, so why doesn’t this guy get a robe? The poor fellow was speechless and couldn’t say how he got in without receiving a robe. Was it an oversight by the wedding staff that he didn’t get a robe? Did he reject the need for one? Somehow he rejects the King’s Word, nor does he ask for it. Declining it would make it easy for us to understand because we hear in other verses that blaspheming the Holy Spirit, saying, “No” to the Holy Spirit who is gifted through the Word to the receiver, is the unforgivable sin. This would explain the outer darkness, but let’s wait on that for a minute.
In his commentary on Matthew, Stanley Hauerwas says, “This parable reprises Matthew’s gospel. Jesus has come to feed us. He has fed the five thousand and the four thousand. The kingdom is about food and, in particular, food for the poor. But the food given by Jesus is not only to feed the hungry but to stage a banquet. This is a feast of God’s abundance. Yet many seem to think that they have all they need and refuse to take the time to attend the king’s banquet. They act as if they need no king, consumed as they are by their daily lives. Some, insulted by the persistence of the king’s invitation, even kill his slaves.”
Hauerwas goes on to say that “this parable is meant to make those in power and the well-off uncomfortable” because we don’t recognize that we are ruled by tyrants, even the tyrant in ourselves; we are our own lords doing what we desire. In this turned-inwardness, we have little time to come to amazing banquets, like the one where Jesus makes the Church his bride. Or the one served at the altar each week at SLC and other Christian churches.
There really isn’t much gospel in this parable and we are tempted to ask if we are the one without the wedding robe. But we can infer that those who have had the waters of baptism applied with the Word’s promise are suitably attired to both be Christ’s Bride and to have a seat at the Wedding Banquet. Those of us who have this gift are clothed and ready to meet Christ and have no worries. This is Gospel, full stop.
But, the rest of the good news is that the Word is active and as relentless as the king who keeps on inviting. It keeps preaching the good news and it clothes the hearers, whether they are infants at the font or someone who hears “God loves you” as they receive a life pack or a plate of Hearty Meals lunch from SLC.
Regarding the outer darkness, the place of weeping and gnashing of teeth, the only thing of which I’m certain, is that nobody is there who is clothed in Christ. And just a note, this is never to be used as a proof text for antisemitism or for Christian superiority. Thanks be to God and keep speaking the Good News.
