Pentecost 22, 10/12/2008

Sermon on Matthew 22:1-14, by John H. Loving

22Once 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. ³He sent his slaves to call those who had been invited to the wedding banquet, but they would not come. ⁴Again 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." ⁵But they made light of it and went away, one to his farm, another to his business, ⁶while the rest seized his slaves, maltreated them, and killed them. ⁷The king was enraged. He sent his troops, destroyed those murderers, and burned their city. ⁸Then he said to his slaves, "The wedding is ready, but those invited were not worthy. ⁹Go therefore into the main streets, and invite everyone you find to the wedding banquet." ¹⁰Those 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, ¹²and he said to him, "Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding robe?" And he was speechless. ¹³Then 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." ¹⁴For many are called, but few are chosen.'

Over the years many of us have worried about that poor man at the end of today's Gospel lesson who was dragged into the wedding feast from the highway, where he had been peacefully minding his own business, only to be brutally seized and evicted because he happened to be wearing the wrong jacket! It all seems terribly unfair, to say the least.

However, when we compare St Luke's story of the great feast to this parallel account from St Matthew, we notice that the ending is quite different. Both in Luke and in the so-called Gospel of Thomas, which is a later Christian document, the story ends with the hall being filled with guests and the party going on.

While this comparison does not impugn the genuineness of the second parable--the ending in St Matthew's version, it strongly suggests that it was originally a separate story, joined later to the parable of the great Feast because of the similarity of its setting.

If our proposed reconstruction is substantially correct, the second parable would originally have begun something like this:

It is the case with the kingdom of God as with a king who gave a marriage feast for his son and sent his servants to summon those who were invited. But when the king came in to look at his guests, he saw there a man who had no wedding garment. (The rest of the story would be the same--the questioning, seizing, and eviction.)

It is still a difficult story, but at least it no longer has to grow out of the other parable.

According to Palestinian custom, wedding feasts as well as other celebrations are announced in advance and invitations are issued, but no exact hour (and in some cases, no exact day) is specified. Then when all the contracts have been signed and the food is prepared the word goes out and the guests assemble. Those who want to honor the host and to be a part of the celebration must be ready to go at a moment's notice.

After the feast has begun, the host makes his appearance and is greeted by the assembled guests. In today's parable, on entering the hall the king immediately notices one guest who has appeared inappropriately attired. The reference is, I am told, not to a special garment designed for weddings, but simply a freshly laundered white robe. We find in Holy Scripture many references to the white robes of the elect, and this seems to be based on the familiar white festal garment of the Palestinian people.

The soiled garment is an insult to the host--in this case, the royal host, which probably makes it treason as well as a lack of courtesy. The king turns to this man and inquires by what right he happens to be there. We are not told whether he had slipped in uninvited, or whether his soiled garment was a deliberate insult and his silence a gesture of defiance. But similar parables in Jewish literature of the period would indicate that he had been invited, but was sadly unprepared when the summons came.

One of the commentaries includes a Jewish teaching from roughly the same period as the New Testament that helps to illumine the parable: "Rabbi Eliezer said, ‘Repent one day before your death.'" His scholars asked him, ‘How can a man know the day of his death?' He answered them, ‘Since he may die tomorrow, it is all the more necessary to repent today; thus all through his life he will be found in a state of penitence. Moreover, Solomon in his wisdom has said, ‘Let thy garments always be white; and let not thy head lack ointment'.

Thus, like the tale of the wise and foolish maidens, the parable of the wedding guest teaches that we should always be ready for God's judgement. Indeed, it may already be too late.

The impending crisis demands conversion--a radical shift in one's orientation. It calls for self-examination and repentance. Certainly this element of judgement is present in Jesus' teaching and is unmistakable in this context.

To be found without the wedding garment--to reject the robe--is thus to exclude oneself from the community of faith. It is to turn one's back on the Father and to presume on God's grace.

It is one thing to know that we can come to God with all our faults, all our hang-ups, all our prejudices--that we can come as we are and that we shall be accepted. It is quite another matter to lose the sense of wonder and gratitude for this assurance and simply to take it for granted. It is something else to postpone genuine repentance and conversion on the assumption that God will always forgive. To presume on God's boundless mercy is the height of arrogance and pride.

In the words of the German preacher and theologian Helmut Thielicke: We come to the feast without the wedding garment when we allow our sins to be forgiven but still want to hang on to them. "And right here is where God's warning come in: the person who comes without the wedding garment, the person who permits the fact that he can come as he is, to make him shameless instead of humble, who instead of being concerned with spiritual growth and discipline, allows himself to play a frivolous game with the grace of God, that person is just as badly off as the one who refuses altogether!"

Perhaps this message is addressed particularly to those within the fellowship of the Church, those who are a little too accustomed to God's grace and who no longer radiate the enthusiasm and warmth of Christian love.

As we take stock of our lives, we need to identify our own pockets of resistance to Christ and his forgiveness. For some it is consuming ambition, the drive for power or security or material possessions that leaves no time or energy for the things that really make for peace and growth and stability. For others the pocket of resistance may be the poor stewardship of time--a frittering away of precious hours and days on meaningless diversion. When we think of the countless hours that many Americans spend in front of the TV night after night we cannot help but think how some of this time might be more responsibly and creatively used.

For others the pocket of resistance may be in the area of illicit sexual activity. They pray, in effect, "Lord, I'll try to get everything straightened out; but just let me hold on to this one indulgence." For the individual who compromises his or her personal integrity, there are always excuses: one's home-life is not what it used to be or what it ought to be; one deludes oneself into thinking that these little escapades serve as a kind of escape valve that enable him or her to function normally otherwise.

The rationalizations may help to anesthetize the conscience, but they are totally inadequate. Surely, as individual Christians, we need to affirm in no uncertain terms the sacredness of human sexuality, its tremendous potential for building and cementing human relationships, its part in personal growth, in sharing and in giving.

Let us come to grips with our own pockets of resistance, our values and ambitions. Surely, we shall not have inner peace until we begin to come to terms with God's will for our lives.

Let us hear again the call to the Banquet and recall what a gracious invitation it is. Unlike the unprepared guest, let us always be ready to respond to the call and to accept with joy and thanksgiving the wonder of God's eternal love.

He has clothed me with the garments of salvation,

He has covered me with the robe of righteousness.

AMEN.

Rev., Interim Assistant John H. Loving
The Church of the Good Shepherd (Episcopal)
Austin, Texas

E-Mail: jloving3@austin.rr.com

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