Sermon | Year A - The Year of Matthew

October 12, 2008 | Pentecost 22

Isaiah 25:1-9; Psalm 23; Philippians 4:1-9; Matthew 22:1-14

What is this Sunday’s parable about? I mean seriously, what is Jesus saying in this parable? To modern ears, where we often boil Christianity down to what we want it to be rather than what Jesus says it is, this parable sounds very strange. When looking at what people have written about this Gospel, it is clear that it causes a struggle for many. Some call it offensive. Others say that Matthew must have altered it and that Jesus could not have said it. The truth is that much of the parable follows the pattern of many ancient rabbinical parables used in Jesus’ day. However, Jesus always takes the story and puts a new twist on it. Therefore, in order to look at today’s parable, we begin by acknowledging that Jesus’ parables always catch us off guard.

They are meant to do so. Jesus creates stories that are actually meant to confuse us. He wants us to wonder about what he is saying and why. Jesus’ stories have a way of getting us turned around, so that we can see things from a different angle.

Jesus begins this parable with images we understand at once: a king is giving a wedding banquet in honor of his son. As Christians, we immediately see the parallels. As this is the Kingdom of Heaven, then the king is God the Father, and the Son being honored is Jesus-easy enough to follow so far.

The king sends servants out to encourage those who have been invited to the banquet. The guests refuse. The king makes the offer more tempting by giving the servants a description of the party. The guests make light of the offer, one goes to his farm, another to his business, and Jesus tells us, “The rest seized his slaves, mistreated them, and killed them.”

This starts to sound like Jesus’ teaching in a parable that occurs at the end of the previous chapter in which a landowner planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a winepress, and built a watchtower. However, at harvest time the tenants refused to give his servants the produce. After some attempts at sending servants, the landowner sends his son, whom they seize, throw out of the vineyard, and kill. This earlier parable tells of God sending the prophets who were beaten and killed and then God sending his own son who would also be put to death.

The parable for today as well as the one that precedes it fit with our understanding of salvation history – God comes first through the prophets and then through Jesus, and some people reject both. Despite the offers, many choose not to attend the wedding banquet, which is the end-times feast Isaiah promises in our Old Testament lesson.

The king gives an invitation, which is very much like Jesus. He says, “Go therefore into the main streets, and invite everyone you find to the wedding banquet.” Everyone is invited into God’s kingdom, even those who were previously outcasts. All is well until the king bumps into an improperly attired guest and remarks, “Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding robe?” The man gives no reply.

Then we get the ending that makes us wonder where Jesus is coming from. The king tells his servants, “Bind him hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

The parable at that point comes to mirror Jesus’ teachings on judgment. Later in this same week before he dies, Matthew writes of Jesus teaching that the Great Judgment will be like a shepherd separating the sheep from the goats. Those who took care of the least will be placed on one side. Those who did not feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, clothing to the naked, and so on, are placed on the other. Judgment falls on those who did not care for the needy.

In the same way, the parable of the Kingdom of Heaven from today’s reading is a picture of the coming judgment. If we focus on the weeping and gnashing of teeth, we miss the grace of this parable. The king gives a free invitation to the wedding banquet. No one has to earn his or her seat at the table. Both the good and the bad are encouraged to come into the feast. Guests to a wedding feast were not expected to provide their own attire. They would be given robes on entering the banquet hall. The invitation was open. The feast was an unearned gift, and so was the necessary clothing.

However, as Jesus told this parable, he knew something about humans. He knew that we tend to take for granted the grace God has given us. Jesus is telling us that it is not just enough to show up. We have to walk the walk of faith.

Jesus knew that even though we are all invited to the banquet, some would feel that there is no need to change their lives and there is no need to confess their sins. For this reason, Jesus gives the line at the end, “Many are called, but few are chosen.” The line hangs in the air. It is telling us that even though God has called us and invited us, we do not come to his kingdom on our own terms. We do not come with our demands. We do not place our will above his will. He has called us, and he has invited us. Now, we follow. Amen.