22:1 Once more Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying:
22:2 "The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding
banquet for his son.
22:3 He sent his slaves to call those who had been invited to the wedding
banquet, but they would not come.
22:4 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.'
22:5 But they made light of it and went away, one to his farm, another to his
business,
22:6 while the rest seized his slaves, mistreated them, and killed them.
22:7 The king was enraged. He sent his troops, destroyed those murderers, and
burned their city.
22:8 Then he said to his slaves, 'The wedding is ready, but those invited were
not worthy.
22:9 Go therefore into the main streets, and invite everyone you find to the
wedding banquet.'
22:10 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.
22:11 "But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there
who was not wearing a wedding robe,
22:12 and he said to him, 'Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding
robe?' And he was speechless.
22:13 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.'
22:14 For many are called, but few are chosen."
Do we really want the kingdom of God if it means His absolute rule in our lives?....OR..... Do we just want a relationship with Him on our own terms?
I've got other things to do than be involved in this banquet. Obviously MY THINGS are more important than what the king wants. LEAVE ME ALONE!
Okay... Okay.... I'll come, but I'm not wearing one of those monkey suits. If I can't come like I am, that's just too bad. The King ought to love me just like I am and not want me to change out of respect for him or his Son.
(Sounds kinda like Bonhoeffer's cheap grace.)
GC in IL
GC, Bonhoeffer, INTRO THE THEOLOGY HAUNTING ME EVEN HERE!!! LOL I picture our little dying rural churches, you know the ones we, SLP's serve. Our ministry focus is Hospital visits and Funerals... Holding the hand till they are buried in the Church cementary...Now I know that is a minsitry, that is very valid...but when you have enthusiatic people ready to move on...makes it hard...the vision of a banquet and inviting all rich poor young old...the drug addict, the AIDS victim etc... Are our Churches ready to move? The Lord's Table is Open for all...then why don't we act like it? YOu can come to my church if you play my way attitudes...OH we can try a shared ministry (merger) but you have to use our church building, self preservation attitude....So, what is three churches out of four are on board...that one isnt ready...and maybe they arent supposed to be...CYNICAL SHE-PASTOR HERE
The Phil 4 text is so beautiful, one of my favorites. I don't want to miss the opportunity to preach the text. However, the wedding feast is one of my least favorite to preach. (The desire to skip over the Mat text is one reason I make myself stick to the lectionary!) They almost have a contrasting theme, one of carrots, one of sticks. Could they be supportive of each other in a preaching dynamic? I "need" to preach the Matthew text but "want" to preach the Phil text. Anyone else have a similar desire.
Pastor Lori (Who listens more than talks.)
I am really torn about which set of Hebrew Scriptures to use ... the Isaiah/23rd Ps. set can be used to underscore the positive and affirming message of God's continual/eternal care ... the wedding feast, the feast on the mountain, the table prepared in the midst of our troubles ... all great images of God's abundant love.
But the Exodus/Ps. 106 set gives the wonderful contrast between God's wedding banquet of love and our own misguided selfish revelry.
And Paul's letter to the Philippians can tie either package into a neat bundle with its admonition to to focus on that which is honorable and praise worthy.
How are other people handling these conjunctions?
Blessings,
Eric in KS
Eric,
The ELCA follows the Isaiah series, and one of the congregations for whom I preach uses lectionary inserts. I usually don't vary from them unless I am specifically moved to do so. That makes your particular decision on which to use easy, but it is not always so easy to find a good message in the text prescribed.
Michelle
Am I the only one confused by this text? The king invites his guests, who turn him down and make him look foolish, and then has his slaves invite everyone he sees both 'good and bad'. It almost seems like the king, out of embarassment is begging for guests.
They say that beggars can't be choosers, but that's exactly what the king does. He comes in to see the guests and finds one that is not up to par. What does he do? He simply destroys the one that does not fit in.
Now, granted I haven't done my work in exegeting this text properly, but it seems to me that the key here is in understanding the 'wedding robe'? What is it? Will I be caught without one? Why is it so important for the wedding banquet? What does it say about the God we worship? Does he really care if we are fashionably dressed?
Just a few thoughts.
A New Pastor on the Jersey Shore...
The Scripture really speaks to me, and perhaps the church. Much was made of who might return once the former pastor was gone. I did nothing to reinforce that thought, and everything I could to say, "The church is here for those who are here, and those who might come, whomever they may be." As it stands, there has been no great return of the flock. We have steadily averaged around 30-40 in the five months I have been there.
We recently began offering breakfast at 8:30 a.m. Sunday, with the hope of getting more people to attend the youth and adult small groups that meet at 9:30. I work as managing editor at the local newspaper and because of a series of stories we are planning on homeless living in hotels, the thought occurred to me that we should invite the homeless to have breakfast with us on Sunday mornings. (The church is just about three miles away and we could provide rides, if needed) The leadership has jumped on the idea. I have considered this Scripture as a way of reinforcing what I believe may be a move of God's Holy Spirit. Only time and action will tell.
Incidentally: My take on the wedding garment is it is tied to Matthew 7:21-23: "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.'
What do you think?
A friend of mine heard a sermon about this wedding banquet text that said the wedding party provided the wedding robes, and the guests simply put them on when they arrived. To not put on a wedding robe was an insult to the wedding party--sort of like showing up at a black tie event wearing a sweatsuit, even though the host handed you a tux or an evening gown at the door. Again, this is not scholarship but hearsay, and may simply be a way to "rescue" the king. But it does sound good to me.
I also read that the wedding clothes were provided. But it's not a question of the dreaded fashion police, but rather what we "put on" in response to God's call; righteousness, or repentance, or whatever is a necessary response to God's invitation. Just as you wouldn't just show up at a wedding reception without bringing some kind of gift or thinking about what you were going to wear, you can't just show up at God's feast. There has to be some outward sign that you are taking the invitation seriously, and showing some respect. Many people were called or invited to God's feast, but this man was not chosen to stay, because, for whatever reason, he wasn't prepared and he didn't act respectfully.
DGinNYC
I'm preplexed by this parable also. At the end of the parable, one is bound hand and foot and thrown into the outer darkness.
Isn't that what happends to Jesus at the end of the Gospel-bound hand and foot to a cross and taken to God-forsakeness?
This would be easy to preach if it wasn't for the last part.
Pr. del in IA
It seems to me we have come to a very deep place in this parable. The metaphor of wedding suggest transforming union with God. We are invited into the new creation.
As long as we interpret this relationship exteriorly we will misunderstand - we will be only defined by our 'having.'
We are being called into 'being', relationship with God.
Our arrogance, indifference, hardness of heart will prevent our being at-one with God (at least in this life); and taking our relationship with God as something to be expected because after all we are 'Christians', born-again, is to lose our true inheritance which is to share the meal at the King's table.
tom in ga
