Reverend Ref +

Sermon
21 Pentecost
Proper 23A
Matthew 22:1-14

Jesus continues to upset the religious leaders. Remember back in Chapter 21 . . . that seems to be all he was doing. From his triumphal entry into Jerusalem to the parables about the two sons to the parable about the wicked tenants to his questioning about the authority of John the Baptist, Jesus was sticking it to the religious folk. And he continues pushing them in today's gospel.

Today we get the parable of the wedding banquet. Like last week, it is pretty obvious where Matthew is going. A king, a son, a chosen people who ignore the invitation, and the common folk who are invited in their place, all point to Matthew's attempt to once again show the relationship between Jesus and the Jewish leaders. Part of what you need to understand about Matthew is that he is writing after the destruction of the Temple and during a period of Jewish schism when Christianity and Judaism finally go their separate ways. His gospel is an attempt to show the Jewish people that Jesus was the Son of God, and they missed the boat. His gospel also seems to be the basis for alot of anti-Semitism, but that's another story.

Like the parable (or allegory) of the wicked tenants, this parable (or allegory) is also pretty clear about the kingdom of heaven being given to those outside the parameters of Judaism. Matthew is saying that the original invitation was to God's chosen people, but they chose to reject and ignore that invitation, so God will extend his invitation to the general populace. As always though, things can get complicated.

The king throws a wedding banquet for his son. We all know about weddings. They offer hope for the future in that the new couple has their whole life in front of them to grow and mature. They give us glimpses into the past; for those of us who have been married for awhile, they let us relive our own wedding day. It is a celebration of new life in that these two individuals have come together to become one. It gives us a chance to be a little carefree, to hear some good music, to dance, and to eat alot of free food. Weddings give us all of this, so it is no wonder that Jesus talks about the kingdom of heaven like a wedding feast.

But those who were originally invited did not come. Matthew says that those who were invited 'made light of it.' They didn't think it was important. They didn't think the feast would be all that good. They thought that the timing was bad. They had more important things to do with their lives than spend it in frivolity.

"Why should I take time out of my busy life to dance with people I don't even know all that well?"

So the king sends the slaves to gather the comon folk from the streeets, both good and bad. The king invites everyone. God invites everyone. We are invited to take time out from our busy lives to celebrate new life, to eat free food, and to dance with those whom we do not know. God is offering us an invitation to the party.

And then we get to the part about the guest without a wedding robe. The king sees this man and asks him why he is not wearing a wedding robe. When the man doesn't answer, the king has him bound and "thrown into the outer darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth."

What's up with that? Many people have wondered about the fairness of it all. The king invites everyone, good and bad, off the streets to come to the banquet. If this man is coming off the streets, it's possible that he didn't have a wedding robe to begin with; or maybe his home was far off and didn't have time to go get his robe. The king invited everybody; so why, when this guy answered the invitation, does he get thrown out? It doesn't seem fair.

He gets thrown out, my friends, because he didn't . . . change. Since this is a parable, you can be sure that Jesus isn't talking about a literal wedding robe. God does call all of us, the good and the bad. God offers us all a chance to be part of the wedding banquet. That is called grace.

But grace comes with a cost. The man in question represents the idea that, simply because God invited us to the banquet, we don't have to change. He represents the idea that we can keep on doing what we've always done, and God will accept us no matter what. He represents the idea that because God invited us, we can keep on living our lives as if there were no consequences.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the Germon theologian who was hanged by the Nazis for his part in an assassination attempt on Hitler, calls this "cheap grace." This man accepts the invitation, but he doesn't change. This, according to Bonhoeffer, is forgiveness without repentance, baptism without discipline, Communion without confession.

Grace comes with a cost. In the parable, it was the cost of changing into a wedding robe. In our lives, it is the cost of change itself. It is the cost of discipleship. Grace is costly because Jesus died to give us life. Grace is costly because it requires that we take the invitation seriously. It requires that we think that the wedding banquet is more important than anything else we are doing. It is costly because it requires that we change -- change our lives, change our behaviors, change our priorities, in order to put God first.

Don't make the mistake of wondering how the king could throw out somebody that he invited. Instead, ask yourself if you are being called to the wedding banquet; and if you are being called, what changes do you need to make in your life?