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Based on Matthew 22:1-14
That’s why it is so shocking in this
story Jesus tells that the people the king invited to the wedding feast for his
own son’s wedding chose not to come. They didn’t even have to attend the
wedding. They were refusing to go to the party, where all the free food and
drink is and all the fun. Why would they not go? And to top it off, some of
those people who were invited beat up and killed the messengers! It is just
crazy. When the people heard Jesus tell this story they had to be scratching
their heads.
Then when Jesus gets to the story
about the king being enraged and sends in troops to not even kill those people
he invited but he also had them burn down their city. Did those guests realize
who they were dealing with? Did they think the king was going to just shrug his
shoulders or say mean things about them? No, this king had been disrespected in
a shocking way. He could not let that stand. So, he sent a message to anyone
who heard what happened. He was not to be trifled with. Even if all those
guests had their reasons why they didn’t want to go to that wedding banquet, they
could have at least made an appearance. Maybe the king’s response was a little
over the top. And we don’t know if the wedding banquet was put on hold until the
king had his revenge. But at least we can understand why he was upset.
Now, if we go back and look at the
two previous stories Jesus told, I think we all know who those people were and
what city got burned down. Again and again, the wicked people represent the
chief priests, the elders, and the Pharisees. The servants who went out to invite
them to the wedding banquet represent the prophets and maybe even some
apostles. The religious leaders reject God’s invitation and kill the prophets.
So, God responds by having those religious leaders killed and the city of
Jerusalem gets set on fire. The chief priests and elders had multiple
opportunities to get it right. They failed and had it coming. No one can blame
God for the destruction of the Temple and Jerusalem and the disbanding of the
priesthood. They brought it on themselves.
Back to the story. The king has sent
out his troops and had his revenge. But he still has this lavish wedding
banquet. There is a lot of food and drink just sitting there. Have you ever
thrown a party and no one came? It has happened to me a few times. I remember one
time where at the church I was serving we decided to have a back to school
party for kids in the community. We hired a DJ, did a little advertising, got a
bunch of hotdogs and brats. We set it all up outside the church with signs and
balloons. And no one came. It was a bit disappointing. The DJ felt bad for us
and said if we have another event he would do it for free. We also had a lot of
hot dogs and brats we were stuck with. What were we going to do with all that
food and drink?
That may have been the concern of
the king in this story. Being this was the wedding banquet for his own son’s
wedding, you can imagine how much food and drink had been prepared. This would
be the VIP party of the year. The most lavish wedding party possible. It
couldn’t just all go to waste. But I also wonder if what was more important for
the king was to just have people there. He wanted a full house. He wanted
people to celebrate with him the wedding of his son. The food and drink needed
to be consumed. But it was the people coming together, dancing, laughing, and
having a good time. Surely, that’s what the king wanted most of all.
So, the king sends more messengers
out into the streets to get anyone who they could find and let them know the
doors to the palace were open. This closed, VIP party was now open to everyone.
You can only imagine how the people in the city felt about the opportunity to
attend a royal wedding reception. Especially those who were looked down on in
society or who were poor or didn’t fit in, to get to go to that banquet would
have meant the world, if just for one night. And so, the wedding hall was
filled with guests.
This part of the story is probably
talking about Matthew’s church. I don’t think Matthew’s church was bursting at
the seams with people. It’s not like people in those days looked at the church
as equivalent to attending a wedding banquet for the king’s son. My guess is
that Matthew’s church wasn’t that big at all. But the point is that in
Matthew’s church were all kinds of people. It was an open door. Anyone who
wanted to be a part of the church were welcome, the good and the bad, the wheat
and the weeds, if you remember that parable we looked at several weeks ago.
Matthew’s church, just like ours, is open to all who would come. The church is
not a secret society. It is not a private club. It is not a walled off enclave
where only the wealthy and well connected belong. The church doors are open to
all people. And all kinds of people belong to the church. In fact, I looked it
up and saw that in 2015, it was estimated that 31% of the world’s population,
over 2 billion people, adhere to the Christian faith. The wedding hall is
filled, even if the worship space in a lot of our churches still have quite a
bit of room for more.
In most cases, going to weddings
means dressing up. I know that’s not always the case. Some weddings can be
pretty informal affairs. I have done a quick wedding of an older man and woman
in their house with just a few family members looking on. I once did a wedding
for a young couple out in the woods, with a best man, a maid of honor, and
their black Labrador running around us. But usually people get dressed up. The groomsmen
wear tuxes and the bridal party wear matching gowns. And, of course, there is
the wedding dress itself, around which the entire wedding is built.
It takes time and effort to get
dressed up for a wedding. Never mind being in the wedding itself. Just being
the guest, you need time to get ready. You can’t just throw anything on. You
may need to iron your shirt or polish your shoes. You may want to go get a
haircut or have your hair styled. You have to give yourself time to get
yourself all put together so that you aren’t rushing to the wedding. You may
even need to have yourself a little plan on how to get yourself together and
looking your best.
If everyone is expected to get
dressed up and someone comes to the wedding wearing ripped up and stained blue
jeans and a faded Rush T-shirt, they might stand out. You know people would be
looking and wonder what that’s all about. Does this person not have nice
clothes? Are they a little off? Are they being maybe a little disrespectful? It
just doesn’t seem right to go to a wedding without getting all dressed up if
that was the expectation.
Apparently, there was one person at
this wedding banquet the king was holding who didn’t get dressed up. He was not
wearing a wedding robe. This obviously grabbed the attention of the king when
he scanned the crowd. But this king wasn’t going to let it slide or mutter to
somebody about that sloth who came to the party wearing whatever. He confronted
the guy, putting him on the spot by asking, “How did you get in here without a
wedding robe?” Well, this guy, probably a bit intimidated, didn’t know what to
say. So, the king instructed his attendants to bind the man by his hands and
his feet, gather him up and throw him out, not just out of the hall, but into
the outer darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth! Yikes!
Now let’s be honest. That seems to
be a pretty harsh response toward someone who wasn’t wearing the right clothes.
Then again, we already know this king could be pretty over the top with his response
toward those who would disrespect him. Remember how he had all those VIPs
killed and their city burned to the ground? This king was not to be trifled
with, which this poor guy without the wedding gown discovered. It is pretty
harsh.
But, in this story the wedding robe
is not about actual clothing. It is about exchanging an old way of living into
a new way of living. To put on the wedding robe is to signal taking off your
old clothes, the way you used to live, and to put on a new set of clothes, a
new way of life that is patterned after the way of Jesus. That’s one of the
points being made in this story. Everyone is invited to the wedding banquet.
But you need to make a change before you make your way in to the party.
In other words, it’s not enough to
just show up. Everyone is welcome into the church. But just showing up is not
enough. There needs to be a change in how you live your life. See, this is one
of the big messages that Jesus has been trying to get across over these three
stories we have been reflecting on these past few weeks. God wants everyone to
be a part of the kingdom of God. All are welcome. But God also wants everyone
in the kingdom to be producing the fruits of that kingdom. What are those
fruits? Go back and look at the Sermon on the Mount. Or consider Matthew 25,
where Jesus said that when you feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit the
sick and those in prison, you are doing that to him. That’s producing the fruit
of the kingdom. Belonging to the kingdom of God, the community of faith, the
church, carries with it the expectation that people will change how they live,
will behave in ways that are loving, gracious, compassionate, and life-giving. There
are expectations that come along with being in the church.
It can take a long time to get
dressed up for a wedding. Maybe it takes our whole lives to get dressed up for
this wedding banquet that we have all been invited to attend. You see, I wonder
if the wedding banquet in this story may point to something other than just
being a part of the church or belonging to the kingdom of God right now. What
if the wedding banquet is also about what we will experience in heaven? I
wonder if what we are meant to do with our time on earth is to work through the
process of getting dressed up for that wedding banquet.
When we have communion together,
near the end of the great thanksgiving, you will often hear these words:
By
your Spirit make us one with Christ, one with each other, and one in ministry
to all the world, until Christ comes in final victory and we feast at his heavenly
banquet.
Could
this be what our lives as Christians is about, that the relationship we are
nurturing with Christ and with each other as we minister to the needs of the
world is all about getting ourselves prepared for that banquet?
The day will come, we believe, when
we will be all gathered together at the heavenly banquet. All of our kin will
be there. It will be a day of unspeakable celebration. Until then, this is our
time to get ready, to do what we need to do so we can have on our wedding robes.
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