From the Daily Lectionary for Thursday in the Fourth Week after Pentecost
Matthew 22:1-14
Once more Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying: “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding banquet for his son. He sent his slaves to call those who had been invited to the wedding banquet, but they would not come. 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.’ But they made light of it and went away, one to his farm, another to his business, while the rest seized his slaves, maltreated them, and killed them. The king was enraged. He sent his troops, destroyed those murderers, and burned their city. Then he said to his slaves, ‘The wedding is ready, but those invited were not worthy. Go therefore into the main streets, and invite everyone you find to the wedding banquet.’ 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.
“But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing a wedding robe, and he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding robe?’ And he was speechless. 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.’ For many are called, but few are chosen.”
This is one of the more tricky parables in Matthew. Most commentators see this as an allegory. The “king” is God inviting people to a great feast (the marriage of his son); a feast is often emblematic of the final consummation of heaven in earth. For some reason the people don’t come, and inexplicably they rough up some and kill others of the kings’ social staff… and then the king burns their city, which in the minds of the audience would evoke the recent memory of the burning of the Jerusalem Temple. These commentators see this parable as a condemnation of the elite of Israel not heeding the call of God manifested in the life and ministry of his son, Jesus. I think that is operable in this parable, but misses perhaps the proper emphasis. As you know, parables can have hidden or even double meanings, sometimes paradoxical meanings.
This king doesn’t act like God; at least he doesn’t act like the God about whom Jesus teaches. Here’s my take on this parable: honor and shame are the polarities between which Jewish society operates: the “system,” as it were. Honor provides wealth and privilege, whereas shame consigns one to an unsustainable life of poverty. At least three-fourths of the population fit the latter category. We are told in the parable that upon being rejected by his elite guests, which would have been a gross dishonor to the king, the king then invites the “hoi polloi” to the banquet; but then casts out a guest who is not properly dressed. Clearly, the king is in this for himself. The king represents the elite of Israel who serve only their own interests, in particular, their own status and honor. “Few are chosen” in this societal structure.
Remember, this parable, not unlike the three preceding it, is directed to the elders and priests. Jesus is calling out their self-serving elitism, and how that elitism leads to shame and violence. In God’s world, all are invited with no strings attached. God would invite the social outcasts first, and they would take a place of honor at the banquet.
I would imagine that the elders and priests would have been convicted by both of these interpretations; that their disregard for their people has led them into catastrophe, and that their self-interest and love of status have not gone unnoticed, and are indeed challenged. Jesus’ ministry has gone from preaching and healing to calling out the sin of the status quo. The two, of course, are intimately related. Power corrupts, and corruption leads to oppression and violence. We would do well to take note. As people of faith, if we are silent in the face of corrupt power, and the adoration of privilege and wealth, we are complicit with the elders and chief priests.
We belong to the people in the streets. Our ministry is to invite unconditionally the least and the cast out of our world to God’s gracious and bountiful table. The powerful will resist and oppose us, as they always have, but love is courageous, and love will stand in the end. But that’s God’s business… the ends. Ours is to be about the process of the kingdom: welcoming, showing compassion, doing justice, embracing the stranger. The kingdom of God exists alongside and in spite of the kingdom of worldly power. Our world is like the parable itself. It has many realities. But we serve the reality of Love, and as I said, and as I believe, Love will stand in the end.
A Prayer from the first week of Easter
O God, whose blessed Son made himself known to his disciples in the breaking of bread: Open the eyes of our faith, that we may behold him in all his redeeming work; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, One God, for ever and ever. Amen.
