This morning, when I read this Sunday’s gospel lesson
(Matthew 22:1-14), there were two phrases that jumped off the page at me:
“those invited were not worthy” and “both good and bad.” Put them together, and
we get a powerful parable of God’s grace in action and a gut-wrenching
challenge to our understanding of how the kingdom works.
First, we should notice how the king evaluates those who
received and then declined his invitation to the wedding banquet. Initially, he
sends his slaves to invite them, but they would not come. So he sends other
slaves to plead with them, reminding them of the great banquet that awaited
them—“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’”—but again
they refuse to attend. So he sends his troops to destroy those murderers and
burn their city. Finally, when he prepares to send his slaves out to find new
guests, he tells them, “The wedding is ready, but those invited were not worthy.”
They were not worthy. But surely the king invited those he
thought were worthy. Initially, before refusing, we would have considered them
worthy, too—at least by worldly standards. But they refuse to come when
invited, and it is their refusal that reveals their unworthiness. That gets to
the heart of this parable. The worthiness of the invited depends on their
response. Even if they seemed like the right guests when the first invitations
went out, their refusal to show up evidences their true unworthiness.
So who does the king bring into his banquet? Anyone whom his
slaves could find. At the king’s command, they went out into the streets and
gathered all they found, and Jesus lets us know that the banquet hall was
filled with everyone—both good and bad.
Again, the worthiness of the participants is not based on the invitation itself
but on the response to the invitation. Those who are able to partake in the
kingdom’s banquet are those who show up. In other words, simply getting an
invitation isn’t what gives you a share in the kingdom. It’s participating in
the kingdom when the banquet arrives.
But then there’s that one stray partier who forgot to wear
his wedding robe. Forgot? Or did he refuse? Or was he just neglectful?
Apparently, secondary sources suggest that a wedding robe really just means
clean clothes. This isn’t a special tuxedo or celebratory tunic. It’s just
dressing appropriately for the occasion. So here’s a guy who didn’t bother to
dress up for the party. And what does the king do? He throws him back out into
the outer darkness, where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth. Does that
sound like Jesus—the host of a great messianic banquet who throws out any who
are underdressed?
Actually, yes, it does. That’s exactly who Jesus is. We like
to think of Jesus as the one who welcomes strangers and eats with tax
collectors and sinners, and that is who he is. But dining with Jesus comes with
a cost. You don’t get to sit at his table and leave the same as you were when
you got there. You must bring your whole self to the banquet and come ready to
be transformed. Even though the invitation goes out to good and bad alike, you
must invest in the movement and expect to leave changed.
Grace is free, but discipleship is costly. The church has
spent so much time preaching God’s limitless invitation (which is good and
right) that we’ve forgotten that the invitation requires participation. In a
metaphorical sense, we’ve got to get dressed up before we can come to the
messianic banquet. This is a big deal—even though a bunch of hooligans all get
invitations. It’s still a big deal. You’ve got to get ready. You can’t take it
lightly. Just because the invitation is free and widely given doesn’t mean you
can take it for granted.
Would a bow tie and pink jacket count as being appropriately dressed?
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