The Parable of the Party Invitation
15 October 2017: 8 a.m. Said, 10 a.m.
Sung Mass
Proper 23A
Parish of Trinity, Ashland (Oregon)
8:00 am said; 10 am sung Mass
God, give us hearts to feel and
love.
Take away our hearts of stone and give
us hearts of flesh. Amen.
I had a nightmare this morning as I was waking up. In fact, it woke me up. I was getting ready to lead worship here at Trinity. I got on my cassock, and then put on my alb, in the dream a high collared one with lots of lace. But it had somehow become stained, with a bright yellow-orange splotch, almost like hunter’s orange! It was in the places that would not be covered by the stole and chasuble. I couldn’t wear it, so looked for something else in the sacristy’s closets. But none fit—they were too small for my “Friar Tuck” frame. I tried this one and that, all to no avail and greater and greater anxiety. Anne McCollum came in to ask if anything was the matter holding up the start of Mass, and suggested that I wash the stain out and wear the alb wet. John Garver then came in asking if he could help. 10 o’clock having come and gone, all I could do is ask him to go out and announce that things would be 10 minutes late. I could hear him through the door, “Father Tony has had a major wardrobe malfunction and we’ll start late this morning.” As I put on the wet alb, knowing this was not going to work, I woke suddenly, with all the drama and anxiety unresolved, in a sweat that the soaking wet alb in the dream mirrored.
We all have at one
time or another anxiety about our clothing: not going to a social event in
proper attire, a run in a stocking, things mysteriously suddenly becoming too
small for our stealth-increasing girth, an unclosed zipper after a trip to the
loo, perhaps wearing unmatched shoes.
You are all sitting
there wondering—what in the world was that Gospel reading about? If a king invites a whole lot of people to a
party and he’s so scary that everyone finds a polite excuse to get out of it,
there’s something wrong with that king.
And if you give me a last minute invitation only to humiliate and shame
me for wearing the wrong clothes, and then throw me out, there’s something the
matter with you.
Matthew’s Jesus
starts it with “the kingdom of heaven is like….” But remember that this isn’t saying that king
is somehow God. The phrase means
something more like “Let me tell you a story that will help you see how God
rules over us.”
The king here is
clearly a psycho. It is more a story
about how Caesar or some dictator in a banana republic throws parties. By seeing how bad such “hospitality” is, it
helps us see maybe what God’s invitations are like by contrast. Remember—Matthew was written just after
Caesar destroyed the Jewish homeland and its Temple. The Gospel writer suffers from serious post-traumatic
stress syndrome. And he is the only
Gospel that pictures Jesus teaching clearly “from John the Baptist until now,
the Kingdom of Heaven has been suffering violence and the violent continue to
take it by force (Matthew 11:12)
Once again, Matthew has
taken a parable from Jesus and added all sorts of details to turn it into an
allegory, changing its meaning in the process.
Like last week, the earlier form of the parable is preserved in the
Gospel of Luke and the non-canonical Gospel of Thomas.
It originally ran this way:
A rich man gave a great
dinner to which he invited many guests. When all was ready, he sent his servant
to summon the guests. But one by one, they all gave excuses for not coming. Hearing
this, the rich man commanded his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the
streets and alleys and bring in anyone you find. I want my great hall to be
filled for the banquet.’
Most of Jesus’ audience knew that a great banquet was a big scriptural image for God’s future saving act. Even though many passages said, like today’s Isaiah reading, that this banquet would be for all nations (Isaiah 25:7), many teachers said that it would be an exclusive event limited to God’s people only.
Jesus replied to such
a stingy image of God with parables. He points to the weather and says that God
gives his rain and sunshine to both good and bad people alike (Matt.
5:45). He points to families and notes
that when children ask for bread to eat, parents do not give them stones, or
when they ask for an egg to eat, do not give them a scorpion, or when a fish,
not a snake. “If even average parents try to give their children good things,
how much more generous will God be?” (Matt. 7:9-10; Luke 11:11-13)
And Jesus’ actions matched his words. He regularly ate and drank with people declared contagiously unclean by his religion. He welcomed them. He tells people to accept God’s invitation without fear or anxiety. He tells Martha, worried about getting every little detail of her dinner for Jesus just right, that maybe she needs to relax a bit more, and perhaps listen to joy like Mary. “Don’t worry about how you’re clothed,” he says, “the wild flower are prettier than King Solomon all decked out, and they don’t worry a bit.” When he sends the apostles out, he tells them to just take one change of clothes and no more, to accept people’s hospitality, not be picky about their food, and eat whatever their hosts give them.
And Jesus’ actions matched his words. He regularly ate and drank with people declared contagiously unclean by his religion. He welcomed them. He tells people to accept God’s invitation without fear or anxiety. He tells Martha, worried about getting every little detail of her dinner for Jesus just right, that maybe she needs to relax a bit more, and perhaps listen to joy like Mary. “Don’t worry about how you’re clothed,” he says, “the wild flower are prettier than King Solomon all decked out, and they don’t worry a bit.” When he sends the apostles out, he tells them to just take one change of clothes and no more, to accept people’s hospitality, not be picky about their food, and eat whatever their hosts give them.
Jesus’ original parable of the RSVPs tells the story of the host forced by RSVP “regrets” to drag in people from off the street to say God’s banquet is open to all. It’s all about grace. But Matthew adds all the nasty details about a psychopathic king and invitees scared to death of getting things wrong, and that poor guy without proper wedding clothes thrown out into the street bound hand and foot. He is trying to explain that no matter how gracious God’s invitation, we need to be attentive to properly accepting it. Matthew’s image of having proper clothes for the wedding becomes in the Gospel of Thomas a symbol of whether we have actually truly accepted God’s gift.
At Caesar’s party,
where all is fear and stress, if anyone is like that guy thrown out it is Jesus
himself. Jesus was taken outside the
city wall and nailed to a cross because he just was not up to snuff when it
came for giving proper respect to Rome.
God is a kind and
loving host, and invites us all. There
is no need for stress or anxiety. The
good news in this is that God’s invitation is not like Caesar’s. God is not a psycho killer. We need not fear.
But in order to
accept God’s invitation, we have to be open to receive it. St. Augustine says,
‘God gives where He finds open hands.’ You can't receive the gift if your hands
are already full, or are clenched tight.
In yet another parable, Jesus compares God’s kingdom to a narrow path and a tight gate, which at any given time only a few can manage to squeeze through (Matt 7:13-14). This is because in order to get through such a tight fit, people have to be willing to abandon all the baggage they are carrying, whether riches, resentments, self-will, sins, or even what appears to be good things if they are getting in the way.
In yet another parable, Jesus compares God’s kingdom to a narrow path and a tight gate, which at any given time only a few can manage to squeeze through (Matt 7:13-14). This is because in order to get through such a tight fit, people have to be willing to abandon all the baggage they are carrying, whether riches, resentments, self-will, sins, or even what appears to be good things if they are getting in the way.
What does accepting
grace, freely offered, look like in practical terms?
It looks like me admitting that I am helpless and hopeless. It sounds like the sincere phrase “I am sorry and I humbly repent.” It feels like Martin Luther’s heartfelt cry, “I am yours Lord, save me.”
It looks like me admitting that I am helpless and hopeless. It sounds like the sincere phrase “I am sorry and I humbly repent.” It feels like Martin Luther’s heartfelt cry, “I am yours Lord, save me.”
I myself have known
God’s grace. All was hopeless and
helpless, through my own “thoughtlessness, weakness, through my own deliberate
fault.” I found that I had to accept my
own powerlessness and turn it all over to God. And keep doing that, each
day. Gradually, steadily, God worked
wonderful changes. I am still far from what God wants. But I live each day in
gratitude.
I know that many of you have had similar experiences. You have told me your stories. We need to continue in faith and gratitude, and share the invitation to the party through our actions and words.
If you have not had such an experience, then please listen to this call to God’s banquet, you random passerby on the street. The tickets are free. But they are not cheap. And neither is the celebration. The banquet is priceless, the bread the finest, and the wine, a vintage that makes our hearts gladder than any other.
Come to the banquet, don’t be afraid. And, without sinking into fear or anxiety, let’s try to wear the right clothes.
I know that many of you have had similar experiences. You have told me your stories. We need to continue in faith and gratitude, and share the invitation to the party through our actions and words.
If you have not had such an experience, then please listen to this call to God’s banquet, you random passerby on the street. The tickets are free. But they are not cheap. And neither is the celebration. The banquet is priceless, the bread the finest, and the wine, a vintage that makes our hearts gladder than any other.
Come to the banquet, don’t be afraid. And, without sinking into fear or anxiety, let’s try to wear the right clothes.
In the name of Christ, Amen.
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