SHOWING UP IS NOT ENOUGH
Matthew 22.1-14
Warner M. Bailey
Isn’t this just the wildest story you have heard in the Bible?
Why would those invited to the marriage feast have refused—two times—the gracious offer of the king? How could they have had the effrontery to spurn the king’s invitation, even to kill his messengers?
Why would the king have repeated over and over his invitation, patiently explaining all his lavish preparations, tempting, luring, beseeching, pleading for his guests to come?
And when it came to dealing out judgment, why would the king have punished an entire city for the actions of a few uncouth and unruly guests? It seems as if the king’s wrath as well as his graciousness have no bounds.
I am surprised that the king then would have sent out his servants into the streets to fill his banqueting hall with ruffians, street people, passers-by, shopkeepers, artisans, children, none of whom would have thought in their life-time ever to see the inside of a palace.
But the wildest aspect of this story is the final scene where one hapless fellow gets kicked out of the hall into a very dangerous punishment because he didn’t have on his wedding clothes! After all, the king’s wedding feast for his son had not been entered on his social calendar.
Here’s just the case where knowing something about the times in which Jesus lived helps us understand this parable better.
Jesus begins this parable with these words: The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding banquet for his son. That is the clue to the rest of the parable’s meaning. This was a festal occasion of extraordinary importance. The wedding feast of a king’s son is inevitably a great occasion of state. It is more than just a social occasion. It is a celebration with obviously major political reverberations.
The invitees would have been the great men of the kingdom. Their attendance would not only express the honor they owe the king, but—and this was most important—their attendance symbolized their loyalty to the king’s son, the legitimate successor to the throne.
Political allegiance is at stake. This is a moment where the stability and continuity of the nation must be affirmed. Excuses to be absent would hardly be acceptable. To refuse the invitation is tantamount to rebellion, treating king’s authority with contempt, behavior understood as insurrection. Killing the king’s messengers is the final evidence that reveals this intention all the more emphatically.
The invitation to the wedding feast is like the velvet glove that hides an iron fist. Either you are with me or you are against me. Now the kingdom of heaven is like this, says Jesus. Either you are with God or you are against God. There can be no neutrality, no equivocation, no shredding of reality into shades of gray.
So we now are not surprised that the king was forced to put down an insurrection. Mocking a gracious invitation turns it into an act of war. Nor would those who heard Jesus tell the story have been shocked at the king’s decision to level the city. Though innocent lives paid a price, that was the customary method of putting down insurrection.
But the plot of our parable focuses on the way the king holds to his aim—to fill his son’s wedding feast with worthy guests—and fulfills it with guests he would never have thought to invite. The custom of those days was for a wedding feast to last for a full seven days. The king had prepared lavishly. The feast would go on. He would not be embarrassed or threatened by his enemies. So he invites everybody off the streets to the feast.
Imagine that you were one of those ordinary folk, minding your own business, and you were suddenly confronted by official looking messengers with a royal summons to come to the wedding feast of the crown prince. You were told that you had just enough time to get presentable. You had to hurry because the food was getting cold, and the king’s son was getting impatient! You had just enough time to go home and change your clothes.
Even if you could not get to the feast right when it started, you need not worry. It lasted for seven days. It was more important that you be dressed for the occasion. Wearing festal garments indicated that you were participating in the joy of the feast, that you were in tune with the honoree and that you affirmed the loyalty being celebrated.
To appear in ordinary, soiled working clothes would show contempt for the occasion. Thus the man who came without dressing for the occasion is no more worthy than those who rejected the invitation. While the great men spurned the invitation to the feast, he disdains the feast while actually attending it. He has not really accepted the invitation, since the invitation is not just to be physically present at the feast but to participate in the king’s rejoicing over the marriage of his son. Showing up is not enough.
Now the kingdom of heaven, says Jesus, is like the king who will not be stopped by any attempt to embarrass or threaten him in his zeal to go forward with his party for his son and his new bride in whom he entrusts the continuing of his kingdom. Will you “get with the program” or not? Whoever will “get with the program” is welcome. We are not checking your pedigree at the door or your place on the social register. Are you with us or against us? To all who are with Jesus, the kingdom’s banquet is open for full participation.
But finally the spotlight gets turned on the man who did not dress for the occasion. The one who came to eat but not to enjoy, who came to be filled but not to contribute, who came to be present but not to be presentable. A wolf in sheep’s clothing.
How are you dressed for the wedding feast? Can we count on your loyalty and your gifts so we can finish the year financially strong? Can we, especially at this time of loyalty, count on your pledge so we can support a vigorous ministry next year? Can we count on your taking a part bringing a long range plan to reality? Or, do you aim to eat and not be noticed? It takes more than just showing up. You can contribute a prayer, a good spirit. You can do your part to the utmost, encouraging, celebrating the party of hope.
Are you along just for the ride? These things come out in the open one way or another. While our host is generous and our invitation to the Table is undeserved and full of grace, there is no such thing, finally, as a free lunch.
¹ I have been assisted in the understanding of this parable by the work of Richard Bauckham “The Parable of the Royal Wedding Feast. (Matthew 22.1-14)