A Strange Wedding Feast Preached at Wollaston Congregational Church On October 15th, 2017 Scripture: Matthew 22:1-14 I was excited when I learned that the parable of the wedding feast was our reading today. “Great,” I thought, “this is my favorite parable!” But I hadn’t reckoned on the fact that we would be reading Matthew’s telling of this story. In Matthew’s version a king is on the rampage making war with those who refuse the invitation to the feast. Messengers are killed by those they bring their messages to. And then in the end, a lowly guest is thrown into eternal torment for being inappropriately dressed. When I realized that this was the version we had for our reading today I wondered what to do. Should I simply substitute Luke’s version of the parable. This comes from the comfortable setting of a dinner party where Jesus is a guest. He tells a story of someone who gave a banquet and invites many guests. But all of the guests politely decline the invitation: they are busy with their own lives, business and family interests. They are taking care of their material wealth and social lives. Since none of the expected guests can come, the host sends his servants to gather up the poor, the lame, and the blind to attend instead. And when there are still open seats at the table, he sends invitations out into the streets for one and all. This is the parable I know and love, in which the host takes lemons and makes lemonade. If his respectable, wealthy guests do not want to attend, he will feed the poor and those in need, he will fill the banquet hall with all those he can find. Luke’s story fits neatly into my understanding of the gospel, and it allows me a little smugness too. It is always nice to have a story from Jesus to explain what is going on in the church these days. While some claim they are “busy” with their lives, preoccupied with work and family and business, we get to be at God’s banquet. And, I continue to preach, if we are serious about filling up God’s banquet hall, we need to invite in the poor, the blind and the lame. We will bring in those who do not have the luxury of busy-ness and wealth. And then our church will be full. End of sermon! But, I couldn’t in good faith substitute the Luke parable when the Matthew version is what is the assigned reading for the week. Especially as the lectionary is working through some of the final teachings in Jesus life as presented by Matthew’s gospel. To be honest, I’ve already taken a break from Matthew’s texts these past couple of weeks. Last week I avoided preaching on the particularly disturbing parable of the vineyard. In that story the owner leases his vineyard to wicked tenants who take control. They kill the owner’s servants who are sent to collect the produce at harvest time. Ultimately the owner sends his own son to negotiate, but the evil tenants also kill the son. This is not a pleasant story! As the Matthew narrative goes, Jesus is telling parable upon parable. Today’s is the third in a row. The audience for these parables is comprised of the chief priests and the elders of the temple. Although, I imagine that the disciples are listening in too. The setting is the Jerusalem temple, but this is not just any visit to the temple. This teaching occurs in the days following “Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem” the event we remember on Palm Sunday. Jesus is teaching during the few days he has left, before the terrible event of the crucifixion. These are tense times. This audience, the chief priests and the elders, has a particular role in Matthew’s gospel. We met them at the very beginning of the story, when the Magi, or wise men, came from the East, telling Herod they were seeking the one who was born King of the Jews. Herod is Rome’s client king in Judea, the chief priests and elders are his advisors and informers in the temple. In this last week of Jesus’ life, there is a new but equally ruthless King Herod, acting for Rome. The chief priests and elders continue in their role. When Jesus begins teaching in the temple, these priests and elders challenge his authority. In response he begins to tell parables, including this story of the vineyard and the murder of the owner’s son by the wicked tenants. He asks his audience what they expect the owner of the vineyard will do. Predictably they say that the owner will “put those wretches to a miserable death.” They prescribe vengeance. “Wrong answer!” says Jesus. These religious authorities seem incapable of understanding the merciful nature of God. In response Jesus begins in our parable for today. The some have likened the kingdom of God to …” hmm, most parables begin “the kingdom of God is like.” This one is different. Jesus might well have said, you think of the kingdom of God as full of violence and vengeful actions. How wrong you are! As he tells this exaggerated tale of violence, perhaps he gives a sideways wink to the disciples. “Look how the earnest religious leaders are swallowing this whole!” And perhaps, for me too, there is a temptation to swallow it whole. In this telling, Matthew distorts Luke’s story, but also provokes some important questions. A king gives a banquet for his son’s wedding. A Royal Wedding! The stakes are high. Who would have declined an invitation, for William and Kate’s wedding, for example? Who would dare to turn down an invitation from this king who is quick to take offense? The intended guests don’t even make excuses. Some simply make light of the invitation, wandering off to their farm and business. Surely they know the King is a tyrant, surely they know that declining the invitation will be seen as an act of rebellion. Others seize the messengers who come with the invitations, mistreating them and killing them. This brings down the wrath of the king who goes to war against their cities! Meanwhile, the servants are instructed, as in Luke’s gospel to go into the streets and invite everyone. There is no distinction between rich and poor, good and bad, all are invited. But this time it is because the king is determined to fill the banquet hall, he will not be shown up. The final scene shows the brutal king binding an unsuspecting guest who fails to dress correctly and throwing him into outer darkness. This is not a happy ending! This is such a distorted view of God’s invitation to us. God gives freedom to come and feast and worship, dressed just as we are. The egomaniacal king is focused on crowd size and deferential dress. Jesus presents this as a distortion in the minds of his hearers, the religious leaders. Jesus seems to be saying that this is what is rotten in the temple system, which is in collusion with the Roman rule. But, I wonder, has that distorted view percolated through 2,000 years of church history. Is this how some people have experienced church? Does the invitation to God’s banquet come with strings? Do people fear that belonging to church means guilt-trips and obligations? Last week our Sunday book group talked about people we knew who had left the church, or those who resist coming to church. Some talked about friends who no longer attend church because the religious educators of their childhood threatened them with hell. Others talked of the attitudes among ministers and teachers, who told them that their childhood friends of other faiths would also be excluded from heaven. Some talked of friends who are not easily convinced that church is ever a welcoming place for LGBTQ individuals. What if they are welcomed in at first, but then are seen to be “inappropriately dressed” because of their relationships, or the way they present themselves. Who wants to experience the humiliation of being ejected? Over the past few decades the sexual abuse of children and others by those in authority in the church has come to light. The movie “Spotlight” tells the story of the widespread and systemic child sex abuse in the Boston area by numerous Roman Catholic priests. The abuse was covered up for years until it was finally reported in the Boston Globe in 2002. While the much of the focus of such news reports has been on the Catholic church, we must remember that all denominations and religious organizations have been found guilty in this respect. Even the United Church of Christ has had its share of clergy sex abuse scandals. Abuse of authority and power casts a huge shadow over the reputation of the church today. In the light of these things, it is easier to understand why some might decline an invitation to God’s banquet. In the book “The Great Spiritual Migration”, Brian McLaren discusses other historical distortions of the faith, saying: “For centuries, Christianity has been presented as a system of beliefs. That system of beliefs has supported a wider range of unintended consequences, from colonialism to environmental destruction, subordination of women to stigmatization of LGBT people, anti-Semitism to Islamaphobia, clergy pedophilia to white privilege.” My friends, the notion of a king who forces subjects, against their will, to attend a wedding banquet offends us all. We are uncomfortable with a history of abusive behaviors of the church of Christ, which ought to demonstrate the unfailing love and mercy of God in the world. We know we strive to project a vision of the love and mercy of God, here at Wollaston Congregational Church. But the parable of the wedding feast is something we have to reckon with. I wish we could circumnavigate the gospel of Matthew and use Luke instead. But we cannot. The church of Christ has been held hostage for far too long by the likes of the brutal, unmerciful ruler. Jesus gives a sideways wink to his disciples, and also to us. They, and we, will need to be bold, to make an outward and visible stand for mercy and inclusion. This will take courage, and yet, we follow a courageous leader and teacher. We follow this one all the way to the cross, and to the resurrection beyond. Let all God’s people say, Amen
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