It's God's Party, Weep and Gnash if You Want To

The Holy Gospel According to St. Matthew, the 22^nd Chapter

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.’ 

“On this mountain, the LORD of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wines; of rich food filled with marrow, of well-aged wines strained clear.”  

Isaiah wasn’t describing a literal feast.  He was asking the people of Israel to take a powerful memory from their past... something they COULD wrap their minds around... and use that to help them imagine their future... something that was much harder to wrap their minds around.  Isaiah knew that if he just told the people of Israel to imagine the future God had in mind for them, they would just stare at him with glazed over eyes and their mouths hanging open.  BUT by helping them to remember a particular, powerful memory from their past (and let’s face it, food invokes powerful memories) he could help them IMAGINE and live into the future God had for them that wasn’t just OK, but was a FILLED with ABUNDANT LIFE.

   

One of the good things about being an interim is that I’m “pre-fired” so I can ask you to do crazy things and you won’t fire me because it’s just easier to humor me for a couple more months... So, I want us to try what Isaiah did.  So, close your eyes... come on, humor me... Now, think back to a time when you sat at a table and ate the MOST AMAZING food of your entire life!  A time when each bite was a symphony.  A time when you were full and you let out that fully satisfied sigh... and then gleefully ate some more because the flavors were SO amazing!  What was on the menu?  How did it smell?  How did it feel in your mouth?  What were you drinking?  How did the food and the drink work together to be more amazing than the sum of their parts?  Think back to that meal... remember the details... remember the tiny things that made that meal SO incredible... so wonderful and so abundant that you slowly reached under the table and loosened your belt a notch or maybe two notches so you could eat just a little more and then, when every little morsel was finally gone, when you had dragged your finger across the plate to get one last taste, you leaned back in your chair, looked up to the heavens with your eyes closed and your whole being... body, mind and soul... BEAMED with delight!  

Do you have that meal pictured in your mind?  OK, now, turn to the person next to you and share it with them.  Whoever’s birthday is closer to today goes first.  You’ve each got one minute!  GO!  What was the meal?  How was it cooked?  How did it taste and smell?  NOW, share the way it made you FEEL.  OK, now, SWITCH.  What was it?  How was it cooked?  How did it taste and smell?  NOW, share the way that meal made you FEEL. 

Now, let the details of the food itself go out of focus, and bring into sharp focus the FEELING that meal gave you... hold onto those FEELINGS... how it felt in your being to simply BEAM with delight!  Got it?  NOW, turn back to your partner and tell them about an event, a time, a memory, a worship or anything else that happened here at Union Church that gave you THAT SAME KIND OF FEELING... a time, a memory, an event, a ministry, a worship... whatever... here at Union Church that made your body, mind and soul BEAM!  Go!  First thing that comes to your mind!  You’ve got a minute!  GO!  OK, now SWITCH!  What thing here at Union Church made your soul BEAM, like the best meal you ever ate?  

Alright, one last thing and I’ll leave you alone... for now.  This is the hardest part.  I need you to really, really remember what your partner just told you.  I need you to remember it all the way downstairs to lunch time today so that when we sit down to eat together we can go around the table and tell it to the whole group.  Got it?  Good!

(For those of you reading at home and not part of Union Church, we'll be taking the memories of those specific times of abundant life from the past, and trying to see if we can see any common patterns that emerge.  Those common joys from the past can be used to discern new joys they may want to work toward in the future.  Those will become steps toward a mission plan for the coming year or two.)

Isaiah used the memory of an amazing feast to help the people of Israel get a glimpse of how the future God wanted for them might feel when they returned from exile.  Jesus, in the parable we read today, also uses the image of an amazing feast to illustrate the future God wants, not just for the people of Israel, but for all of creation.  But Jesus’ parable also comes with some hard realities.  The King in the parable is God and the Wedding Banquet is an image of God’s Kingdom... it’s the way God intends the world to be.  By the end of the parable, EVERYONE has been invited to God’s party, but one of the hard truths is that not everyone will choose to come.  EVERYONE is indeed invited, from the rich and powerful people whom everyone knows, to the poorest person living forgotten in the shadows on the streets, but some will not believe that God’s feast is worth their time. 

The other hard truth this parable points out is that while indeed EVERYONE is invited, it is, in the end God’s party.  It’s not my party or your party... it’s God’s party and that leaves us with a choice...  to party God’s way or to spend the evening in the outer darkness, which seems to me to be a whole lot less fun.  You see, the man thrown out of the party was one of the gang that was rounded up off the streets.  These were folks who NEVER expected to go to the King’s Palace that day.  They were commuting to work, emptying dumpsters, unclogging toilets and heading home from school.  NONE of them had their wedding cloths with them.  Why would they?  SO if EVERYONE ELSE who came in with this guy right off the street DID have a wedding robe, where did they get them?  The parable doesn’t say, but my guess is that just like in our Baptisms we are “clothed with Christ” as a gift from God, I bet that these last minute, off the street wedding guests were also clothed as a gift from the King.  If my guess is right on that, it means that this ONE JOKER decided HIS clothes were worthy of the King’s party... that he was good enough on his own without the King’s good graces... and it turned out he was dead wrong!  The only ones worthy, were the ones the KING made worthy! 

This parable reminds us that God has a future in mind for all of us... a powerful, abundant, wonderful future, BEAMING with abundant life.  It’s a future that God wants for each one of us, but even more than that, it’s a future God wants for us together as the Body of Christ called Union Church.  God’s abundant future is right here for us to live into and enjoy... but, just like in the parable, God won’t force us into anything.  

This parable also reminds us that if we do indeed want to live into that future that God has created for us we will need to do it God’s way... the Jesus way... living first for the other, setting aside real time for study, worship and serving in the world before we worry about ourselves.  It means we’ll need to give up some things that are familiar and comfortable, just like the King’s guests did when they put on those new robes the King gave them at the wedding.  It means living so that “It is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me.”  God has invited you to an amazing feast!  I'm pretty sure you want to go… but I also know that the hard part will be letting go of what is familiar and comfortable and trusting that God really does know the best way to party!  Amen.