October 15, 2017

Matthew 22:1-14

Timothy B. Hare

 

It’s easy to forget that the church existed well before the New Testament came into being.  Before Paul’s letters were gathered, before the gospels were written, before the bible looked like it looks today, people were gathering together and offering their lives and their resources in worship of the risen Lord.

Considering that the bible was written for the church, it’s funny that a modern Christian tendency is to think that tradition gets in the way of a “simple and pure” reading of scripture.  We do much better when we think of the bible, not as a simple set of instructions and answers that can be understood outside of a certain way of seeing the world, but as a tool that speaks to and guides a set of beliefs that we have precisely because we have been formed by the faith culture in which we live.

Today’s gospel lesson is a story that Jesus shared with his listeners to make a point (or maybe even to make a number of points.)  After his resurrection, and the gift of the Spirit, and the development of the church, the story continued to circulate not as written word but as part of an oral tradition.  Different communities, because they had different concerns, told the story in different ways with different emphases.

When Matthew wrote the story down for the people of his church it looked a lot different from the story that Luke wrote down for the people of his church.  And our goal isn’t so much to find out what Jesus really said, but rather to hear the good news of Christ’s message in the story that Matthew tells.

But, to be honest, I would rather talk about Luke’s version.  It’s easier to both bear and to understand.  Matthew’s is violent, confusing, and merciless, while Luke’s is much more tame and civilized.  The good people who unfortunately cannot attend the dinner party in Luke’s story have very reasonable excuses and even add to their responses, “please accept my regrets.”  However, those invited to Matthew’s banquet make light of the invitation and either decline without explanation or actually beat and murder the messengers.  Why?  Matthew doesn’t tell us.

In Luke’s version the host says, “fine, then go out into the streets and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame.”  When the slave does this there is still more room at the party.  So, the host continues, “Go out into the roads and lanes, and compel people to come in, so that my house may be filled.”  In Luke’s version there seems to be always room for more.  And that’s a beautiful reality.  Everyone is welcome at God’s table.  God’s will is to bring in everybody!

But, just when you think Matthew’s story is going to take a similar turn, the host comes upon one of the new guests who, for some reason (Matthew doesn’t say,) isn’t wearing the correct clothing.  And so, the host binds the guest hand and foot and throws him into the outer darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.  While Luke’s version makes a point of bringing in the rag tag population and anyone else who will accept, Matthew is clearly concerned with something else.

If you will remember, last week we read the preceding parable from Matthew, which is really part of a trio of stories that Matthew has put together as a way of talking about the authority of Jesus and, by extension, the authority and new responsibility of the Church to be God’s people in ministry with Christ.  Last week’s story was about the evil intention of certain tenants to own the master’s vineyard.  But, the vineyard, we learned, belongs to God.  It cannot be co-opted by the religious elites, the temple, or the institution.  Rather, in this new age the vineyard will be found among those who would be willing to bear its fruit.

This week’s story is told immediately after that lesson, lest the church begin to feel holier than thou.  In other words, in case Matthew’s community hears the previous story and thinks to itself, “Hey, that’s us; we’re the new heirs; we’re the new good guys,” and yet the church fails to put on the new clothes appropriate to its roll, Matthew inserts today’s story here to tell the church that it too will be judged guilty.  One commentator writes, “the language of changing clothes was utilized to express the giving up of the old way of life and putting on the new Christian identity.”[i]   And so Matthew hears and conveys in Jesus’ story what is essentially a warning to those who now find themselves on the inside.  My commentator friend continues, “the theological point is that those who find themselves unexpectedly included may not presume on grace, but are warned of the dire consequences of accepting the invitation and doing nothing except showing up.”[ii]  If Christ’s kingdom is to show through the church, it will be done by those who are willing to participate in His ministry.

The question that Matthew’s first readers had to face is the same question that we are asked to face: Are we willing?  Are we willing to be changed, transformed, claimed by a God and a ministry that are greater than ourselves?  Are we willing to become the kind of people that reflect God’s goodness within this place and throughout the world?   Are we willing to humble ourselves and to become the kind of people who can hear God’s call, and heed it with hope and love?

“Clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience,” Paul says to the Colossians? He says it to the Romans and he says it to the Galatians as well.  “Clothe yourselves with love.”  “Clothe yourselves with the armor of God.”  “Clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ.”  These are the same clothes that those feasting at Matthew’s banquet are expected to wear because they are the clothes, they are the better way, that God is offering God’s people.  How, Matthew asks his church, will the rest of the world know that it is available to them if the Church won’t show the way?

I have one last thought, and that’s this: If you are sitting there wondering how it is you are supposed to be transformed, what more you might do to don these new clothes, I’ll tell you that no one was meant to do it alone. The guidance that we get from scripture was meant for communities of people who came together and learned with one another what it meant and how to be transformed, how to be saved, how to be made new, or illumined with the light of Christ, or whatever else you might call it.  They experienced this mystery of the Spirit together as they shared their lives with one another.  And, my friends, so will we.

 

 

[i] NIB, Vol. VIII, p. 418

[ii] Ibid 419