Readings
Isaiah 25:1-9
Psalm 23
Philippians 4:1-9
Matthew 22:1-14
Today’s Gospel passage is problematic to say the least. Not only does it contain disturbing images, but when we think about the implications of those images the matter gets worse.
In this passage Jesus tells yet another parable of the kingdom of heaven. It is the story of a king who hosts a wedding banquet. Initially he sends out slaves to remind his guests, who presumably had already been invited, that the time had come for the feast. To his surprise, and those of us listening, the guests ignore the invitation. He then sends out more slaves to beg them to come, but at best, they go about their business, and, at worst, they abuse and kill the slaves. Disturbingly, to this response the king kills the guests and destroys their city. Then he, through his slaves, invites anyone they can find to come into the banquet and fills the hall. But then he finds one person who is not dressed appropriately and when not given a good reason for such a state, has him bound hand and foot and thrown out into the darkness where there will be “weeping and gnashing of teeth.” And Jesus ends this parable with the enigmatic saying “for many are called, but few are chosen.”
What are we to make of such a parable? Taken at face value the implications are not completely clear. Are we to understand ourselves as those who ignore the invitation and take it as a warning of punishment for not receiving the gospel and the kingdom of God? Or are we to understand ourselves as the great unwashed who are brought in? If so, how do we know if we are not like that one person who, because he is not dressed appropriately, finds himself cast out into the outer darkness bereft of the kingdom and its blessings? And what are we to make of the final sentence that many are called, but few are chosen? Are we to understand that regardless of our efforts and our response to the gospel that God will choose only a select few and the rest of us are on the short end of the stick?
Well, we would do well to not read this text quite so directly, or even to assume that Jesus himself said these things. Many, if not most biblical scholars agree that this is a later addition to the story meant to describe the way that early Christians within Matthew’s community understood the reality they were facing at that time. But even so, the reading of this text is problematic.
You see, taken from that perspective, it seems clear that we are to understand that the guests who refused to come, even when invited, are those within the Jewish community who refused to receive the Gospel and embrace the kingdom that Jesus proclaimed. Their punishment was the campaign of death and destruction made by the Romans which led ultimately to the sacking of Jerusalem and the destruction of the temple. And as for those brought into the feast? These are the masses, both good and bad, who gladly received the gospel and the message of Jesus. But there is a warning about those who simply believed and did not change their ways. These are the guest found without a wedding robe who when confronted have no defense. Their fate will be worse than those who never received the Gospel. They will find themselves in outer darkness, a place of lament and suffering. And finally that enigmatic phrase about those who are called and those who are chosen? This speaks to the idea of God’s elect, those within the early church, who did more than believe in Jesus, becoming a faithful remnant of all that appeared to be in Jesus’ fold.
None of this, though, speaks to the good news that Jesus overwhelmingly proclaims in the vast majority of the Gospels. Jesus, again and again, embraces those on the outside without condition or judgment. Jesus welcomes the woman at the well. Jesus heals the daughter of the Samaritan woman. Jesus welcomes the thief on the cross.
No, this text reeks of the antisemitism of the first century and the desire to address the unfaithfulness and possible apostasy found within the early church.
So, what do we take from it? Of what value is it to us today?
Well, without embracing the prejudice of its day or the issues it tries to resolve, we can at the very least look to the final sentence and ask a legitimate question of ourselves. If the loving embrace of God extends to all, of what are we to make about the idea of being one of God’s chosen?
It is not too far a leap to say that the life we are called to live as followers in the way of Jesus is a minority position in the world we live in. It is also possibly not too far a leap to say that among all of Christendom that it is still a minority position, although diminishing, to make living as Jesus lived more important than our ideas about Jesus.
We live in a church that, for more reasons than we can get into today, has been for centuries arguing about what we think about God and about Jesus more than simply following the way he set forward. We have divided ourselves and done violence to others in the name of Jesus and the name of God. Even to this day, we regularly make judgment of others for the way they think a reason for excluding and ostracizing them; a reason for, in effect, throwing them into outer darkness.
But I ask you, as I have for the past couple of weeks, what would our lives look like if we made the shape of the life of Jesus the shape of our life? What would the universal Church look like? What would be our impact on this world we live in?
In a world marked by violence and war how might we be agents of peace and justice? In a society marked by division and mutual prejudice – a society so polarized that we make those we disagree with a caricature of their true selves – how might we be repairers of the breech? What would it look like to respond to those on the margins as Jesus did? What would it look like to set aside our own prejudices and fears and move into the world with courage and conviction to love even in the face of other’s fear and hate?
Perhaps it is true that many are called, but few are chosen. But that does not mean that God does not embrace us all. And it does not mean that the grace, love, and forgiveness of God does not flow out into the world unconditionally.
Perhaps what it means is that we must make a conscious choice to be as Jesus was and to do as Jesus did. Perhaps being one of the chosen is not so much about superiority or privilege as it is about what we have been talking about. Namely, being a people who manifest Christ in the world. Perhaps to be the elect is to not think of ourselves as better or different, but to be a people of compassion, mercy, and love when the rest of the world is about competition, judgment, and victory.
Friends, to be a follower of Jesus is not about being in the majority. It never has been. Rather to be a follower of Jesus is to, as I just said, be as Jesus was and to do as Jesus did. It is to make manifest the love of God in the world.
And if we do? Then the kingdom which Jesus proclaimed will become a lived reality for us. But not only for us but for all those we encounter and perhaps, in time, even the whole world.