A story about a wedding. What a relief after the violence of last week’s parable of the vineyard. Who doesn’t love a wedding? Except that this nice parable about a wedding seems more like a Quentin Tarantino movie, with an enraged host, slaughtered guests and a bewildered party crasher. Granted, this is the way Matthew tells the story, and he seems always to ratchet up the violence. In Luke’s telling it is a lot milder.
It’s not actually a story about a wedding – it’s a story about invitation. An invitation spurned by indifferent guests, and the consequences. It’s a story about a host who won’t take “no” for an answer. The nutshell version:
A king gives a wedding banquet for his son. He sends servants to gather the invited guests, but they won’t come to the feast. He sends other servants with the message that the feast is ready, but these are mocked and given excuses, and then molested and killed. The enraged king retaliates, killing the offenders and burning their city, and then sends his servants out to the streets to invite everyone they find, “both good and bad,” to fill his wedding hall. One, who is not appropriately dressed, gets thrown out. Nice story, huh? (I think Matthew may have embellished the tale in the telling, but who can be sure… It does make a LOT more sense in Luke…)
What is this parable actually about? Like many of Jesus’ parables, it is in part about his claim that the leading religious figures have ignored God’s invitation offered through the prophets and ultimately through Jesus, to come to the feast prepared for them. Since the people of Israel have not been faithful to the Lord their God, God will send representatives to the “highways and byways,” gathering up the good and the bad people his realm – and sort out later who gets to stick around. If the King in Jesus’ story represents God, it’s not the loveliest picture of God – especially the part about killing the would-be guests and burning down their city.
On another level, it is a story about how easy it can be to put aside the claims and gifts of God and lose ourselves in the mundane and the worldly. We’ll explore that aspect more tomorrow.
Today, I suggest you read the story aloud to yourself, and notice where you get snagged. Give it some thought and read it again… what questions arise? What invitations do you hear? What warnings?
It is rather hard to find the Good News in this story – it’s very bad news for the people who have ignored God’s call to be his people, and so-so news for the ones scooped up on the streets, who may get to stay at the feast, or may be tossed into outer darkness. Where is the Good News for you?
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