Matthew 22:1-14
On Fridays when we have a communion service, some of the men meet afterwards to discuss the scripture readings for the following Sunday. By the way, any guy in the parish is invited. Ladies don’t need to come; they are already holy enough. When we discussed this gospel, our attention was immediately drawn to that fellow near the end, the one who did not have on a wedding garment, the one who got his hands and feet bound and was thrown into the outer darkness where there was wailing and gnashing of teeth. You can sort of understand the people who refused the king’s invitation initially -- he eventually ends up destroying their village. But what’s the deal with a man who doesn’t have a garment?
You need to think like a first century citizen of the eastern part of the roman empire. Since there were no clocks and no formal way to tell time, if someone had a feast, they would first send servants to notify those who were invited, telling them there would be a feast, say, next week, so be ready and we’ll come and get you. The feast would be prepared, and the servants would go out to those invited, telling them the feast was ready. You probably remember the story of the five wise and five foolish virgins -- same idea. They only had a rough idea when the bridegroom would show up, except that they knew it would be sometime that day.
The king in this case had notified all those he intended to invite, and he got everything ready and sent out his servants who were met with refusal, and so on. He ultimately destroys the village and tells his servants to round up everyone they could find, so they do.
Matthew has a lot of stories like this which have been used to say that the covenant between God and the Jewish people was broken by the Jews and transferred to the Christians. Don’t think like that. Early Christians were mostly Jews, but by the second century the gentiles outnumbered the Jews in the Christian movement and gradually the idea of replacement caught hold of the Christian world and caused a lot of trouble down through the ages.
So how should we look at this gospel story? I think the answer is in the man who was not wearing a wedding garment. In those days a very rich person like a king would have had garments made for his guests. In this story that would probably have been pretty important given that the guests had been rounded up from the dregs of the local population, most of whom probably owned one filthy garment. One of the reasons that the guests were given garments by the host is that in that society it was dangerous and impolite to dress better than the host, and an insult to come in wearing plain clothing. The garments provided by the host tended to cover up social distinctions. But whatever the reason, we have a person who does not accept the garment but comes to the banquet anyway, angering the king and causing a violent reaction.
So what do we make of the story? Jesus is still talking to the leaders of the Jews, not the Jewish people. This whole section of Matthew is about the Jewish leaders who are using their positions to enrich themselves, to make impossible rules for the laity to follow, who have lost sight of what they were supposed to do with their position of authority. They will be punished for their lack of response to God’s will. The people who will enjoy the banquet are those who accept the garment of the king. God offers his salvation to everyone. Some pay no attention, being in love with the world, the pleasures of the flesh, even entranced by evil itself, it seems -- like that city council that was in the news who opened their meeting with a prayer to Satan. But there are many, maybe not as many as we hope, who want to accept God’s offer. What does God expect in return? Well, whatever God wants, we can’t afford, we can’t give him. Only his son can pay the price and has done it and continues to do it. All God expects of us is to accept the gift of salvation that his Son offers. That acceptance is the garment. Acceptance doesn’t just mean that I verbally accept; acceptance means that I have to let God change my life to be like the life of his Son, like the life of his son’s mother or foster father, like the life of saints who became saints because they had accepted the gift of salvation.
Acceptance means that our lives change in some way, change for the better. We go through a change of mind; we decide to put God at the center of our lives with all that implies. We take the Our Father to heart, trying to bring his kingdom to our world, to our own family, our own pace of business. And as we all know it’s perfectly possible to blend into a congregation of Christians and at the same time make no effort to accept the salvation God offers. There are always some who are not wearing the garment. Jesus told the people about the wheat and the weeds, that they would grow together until the harvest.
So today, this gospel story is not about Jews and Christians, or about those who reject the invitation completely. It’s about those who look like Christians but aren’t. Saint John Chrysostom said, “belief in Christ is not enough. Even the demons believe in Christ.” Am I wearing the garment given by the king? Have I accepted the salvation Jesus offers? Can anyone tell by looking at me?
