By Rev. Canon David B. Tabo-oy
2″The Kingdom of heaven is like this. Once there was a king who prepared a wedding feast for his son. v3He sent his servants to tell the invited guests to come to the feast, but they did not want to come. v4So he sent other servants with this message for the guests: ‘My feast is ready now; my steers and prize calves have been butchered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding feast!’ v5But the invited guests paid no attention and went about their business: one went to his farm, another to his store, v6while others grabbed the servants, beat them, and killed them. (Read: Matthew 22:1-14).
“The kingdom of heaven is like this….” Every human being who believes in the afterlife or a continuance of existence from death on earth aspire for a better one. Cambridge dictionary defines heaven: ‘in some religions, the place, sometimes imagined to be in the sky, where God or the gods live and where good people are believed to go after they die, so that they can enjoy perfect happiness.’ In Christianity, heaven is traditionally the location of the throne of God and the angels of God, and in most forms of Christianity it is the abode of the righteous dead in the afterlife. Heaven is equated to ‘perfect happiness’ – who would not want that especially if your present lot is of burden and sorrow in this life? Embellished, this understanding could render believers docile to what is considered worldly and just focus on the ‘pie in the sky’.
The Kingdom of Heaven/God is the core of Jesus Christ’s teachings when he walked this earth. Obviously, his ideas of the Kingdom of Heaven have been misunderstood by the religious during his time. Hence, the several parables devoted to this subject. As the Christian faith spread throughout the world misconceptions germinated and were either used grudgingly or willingly to achieve selfish interests or perpetuate power and control. Along this line that I see the premise of the German sociologist and economic theorist Karl Marx’s statement “Die religion… ist opium des volkes” often rendered as “religion is the opiate of the masses.”
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‘The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son. He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused to come.’” This parable is a follow up of Jesus’ answer to the Pharisees and chief priests from the previous chapter about his authority. He relates the reluctant wedding guests to the history of Israel. God chose the descendants of Abraham to inherit His Kingdom on earth. He sent deliverers to turn the hearts of His people back to Him after they had fallen away. But the Israelites had turned away from Him to worship other gods.
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The classical interpretation of Matthew’s version of the parable is that the king is God; the king’s son is Jesus himself; the original invited guests are the Jews; the king’s servants who are attacked are God’s prophets; and the new guests are the Gentiles and other “unworthy”. The original invitation to the Jews is extended to also include Gentiles. In Luke’s parallel account, the invitation is extended particularly to the “poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame” (Luke 14:21), evidencing explicit concern for the “poor and the outcasts.”
In early Christianity, the parable may have been taken more openly as a direct reference to Jews who did not convert to Christianity; in particular, the reference in Matthew to the king sending his armies, destroying the murderers, and burning their city seems to be a reference to the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70 by Roman armies.
Later Christian interpretations have adjusted the original guests more generally to be the already religious who have no time for God, including Christians: they are people who accepted an invitation, but when the food is ready, claim they are too busy to turn up. Matthew’s version additionally suggests that even some of the newly invited guests are not worthy of sitting at the table, if they are not wearing a proper wedding garment. What exactly the wedding garment symbolizes is not generally agreed on among Christian theologians.
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The proper wedding clothes. Many who claim to be members of the kingdom of heaven on earth will not be wearing wedding clothes and therefore are not among the chosen (v.14). The “wedding clothes” symbolize a new condition of readiness – present possession of true faith in Christ and continued obedience made possible through the grace of Christ. Christ refers to the man who was not wearing wedding clothes in order to make all of us examine ourselves and ask, “Lord, is it I?”
This text confronts us with the paradox of God’s free invitation to the banquet with no strings attached and God’s requirement of “putting on” something appropriate to that calling. The theological point is that we are warned of the dire consequences of accepting the invitation and doing nothing except showing up.
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Notice that the passage doesn’t say that because the invited guests did not come to the banquet, the wedding was canceled. No. The wedding and the feast were to go on as scheduled. Only the guest list was changed. God does not alter God’s plans because of the indifference of human beings. God does not withdraw the feast. The choice is up to us. It is we who accept or reject the invitation to joy. The feast is still there for those who would come to the banquet, who would honor the invitation. But most of us have other things to think about. We have work to do. We have our jobs. We don’t have time to read about the faith, to worship with others, to serve others; we have work to do.
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Rev. Katerina Whitley said that ‘no excuse is acceptable when the offering is a matter of life and death. Our spiritual survival is at stake. Yet, we find excuses and are attracted by the affairs of the world more than by the needs of the spirit.’ “The world is too much with us,” the poet said. We are consumed by commerce; our lives are too busy and cluttered; too noisy to hear the invitation to a banquet of joy. And when we are reminded of it, we are embarrassed. We have found other things to occupy our time and consume our energy. When we are asked to take time to pray, to think, to learn God’s truth, to share it with others, to focus on what is of eternal importance instead of on temporary needs, we make light of it. The cares of this world loom much greater than the cares of the Kingdom.
Turning our back to the cares of the world in order to go to the banquet, in order to focus our minds on God, is not achieved because we are already good and holy. The Matthew passage tells us that the servants invited both those who were good and those who were bad. They were invited because of the generosity of the king, not because they had done something to deserve the invitation.
How many of us are hesitating still because of fear that attending the feast will make too many demands upon our time, will limit our worldly pleasures, will dilute our ambitions? There is no question that the one who makes the offer will not accept second place in our affection. It is true that accepting the invitation to God’s banquet of joy changes our sense of what is important and of value. But how barren the heart feels outside this banquet hall. How much we would miss of companionship and of the peace that passes understanding! v13Then the king told the servants, ‘Tie him up hand and foot, and throw him outside in the dark. There he will cry and gnash his teeth.’”
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Although this parable originally applied to Israel and its rejection of the gospel, it also applies to the churches and every believer today. The subject of this parable is the day of the resurrection in its future heavenly glory, i.e., the return of Christ to bring his people into the heavenly kingdom.
Those who initially accepted the invitation but then refused to come represent those who have accepted or have appeared to accept the invitation of Jesus to salvation, yet their love for him and the heavenly kingdom has grown cold. Such people have ceased to set their goals by heavenly standards. They have rejected the Biblical admonition to set their “minds on things above, not on earthly things,” while waiting for the appearing of Christ (Col.3:1-4). Their hope and life are centered on the things of this world, and they are no longer long for “a better country – a heavenly one” (Heb. 11.16). In Luke’s parallel account in chapter 14:21-23 indicate that there will also be those whose hearts are with Christ in heaven and not fixed on their prospects in this world. They pray with the Spirit and the bride: “Amen. Come, Lord Jesus” (Rev.22.20).
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v14And Jesus concluded, “Many are invited, but few are chosen.” The call to salvation goes out to the many. However, the few who are chosen to inherit the kingdom of heaven are those who respond to God’s call, repent of their sins and believe in Christ. Responding to God’s grace by the free exercise of our will brings us into the chosen people of God. From this point of view, we can debunk Karl Marx’s statement by saying that self-serving religion – fake religion (if there is such a thing) deaden the senses and becomes the opiate of the people.
(references: episcopalchurch.org>SermonsThatWork; GotQuestions.org; Wikipedia;AllAboutJesusChrist.org)
Let us pray
Lord, we pray that your grace may always precede and follow us, that we may continually be given to good works; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen. (ECP-BCP Proper 23 Collect)**
