for the 19th Sunday after the Pentecost
(Only talking about Matthew 22:1-14)
The Parable of the Wedding Feast
I.
Introduction:
Do you see
me wearing a new and bright mask this morning? Well, allow me to take it off right
now. (Take off the mask.) It’s much
easier for me to speak without a face mask. I hope you won’t feel uneasy about
my not wearing a mask on the pulpit.
Recently we
have been wearing surgical masks when attending the Sunday service. We put
masks on before meeting each other, because we want to prevent the spread of
COVID-19 and because we want to make other people (and ourselves) feel comfortable.
In the meantime, by doing so we’re following the Government’s regulations,
which stipulate that in this critical period of time the public
must wear masks when gathering in groups.
Thanks to
all who are willing to wear masks to make everybody safer and more comfortable!
But does wearing a mask have anything to do with today’s Gospel reading? Yes, it
does. This morning I’ll talk about The
Parable of the Wedding Feast, and you’ll soon find that in this parable what
a man wears and how he dresses himself are very important. Although “clothing”
is not the only thing we should pay attention to, we can see that “dressing
appropriately” is very significant on some occasion.
At least, clothing is as important as food, housing, and transportation.
In Chinese we say “衣食住行”: These four items – clothing, food, housing, and transportation
– are all necessary for everybody’s life.
And in our
Gospel reading for today, we see a wedding feast. A wedding feast is a great
banquet. There must be plenty of food – delicious food plus good drinks – in
such a large and special meal. What did the king in the parable prepare
for his guests to eat and drink? How many people attended that wedding feast?
And how long was that banquet conducted? Was it just two or three hours?
In Jesus’
time a wedding banquet could possibly continue for three or four days, some as
long as a whole week. This has been discovered by some Bible scholars. So you
can imagine how rich the king was and what kind of wedding feast he
could prepare for his beloved son!
Now let’s quickly
turn to the very beginning of the parable: “Once more Jesus spoke to the
people in parables…” Yes, Jesus again used parables in talking to the
people. He often used parables to teach his followers – including
the apostles and other ordinary people around him at that time. And now, about
2000 years having passed, our Lord Jesus may also want us (as his followers) to
learn something from the Parable of the
Wedding Feast.
II.
Some Reflections on the
Parable:
This is a
remarkable parable. Jesus said, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave
a wedding banquet for his son.”
(Draw
two circles in the air.) Here are two categories: A and B. Jesus was not
comparing A with B, but to B. He highlighted the similarity
instead of difference between “A” (the Kingdom of heaven) and “B” (the
wedding feast).
Then, the story goes like this:
² After
the feast was prepared, the king sent his servants to tell the invited guests
to come to it, but “they
did not want to come.”
(Show the upper-right part of the drawing.) Here we see the 1st set of servants that the king sent. We also see some of the original invited guests who refused the king’s invitation.
² The
king sent other servants with more detailed information for the guests. But the
invited guests paid no attention and went about their business: one went to his
farm, another to his store, while others “grabbed the servants, beat them, and killed them.”
(Show
the upper-right part of the drawing.) Here we see the 2nd set of servants
sent by the king, and some other invited guests who either made excuses
for their absence or, worse still, beat and killed the servants.
² Now “the king was very
angry; so he sent his soldiers, who killed those murderers and burned down
their city.”
Well, it’s easy to understand why the
king became so furious with those crazy attackers. But I am kind of curious
about how the king kept inviting people to the banquet while fighting
against those murderers and burning their city. Did the military
action take place on the same day(s) as the wedding feast was conducted?
Anyway, as some literary critics have suggested,
when reading an allegory or a parable we don’t need to worry too much
about those very small details that are beyond our comprehension. Once we can see
and understand the so-called Key Points, that’s enough. So, you see, in this
diagram (my drawing) I didn’t put anything to show this part of the story.
² Then,
the king told his servants to go out into the streets and gathered all the
people they could find, “good and bad alike”; and the wedding hall was
filled with people.
What a happy scene! (Show the right half of the drawing.) Look! The wedding hall is full of people now! … But wait, something bad has happened!
² The
king went into the hall and saw a man who was not wearing wedding clothes. He
asked him why, and this guy “said nothing.” Then, the king told the servants to “tie him up hand and
foot, and throw him outside in the dark.”
What a shame! At this moment the joyful,
wonderful scene has suddenly turned into a tragic one; the man without a
wedding robe is now crying and gnashing his teeth outside the hall – in the
dark!
This is the hardest part of the story. Perhaps
most of us (and even many Bible scholars) would feel it difficult to explain
what it really means.
In this past week I tried to collect as
much information as I could, in order to draw better interpretations on every
part of the parable. Very soon I’ll share with you what I’ve learned, but now let’s
look at Jesus’ conclusion first.
² Jesus
finally concluded, “Many
are invited, but few are chosen.”
Yes, Jesus’ conclusion is clear, concise,
and right to the point. In fact, in discussion of the Kingdom of heaven, some
Bible scholars who are good at spiritual interpretation have extended the
meaning of this teaching, saying, “All
are invited, but only some accept the
invitation.” Yes, God’s invitation is for all, for every one of us.
III.
Classical Interpretation
of the Parable:
Now it’s time for us to figure out (or review) the classical interpretation of the Parable of the Wedding Feast. Here are the key points:
1. The
king is God. (Show the parts of the drawing,
accordingly.)
2. The
king’s son is Jesus himself. (He told the parable!)
3. The
original invited guests – I mean the 1st and the 2nd sets
of guests – they are the Jews.
4. The
king’s servants who are attacked are God’s prophets (especially those recorded in the
Old Testament).
5. The
new guests are the Gentles and other “unworthy.” (In a sense, they represent all
people on earth, including you and me.)
And the new servants (Show the drawing)
can be a symbol of Jesus’s disciples, including all the Christians in the
present time!
As for the poor man without a wedding
robe who was “kicked out” (or thrown out), there have been quite
a few different interpretations about the wedding clothes. For example:
Ø Some
commentators suggest that the wedding clothes were provided by the host. (The
generous king provided the wedding clothes!)
Ø Augustine
of Hippo (希波的奧古斯丁) interpreted the garment as symbolizing
charity – good deeds.
Ø Martin
Luther (馬丁路德) suggested that the garment represented
Christ himself.
Ø John
Calvin (加爾文) felt these
controversies in interpreting the meaning of the “wedding garment” were
overblown (meaning exaggerated).
Ø Other
commentators focus on the role of clothing in the New Testament – In this case,
they think that the man was rejected due to the lack of appropriate
clothing.
There are many more interpretations that
are different from each other. But take a break, and relax. Please just look at
Ellie Mu, and me. I’m the Lay Eucharist Minister (known as LEM) this morning and
she is the acolyte. If we had exchanged our robes, or put on the wrong clothes –
say, if we dressed ourselves like a priest or a bishop, then what would you think
about us? Or, later in Coffee Hour, if I cough again and again and forget to
put on my mask, what would you say?
IV.
Conclusion:
So
in conclusion (Show the whole drawing
again) I would like to ask you to review this drawing and reflect
on what the Parable of the Wedding
Feast really means.
Remember,
when you say “A is like B” you don’t usually mean “A is B.” No, what you mean
is just like this: “A is similar but not equal to B.” Sometimes
we try to learn more about A by studying B, but we know A and B are two
different things. They cannot be exactly the same. This is what we must bear in
mind all the time!
May our Lord Jesus teach us all that we have to learn! … The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all evermore! (Amen.)
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