Mookoo's Home (木咕子的家)

2020年10月20日星期二

The 92 Coffee

#2020-1020

The 92 Coffee

Coming to a new house this afternoon,

We all fell in love with it very soon.

There many stories were vividly told;

To know about them we are enough old:

The mountain Jiufen'er Shan* reminds us

of the horrible Nine Twenty-One quake;

The old bridge of Nuomi Qiao* again was

repaired after floods for our offspring's sake.

Oh, I know, you know; we all know these facts:

The Bridge is in the village of Beigang* (North Port);

The Mountain, in the village of Nangang* (South Port).

Apart from those real stories and coffee,

this brand-new shop has a lot more to sell.

And yet my wife and my sisters and me

-- we, too, have our own life stories to tell.

---- Written and illustrated by Mookoo Liang

= = =

Notes:

1) Jiufen're Shan: 九份二山（是九二一地震震央發生地）

2) Nuomi Qiao: 糯米橋（literally, "Glutinous Rice Bridge; also known as 國姓鄉北港溪石橋）

3) The village of Beigang: 北港村（屬於南投縣國姓鄉）

4) The village of Nangang: 南港村（屬於南投縣國姓鄉）

2020年10月11日星期日

The Parable of the Wedding Feast

#2020-1011

A Sermon at St. James' Episcopal Church
for the 19th Sunday after the Pentecost

Exodus 32:1-14; Psalm 106:1-6, 19-23; Philippians 4:1-9; Matthew 22:1-14

(Only talking about Matthew 22:1-14)

Let us pray.

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer. – Psalm 19:14

Be seated.

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 1^st and the 2^nd 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.)