| The King throws a Party |
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So, the Gospel reading tonight represents a bit of an emotional roller coaster.
The Kingdom of heaven is likened to a King preparing a wedding feast for his son. The story isn't a happy one. First of all no-one wants to come to the feast
and when he tries to insist, the would-be guests run away or ignore him or turn murderous. So far we are not stretched too much in our attempt to interpret the story. We can see the evidence of many people's response to God in history and in the present. Yes it's true, we might think to ourselves, people do ignore God or make excuses or even turn murderous.
But we can't easily compare God with the King - or at least we can't unless we're into a very Old Testament way of thinking because the King in the story sends out his armies to avenge the loss of his servants.
We're not too comfortable with this view of God but we read on
maybe a bit apprehensively.
Now the King instructs his servants to bring in the people from the highways and byways - the good and the evil - and we see evidence of the God we hope for. The one who invites all to the feast - the fully inclusive, compassionate, open God - the one who accepts everyone.
Just when we are feeling more comfortable we get a terrible shock! The King spots some poor bloke who has no wedding outfit on and he has him bound hand and foot and cast into outer darkness. He may well have been a beggar. Where was he going to get a wedding garment? Imagine inviting street people to a wedding then punishing them for not wearing a top hat and tails! This King has dragged people off the highways and byways and then when one of them doesn't get the right gear on he chucks him into everlasting darkness.
And so we find the master story teller doing what story tellers do best. He slips in another twist in the story and the reader stops and says "What!?"
Wait a minute! This isn't how I want this story to end. This King is supposed to be the one who invites everyone and welcomes them into his house. He doesn't turn on some poor soul who wasn't prepared because he had no access to the resources to get prepared and casts him into everlasting darkness. After all - the poor bloke only came because he was invited at the last minute. Left to his own devices he'd still be busking on the main street in Jerusalem.
Dear God don't let it be that when I finally get to the feast that God has prepared I'll find myself rejected because something was wrong with me - and worse still, something over which I had no real control.
Now the story gets personal
it taps into my deepest fear. Will God reject me because I wasn't like the others? Because I wasn't good enough? Because I didn't have the resources to fit in?
Listen again to the first words of the parable. "The Kingdom of heaven may be likened to a King who prepared a wedding banquet."
We are being invited to make a comparison here. It's like one of those thorny exam questions that always trip students up. "In what way may x be likened to y" Or "Compare x with y"
So let's look at the story again.
We read of the people who are not taking up the invitation - the ones who decide for whatever reason not to explore the possibility of a relationship with God. Those who decide not to hear that still small voice inviting them to relationship. They ignore the invitation to the feast. And for many of us here there is the small comfort of reassurance. We have heard the invitation and we said yes. Maybe not with as much enthusiasm and commitment as we think we should have done - but we did say yes.
Oh good! I'm ok then
and in many churches today there will be the sermon that confirms this. We're ok - we said yes to the invitation. Whew!
Then comes the next bit. No-one wants to come. But wait a minute. If this King is so warm and welcoming - so full of love and all that stuff we've learned about since we were in Sunday school - how come no-one; and I mean no-one; wanted to come. Some of them ran away, some just ignored the invitation and others turned violent.
This is a bit uncomfortable - how are we going to make this fit with the image we have of the realm of heaven - the City of God?
and worse! This King loses his temper and sends his army out to kill the people who turned murderous against his servants. How can we make this King fit with our view of God.
Remember we have been invited to make a comparison - how can this be likened to the realm of heaven? Maybe he isn't the same - maybe he is radically different.
But then again - maybe he is also a little the same
The King in the story has offered hospitality. He has opened the doors of his home. He has given the best of what he has. He has made himself vulnerable. And people ignore him, make excuses or even turn murderous. The outcome of his hospitality is the worst it could possibly be. One of my friend's mothers once invited people from work to her house on New Year's Eve. She got the nibbles and the booze in and waited - and nobody came. How painful is that? Sitting amongst your beautifully prepared party - house all clean and tidy, guest towels in the bathroom, glasses all sparkling, Christmas decorations still twinkling in the corner - and you find that no-one wanted to come. We get the picture of the vulnerable and rejected hostess
This is a metaphor for the person of God. The God who is prepared to be vulnerable enough to be rejected and look rather sad and foolish.
God offers us the ultimate metaphor, the ultimate explanation of the nature of God in the life of Jesus.
The one who makes himself completely vulnerable as an invitation to relationship with him. The one who goes as far as death and finds that those who have loved him and walked with him for three years are nowhere to be seen. This is the vulnerable God. The one who was surrounded by thousands who followed him miles to hear him speak is facing death with only his mother, his best pal and a reformed prostitute. - There's a sermon in that alone.
Our God is the one who takes vulnerability to the end in order to show us the true nature of the divine.
Moving on, we come to the King who goes out into the highways and byways and invites both the good and the bad to the feast. He swallows his distress at the rejection of the invited guests and goes out and throws the invitation open to all.
And we respond to this by saying "Yes. At last! This can be likened to the realm of God. This is the God who will open the doors to all and say come in."
And then we face the part that stops us in our tracks. The bloke with the wrong gear on.
Oh no! Suddenly our ability to liken this King to the new realm of God is stretched to a point where we are no longer comfortable.
If only we were in that fortunate position when we knew ourselves to be righteous and could look on with disdain at those who are not as righteous as us, then we could interpret this easily. We could say - of course this passage means that you must prepare yourself for the feast by living a good life, or following the rules, or being like all the others. But what if you are not? What if you can't put on the robe of the acceptable because you are not?
What if you can't pay the price of the robe that makes you just like all the others? What then? Can you still liken this story to the realm of God?
Listen to your discomfort because it is there for a reason.
What is your response to this? What does it tell you about your heart?
Maybe your heart says 'No. This is not like the God that I long for. The God that I yearn to be close to; to go deeper into relationship with; the God I want to transform my life and teach me the ways of the City of God. This God does not cast someone into outer darkness because they do not have the resources to fit into the social norms of the time. The God that I long for will embrace all and no-one will be rejected. The God that I long for knows only too well the pain of rejection and will not make others suffer it."
And there you have the challenge of the story. If this is your heart's desire - to have the God who will not reject anyone - then you are called to a difficult road. You are called to a life that does the very thing you want of God. You are called not to treat others in the way you do not want to be treated - or put another way - you are called to offer others the invitation and the acceptance you want for yourself.
And you are called to this so that the realm of God in this place will be transformed.
Amen.
This sermon was delivered by Margaret Hart at Holy Trinity MCC Edinburgh
© Margaret Hart. Moral rights have been asserted.
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