Imagine
getting an invitation from someone famous, let’s say King Charles III inviting
us to a royal party. A smartly dressed person would show up at your door
bearing a card that would read “the Lord Chamberlain has been commanded by the King to
invite the holder to a celebration at Westminster Abbey, or perhaps the British
Embassy, at 11 a.m. on such and such a day.”
Would you
clear your calendar, find your best dress or tux (or morning coat, actually),
hop on a plane and go? Or would you say “nah! Skip it!” lie on the couch and
turn on ESPN or HSN instead?
Well,
according to Jesus’ story in Matthew’s Gospel today, that’s exactly what
happens! The king really wanted these people to come to his son’s wedding
banquet, but they couldn’t be bothered, they had other work to do! Not only
that, but some of the invited ones were also so annoyed by the invitation that
they berate the messengers, beat them up, and even killed some of them!
But this
really isn’t a story about a party. This is an interpretation of religious history
and a discipleship story rolled into one. Matthew and his church took a parable
of Jesus and made it into an allegory describing the history of God’s salvation,
all to make a point about our place in the Commonwealth of God. And, just like last
week’s Gospel lesson, it re-frames the story of God-at-work both in history and
in their community in the present.
Today’s story
goes like this, God has invited humanity to something great; first, God made a
covenant with particular group of people to be God’s people and a light to the
world. And now God is inviting everyone
into the reign of God to live a new transformed life.
But, if you ask me, the story takes a violent and gruesome turn (which is why, to be honest, this passage is one of my least favorite of all the Gospel stories). The harshness of this story contrasts sharply with the wedding banquet in the Gospel of John, which, in that Gospel, kicks off Jesus' public ministry. There Jesus turns water into wine. The contrast is striking!
Keep in mind, this really isn't Jesus talking, but the Gospel writer, whom we call Matthew, remembering a story Jesus told when he was talking to his congregation. So what probably started out as a Jesus story, like the one in John's gospel, or a Jesus parable, becomes something a bit different.
So when Matthew talks about the king killing the people who refused the invitation and destroying their city—my hunch is that this is Matthew’s church remembering something terrible and earth-shattering that happened which was still fresh in their memory, namely the destruction of Jerusalem by the Roman Empire in 70 CE. This ended Temple-based worship in Judaism for good and shifted the focus of both Judaism and Christianity to the local communities of the diaspora. I'm spitballing here, but I also wonder if they might also have been thinking about the destruction of Pompeii, a center of Roman arts and culture, when Mount Vesuvius blew its top just two years later. I wonder if they thought that maybe God was cleaning house? Personally, I don’t think God works that way, but maybe they were trying to make sense of those events?
In the story, the King here is God. The first messengers in the story who were sent out were the prophets, followed by Jesus, the King's son. The sending of servants out to bring in everyone both good and bad would remind that Early Christian Community and their mission to go out into the world. End of story, right? “They” are out! “We” are in! Hooray for us! Let the party begin!
Not so fast! You may have been invited off the street, but where’s your wedding garment? Why aren’t you dressed for the party? The sour note (for us anyway) is when the guest who is hauled in from the street is suddenly thrown out—not onto the street, but someplace far hotter—for not wearing the right party clothes to a party he never expected to attend!
What’s up with that? We love the ‘welcome’
part of the story, but this other part, not so much! And, happy as I am, I am glad that this passage only shows up once every three years.
But something occurred to me as I studied again the passage this week. I wonder if this story didn’t remind Matthew’s church of baptism?
Follow me here: in my last full time parish, the folks there did a few things at every baptism, some of which were new to me. In
addition to making the promises that we all make—both as a candidate and as a
community; in addition to baptizing the person with water in the name of the
Father and of the Son and the Holy Spirit, and in addition to anointing the
candidate with oil blessed by the bishop that tells us that we are “sealed by
the Holy Spirit… and marked as Christ’s own forever,” we did three other things
that were more or less unique to that congregation (at least to me!). First, everyone in that
congregation signed a great BIG baptismal certificate, about 18” x 24” with beautifully
calligraphy and suitable for framing. Everyone in the assembly promised to uphold the person
in their baptism, and we put our promise in writing! We’d also give the candidate a
little Easter candle that was lit from the Paschal candle, and was meant to be lit on every
baptismal anniversary in their home. But after the baptism and anointing but before we presented the candle, we’d
dress the newly baptized in a new white outfit.
All of this was done to echo what many Christian traditions have done since the very earliest days of
the church, where the candidates took off their street clothes, got baptized
from head to toe in their birthday suit (or close to it!) and then put on new white clothes. The new outfit symbolized the fact that as a baptized follower of Jesus
they were a new person. They had, as the apostle Paul put it, ‘put on Christ.’
I wonder. Did Matthew’s community practice something similar during those very early days
of the Christian Church? We know that baptism was a big deal in the early church. Archeologists
have found ancient house churches that have a walk-in baptismal pool at the
entrance. If that’s so, then I imagine that the wedding garment in Matthew’s story
would remind everyone in his congregation of that new clean white baptismal garment
and of their own baptisms. Whatever the case, the Gospel is telling us that none
of us are party crashers. We are all invited and through our baptisms, we are
dressed for the party!
Now I have a bone to pick with Matthew on the "thrown into outer darkness" bit. Some preachers say that perhaps the host had a closet full of white garments for under-dressed guests, the way some fancy restaurants or clubs have blazers on hand for guests in shirt-sleeves. I'm not sure I buy that. eIt sounds like the preacher trying to let Matthew (or Jesus) off the hook. And, if Matthew is talking about baptismal garments and somebody walks into the assembly improperly dressed, I don't think the ushers became bouncers, dropping their bulletins and throwing the guy out on the curb. To the extent that baptism is initiation into the church, fine; but at the end of the day, I think the people God welcomes will surprise and astound us.
The important part is that, we are also dressed for the street—for everyday life and the distractions that come with it. We wear grubby old jeans for doing chores. Or put on a business suit as if it is armor. We wear clothes that are dusty and stained with old habits and the ketchup that dripped from the burger we were eating while driving. We wear clothes stamped with a designer’s name that shouts “look at me!” Sometimes we wear clothes designed to dazzle, and sometimes we put things on meant to keep people away. But remember, even as we wear clothes for the street, as baptized people, we are also dressed for heaven and clothed for holy service!
In today’s
epistle, the Apostle Paul writes from a jail cell urging his companions in
Christ to rejoice and to stop worrying. He says, “Finally, beloved, whatever is
true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is
pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is
anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” This is much more than
mere positive thinking! Paul is encouraging the Christians in Philippi to “put
on Christ!” “Wear Jesus like your best outfit!”
Which brings
us back to the question: Now that we’ve accepted the invitation, how do we
dress for the party? Like a teenager trying to find just the right outfit for
the big night out, we might find ourselves trying on several new outfits over
the course of our lifetime and our life in Christ. We might try a pious look,
or one of knowing irony. We might put on a happy face, an angry face or wear the
blanc tableau.
The party is
not simply a soirée. It is our service to God and to all the people God’s made
living in the world, the creation, that God has made. Our worship, our
work, our stewardship is how we show off Christ in the world, and our study—as
well as the celebrations and sacramental moments—are the party we invited to.
The party is our life in Christ, and the banquet hall is the world.
This is the Bulletin for Worship for The Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost: October 11, 2026 at St. Chad's, Tampa, Florida.
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