A Feast of Rich Food – 15 October 2017 – 19th Sunday after Pentecost/ Lectionary 28

A line from Samuel Beckett’s “Waiting for Godot” (and attributed to Augustine) could be the epigraph for today’s readings: “Do not despair; one of the thieves was saved. Do not presume; one of the thieves was damned.” The ill-dressed man who was invited to the banquet and then tossed into the outer darkness should serve simultaneously to wake us up and to give us confidence. The called-out ones, the ekklesia, are invited to the banquet but we are to approach the table with awe and humility.

The sermon focus might be that faith comes through need rather than acclaim or accomplishment. What does such a focus look like in your community?

Matthew 22:1-14

Set within the growing conflict between Jesus and the religious authorities, this parable condemns Jesus’ enemies for failing to receive and honor him as the Son of God. . . Matthew used it to intensify his condemnation of Jesus’ adversaries.

The text is similar to Luke 14:15–25, but differences suggest that Matthew has shaped the story to address two settings at the same time. First, the parable recalls Jesus’ conflict with the representatives of the religious establishment. By rejecting him and his message, they have refused to participate in the feast of God’s reign. With barely veiled images, Jesus announces that God’s judgment will fall on them and the city of Jerusalem. Matthew also has in mind how missionaries from his community experienced persecution. . .

The imagery of the parable—a king giving a wedding banquet for his son—is suggestive of the messianic banquet. Matthew may in fact, on one level, intend that the story be seen as a picture of the end of history and the celebration of God’s triumph. However, elements within the story also tell of the life and mission of Jesus’ followers now. . .

The appearance of a guest without a wedding robe at the parable’s ending is unique to Matthew. The lack of a proper garment has been taken as a metaphor for many different things, among them a lack of love, righteousness, or good works. . .  The presence of the man without a wedding robe reminds believers that “God’s judgment comes upon all, including those within the ecclesia” (p. 208). –– Aaron J. Couch

Isaiah 25:1-9

Isaiah 24–27, known as the “Isaiah Apocalypse,” probably does not come from the hand of Isaiah of Jerusalem. Chapter 25 celebrates God’s goodness, first in a song of thanksgiving for God’s judgment against the proud and then in a vision of all people feasting for God’s triumph over death. The destruction of “the city” may be a reference to Babylon, or stand as a symbol for all human power and pride opposed to God. The feast for God’s victory evokes and overturns imagery from ancient Canaanite religion.

Texts from Ugarit depict Mot, the god of death (from the same root as Hebrew mawet, death), as swallowing all. Isaiah declares that death himself shall be swallowed up, finally and forever, by the LORD. At the unfolding of such glad news there will be no more tears. –– Aaron J. Couch

Philippians 4:1-9

Because Christ gives peace, Paul calls for God’s people to demonstrate that peace. Paul urges reconciliation between two believers who are at odds with each other. He instructs all of them to stop worrying, and instead to know the peace of God that guards their hearts and minds.

With a list of virtues recognized by the wider Hellenistic culture as characteristic of “the good life,” Paul encourages believers to dwell on those good things, aware that the God of peace is with them. Paul also describes how he has discovered the secret of the kind of peace known as contentment. He is able to live with gratitude, regardless of the circumstances, because he experiences the sustaining presence of Christ. –– Aaron J. Couch

Aaron Couch is a co-pastor of First Immanuel Lutheran Church in Portland, Oregon.

Homily Service 38, no. 11 (2005): 15-25.

We’re All Invited to the Big Party – 12 October 2014 – Lectionary 28

Matthew and Isaiah today give us stories and images of the party that God desires for us, the one we can’t possibly organize ourselves. They cause us to think of the Sunday party God calls us to attend week after week when we gather to hear the word of God and eat together and pray. It is a celebration of unfathomable gifts given to us in this life. But our Sunday festivities are not the ultimate shindig. There is more.

Matthew 21:33-46 and Isaiah 5:1-7

Jesus is talking about the final, pull out all the stops, party to end all parties. The heavenly banquet (Rev. 19).  . . . Sunday gets us in the mood, points us in the direction, develops our desire for that final party, when there’ll be no more crying, pain, sickness or death; only laughter and peace and rejoicing without end.

Only a fool would miss the fun. But Jesus makes it clear that such fools abound. When they heard the invitation, “they made light of it and went away, one to his farm, another to her business, a couple to their lake house, a family to the beach....” . . .

The fool tries to make his own party here on earth instead of trusting God to throw the party. But that’s just dancing around a golden calf. Or the fool tries to earn her own invitation to the party, instead of trusting in the king who invites “both good and bad.” Or the fool shows up for the party wearing the wrong clothes.

The trouble with Jesus’ parable is the trouble the king makes for the guy with the shabby outfit. It seems outrageous in its cruelty because we are thinking of the literal meaning of clothing. We are thinking the man doesn’t have any other clothes, and perhaps we don’t have the right ones, either. How is this party invitation good news?

But don’t worry, you can’t buy the right clothes for the party and you can’t make the right clothes for the party. If you are going to get these clothes, you will have to receive them as a gift (see Rev. 19). In fact, they come with the invitation. Imagine the servants of the king out in the highways and the byways, inviting everyone they see to the party. In one hand, they carry the engraved invitation. In the other hand, a tux or a formal gown. “Here’s your invitation to the party. Nothing to wear? Don’t worry about it. The clothes come with the invitation. Just get dressed and come on over to the party.”

Now obviously the wedding robe stands for something. And there are lots of possibilities: the mind of Christ, the heart of love, the hands of service. But I take my clue from something that the church used to do in baptisms. After the water, each person—baby, child or adult—was wrapped in a new, white robe. We’ve lost that symbolism today. Sure, babies still get dressed in white, but most folks think that symbolizes the child’s innocence or worse, it is a sentimental act that has nothing to do with Christ. But the white robes had everything to do with Christ. As Paul put it, we Christians are to “clothe ourselves with the LORD Jesus Christ.” Jesus Christ is the white robe. We put him on Sunday by Sunday in worship, day by day in discipleship.

You can’t bring the wrong person to God’s party—everyone’s invited. But you can be the wrong person for the party—if you choose to come as you are and stay as you are and be who you are. Instead of becoming the person Jesus died for you to be.

– D. Brent Laytham is the Dean of The Ecumenical Institute of Theology in Baltimore, Maryland.

Homily Service 38, no. 11 (9 Oct 2005): 15-25.