I love listening to how children describe God. It’s even more interesting seeing how they draw God. One morning, a Sunday school teacher asked the students to sketch God. Some of the pictures showed God portrayed as a huge sea turtle, carrying the world on its back; God as a bright sun; God as a giant head with many eyes all around; God as a tarantula; God as a wizard shooting lightning bolts at the world.
Each unique picture makes me think about the unique child behind each drawing. What pain, what joy, what set of life circumstances had already shaped their young conceptions of God – conceptions that usually become deeply embedded at an early age.
One of the images that Jesus in the Hebrew tradition used to express the mystery of the kingdom of God is God as the host of a great banquet; a great feast; a party!
In Isaiah, we read how “God will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wines … the shroud that is cast over all peoples will be removed … death will be swallowed up … God will wipe away tears of sorrow from all faces … a feast of rich food and … the best wines ….” It sounds like a pretty fun time to me. Notice that God is the life of the party!
Now, if I were to ask you to draw God, what would God and the kingdom of God look like in your picture? Does God look more like a joyous, upbeat party thrower, or does God look more like a depressing, downbeat party pooper?
I believe our worship, our individual character, the feel of our community, how we treat one another, the way we relate to the least and the marginalized, all reflect our image of God.
We’ve all seen abuses of religion; some of us have experienced them. The next time you hear or see religion used to diminish somebody else, stand back for a moment and ask, “Is the God of the universe really that small and petty?”
Let me ask you some questions. How does our attitude toward worship reflect the kind of joy, delight, and gladness that flows out of these joyous pictures of our God?
How does the way we treat each other reflect the inclusive hospitality of God that’s in in these joyous and inclusive pictures?
“The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding (party) for his son.”
As we listen to this story in Matthew 22, we can hear echoes of other stories Jesus told. You might remember the story about the selfish, ungrateful, young boy who squandered his father’s inheritance, spending it on things that satisfied temporarily, and then when he was all out of money, when he had hit rock bottom, he had the audacity to come home – and he wasn’t even grounded – and there were no lectures and no punishments; nothing but a party thrown by the very same father who had been dishonored, scorned and exploited by this very same rebellious son!
But Jesus’ parable has a difficult side. The unhappy truth is that the world is full of foolish people who refuse to believe a good thing. Grace that is free, unconditional love and acceptance might as well be a rattlesnake by the way we sometimes respond. Like the invited guests in the parable we can think up a million excuses not to come and celebrate at the party of free grace, the banquet of inclusive and unconditional love! One group apparently was so offended by the invitation that they killed the messenger. I would call that a definite, “No.”
At this point the parable takes an interesting and difficult to understand twist: “The King was angry, and he sent soldiers and destroyed those murderers and burned their city.”
Now if you’re like me and have trouble with the violence, remember this is a parable, and Jewish story-tellers, which is partly who Jesus was, make generous use of hyperbole. If you don’t know what hyperbole is, it is excessive exaggeration to make a point. So, don’t get too literal about the picture, but see the point behind the exaggeration.
And the point is who are these people in this parable? Well, they were the very people we would expect to be at a royal wedding banquet. They were the nobility, the jet set. In religious terms they were the good, the righteous and the religious in-crowd.
Like many parables, Jesus was telling this story to the religious in-crowd of his day. He was confronting them with their rejection of the idea of a God of radical grace who wanted to give everyone a free ticket to the banquet! But was Jesus speaking only about them? Nope!
Who else are those people who rejected the invitation in the parable? According to theologian J. Holub, “They are all of us, or any of us who live thinking that it’s really our good works, decent lives, moral decisions and hard work that earn us a place at the great banquet table of God.”
So the king had to go to plan “B” and what a plan that was! “Then he said to his servants… (If these yahoos don’t know a good deal when they see it) Go therefore into the streets … and invite to the marriage feast as many as you can find … (so the) servants went out into the streets … and gathered … both good and bad …”
Good and bad invited and included at the same party – both getting in the same way – by the grace of the host. This is inclusive grace.
Could it be possible that “banquet” or “party” just might be a metaphor for congregation? Let’s try to imagine that? Good and bad rubbing up against each other in the same faith community; dining at the same table; drinking from the same cup; sharing the same loaf of bread; drying each other’s tears! How beautiful! How inclusive!
“We have an amazingly inclusive God who doesn’t invite the good and snub the bad. It’s we who do that! It’s we who categorize, judge, pigeonhole and decide who is worthy or not worthy to walk in the door of this church, or the door of your life, or the door of your neighborhood, or who is worthy of mercy, or who deserves forgiveness,” says Holub.
God invites and includes everyone, the good and bad; the working poor; the wounded; the hurting; the addicts; those living on the streets and those living in mansions; all of them just said yes and joined the party.
“The wedding hall, says Jesus “was filled with guests;” filled with those the righteous and religious in-crowd never expected to see there!
Well, they didn’t see them there because they weren’t there! They were offended by the idea of grace and that apparently anyone could come to this party. They weren’t there because of their own choice. They had other priorities, other values, other more important things to do. So, the parable declares they were dead – dead by their own choosing.
Look around folks. The more diversity we see, the more love extended to those on the margins of society, the more generosity we have of reaching out beyond our own four wall … the healthier we are.
Jesus’ parable ends with one final ironic twist. The king spots a man who was not wearing the appropriate wedding attire. The king asks, “Friend how did you get in here without a robe?”
In biblical times there was appropriate attire for a royal wedding – a special robe. In addition, this garment was provided, free of charge at the door for the guest who didn’t have one.
Have you ever been somewhere and you were inappropriately dressed? And then have people give you that look?
Jesus’ parable implies that they were handing out appropriate wedding attire at the door, free of charge! The man, evidently committed to doing his own thing, ignored the garment of grace that God gives to all of us free of charge.
Listen, if we try to crash God’s party and push our own self-righteous and self-serving narrow agendas on others, when we try to impose our rules and regulations on others, we have excluded ourselves. Remember … this is God’s party and not ours.
What a scandalous parable! Showing God as so loving and inclusive, to everyone, especially to the marginalized!
This parable speaks to all of us. It speaks to our attitudes and judgments toward others. It helps shape our VIP community of faith here at MCC San Diego that is vibrant, inclusive and progressive as we continue to reach out and welcome all.
And friends, when we are invited to the party, may we not have something more important to do!
