Scriptures: James 2:14-19; Matthew 22:1-14
A week before my wedding, I suppose it’s only fitting that I get to preach on a parable about a wedding banquet. Hopefully I don’t have quite the difficulty in getting people to attend that the king does in this parable.
It really is an odd parable if you think about it. It would be like if you had been invited to Prince William and Kate Middleton’s wedding and every single person who had been invited went, “Nah. I have better things to do that day.”
But the parable’s meaning is pretty clear up until you get to one particular little point. The first part we get – Israel constituted the “special guests” but they rejected God’s Son and thus, didn’t RSVP. And in fact – killed God’s messengers. Similar to the parable last week of the tenants who killed the servants. So God invited everybody else.
Seems pretty simple. Until you get to this disturbing addendum to the parable about the guy who shows up and isn’t properly dressed for the wedding so the King kicks him out where there is “wailing and gnashing of teeth.”
So does that mean we really are supposed to wear our Sunday best when we come to church? I think that isn’t quite the point that’s being made here.
The people who were attending were the dregs of society – the beggars, the outcasts – their attire would not have been fitting for a formal wedding feast. More than likely – the host of the wedding offered the guests this “wedding robe” as a gift. Similar, perhaps, to the white robes that God gives to the faithful in the Book of Revelation when they are martyred for their faithful witness.
It’s symbolic of being clothed with what the King has to offer. Symbolic of the cleansing blood of Christ that purifies us. Robes of righteousness that come not by works of the law, but by God’s good grace.
Paul throughout his Epistles refers to it as “being clothed with Christ.” (Romans 13:14; Eph. 4:24, Colossians 3:10-14; Galatians 3:27)
These are the things a Christian wears: Christ, love, compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, patience – we are clothed with our new selves – created according to the likeness of God.
The problem with the guest who came in wearing what he walked through the door in was that there was no change from the old to the new. He did not “put on” the new garment or life. He was not clothed with any of these things that identified him as a follower of Christ.
I was reading a story from another pastor about how he had an individual who used to come to church and would come up to the communion rail wearing a t-shirt that read, “I can only be nice to one person a day, and today is not your day. Tomorrow doesn’t look too good either.”
While I think we can see the humor probably intended in the shirt, this pastor noted the irony of the moment. Here was a man coming up to receive the body and blood of Christ – yet was wearing a shirt that said he wanted nothing to do with human relationships – wanted nothing to do with any of the things we are told we are to “clothe” ourselves with.
If we take the t-shirt to be a true representation of how the man actually behaved, he came wanting all the benefits of being a Christian, without actually following anything Christ had to say or demanded of his followers. He was a walking contradiction.
This was what was going on with this individual who showed up at the banquet, but refused to wear the wedding robe. He wanted everything that the King was offering – but was rejecting the attire. The party seemed fun, but didn’t want to have to wear one of those lame-o robes.
I want salvation and forgiveness, but I don’t want any part of what it means to actually be a Christian and follower of Jesus Christ. That might make me look lame in front of my friends.
Now some of you may be sitting there thinking, “Wait a minute, you’re talking about works-righteousness, aren’t you? You’re talking about having to DO something to attain salvation.”
No – that’s not what this is about. Faith alone is still the saving element – but if faith is true faith, then we reflect that faith in our daily lives. Our faith changes how we appear to others.
As the James text pointed out – faith without works is dead. Luther didn’t like that text too much because it did sound too much like works righteousness. He felt James’ statement about faith alone is not enough was contradictory to Paul’s statement in his letter to the Romans that faith, not works, is what saves.
After all, only God hands out the wedding robes. It’s given as a gift by God – it isn’t earned. The people who were invited into the wedding feast had done nothing to earn the invitation. They had done nothing to earn the righteousness that God was handing out. They simply showed up.
One cannot be justified in the eyes of God by one’s works. Only Christ can justify us and put us into right relationship.
But James is also right in that faith is not just an inward belief – it’s not just an intellectual assent or acknowledgement. Faith is a matter of a changed heart that results in outward action. Faith is not inactive…as even Paul has pointed out on numerous occasions. Faith in Christ moves us to be something new and something different.
Faith does not mean we sit idly by while God does his thing, but rather faith is actual participation in God’s Kingdom. Faith does not mean that we ignore the things that were important to Christ, but rather that we pick up our crosses and take an interest in the things Christ was interested in.
Rather than living our lives in selfish, unproductive ways, we live our lives in the faith that Christ has not only redeemed us from our sins, but that God actually wants us to be a part of His Kingdom! That we aren’t just observers in the Kingdom of God, sitting on the sidelines not playing, but that we are active participants in helping bring God’s kingdom to earth.
That we aren’t just a guest in the kingdom who wanders into the banquet and observes, but doesn’t participate. Doesn’t take the robe of righteousness when it’s offered because to do so means one is now an active participant in God’s kingdom.
God’s just not interested in “false disciples” – like the Jewish leadership that claimed to be doing the work of God, and yet they did the exact opposite of what they were called to do.
Like I pointed out last week – their piety was wrapped up in their selfish reasons for doing the works of the law – they did them for themselves, not for the benefit of the outcasts and the outsiders – or for the benefit of God’s kingdom.
That’s what this man who shows up at the banquet not wearing the wedding robe represents. A false disciple who claims to be representative of God, but nothing about God is reflected in the way he lives or treat other people. He shows up – but doesn’t participate.
That person who says, “yes, I’m a Christian,” but does not wear Christ. He rejects Christ and his righteousness. He does not have Christ visible in his life. The person who wants all the benefits, but rejects the changes and does not participate in God’s kingdom.
As James points out – anyone can claim to be Christian. Even demons acknowledge who and what Jesus is. But that’s not the same as faith. It’s not the same as living a life of faith that trusts in God; living a life that strives to follow the will of God.
God gives us the robes of righteousness, covers us with His forgiveness that we cannot earn or merit on our own. But wearing those robes – being given this gift – means we’ve been entrusted with a task – to help bring about God’s kingdom by doing those things Christ has told us to do. Love our neighbors. Love our enemies. Feed the hungry. Help the poor.
It means we reflect the one who has clothed us. It means that people looking in on us from the outside won’t use words like “arrogant, hypocritical, hateful, and unforgiving” to describe their encounter with Christians like they currently do. Instead, they SHOULD see us standing how the world works on its head.
They see us forgiving those the world says we shouldn’t forgive. They see us including the ones that society chooses to reject and cast out. They see us as patient and caring. They see us working together despite our differences and despite what we may personally want or desire. Not quarreling or fighting with one another, but bearing with one another in compassion, humility, meekness… PATIENCE… and above all… love.
Have we come to the banquet to participate fully in the kingdom feast to which we have been invited – or to simply observe?
A week before my wedding, I suppose it’s only fitting that I get to preach on a parable about a wedding banquet. Hopefully I don’t have quite the difficulty in getting people to attend that the king does in this parable.
It really is an odd parable if you think about it. It would be like if you had been invited to Prince William and Kate Middleton’s wedding and every single person who had been invited went, “Nah. I have better things to do that day.”
But the parable’s meaning is pretty clear up until you get to one particular little point. The first part we get – Israel constituted the “special guests” but they rejected God’s Son and thus, didn’t RSVP. And in fact – killed God’s messengers. Similar to the parable last week of the tenants who killed the servants. So God invited everybody else.
Seems pretty simple. Until you get to this disturbing addendum to the parable about the guy who shows up and isn’t properly dressed for the wedding so the King kicks him out where there is “wailing and gnashing of teeth.”
So does that mean we really are supposed to wear our Sunday best when we come to church? I think that isn’t quite the point that’s being made here.
The people who were attending were the dregs of society – the beggars, the outcasts – their attire would not have been fitting for a formal wedding feast. More than likely – the host of the wedding offered the guests this “wedding robe” as a gift. Similar, perhaps, to the white robes that God gives to the faithful in the Book of Revelation when they are martyred for their faithful witness.
It’s symbolic of being clothed with what the King has to offer. Symbolic of the cleansing blood of Christ that purifies us. Robes of righteousness that come not by works of the law, but by God’s good grace.
Paul throughout his Epistles refers to it as “being clothed with Christ.” (Romans 13:14; Eph. 4:24, Colossians 3:10-14; Galatians 3:27)
These are the things a Christian wears: Christ, love, compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, patience – we are clothed with our new selves – created according to the likeness of God.
The problem with the guest who came in wearing what he walked through the door in was that there was no change from the old to the new. He did not “put on” the new garment or life. He was not clothed with any of these things that identified him as a follower of Christ.
I was reading a story from another pastor about how he had an individual who used to come to church and would come up to the communion rail wearing a t-shirt that read, “I can only be nice to one person a day, and today is not your day. Tomorrow doesn’t look too good either.”
While I think we can see the humor probably intended in the shirt, this pastor noted the irony of the moment. Here was a man coming up to receive the body and blood of Christ – yet was wearing a shirt that said he wanted nothing to do with human relationships – wanted nothing to do with any of the things we are told we are to “clothe” ourselves with.
If we take the t-shirt to be a true representation of how the man actually behaved, he came wanting all the benefits of being a Christian, without actually following anything Christ had to say or demanded of his followers. He was a walking contradiction.
This was what was going on with this individual who showed up at the banquet, but refused to wear the wedding robe. He wanted everything that the King was offering – but was rejecting the attire. The party seemed fun, but didn’t want to have to wear one of those lame-o robes.
I want salvation and forgiveness, but I don’t want any part of what it means to actually be a Christian and follower of Jesus Christ. That might make me look lame in front of my friends.
Now some of you may be sitting there thinking, “Wait a minute, you’re talking about works-righteousness, aren’t you? You’re talking about having to DO something to attain salvation.”
No – that’s not what this is about. Faith alone is still the saving element – but if faith is true faith, then we reflect that faith in our daily lives. Our faith changes how we appear to others.
As the James text pointed out – faith without works is dead. Luther didn’t like that text too much because it did sound too much like works righteousness. He felt James’ statement about faith alone is not enough was contradictory to Paul’s statement in his letter to the Romans that faith, not works, is what saves.
After all, only God hands out the wedding robes. It’s given as a gift by God – it isn’t earned. The people who were invited into the wedding feast had done nothing to earn the invitation. They had done nothing to earn the righteousness that God was handing out. They simply showed up.
One cannot be justified in the eyes of God by one’s works. Only Christ can justify us and put us into right relationship.
But James is also right in that faith is not just an inward belief – it’s not just an intellectual assent or acknowledgement. Faith is a matter of a changed heart that results in outward action. Faith is not inactive…as even Paul has pointed out on numerous occasions. Faith in Christ moves us to be something new and something different.
Faith does not mean we sit idly by while God does his thing, but rather faith is actual participation in God’s Kingdom. Faith does not mean that we ignore the things that were important to Christ, but rather that we pick up our crosses and take an interest in the things Christ was interested in.
Rather than living our lives in selfish, unproductive ways, we live our lives in the faith that Christ has not only redeemed us from our sins, but that God actually wants us to be a part of His Kingdom! That we aren’t just observers in the Kingdom of God, sitting on the sidelines not playing, but that we are active participants in helping bring God’s kingdom to earth.
That we aren’t just a guest in the kingdom who wanders into the banquet and observes, but doesn’t participate. Doesn’t take the robe of righteousness when it’s offered because to do so means one is now an active participant in God’s kingdom.
God’s just not interested in “false disciples” – like the Jewish leadership that claimed to be doing the work of God, and yet they did the exact opposite of what they were called to do.
Like I pointed out last week – their piety was wrapped up in their selfish reasons for doing the works of the law – they did them for themselves, not for the benefit of the outcasts and the outsiders – or for the benefit of God’s kingdom.
That’s what this man who shows up at the banquet not wearing the wedding robe represents. A false disciple who claims to be representative of God, but nothing about God is reflected in the way he lives or treat other people. He shows up – but doesn’t participate.
That person who says, “yes, I’m a Christian,” but does not wear Christ. He rejects Christ and his righteousness. He does not have Christ visible in his life. The person who wants all the benefits, but rejects the changes and does not participate in God’s kingdom.
As James points out – anyone can claim to be Christian. Even demons acknowledge who and what Jesus is. But that’s not the same as faith. It’s not the same as living a life of faith that trusts in God; living a life that strives to follow the will of God.
God gives us the robes of righteousness, covers us with His forgiveness that we cannot earn or merit on our own. But wearing those robes – being given this gift – means we’ve been entrusted with a task – to help bring about God’s kingdom by doing those things Christ has told us to do. Love our neighbors. Love our enemies. Feed the hungry. Help the poor.
It means we reflect the one who has clothed us. It means that people looking in on us from the outside won’t use words like “arrogant, hypocritical, hateful, and unforgiving” to describe their encounter with Christians like they currently do. Instead, they SHOULD see us standing how the world works on its head.
They see us forgiving those the world says we shouldn’t forgive. They see us including the ones that society chooses to reject and cast out. They see us as patient and caring. They see us working together despite our differences and despite what we may personally want or desire. Not quarreling or fighting with one another, but bearing with one another in compassion, humility, meekness… PATIENCE… and above all… love.
Have we come to the banquet to participate fully in the kingdom feast to which we have been invited – or to simply observe?
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