We usually
hear the Luke version of the great banquet, less violence, but this week we are
thinking about Matthew’s version.
during Lent
I am trying to view these parables, which start ‘the kingdom of heaven is like…’
through the lens of the Lord’s Prayer, where we pray each week ‘your kingdom
come’
what kind
of kingdom are we reading about this morning??
The traditional
way to look at this reading is that God is the king, the messengers are the prophets,
the people who are initially invited are Jews and the people who eventually come
are the gentiles. and the one thrown out for not wearing the correct robe? ,
that refers to the need to always be clothed in righteous.
I can see
how people read the parable this way, but I struggle with this explanation.
a little
background first.
Chapter 21
Matthew records the entry into Jerusalem, that we celebrate on Palm Sunday,
then the cleansing of the Temple. after
that Jesus is really popular with the religious and political leaders J
then the
story of the cursing of the fig tree, the religious leaders question Jesus, and
Jesus doesn’t answer, but asks them a question.
then we
get to three parables:
parable of
the two sons – one said he wouldn’t work, but did; the other said he would work
but didn’t.
the parable
of the wicked tenants – where the landowner sends servants to collect his share
of the produce, but the tenants killed them, so he sent his son, and they
killed him as well.
verse
45-46
‘when the chief
priests heard his parables, they realised that he was speaking about them. they
wanted to arrest him, but they feared the crowds, because they regarded him as
a prophet.’
then this
parable – the wedding banquet – and the next verse is
“then the
Pharisees went and plotted to entrap him in what he said”
so
while the disciples, or some of them, are likely present, Jesus is speaking to
the religious leaders of the time.
what
about the wedding banquet, it seems that weddings were different to the way we celebrate
here in Australia, though there are many ways to celebrate even in Australia. The couple would do the legal stuff, then the
wedding festivities would happen when the bride moved from her family home to the
grooms family home. Also, considering that people didn’t have iPads or pocket
diaries, when the banquet was ready, you sent out word.
and
the invite list:
as
with diplomatic and business dinners today, you invite people who can do something
for you. The people invited to the wedding of a prince, would be people who were then beholden to the King, to be
an ally of the King if the need arose, and they would definitely not set out to
overthrow the king.
How
might all this help us in looking at this parable.
here
is a poem by Bruce Prewer
(based on Matthew 22: 1-14)
He is off
the planet again!
This Jesus
who tells folk stories
which upend
normality and our
credulity suspend!
Where on earth
is royalty ignored?
Since
when does the guest
stay away
from the wedding feast
of a prince?
Where’s any king
who would open his table
to the street?
To garbage collectors,
back packers, buskers,
homeless kids
and the dead beat?
One thing’s sure:
Christ’s quirky kingdom
cannot be
of this world’s making.
Here kings swank
and royal halls are crammed
with pomposity.
— Copyright © B.D. Prewer 1995, and posted on Bruce Prewer’s Homepage.
the
whole premise of the parable is ridiculous, who turns down an invitation from the
King, let alone kills the messengers? which King is going to pause meal preparations
to go to war against their own people?
As
I have been pondering, and struggling with this story, an email arrived yesterday
with a short story from Andrew Dutney, the President of the UCA. He was at a National Council of Churches
Leaders meeting, and Archbishop
Zaia, Metropolitan of the Archdiocese of Australia, New Zealand and Lebanon was
asked to speak briefly about the situation of his people in the Assyrian Church
of the East.
These people live with violence, some have been killed,
others raped and tortured, and many have fled from Iraq to Syria as refugees. [i]
And I wondered what difference it would make to how we
hear this parable if we lived with constant violence and oppression?
I
wonder what happens if we consider that the king is not God, but Caesar, and we
hear what happens when a city descends into violence. I wonder if this is part of the reaction of
Matthew to the destruction of the Temple in AD 70. Most scholars have the Gospel
of Matthew being written down after that time.
What
if this is saying to us – when you try to live the kingdom of heaven into
being, you will be subject to persecution and violence; because Caesar doesn’t want
a Kingdom of peace, and forgiveness and justice. That would take all the power from Caesar.
what
if this is like a political comedy on TV, something like Clarke and Dawes or Frontline? What if this is about the violence that lies just below the
surface of societies with strong notions of honour and shame.
What have we heard so far this Lent about
the Kingdom of God?
we started with the parable of the
servant who was forgiven much, but who then did not forgive the person who owed
him money.
‘the Kingdom of God is a Kingdom of
forgiveness.’
Then
last Sunday we heard the parable of the workers in the vineyard, where each was
paid what was needed to sustain their family for the day.
“The
Kingdom of heaven, is a kingdom of justice, a kingdom of need being met, not
because we deserve it, not because we earned it, but because God is generous,
and gracious and knows our need.”
God forgives
us, is generous with us, and provides for the needs of all people, but to be
part of God’s kingdom we need to also be generous, share resources and offer forgiveness.
then this passage?
what
might we take away from this passage, this strange parable?
This
kingdom that we pray for ask for our total allegiance, for all we are, and that
may lead to conflict with others in society and even our own families. But violence is not part of the Kingdom.
See
what happened to Jesus when he lived in ways that upset the religious and
political leaders – violence was done to him, he did not initiate violence against
others or to defend himself.
We
pray and we work for the coming of the Kingdom of heaven, a kingdom of peace, justice,
and generosity; and some people will fight against such a kingdom coming into
being.
ideas
taken from
