Imagine you’ve received a personal invitation to a banquet at the White House from the President. You will be picked up at your house in a black limousine, driven to Vandalia, where you will board Air Force One to fly to Washington. How do you respond? “That’s next Saturday? I don’t know, Joe, I was going to harvest my cornfield that day.” Imagine the President is so concerned that you might not have the attire that he gives you a gift card for a tux or formal gown, but you don’t even bother to get the fancy threads. You show up at the White House in the ripped up jeans you love wearing while you farm.
That’s similar to the parable of the wedding banquet that Jesus tells in Matthew 22:1-14. We hear a story of a king’s son who is getting married. The king decides to send out invitations to all the high people. The guests come up with lame excuses to not come. They mistreat the king by mistreating his messengers, even killing some of them! The king calls up his troops and totally destroys all the invited guests and their villages.
The king insists on having a party. All this effort and expense won’t be wasted. He sends his servants into the streets. He invites the young, old, rich, poor, good, and even the bad, to come. All is well, except the king notices that one man has come to enjoy good food, but refuses to wear the appropriate attire. Scholars suggest the king provided white robes for everyone. This particular man chose not to wear it. So “the king said, ‘Bind him hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’”
Why was the invitation rejected? The parable says the guests “would not come.” They gave no excuse, they refused to honor the invitation. It’s easy to accept an invitation for a dinner to be held at some point in the distant future. Accepting the invitation didn’t inconvenience them. It was a different story when it came time to drop what they were doing, and go to the banquet! Similarly, the call to follow Jesus is easy for us to accept. It’s a no-brainer for us to choose Heaven over Hell. Yet, it’s inconvenient to accept the particulars about following Him! What about the call to serve in the local church?
Some have said the reason the guests didn’t go was because they didn’t want to go. Their “not wanting” to attend indicates that they don’t view the invitation as an honor, even though it came from the king. Their response shows a lack of respect. We’re told, “They made light of it.” That’s the response of apathy. They want to do what they want to do, when they want to do it.
The invited guests go about their usual routines, which were all good things. These good things distracted them. These aren’t excuses, but personal concerns that they think are more important than the invitation. Temptation often comes clothed in wholesome attire. We have to work, run errands, and do other things. Where do we find room on our “to-do” lists for God? This plays out every Sunday in churches across America. God invites us to a party – a soul feast – at the table of His Son, and we offer excuses. “I was up late last night.” “I don’t want to miss the kick-off.” “It’s a beautiful morning for fishing.”
When we don’t want to do something, any excuse will do. If we took the same excuses people use for not coming to church, and applied them to other areas of life, we’d realize just how ridiculous they sound. For instance, let’s think about the routine of bathing. Here are some excuses we might hear: “I don’t like bathing; I was forced to as a child.” “I bathe on special occasions (Christmas and Easter).” “There are so many different kinds of soap; I can’t decide which one is best.”
Finally, we need to look at the man who came without the robe. The robe has nothing to do with the kind of clothing that we wear to church. We aren’t told what the robe represents. Augustine called it charity. Luther called it faith. Calvin called it good works. Wesley called it grace. In various places in the New Testament, clothing is used to show a spiritual change. Paul says to “put on Christ.” Peter tells us, “All of you must clothe yourselves with humility.’” Being clothed anew is a consistent New Testament expression for holiness. The old clothes have come off; the new ones are being put on!
The writer is the pastor of New Hope United Methodist Church.
