Who's Image Is On You?
Posted on Oct 19, 2014 by David Whetter
Grace and peace to you from God our Creator, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit, who abides in which of us. Amen
What an odd & depressing story! Right on the heels of our text from last week about how the landlord was going to put those “miserable wretches” of tenants to death, this week we hear a parable about a “king” who invites his people to his son’s wedding banquet. Now this isn’t just any wedding banquet! This will be a banquet like nothing you have ever seen, but the people not only reject the invitation, they kill those who have come to invite them. Are they crazy? It is bizarre! But that’s not all that’s bizarre. Enraged by what they have done, the king unleashes his army and kills all those who killed his slaves. Then, as though nothing had happened, the king wants the party to go on, so he invites anybody and everybody off the streets to the banquet. But, the absurdity doesn’t stop there; one person who came to the banquet, for some reason, came without dressing properly, so the king has him severely punished. After all that has happened, why would the king have this seemingly innocent man punished? Bizarre!
Yes, this is a bizarre story, but it is supposed to be. Matthew never intended it to be realistic. It was meant to be an allegory that points us to the fact that God has offered us an incredible gift of salvation, and although it is free gift, we are expected to participate in this gift and prepare ourselves for it. Like the people rejected the king’s invitation to the wedding banquet, many will reject God’s offer of salvation and, unfortunately, because of their actions, they will die. But God still will offer his salvation to everyone, and just because it is freely offered, does not mean we should not respond in kind. This man, whom we all feel sorry for because he was virtually dragged off the street to come to the banquet, accepted the invitation to eat and drink, but he didn’t even bother to dress for the occasion. In fact when he was asked about it, he could even explain why. It wasn’t because he didn’t have a robe, or he couldn’t afford to change. No, the impression we are left with is that this man decided to accept the free offer but not properly prepare to receive it. In today’s language, he did not come ready to party!
We have been offered an incredible promise of eternal life and although it is freely offered, as we have been hearing the past few weeks, in response we are expected to bear good fruit in response. To accept the invitation means one should come ready to party! And what are we supposed to do at this party? We are called to bring good news to the poor, proclaim release to the captives, recovery of sight to the blind, and to let the oppressed go free. To do this, we are called to be in relationships with people around us, so that we can offer these gifts.
As you know, here at Salem we have been in relationship with St. Mark Hope and Peace for a couple of years now and today we have the pleasure of welcoming Colleen Simon. Colleen is here to not only thank us for our partnership, but to share with us an incredible opportunity to continue working in this relationship and to share with us how we can make a real difference in the city for so many young people by continuing our support with them to build the Hope Center.