Two year ago, I rented out our living room to a television crew that was filming in the cafe next door. They needed where actors could change costumes and sit between shoots. I got a month’s worth of grocery money for my efforts and all I had to do was vacuum and keep the kids out the way between 8am and 8pm. Awkward, but doable.
But I’d forgotten about Thanksgiving.
Now, I should say, we live in a little apartment. We do everything in the living room. My desk is there, with the sofa, the bookcases, the toys and the kitchen table. The kitchen table that I had planned to decorate for Thanksgiving Dinner. We’d made paper leaf placemats. The snazzy red candles had been purchased. The plan was roast chicken with all the trimmings, butternut squash and sage bread pudding, beautiful browned butter mashed potatoes. The kids were going to make pumpkin bunting.
All of which I’m sure the film crew would have loved but…
In the end, I had to admit that my visions of that Thanksgiving banquet were going to have to change. *
Which is a little bit how I feel about this week’s lectionary reading in Matthew. On one hand, it is the familiar story of the wedding feast and the highways and the byways. But in Matthew’s account, it is also an unexpected story. This is a story of violence as well as rejection. There is a dangerous edge on both sides of this telling.
First, the invited guests not only disregard the invitation, but they mistreat and kill the servants who invite them. Talk about shooting the messenger. Some commentators try to explain this violent reaction with the idea of reciprocity. In a culture with a strong emphasis on hospitality and duty, to accept an invitation to a lavish feast may bring with it the expectation of a returned invitation. The invitation becomes a metaphor for the covenant between God and Israel. God invites the people, but expects a relationship in return. And the people turn away and deal all too harshly with the prophets.
But violence crops up again at the conclusion of the story. Here, the host surveys his unexpected guests and finds one unsuitably dressed for the occasion. So he throws him out.
“Bind him hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
I don’t know what to do with this. It sounds like earning your way. It sounds like works not grace. Or like grace and then necessary works or else. You don’t expect to find a retracted invitation in the Gospel reading. Especially not a retracted invitation when we are found unworthy. And how could any of us be worthy?
But I think the whole conclusion spins on the question of the wedding robe. The thrown-out guest was judged by what he was wearing. What should he have been wearing? Why do clothes matter so much?
It was the custom of the day that the host would supply guests with the robe to wear at the wedding banquet. Robes were part of the gift of hospitality. By appearing without the robe, the guest was failing to really take part in the festivities. Maybe he felt awkward at being there when he hadn’t expected an invitation in the first place. But the host provided the robes so that no one would need to feel awkward or inadequate.
But this is a parable, isn’t it? If the king is God and the invitation is our calling to be the people of God, what are we supposed to wear?
Looking over the words of Christ in the preceding chapters, we find Christ for prayer (Matthew 21:13), praise (21:16), faith (21:22), love (22: 37-39) humility (23:12). None of these are works because none of these are things we can muster up on our own. Rather, they are all gifts freely given by God. These are the gifts of the Spirit which wrap around us like a robe.
The image of clothing is a powerful one because clothing is about both appearance and protection. Our clothing is there for others to see, making us beautiful, giving us colour. But clothing also covers us. It keeps us warm, makes us comfortable.
If we are clothed with prayer, praise, faith and love, what is it then that the world sees when we are seen? And how does it feel to know that we are enveloped by these good gifts?
Thankful, perhaps, for all the unexpected banquets.
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* Yes, you guessed right. We ended up going out for Chinese food.
