Latest / Belin Memorial UMC / Rev. Dr. Sandra Stevens Poirel - "No Words"

Transcript

Rev. Dr. Sandra Stevens Poirel - "No Words" · Belin Memorial UMC

• Belin Memorial UMC: The gospel lesson is an elaborate story, and what we need to know about it as we go into it, it is an allegorical parable. That sounds like double speak. It is an allegory, but it is a parable. It is told by Jesus. It is a teaching story. So keeping that in mind, we are also going to remember. that everything in this story has a deeper meaning and things are not always as they appear on the surface. There are surprises, there are curveballs, and there are shifts. So I invite you as you would like to s either stand or stand in your hearts for the reading of the gospel. It comes to us from Matthew 22, the first 14 verses, and it is the parable of the king's reception. Once more Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying, The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding banquet for his son. He sent his slaves to call those who had been invited to the wedding banquet. But they would not come. Again he sent other slaves saying, Tell those who have been invited, look, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready, come to the wedding banquet. But they made light of it and went away, one to a farm, another to his business. While the rest seized his slaves, mistreated them, and killed them. The king was enraged. He sent his troops, destroyed those murderers, and burned their city. Then he said to his slaves, The wedding is ready, but those invited are not worthy. Go therefore into the main streets and invite everyone you find. To the wedding banquet. Those slaves went out into the streets and gathered all whom they found, both good and bad, so the wedding hall was filled with guests. But when the king came in to see the guest, he noticed that a man there who was not wearing a wedding robe. And he said to him, Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding robe? And he was speechless. Then the king said to the attendants, Bind him hand and foot and throw him into the outer darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. For many are called, but few are chosen. This is the word of God for the people of God. You may be seated. Well This is no ordinary story, as we have just heard. And I will tell you in advance that it is a sign, it is the lectionary gospel lesson for today, but it is disturbing, it makes us uncomfortable in places, and there is a temptation, and some do not use the entire parable as the text. And we will get to that point, but we're going to, we are going to go through the whole parable because as hard as it was to hear, and I know there are probably some questions about it, because it does sound harsh. Admittedly, it does. But to have a better understanding of the story, it is helpful for us to understand the context in which Jesus was applying. This particular story, this teaching tool. It's important to know that as hard as it sounds, this parable is filled with grace, and there is good news in the parable. And we already know that because we know who is telling the story. Now, Jesus, when he's telling the story, he's in Jerusalem. It is following the triumphal entry and the cleansing of the temple. Now, this takes place just days before his crucifixion. His time on earth is limited. He's very aware of that. And he is still being challenged by the religious authorities, and the plots against his very life are ramping up. Jerusalem, this will be important, so we will understand some of his references later. Jerusalem has been ransacked by Rome. The temple had been destroyed. Gentiles were already now among Christ's followers. The Hebrews are wrestling with freedom from the law. Chaos was resulting because things were just changing pretty quickly. So trying to sort it all out, there was this feeling of just come on in, everything has already been taken care of. Just show up and do whatever you want, it'll be taken care of, do as you please. But clearly that is not the case. But that was the context in which Jesus brings this parable. This is an invitation to feast with the king. It is not to be taken lightly. So keep in mind as we move through this parable or this allegory. Who do you think the king might be? God. Who do you think the son might be? Jesus. So it opens the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding banquet for his son. So here's where we are: the save the date cards have gone out, the invitations have been sent out, food has been provided. The best has been prepared, servants are sent out in follow up to save the date and invitations to call and remind the guests to come. They refuse. They have better things to do. They have other things to do. They have to tend to a farm, a business. They have everyday life things. So the king, undeterred at this point, sends out more servants, a second time with a sharper message to the same group, reminding them food is ready, everything is prepared. And the king said this was not a suggestion. You know, when the king sends a message, the answer is yes, sir, thank you very much. I'll be happy to. Only for them it was not. He sent out an order, basically, come to the reception. This time, not only did they ignore his invitation, we are told in the scripture they made light of it and they went about and remember the context. They went about doing whatever they wanted to do. And the king is still saying, Come to the feast. They are still refusing. And here's the curve first curve ball. There are many. Here's the shocking plot. The king's messengers. These are like the delivery persons. You know, you get some of us get packages now delivered to our door. We don't even have to go shopping, they just come even several times a day. The mailman shows up, we don't have to go get it. They bring it to us. So the king sent out messengers. And the people murdered them for delivering the invitation. You've ever heard don't kill the messenger? Well, there you go. They did. So the original dinner guests, those who would have been very expected. To be on the first cut invitation list, they don't show up. So the king is, we are told, enraged. But he was not deterred. He is going to keep the food at the banquet warm, and he has another plan. He organizes and mobilizes his troops, and he burned the entire city to the ground. Now remember, I know it sounds harsh. Remember the context and remember who's telling the story. The hearers of the story would have been well aware of the destruction of Jerusalem and a city having been burned to the ground. So they can identify in the first century without Jesus having said much else. They get it. And then here comes another curveball. Then there is this shift. To something surprising. The king determines that the banquet is ready. But those invited, he says, are not worthy. So now he sends another group of servants out to invite everybody they could find. Go to the highways and the byways, the good, the bad, everybody you can find. Bring them in and fill the wedding hall with guests, and they did. Now, folks, that is radical hospitality. That is radical generosity. This is a king who threw the doors open wide to his banquet hall and welcomed, well, everybody. Think about it. Now, one minute, these guests who are currently being invited and coming. They're on the streets. They're just going about their normal everyday business and lives. And then here comes a curveball. They, the ones who were mostly unnoticed, nobody really thinks anything about them, they become the invited. They have gone from the margins to being on the number one guest list. Because this was. The point. The banquet was not a reward for those who got it all right. The banquet was then and is a feast for those who accept the invitation when the king calls them, and they take it seriously. This is not an invitation to be trifled with. As they come in, They would have been handed. Now, this is where it's important to hear this because it's different in the first century, and it helps us understand what Jesus was saying. As they come in, remember highways and byways, this is everybody, they are handed a set of wedding clothes provided by the king, and then they are shown a seat at the king's table. They would never have dreamed that they would be here at this table wearing these clothes at this time. These are the people on the margins, the poor, the gathered off the streets, the unnoticed. And they are there by invitation. They have been sought out and invited and brought in, provided for at the pleasure of the king and seated at his table. And then we see if we could stop right there, wouldn't that be wonderful? That now now we understand. But you see there's more. And this this is the part of the story that's it there's a temptation to leave it out, but we're not going to do that. It is uncomfortable. In the king's travels. Now he's wandering through the wedding hall and he's greeting his guest, and things appear to be going well. And then he notices, of course he does. How could he not? He notices an underdressed wedding guest. The king was, shall we say, less than pleased. Now Does anybody happen to remember the Chiff you some of you are too young to remember this. The Chiffon you're already there. The Chiffon Margarine commercial from the nineteen seventies. Yes, I can remember that. I know with it being the 70s, you might have wondered, but no, I do remember that. Well, for those of you who don't, you're looking at me with the I call it that little bingy look like. Well here's what happened. It features an actress. She's dressed as Mother Nature. She's wearing a white gown and a daisy crown and she has daisies all over. And she is offered a cup of this creamy substance that she tastes and happily declares it to be that's my sweet creamy butter. And then there is an unseen narrator to inform her. I'm not gonna sing the jingle, but there was a jingle. If you think it's butter, but it's not, it's Siobhan, who says to her, that's Siobhan Margarine, not butter. She is not pleased. She is offered a substitute for the real thing, and along with then a flash of lightning. And an eruption of thunder, she glares into the camera and says, It's not nice to fool Mother Nature. And you hear all of the sound effects. Well, I thought of that commercial when I was going through this and reading about the king. When the king surveys the wedding feast and he spots that guest without the proper wedding robe. It mirrors that exact moment of the commercial's reveal. The king's patience evaporated. evaporated. He found a wedding crasher attempting to attend the banquet on his own terms. Just come on in, remember, that was sort of the feeling of the day. Just come on in, everything's taken care of, just do whatever you want to do. And he stayed in his unclothes by choice, bypassing the king's protocol and essentially refusing the king's hospitality and gift. The king's desire was to provide most excellently for every single person that he invited to this banquet. To honor his son. So the king makes his way to the wedding guest, and he addresses him in a way that makes us cringe. It begins with the word that's usually not good. Friend. You're walking down the hall, smile on your face at school or at at work, and the principal or the Big Ball steps out into the hall and says, Friend, could I see you in my office for a moment? Kind of that same feeling. Friend. How did you get in here without a wedding robe? And we're told what his reaction was. was it. He was speechless. He had no words because there was no answer. The underdressed wedding guest got bounced out of the party into the place where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth. And this is where we have heartburn because we're saying, wait, that's not fair. Wait a minute. Did we not just read and did you not just tell us that servants were sent out into the highways and byways To drag people in, invite them. How in the world could he have had proper clothes? How could he have even had time to go find them? After all, you just don't walk around town every day in wedding finery, right? Especially the group that is now the invited party. Well, as you have probably already figured out, this really has nothing to do with the physical sewn together pieces of fabric that made a first century wedding robe. In the first century it was customary for the host to provide attire for the event. When guests arrived they were offered the garment at the door, to which they would gladly and appreciatively accept it. This was a part of the host's provision for this type of banquet and gathering. So then the question becomes why? See now it it flips, now we understand, but why would the invited guest refuse the wedding attire that was offered to him? Surely he could not have thought he would not be noticed. Or was he there to enjoy the party, enjoy the food, the music, the festivities? Enjoy the provision and the generosity of the king with absolutely no respect or regard for the king. He was there by invitation. He would have known the protocol of the day, and he made the choice to refuse the king's gift. And if he thought that the king's invitation to go into the highways and byways was, as we might say, just bring warm bodies in here. I've got all this food, I've got all this stuff, just bring enough people in here so that at least the food will be eaten and just fill up the place. If that's what he thought, he was sorely mistaken. This was an important event. The king cared deeply about every guest. But this one did not rise to the occasion. In fact, he purposely demeaned it. And it isn't about the physical clothes. I want you to hear me say that. This has been a question that comes up about this parable a lot. But we can wear anything God sees our hearts. That is absolutely true. We can worship God and honor God in shorts and flip flops, running shoes, suits and high heels, tuxedos and party dresses in denim and in silk. We can worship God in all of that. It's not about the physical clothes you see, God loves us that much. What we're hearing is God loves us so much that God will provide what is needed, including giving his own son for us. Our wedding robes are crafted from the very fabric of our lives. They're shaped by the divine patterns that God provides. Patience, love, justice, mercy, and walking humbly with Him. And folks, when these are sewn together and the garment is fashioned, it is absolutely breathtakingly beautiful. It is gorgeous. The King, God Almighty, is still extending that invitation. God has the doors flung wide open, and we are invited to receive the gift of God's greatness and largeness and to put on the robe of Christ that is being offered to us every day. Everything is prepared. Come to the party. All there is to do is to respond with grateful and joyful hearts. Come clothed in the grace that the king provides. Why would we want to wear anything else? Let us pray. King of the feast, you have thrown the doors to your banquet wide open. You have sent the invitations into the streets. You gather us in. We do not qualify ourselves. We are here because of your welcome, your love, and your generosity. As we came in, you offered us a garment. A new identity, a transformation, a new life in you. And Lord, we confess that we too have on occasion made excuses. We deal with the busy demands of work, feels daily routines that distract us, and we ask that you forgive us for the times when we have turned away or just simply not heard your voice. Your love extends beyond the Farthest reaches of the oceans and the height of your compassion is greater than the highest peaks of any mountains. O God, we ask that you continue to keep extending that invitation and keep seeking us out, seeking us all out. Comfort those who are sick, grieving, or anxious. Grant them your peace. Open our ears and soften our hearts so that we may not only listen. But respond, send our RSVP with a joyful yes to your standing at the door, your invitation, and accepting the gift that you hold in your hand. Clothe us in your righteousness, clothe us in your humility and love, so that we live out our faith honoring you. And we live out your invitation to draw others in. There's still a seat, there's still a garment. There's still a feast. Clothe us, Lord. We ask all of this in the name of Jesus the Christ, who invites us to the heavenly feast, and he taught us to say to pray. Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses. As we forgive those who trespass against us and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory for ever. Amen.