What’s in Your Heart?

A homily by Fr. Brendan McGuire for the 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time (year A)

Many of you have seen that advertisement on television for credit cards
that always ends with "...What's in your wallet?" 
The premise behind that advertisement 
is to suggest that our credit card in some way defines who we are. 
In some way, how we spend our money does say something about us. 
To a certain extent what and where we spend our money tells us
what is important in our lives.

Probably a better indicator of what defines us as people 
is how we spend our time. 
If we want to know what defines a huge portion of our lives
it is where we spend our time. 
More importantly with whom do we spend our time? 
Or on what do you spend your time? 
If we spend time with this group of people 
then we are saying they are more important versus this group of people.
Students at school know this reality all too well.
There are other ways in which we could understand what defines us. 
Yes, it is what we spend our money on; 
and yes, it is what and where we spend our time. 
But it is also with whom we spend our time. 
The "who" is important.
Even more than that, what defines us is who we are willing to stand up for. 
Who are we willing to defend? 
Who are we willing to be vulnerable for?
That tells us a lot about ourselves. 
All of these, in some way, all of these together in their complexity 
will tell us about who we are and what we are.

In today's gospel, we hear this story about paying taxes to Cesar or not. 
People have often misused this scripture to talk about 
the justification to pay taxes or not pay taxes; 
or separation of church and state. 
That is a complete misreading of the scripture. 
Even the most unscholarly approach can figure out that.
Right from the beginning Jesus calls them hypocrites. 
We know by the way they ask their question that is a trick question.
There is a part of us that has to at least enjoy it a tad bit.
How Jesus takes on these most unlikely adversaries; 
he just cuts them down with two phrases:  
Show me the coin. Whose head is this on the back? 
And he just cuts to the quick really fast. 
We might not be distracted by the brilliance of Jesus' answer 
but by what is actually happening in the context here. 
The religious leaders and Herodians were enemies. 
Yet these two enemies came together 
to trick Jesus into saying something that they could hold against him.

But what does Jesus do? 
Jesus reframes it completely. 
Then asks, "What is their priority in life?" 
This is not just about the money. 
It is an indicator. Sure. 
It is time. It is an indicator. 
But what in fact is our highest priority? 
Time, money, who you spend your time with and who we stand up for. 
All these are indicators. 
But in the end, we have to ask the question of ourselves;
"What is the top priority in our lives?" 
Everything else flows from that.

My fear is that as Catholic Christians, 
we do not think about that, half nearly enough. 
We get caught up in the busyness of life. 
We just churn from day to day. 
We go almost like on automatic pilot. 
We do not ask the questions of what is the most important thing in my life.
What is the most important reality of my life? 
And until something actually happens, 
when we get sick or somebody dies, 
then all of a sudden our whole reality gets woken up 
and then we start asking that question.
Must we wait for that moment? 
Is that what has to happen? 
Is that the only way we are going to wake up 
from our secular slumber? 
I plead with you to not.

In some way, shape or form, your faith has made a difference 
because you are here on a Sunday morning 
when most of the world is in bed or at home relaxing. 
Somehow you know that it is a priority of something in your life. 
And this one hour has made itself a priority; 
whether it is the community; 
whether it is the environment; 
whether it is the Mass; 
There is something. 
It got you here. 
But one hour is not enough guys. 
One hour out of 168 hours will not make a difference. 
Oh, I would love if it would make that much of a difference. 
I would cherish that I could stay up here for 10 minutes of preaching
and somehow that would radically change your life for the rest of the week. 
But I am not that foolish. 
I know that fundamentally it takes more than one hour out of 168 hours 
to make changes in your and my life. 
And we have to commit to that extra time.

That is what I am asking you to commit to. 
The one hour is just simply never going to be enough. 
That is why I keep pushing you to pray every day. 
We want to be at 10 hours every week. 
That does not mean that you have to be at your desk 
praying for one hour a day. 
But you ought to be working towards something like that; 
and in the other hours, you ought to be working at being charitable,
giving your heart and soul away to someone else.
Why? Because that is what defines us. 
That tells us who we are because we are standing up for somebody. 
We are spending our time with them. 
And yes, we are spending our energy and who we are with them.  
That will make all the difference.

Today, the question is not what is in our wallet. 
But what's in our heart. 
What is our top priority? 
When we come to Eucharist, 
we come to renew ourselves in our number one priority, 
which is to follow Christ. 
It is easy for us to say it here but
when we walk outside those doors, we have to live it. 
And that is the work we spend 167 hour doing. 
And we need the help every day. 
And that is why I am asking us to find some time to say;
"This remains a priority for me."
What's in your heart?

28th Sunday in Ordinary Time, October 15, 2023

How have I responded to God’s invitation to the Kingdom?

Matthew 22:1–14

[The Parable of the Wedding Feast]

Jesus again in reply spoke to them in parables, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be likened to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son. He dispatched his servants to summon the invited guests to the feast, but they refused to come. A second time he sent other servants, saying, ‘Tell those invited: “Behold, I have prepared my banquet, my calves and fattened cattle are killed, and everything is ready; come to the feast.”’ Some ignored the invitation and went away, one to his farm, another to his business. The rest laid hold of his servants, mistreated them, and killed them. The king was enraged and sent his troops, destroyed those murderers, and burned their city.

“Then he said to his servants, ‘The feast is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy to come. Go out, therefore, into the main roads and invite to the feast whomever you find.’ The servants went out into the streets and gathered all they found, bad and good alike, and the hall was filled with guests.

“But when the king came in to meet the guests he saw a man there not dressed in a wedding garment. He said to him, ‘My friend, how is it that you came in here without a wedding garment?’ But he was reduced to silence. Then the king said to his attendants, ‘Bind his hands and feet, and cast him into the darkness outside, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.’ Many are invited, but few are chosen.”

Music Meditations

• Table of Plenty (by Dan Schutte; sung by John Michael Talbot) [YouTube]
• Eye Has Not Seen (by Marty Haugen) [YouTube]
• “The Lord Is My Shepherd” (John Rutter) [YouTube]
• “O God Beyond All Praising” (sung by OCP Session Choir) [YouTube]

Opening Prayer

From The Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius: A Literal Translation and a Contemporary Reading, by David Fleming, S.J.:

Take, Lord, and receive all my liberty, my memory, my understanding and my entire will—all that I have and all that I call my own. You have given it all to me. To you Lord, I return it. Everything is yours; do with it what you will. Give me only your love and your grace. That is enough for me. (p.141)

Companions for the Journey

By Daniel Harrington, S.J, from “America”, the national Jesuit magazine:

In biblical times when ancient Israelites tried to imagine what the fullness of God’s kingdom would be like, one of their favorite images was a banquet. Today’s passage from Isaiah 25 provides a good example. The prophet pictures God’s kingdom as a grand banquet with “a feast of rich food and choice wines.” In a society in which such food and drink were in short supply, the image was powerful. The one who supplies this extraordinary meal is “the Lord of hosts,” and it is open to “all peoples.” It takes place on “this mountain,” most likely the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, which itself was an image of God’s dwelling place. At this banquet God will destroy death, end all suffering and bring about salvation. At this banquet the hopes of God’s people will be fulfilled.

Psalm 23 (“The Lord is my shepherd”) is most famous for its pastoral imagery of God’s care for us, leading us through the dark and dangerous places in our lives. The second half of the psalm, however, shifts the imagery and portrays God as the host at a lavish banquet. In the ancient Near East the two images—shepherd and host—were often applied to kings. Psalm 23 uses them to describe God as the king of kings and lord of lords.

The third banquet image in this Sunday’s readings, the parable of the royal banquet in Matthew 22, develops the imagery further to make two important points about God’s kingdom. We have to accept the invitation to the banquet, and we have to behave in an appropriate manner when we are allowed in.

In Matthew’s version of the parable, the invitation is to a royal wedding feast for a king’s son. Most people invited to such a banquet would feel honored and make every effort to attend. What is peculiar in this case is that those initially invited (the “A list” guests) refuse to come. They do not even bother to give good excuses, and they proceed to abuse and mistreat those who were sent to deliver the invitation. We know from the start that this parable concerns the kingdom of heaven. In what is a kind of allegory, the king is God, the servants are the prophets, and the ones refusing their invitation are those who reject Jesus’ invitation to enter God’s kingdom. The point of the first part of the banquet parable is that if you hope to participate in God’s kingdom, you must first accept the invitation. In Matthew’s context, the king’s harsh treatment of the city (“the king was enraged and sent his troops”) alludes to the destruction of Jerusalem and its temple by the Romans in A.D. 70. And the rejection of the invitation by the “A list” people (like the scribes and Pharisees) opens up the banquet guests to include marginal persons (like tax collectors and sinners) and eventually even Gentiles.

The second part of the parable (which may well have once been a separate parable) insists that it is not enough merely to gain entrance to the banquet hall. Once there, you must behave in an appropriate manner. What if you had been invited to the White House for dinner and arrived in clothes that you normally use for yard work or painting? You would probably be asked to leave. The point is that having been admitted to God’s kingdom by faith and baptism, we will be expected to act in ways that befit who we have become “in Christ.”

The Eucharist we celebrate as the sacrament of ongoing Christian life stands in the biblical banquet tradition. It is the banquet of God’s Son and points toward fullness of life in God’s kingdom. But it is not enough simply to show up. Rather, we need to participate actively, let the mystery of the Eucharist shape our identity, and we must act appropriately in our everyday lives.

Further reading:

• Some Thoughts on the Parable of the Wedding Feast and Parabolic Literature >>
• Reflection on Matthew 22:1-14 from Lectio Divina 2020 >>
• Reflection on Matthew 22:1-14 from “Living Space” >>

Weekly Memorization

Taken from the gospel for today’s session…

Come to the feast

Living the Good News

What action can you take in the next week as a response to today’s reading and discussion?

Keep a private journal of your prayer/actions responses this week. Feel free to use the personal reflection questions or the meditations which follow:

Reflection Questions

• Did you ever attend something and feel horribly out of place? How did you react?
• Like those from the main roads invited to the feast, our church is also a mixture of the “bad and good alike” Do you see any examples of this?
• Are there people with whom you would rather not associate, or in Matthew’s words rather not have certain people “be at the table”? Who are they?
• Have I ever been too busy to stop what I was doing to answer the invitation from Jesus?
  Have I ever not wanted to have my life or my plans disrupted by an invitation from Jesus?
  Has my response to Jesus been on my time or on God’s time?
• Have there been instances since the time of Jesus which messengers of the Lord were mistreated when they went in person to extend an invitation to the kingdom of God?
• When you hear in this story that the king sends his messengers to the crossroads to accept people of all types, what does that tell you about God?
• Have I ever made judgements about the worthiness of certain people to be part of my religious experience (They don’t dress properly, they do not act piously enough, they seem to be having too much fun, they aren’t serious enough about the whole business of being a religious person)?
• How do I prepare for God’s banquet?
• By Jude Sciliano, O.P.:
  How can I welcome others here to celebrate as an invited “guest” to the wedding feast?
• What does it mean to you that someone was thrown out of the celebration for not being properly clothed?
• What do you think the “wedding garment” stands for in this story?
• In spiritual or moral terms, what does it mean to be “properly clothed”?
  Does it refer to holding back on our commitment?
  Does it mean paying lip service but not committing (“their hearts are far from me”)?
  What do I need to do to be “properly attired” for God’s banquet?
• Saying yes to the invitation of God involves a commitment on our part to respond in an appropriate way. How often have people bragged about their inclusion in God’s invitation without reflecting on what might be required of them?
• “Many are called, but few are chosen”. What does that mean for you?
  Do you believe this?
  Do you think you are “chosen” and others are not?
• Were there any details in this parable that disturbed you?
• From the website “Lectio Divina”:
  Who are the persons who are normally invited to our feasts?
  Why?
  Who are the people who are not invited to our feasts?
  Why?
  What are the reasons which today prevent many people from participation in society and in the Church?
  What are some of the excuses that people offer to exclude themselves from the duty to participate in the community?
  Are those excuses valid?

Meditations

A Meditation in the Ignatian Style/Imagination:

Read the gospel story again, then imagine that the wedding is taking place in modern times, with all the extravagance, pomp, money and planning that goes into today’s weddings. Who would be inviting the guests to the wedding? Imagine that you are a guest who does not wish to attend the wedding. What would possibly be your reason for feeling this way (too busy, don’t really know or like the bride and groom, fancy parties are not your thing, etc)? What excuse would you give for not attending? Think of a time when you were invited to something and made up excuses so that you wouldn’t have to go. Do you think the person issuing the invitation saw through your excuses? How did you feel?

Now imagine that it is a wedding of a very famous person, and for some reason, you are invited at the last minute to attend. What would be your reaction? What if you don’t have the proper attire for a Black Tie Wedding in Beverley Hills? Would you go anyway or would you stay at home? Who are the others at this fancy wedding? Are they “worthy” to be included in this group of the rich and famous? Have you ever been in a situation in which you felt that certain people should have been left off the guest list? Or have you ever felt out of place because of your lack of money, social skills or importance? How did you handle it?

Now imagine that the wedding feast has been put together by Jesus. Would any of your actions or reactions change? Why? Who is welcome at the Lord’s table, and what do we have to do in order to be welcomed?

A Meditation in the Franciscan Style/Action:

Think of the cost of many of today’s weddings. Is it justified to spend multiple thousands of dollars on one party, many thousands on a wedding dress, flowers, and videographer, make-up artists, bands, and other extravagances when people are doing without? The average cost of a wedding in this country is almost $40000! This following is excerpted from Justice Notes in a past issue of “First Impressions”:

Many young couples struggle to make their wedding plans more like the Gospel “kingdom”. They want their wedding to reflect their own generosity and broad experience of the needs of the world. They know that wedding planning is big business and want to plan an event which truly reflects who they are and does not leave them in debt for years. Here is another idea: The parish resource, At Home with the Word, references the I Do Foundation, a non-profit agency which offers couples a variety of ways to share part of their wedding spending with charities. I Do Foundation links engaged couples with a host of charitable giving options at their wedding, from its gift registry to invitations and wedding favors. The I Do Foundation was created in 2002 by a group of nonprofit leaders dedicated to developing new avenues of support for charitable organizations. The I Do Foundation’s mission is to help engaged couples bring a charitable focus to their marriage. It provides a variety of donation options and wedding services to help engaged couples make charitable giving a part of their wedding. The I Do Foundation supports many nonprofit organizations that are actively striving to make our communities and society more equitable and just. The I Do Foundation has made a special commitment to support organizations working for low-income and underserved populations. In addition to its recommended partners, the I Do Foundation also donates to organizations suggested by couples.

What you can do:

If you or someone you know is planning a wedding, let them know about the I Do Foundation. It will help make the wedding a “kingdom” celebration.

(Submitted by Anne and Bill Werdel, from the parish bulletin of Sacred Heart Cathedral, Raleigh, NC)

Poetic Reflection:

Father Ed Ingebretzen, S.J. sees the Eucharistic banquet as our “feast of the kingdom” here on earth. Do you agree?
What of yourself do you bring to the Eucharistic table?

"Gather the People"

What return can we make
for all the Lord has done in our lives?
We bring bread, wine, our clay dishes
and our clay feet
to this altar
and we pray that we may here
make a beginning—
that somehow in our days
we can begin to see the promises
the Lord has made us.

The promises do not always
glow with obvious light, or
overwhelm us by their obvious truth.
No matter what anyone says,
it is difficult to understand an invisible God
and belief is not always
the easy way out.

So we gather the people
and we tell the story again
and we break the bread
and in the memory of the one
who saves us,
we eat and drink
and we pray and we believe.

We gather, we pray, we eat.
These things are for human beings.
God has no need of them.
Yet he himself gathered the people,
prayed, broke bread
and gave it to his friends.

And so the invisible God became
visible
and lives with us.

—from Psalms of the Still Country

Closing Prayer

Lord, you have invited me to your table of love. I have often ignored that invitation or forgot about it because of life’s distractions. Sometimes when I have shown up, my heart was not in the enterprise, and my presence was sloppy, at best. Do not stop inviting me because of my inadequate responses, Lord. Keep me open to your words of invitation and open to the changes in myself I must make to attend your feast.

Reflection on Matthew 22:1-14 from “Living Space”

In our readings we have jumped from chapter 20 to chapter 22 and read another Kingdom parable not unrelated to yesterday’s about the workers in the vineyard.

Yesterday it was a question of resentment at God’s generosity to latecomers in his kingdom. Today it is rather sadness over the Jewish leaders’ refusal to accept Jesus as Messiah and Lord. The parable is a kind of potted history and is more like an allegory than a parable.

The king (God) gives a wedding banquet (the happiness of the Messianic age) for his son (Jesus the Messiah). But when he invites people (the Jews) to attend, they refuse to come and make all kinds of excuses. Others actually attack the king’s servants and messengers (the prophets and the early Christian evangelizers).

The king becomes angry and “sent his army to destroy those murderers and burn their city”. Surely a reference to the Roman army under the emperor Titus which sacked and destroyed Jerusalem in AD 70. The Temple, the heart of Judaism, was also destroyed and plundered and has never since been rebuilt. Today an Islamic mosque stands on the site.

Because the invited guests will not come, the servants (the Jewish disciples of Jesus) are instructed to go out and bring in anyone they can find. “They rounded up everyone they met, bad as well as good.” All are called – both the good and sinful.

The climax of the story at first seems somewhat unfair. People have been pulled in from highways and byways and now one is condemned for not wearing a wedding garment! But the parable has in fact moved to the final judgement. In fact, Matthew may be combining what were two original parables into one.

The wedding garment clearly stands for faith and baptism combined with a lived out commitment to the Gospel, something necessary to be accepted into the eternal happiness of the Kingdom.

As Jesus says at the end, “Many are called, but few are chosen.” Many were called and invited to attend the banquet. But more than that was expected of them. They had to answer the call by saying an unqualified Yes to Jesus. Being baptized and having the label ‘Christian’ or ‘Catholic’ is not enough.

We have also to live out in our lives and relationships what we claim to believe in.

Reflection on Matthew 22:1-14 from Lectio Divina 2020

Today’s Gospel presents the parable of the banquet which we also find in the Gospel of Matthew and of Luke, but with significant differences which stem from each evangelist’s point of view. The background which leads both evangelists to repeat this parable is the same. In the communities of the first Christians, both those of Matthew and those of Luke, the problem of living together between the converted Jews and the converted pagans continued in full force. The Jews had ancient norms which prevented them from eating together with pagans. Even entering into the Christian communities, many Jews kept the ancient custom of not sitting at the same table with pagans. Thus, Peter had conflicts in the communities of Jerusalem because he had entered the house of Cornelius, a pagan, and had eaten with him (Acts 11:3). This same problem existed, though in a different way, in Matthew’s and Luke’s  communities. In Luke’s community, in spite of the differences in race, class and  gender, they had a great ideal of sharing and of communion (Acts 2:42; 4:32; 5:12). For this reason, in Luke’s Gospel (Lk 14:15-24), the parable insists on the invitation addressed to all. The master of the feast, angry and upset because the first guests, who were invited, did not arrive, sends his servants to call the poor, the crippled, the blind, and invites them to participate in the banquet. But there is still place. Then, the master of the feast orders that all be invited, until his house is full. In Matthew’s Gospel, the first part of the parable, (Mt 22:1-10) has the same objective as that of Luke’s Gospel. It says that the master of the feast orders the servants to let the “good and the bad” enter (Mt 22:10). But it the end, he adds another parable (Mt 22:11-14) concerning the wedding garment, which focuses on something specific to the Jews, the need of purity in order to be able to present oneself before God.

• Matthew 22:1-2: The invitation addressed to all. Some manuscripts say that the parable was told for the chief priests and for the elders of the People. This hypothesis can serve as a key for the reading, because it helps one to understand some strange points which appear in the story. The parable begins like this: “The Kingdom of Heaven may be compared to a king who gave a feast for his son’s wedding.” This initial statement recalls the most profound hope: the desire of the people to be with God always. Several times the Gospel refers to this hope, suggesting that Jesus, the Son of the King, is the bridegroom who comes to prepare the wedding (Mk 2:19; Rev 21:2, 19:9).

• Matthew 22:3-6: The invited guests do not want to come. The king invites in a more insistent way, but the guests do not want to come. “But they were not interested: one went off to his farm, another to his business; and the rest seized his servants, mistreated them and killed them.” In Luke, what prevents them from accepting the invitation are the duties of daily life. The first one says, "I have bought a piece of land and must go to see it;" the second one, "I have bought five yoke of oxen and am on my way to try them out;” the third one, "I have just got married and so am unable to come!" (cf. Lk 14:18-20). According to the norms and customs of the time, those people had the right and even the duty not to accept the invitation they had received (cf. Deut 20:5-7).

• Matthew 22:7: An incomprehensible war! The reaction of the king in the face of the refusal is surprising. “Then the king was furious and he dispatched his troops, destroyed those murderers and burnt their town.” How is such a violent reaction to be interpreted? The parable was told for the chief priests and for the elders of the people (Mt 22:1), for those responsible for the nations. Jesus had often spoken to them about the need for conversion. He even shed tears over the city of Jerusalem and said, “If you too had only recognized on that day the way to peace! But in fact it is hidden from your eyes. Yes, a time is coming when your enemies will raise fortifications all around you, when they will encircle you and hem you in on every side; they will dash you and the children inside your walls to the ground; they will leave not one stone standing on another within you, because you did not recognize the moment of your visitation.” (Lk 19:41-44). The violent reaction of the king in the parable probably refers to the fact of  Jesus’ foresight. Forty years later, Jerusalem was destroyed (Lk 19:41-44; 21: 6).

• Matthew 22:8-10: The banquet is not canceled. For the third time, the king invites the people. He tells his servants, “The wedding banquet is ready, but those invited were unworthy; go to the main crossroads and invite everyone you can find to come to the wedding.” Going out on the streets, those servants gathered together everyone they could find, bad and good alike; and the wedding hall was filled with guests. The bad, who were excluded from participation in worship with the Jews because they were deemed impure, are now invited specifically by the king to participate in the feast. In the context of that time, the bad were the pagans. They also are invited to participate in the wedding feast.

• Matthew 22:11-14: The wedding garment. These verses tell us that the king went into the wedding hall and saw someone who was not wearing a wedding garment. And the king asked, “How did you get in here, my friend, without a wedding garment?” And he was silent. The story says that the man was bound hands and feet and thrown into the darkness outside. Then the story concludes: “Many are invited but not all are chosen.” Some scholars think that it is a second parable which was added to lessen the impression which one has after the first parable, which speaks about “the good and the bad” who enter into the feast (Mt 22:10). Even if one admits that it is not the observance of the Law which gives us salvation, but rather faith in the gratuitous love of God, that in no way diminishes the need for purity of heart as a prerequisite to be able to appear before God.

Some Thoughts on the Parable of the Wedding Feast and Parabolic Literature

Parables

* The meaning of most parables is not so obvious, or at least it shouldn't be. If we assume we know what Jesus is talking about, we are probably missing the main point; if we are too familiar with the story (having heard it so often before), we might not think carefully enough about its real meaning.

* Most parables contain some element that is strange or unusual. They should cause you to say, "Wait a minute! That's not how farmers do their work! That's not what kings usually do! That's not what normally happens in nature!" And this strange element should cause you to think!

* Parables do not define things precisely, but rather use comparisons to describe some aspect of how God acts or interacts with human beings. Yet to say "A is like B" does not mean that "A is identical to B in all respects"; so one should be careful not to misinterpret or misapply the parables.

*We might think that Jesus spoke in parables to make it easier for people to understand his message. According to the Gospels, however, he surprisingly does NOT expect everyone to understand them!

In Matthew, at least the disciples of Jesus understand the parables; but in Mark, even they have a hard time understanding, despite receiving extra instructions in private!

(a short analysis by James C. Christensen)

So, in looking at the parable of the Wedding Feast in Mt. 22, we are first alerted that we are in the parabolic realm at the very beginning when everyone in the kingdom refuses the invitation of the king to a wedding feast for his son. This would ever happen to a king in real life.

This reminds me of a genre of literature which employs magical realism; the opening line or paragraph so fantastic that the reader is alerted that we are not dealing with a realistic news story here. I am reminded of John L'Heureux's wonderful short story "The Anatomy of Desire" which opens with this paragraph :

Because Hanley’s skin had been stripped off by the enemy, he could find no one who was willing to be with him for long. The nurses were obligated, of course, to see him now and then, and sometimes the doctor, but certainly not the other patients and certainly not his wife and children. He was raw, he was meat, and he would never be any better. He had a great and natural desire, therefore, to be possessed by someone.

The readers realize at the outset that the author is giving them a wink and a nod and is inviting them to go along on a fantastic ride. It is the same with parables,

They strange or unbelievable elements in the parable let the listeners know that they are in what I might call "tall-tale" territory. They have to suspend their disbelief and go along with the game…

Other oddities:

The feast is already prepared and waiting before the king even knows how many would be attending.

Why would the king summon only those of one city to the feast? Was it everyone in the city, rich and poor?

And finally, when that invitation ends in disaster, the king issues a command to go to some vague set of main roads and haul in whoever they find--not much of a celebration with people no one even knows.

Then the addendum (or some might say, a second parable, has lots of red herrings as well: why would the king have the servants summon the bad and the good alike? Why did only one man not manage to dress properly? It doesn't make sense.

At this point we have to realize that this is neither a realistic story nor a simple metaphor. The Jews who heard this parable did not expect realism or logic. For example: we cannot equate the king and God. The section about the king killing everyone in one city is nothing more than Matthew's no-so-veiled reference to Jerusalem being destroyed by the Romans--something some Jewish-Christians felt they deserved. But horrific, nonetheless.

Parables were meant to catch Jesus' listeners off guard, to make them re-evaluate their normal ways of behaving, and to align their hearts with God's heart. Many parables, like the one about the Pharisee and the Publican, or the one about the Good Samaritan, employed elements which were very countercultural, and shocking to the people of Jesus' time. However, because we have grown up with them, they seem familiar or even ordinary to us. Often, we need to translate those stories using examples from our own social and cultural situations in order to see how truly counter-cultural they are.

These parables, which appear to be simple and straightforward stories, are actually multi-dimensional and complex. Frequently, we are left with things unresolved and have to make some conclusions of our own. Does the elder brother ever go in to join the party welcoming the prodigal son home? How do those in the vineyard who worked much longer hours respond to the words of the vineyard owner? Does the Good Samaritan return, and what happens to the victim? Does the Pharisee ever understand his spiritual arrogance? Once they get inside, do the five "wise" virgins enjoy the banquet, knowing that their sisters are still outside? Why DID a guest at the wedding feast show up poorly attire and refuse to explain why? How we resolve those issues in our own minds tells us a lot about our own attitudes. Are they in line with God's or not?

If there is some overall wisdom to be gleaned from parables, it is this: God's ways are not our ways. Parables tell us that the fight for the kingdom is not played out in palaces and war rooms, but in the everyday events of our everyday lives. The struggle for the kingdom is carried out in our divided hearts, where we sometimes mutter "Thy kingdom come" without fully realizing that we might have to pray "My kingdom go". (Alan Redpath, British Baptist Preacher). The parable demands that each of us answer the question "What do YOU say? How we answer defines our moral landscape.