28th A c) The Wedding Banquet. (THE REFUSAL IS OF THE RISEN AND RETURNING JESUS MADE THROUGH THE PREACHING OF CHRISTIAN MISSIONARIES).
1) The story of the wedding banquet, another traditional image or
biblical metaphor for the kingdom of God, plays out its sad history of
REFUSAL.
The invitation offered by the first group of servants (prophets) is
refused. But the invitation offered by the second group of servants
encounters not only indifference but also hostility, to the point that
those servants are executed.
2) In this parable the invitation that is rejected is that of the
risen and returning Jesus which is made through the preaching of
Christian missionaries. Persecution has been predicted by Jesus, but so
too has the judgment on the persecutors. The vivid description in verse
7 of how the king's army destroyed those murderers and their city surely
brought to the minds of Matthew's first readers the Roman conquest of
Jerusalem in A.D. 70. The claims of the "synagogue across the street"
are rejected. Because the professedly and publicly religious people of Israel
refused the invitation to the kingdom of God, a general invitation has
been made to "everyone they met, bad as well as good."
However the last part of the parable makes clear that mere
acceptance of the invitation does not guarantee participation in the
banquet. The community of Matthew, however, cannot claim election or
membership in a community as their surety of salvation. It is not enough
to just say, Yes Lord. One must receive Jesus' invitation to the
banquet and ACT UPON IT. To be properly dressed is to put on Christ by
deeds of justice and charity, to be properly clothed with the deeds of
Christian discipleship.
3) We believe that we are the successors of Matthew's community, we
are part of the church. By our baptism we too received a white
garment a symbol of our putting on new life in Christ. But we must ask
ourselves if our lives have continued to put on Christ. Do we do deeds
of justice and charity or do we just do what everyone else does? Do we
critically examine our life and our decisions against the teachings of
Jesus. It is not just the Jewish leaders, the synagogue across the
street that can be rejected by Jesus. We can too if we refuse Jesus and
his call to bear fruit, put on Christ by deeds of justice and charity.
l) The parables of Jesus when originally uttered summoned his hearers to critical decision.
2) These same parables, when applied allegorically by Matthew to his church, are not to be read with complacency on the assumption that they deal with the rejection of Jewish leaders.
3) Today they summon Christians who are the heirs of Matthew, not
merely to respond with promises of labor in the vineyard, but to bear
fruit and to "put on Christ" by deeds of justice and charity.
