Psalm 23 Philippians 4:1-9 Matthew 22:1-14

If you are one for whom the image of God is one of disapproval and rejection, you might interpret this Gospel message as one that affirms that misconception.  If you are one for whom the image of God is one of graciousness, mercy, and all-inclusiveness, you find this parable disconcerting.

It is clear that Jesus is targeting the religious leaders in his audience.  Jesus is speaking to the people in the Temple during this last week of his earthly life.  This parable is the vehicle through which he condemns the religious leaders of his faith – condemning those who have denied the gift of God’s grace and mercy in their denial of faith in Jesus Christ – condemning religious leaders of today who deny, for their own self-serving motives, the reality of God’s grace and mercy freely offered to all; all are worthy in God’s sight.

These religious leaders should have been the first to accept their invitation to the sacred feast, yet they had snubbed that invitation; in fact, they would murder the one who came to deliver the invitation.  Thus, that invitation to the wedding feast – the invitation to salvation through faith in Jesus Christ would be extended and readily accepted by those assumed the last to be considered worthy of salvation.  All would be invited.  This invitation to all is not surprising to us; we are among those who have accepted that invitation and experienced God’s grace and mercy.

But, then, the parable of today’s Gospel lesson takes a dark turn.  The inappropriately garbed invitee to the wedding feast is rejected – there’s that disapproving castigating god again!!

But no, it is important to understand a bit about first-century Jewish culture in order to better interpret Jesus’ message in this Parable of the Wedding Feast.   in Jesus’ day there was the expectation of being properly prepared when attending a wedding feast.  If someone arrived without the suitable wedding attire, it was made available.  For someone to reject this readily available accommodation of the proper attire was equivalent to thumbing his nose at the accepted social standards of the day.  When in Israel earlier this year, visiting a mosque in Hebron, we women were required to don the full-length hooded capes made available to us by our gracious guides, covering ourselves from head to toe; to refuse would have been scandalous and insensitive to our Muslim hosts.

To interpret the message of the parable more clearly, we must discern that the rejection of the wedding robe by the wedding guest is equivalent to our rejecting the gift of God’s grace so freely offered – the gift of our salvation through our faith in Jesus Christ, the gift so significant that Jesus died and rose again to make it available to us, the gift that is our only necessary attire for life everlasting.  Choosing to reject that gift so readily offered would be to find ourselves in outer darkness – tossed there by our own accord in spite of God’s fervent plea to accept the gift so freely offered.

There is a wonderful book that I have recommended in this month’s newsletter, and I adjure you once again to take time to read and digest.  Life of the Beloved is authored by Henri Nouwen.  The book centers on the four-fold action of our “wedding feast” – the Holy Eucharist.  If you follow closely as we move through the words of Institution of our Holy Feast, you will note these four actions that enact Jesus’ actions at the Last Supper:  Take, bless, break, share.  Jesus “takes” the bread; Jesus gives thanks and, thus, blesses the bread; Jesus breaks the bread; Jesus shares the bread.

Nouwen applies those four actions to our lives as God’s chosen and beloved children.  The first action of being “taken” in Nouwen’s understanding is more accurately described as our being chosen by God – chosen from the time even long before our conception in our mother’s womb.  Each one of us, unique in all creation, is beloved by our Creator; each of us is chosen to be God’s child, chosen and beloved.  Why else would God have created us?

This understanding of being beloved is formed from the earliest of our conscious understanding of our being the beloved of our earthly caregivers.  Our understanding of the concept of being worthy of being beloved is shaped or misshaped by those who care for us from infancy onward.  When that concept of being worthy and beloved is misshaped, we struggle through life, too often teetering on the edge of outer darkness – not because God places us there, but because our earliest caregivers implant that sense of unworthiness.  Again, and again, we adults are to be reminded that we must not underestimate the impact of our words and actions on the lives of the children who look up to us.  We are creating their image of God.  Is God gracious and merciful to all – all who are chosen, worthy, and beloved?  Or, is God a god of disapproval and rejection, too eager to declare us unworthy?

Why did God create us if God did not intend for us to be beloved?

Euodia and Syntyche were significant leaders of the first century Church in Philippi.  They were dependent upon the skilled guidance of the Apostle Paul as they sought to gather more and more Christians of greatly diverse backgrounds into this circle.  As is characteristic of all human relationships, there were differences of opinions amongst these earliest Christians, disgruntlement between leaders, and grumblings of followers.

In his letter to the first Christians of Philippi from which comes these beautiful words of our epistle lesson, the Apostle Paul is chiding them to garb themselves in the proper attire of the beloved people of God: gentleness, gratitude, peace – those garments that are the fruits of the spirit of those who have accepted the gift of God’s grace.

Take, bless, break, share.  Know that you have been taken by God as God’s beloved; accept that you are worthy of God’s blessing; be broken as Christ’s Body is broken for us so that you might go forth to share in inviting others into the Body of Christ – clothing yourselves in the garment of Jesus Christ, our host, as you take your place at the great Wedding Feast that is now and yet to come; and the God of peace will be with you – you, the beloved.