Jesus liked a good time. He enjoyed eating with friends, didn’t act holier‑than‑thou even when his critics came along at least to watch. His disciples got called out for not fasting a lot; they liked a good, solid meal. The Lost Sheep, Lost Coin, and Prodigal Son stories all end with throwing a party. His first miracle happened in the middle of wedding festivities. And there’s no telling what it was like when he fed thousands of people or healed the hopeless. You know folks were celebrating.

So when he told this story about a king who threw a massive banquet to celebrate his son’s wedding, it fits. The Son of God is comparing the Kingdom of Heaven to his father’s reign. It’s a party, and the guest list is so long it breaks the clipboard. Go with it.

But tread carefully. Jesus’ stories hit you with stuff you want to hear and stuff you’d rather skip. It’s the difference between reading to feel good and reading for that which challenges perceptions about God and our relations with others. It’s Jesus the all-loving God, and Jesus the dangerous radical.

Wait! Can you have both?

Event of the Year

The king prepares for this great celebration, an insane feast.  A state dinner set with the best culinary finds and wine flowing like from a busted fire hydrant. He sends out the invitations. Twice. But something strange happens. The invitees ghost him, ignoring his messengers and going about their usual business. Why wouldn’t they want to be at the event of the year? But they won’t come.

So the king decides if that’s the way these people will be, he’ll invite the ones who actually appreciate a blessing. He sends out the order for his servants to find anyone on the streets, no matter how respectable or despicable they might be and bring them in. The banquet hall is packed, and this party is lit!

Ingrate Guest

Except…there’s this bum who didn’t even try to find some kind of appropriate dress for the occasion. (Now, to bring in some context here, the original listeners to the story knew often at these regal affairs, the guests were presented with a wedding overcoat upon arrival.) The slob didn’t change into what was likely a fine robe to cover his rags. Insulted and infuriated at being disrespected, the king has him thrown out again into the darkness, a place of such regret there is “weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

1^st Reading: The Easy Take

Zoom out a little. Put this in perspective. The king (read God) has prepared a feast for all who will accept him and come to his celebration table for his son (read Jesus.) But there are those who refuse to accept the invitation (read the religious elite who didn’t want Jesus’ message.) So God says Jesus the Son will extend the invitation instead to the street people, (read those whom the priests would despise as not being good enough for their company, usually prostitutes and tax collectors who collaborated with the Romans.)

Now, what’s not to love about this story? It’s a beautiful picture. You’ve got a portrayal of God whose table is open to everybody who shows up. Good, bad, messy, broken; they’re all welcome to receive his love and the message of his Son. It’s another smackdown for the oppressive, legalistic religious leaders, and it’s uplifting for those who aren’t good enough according to their kind.

Yeah God! Jesus, you nailed that part! Party on.

Oh, and the jerk who wouldn’t change his clothes? Let’s do some serious theology here. All are invited to God’s banquet, but there’s an expectation when the invitation is accepted. He’s the one who wants God’s love without God’s lifestyle. Wants salvation without transformation. This guy represents those who think they can have a God who loves and saves but not have to change their former values.

Grace Invites Everybody, But Transformation Is the Door Fee

Yes, there is grace in that God calls everyone, and there is no other access to God besides accepting his invitation through the Son. But once accepted, a new path and way of living should be evident. It’s the familiar, but true, grace is free but not cheap.

Yes sir, dear Jesus, you’ve set this one down just fine. What, there are a few things we’ve might have missed in the story? What do you mean? Go over it again.

Tunnel Down

This is where a shovel is needed to dig deeper, deeper into reading how this was heard and understood to the crowd around Jesus as he told this story in the Temple. Not only would it have a different meaning to those who heard it straight from Jesus’ lips, it can have a different twist in what it means today.

Jesus starts by saying the Kingdom of Heaven can be compared to…. Compared to, meaning some parts match, some parts don’t. You’ve got to give honest focus on that. Don’t force the story to say what you want, what you’re thinking the Kingdom of Heaven should be or is not.

Jesus’ illustration is in the story of a king. It’s an allegory which means the details in the story represent things or others beyond just what’s in the story. Who is to say that the king in this story is actually God acting in his kingdom? As it is, the translation from the original Greek for the word king means human king, mortal, no more divine than you and I are. So who is this guy supposed to be?

Maybe Jesus isn’t saying “This king IS God.” Maybe he’s saying, “This king shows you something, but he’s no God.”

The king’s invitations are rejected. Again, who wouldn’t want to be at the event of the year? Maybe they didn’t like him personally, or some policy he had, or maybe they were afraid of what might happen in the king’s house. Maybe they don’t trust him. Maybe he’s shady. Some of the invitees treated the king’s messengers badly, even killing some of them. Who would do that, except maybe those who’d had previous experience with this king, who who’ve had bad experiences with this ruler. The drama has some secrets it’s concealing.

The king snaps. He retaliates by sending out his national army to do away with these murderers, even burns the city. That’s rather heavy-handed, but apparently it’s also how he works. When the street people are invited in, it may have been more like rounded up. At any rate, seeing what the others got for refusing to go, maybe they thought they had no choice.

The banquet hall was filled though, just like the king wanted. It’s when he is greeting his guests (never let a good photo-op go to waste), he spots the guy without proper wedding guest apparel. He challenges the rebel as to why he’s not dressed appropriately. The guy has no reply. Likely it wouldn’t have mattered if he had given a defense. The king flips out, wants him gone, and into the outer darkness, etc. he was sent.

Another Angle

This doesn’t sound like God. This sounds like… Herod.

The Temple crowd knew Herod as a egomaniacal ruler just like this. What Herod didn’t like usually meant rousing his sadistical wrath just for breathing wrong. Most people knew the more space between Herod and themselves, the better. In other words, stay out of his parties or someone could lose their head. (John the Baptist was a good example.)

If you protested Herod’s regime, you better be prepared for battle because the slightest disagreement would have him marshal the troops.

When this guy was noticed by the king for having not dressed for the party, the Temple crowd also knew what that meant. If you spotted or pointed out what was anything from inappropriate to downright immoral in Herod, you were as good as gone. Outer darkness very well could be prison for you and despair of death was likely. (Again, such was JTB’s fate.)

Get perspective here. This narrative was told right in the Temple. It’s dangerously political. Jesus had already called out the Temple priests and Jewish religious leaders for their rejection of him as Messiah. Now he was taking a different stance, this time against Roman rule. Before the week was over, Jesus will be standing in Herod’s court, silent. Ironically, Herod would mock him by putting a royal robe on him, (Luke 23:11) dressing Jesus as the kind of king he actually is. By the time that day was over, Jesus would be in his own outer darkness.

So yeah, the Kingdom of Heaven can be compared to this king’s party, but it’s nothing like the kingdoms of this world. To approximate even in part God’s kingdom is to understand the inclusiveness of God in love to all the world.

In other words, choose your party wisely.

“For many are called, but few are chosen.”

Matthew 22:1-14

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The Trouble with Jesus: Considerations Before You Walk Away by Constance Hastings

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