20th Sunday after Pentecost

Sermon- 10/11/26- Matthew 22:1-14:

Parable of the Wedding Banquet

There's no way around it. This is a particularly difficult and, frankly, chilling passage.

After a king who seems to represent God destroys the folks who killed his slaves and burns their city down, there is a wedding guest who makes an apparently innocent mistake, who didn't get the memo about wearing a certain wedding robe, and this king sends him into the outer darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth. I'm tempted to say, maybe Jesus was just having a really bad day when he preached this parable. I think we've all had days where we may have wanted certain people we don't like to be sent out into the outer darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth. After all, Jesus was fully human.

But in all seriousness, what are we supposed to do with this parable? First of all, there is a larger context to this parable. As Matt Skinner from Luther Seminary's "Sermon Brainwave" podcast points out, Jesus is continuing a conversation with a very specific group of people, the temple aristocracy, with tremendous responsibilities to steward some of the most important rituals and symbols of his day, not to regular folks. There's a deep concern for bad actors among those elite, folks who are using religion to prey on others or who at least are indifferent to the opportunities handed over to them as stewards of God's mysteries. Also, we have to

remember the larger context of the gospel of Matthew, in which we have recently read the parable of the lost sheep (ch 18), where Jesus shows tremendous concern for not losing any of these little ones, as well as Matthew 20, the workers in the vineyard, in which folks who work even just one hour receive a just wage, a day's salary, enough to feed their family for another day. There are warnings in Matthew 18 about those who put stumbling blocks in front of the most vulnerable. So Matthew's gospel already features some tremendous statements of grace and concern of God for the vulnerable.

So the overall image of God we have in Matthew is a God of grace and mercy, one with a particular concern for the most vulnerable. How, then, do we understand this parable in light of that image? Well, as I mentioned, Jesus seems particularly frustrated at particular members of religious leadership who are using religion to prey on others, or who are at least indifferent about the great responsibility they carry. It seems to me that, if he felt that frustrated back then, Jesus would certainly feel similar frustrations with any number of church leaders today who are preaching fire and brimstone, who are using guilt, fear, and shame to control people and to justify all kinds of abuse and neglect. I can imagine Jesus saying, "friend, who gave you the microphone? Who dressed you in the fake robes of a preacher who is supposed to represent God's love and grace? Who gave you permission to preach this gospel of judgment, misogyny, guilt, fear and homophobia in my name? Who allowed you to use the image of the obedient

Mary to justify domestic violence and abuse? Bind him hand and foot, and throw him away from the pulpit, where he belongs, where he will begin to understand the depth of the harm he has caused, and in so doing start to weep and gnash his teeth. And in the meantime get someone else wearing a true wedding robe who represents my love, grace, and mercy to come take over the pulpit. For many pretend to be called. But few actually are preaching the message of love I have chosen." After all, earlier in Matthew, in chapter 7, Jesus warns us to beware of wolves in sheep's clothing. Not everything is as it seems, as Little Red Riding Hood discovered. Just

because it sounds like your Grandmother's voice doesn't mean ii is your loving Grandmother. It may in fact be someone wanting to take advantage of you. And when they do, I believe, Jesus is pissed. Anyone who has received one of those prank calls knows what I'm talking about.

There are times where anger is the right response. When something precious to us is being threatened, I believe anger is the natural and correct response. God would not have invented anger for no reason. When someone is trying to take advantage of us, especially someone in a position of authority, the correct response is anger. When someone manipulates others for personal gain, the correct response is anger. Now, anger does not mean revenge. It does not mean we have to go kill people and burn down their city, or throw them into the outer darkness with suffering. But anger can be a powerful motivator for us to boldly speak up for justice, even when we have to take a risk and speak truth to power, and risk losing jobs, reputation, or worse. Anger can cause us to say, these guests are not working out. These friends are not good for me. We need a new guest list. We need a new friend list. The ones who are trying to gel me addicted again, the ones who are trying lo get me into a gang, the friends who pretend to like me to get something from me, they're not real friends. Time for a new guest list.

Someone mentioned a wise quote from another priest during our text study recently, I

don't remember who it was from. We don't have to like everyone, but we do have to love them. Jesus calls us to love our neighbors, and even to love our enemies. Even that neighbor or that family member who has been the thorn in our side for years, that one whom we would love for God to send to the outer darkness, Jesus wants us to love them. Now, we can be angry with them and still love them. We can protect what is valuable from them, and we can protect ourselves from being taken advantage of, and we can still love them in the sense of wanting the highest good for them. And, for some people, who simply refuse to change, who insist on taking advantage, the best thing may be to put distance between us, to choose not to have a relationship, or even to physically move to a different place, at least for a certain time.

The gospel today is emotionally charged with anger. But anger is not inherently bad.

Anger is simply protective energy. At its best, anger is used to protect ourselves and those we love from harm. Anger is ultimately rooted in love, because it is rooted in our own self-love, our valid desire and right to not be taken advantage of, and our right to have those we love not be taken advantage of. When leaders take advantage, Jesus is angry. I believe, when people in positions of authority take advantage, Jesus invites us to get angry. Not for the sake of revenge. For the sake of standing up for justice. For the sake of motivation to stand up for the kind of world Jesus believed in, the kind of world Jesus fought for. Jesus stood up for a world of justice and love. He believed in that world so much that he put his life on the line and was willing to suffer death for that vision. And, as we know, his death was not the final word. In the end, Jesus was resurrected. New life, and love, are the end of the story. May God work through us, and our anger, to stand up courageously for justice, for the Reign of God in which no one is taken advantage of or manipulated, that your Kin-dom come, your will be done, on earth as in heaven.

Amen.