Weddings have a way of bringing out the best in a family and also the
worst. Now, I know you know I was in
Ohio last week to officiate the wedding of my youngest niece, and I know you
know I have stories to tell about it.
However, since I post my sermons on a blog site and they are open for
everyone to read, I think it best if I simply skip over the details and allow
your imagination to run wild.
Weddings are potent occasions. Think
how Mario Puzo introduces us to the Corleone family by setting the beginning
his first Godfather book at a
wedding. Francis Ford Coppola’s movie
adaption of the wedding magnificently captures the subtleties and nuances of
each family member’s character, giving us a glimpse of what will unfold for
each throughout the trilogy.
Jesus, himself a master storyteller, understands how the setting of a
wedding connects with his listeners.
They know firsthand how weddings bring to the surface all kinds of
family and community “stuff.” Today we
hear one of Jesus’ wedding parables.
Like all good stories, it takes unexpected twists and turns, startling
the audience and creating controversy.
The son of a king is getting married.
The king prepares a lavish banquet to celebrate. This is what you would expect. So too is the guest list. The king invites all the local dignitaries
and worthies. Startling detail #1: the
guests refuse to attend. #2: they abuse
and mistreat the king’s messengers, even going so far as to kill some. Who, in their right mind, would do such a
thing? Well, in Jesus’ story, these
people represent the religious leaders and social hierarchy of the day who have
ignored God’s prophets for generations. In
the story, the king’s response is predicable: he sends his troops to punish the
offenders.
Now, we might expect the king to call off the entire celebration, but
here the plot twists again. He sends his
messengers to comb the streets, inviting everyone they encounter, both “the
good” and “the bad.” As a result, the
wedding hall is filled with guests, but it is a motley crew of folks to be
sure. These people represent those who
have decided to respond to Jesus’ call to repent, to believe, and to
follow.
The final startling detail comes as the king surveys his last minute
guests. One person is not wearing a
ceremonial wedding robe. The king
confronts him and orders his attendants to bind the person hands and feet and
to throw him into the “outer darkness”.
There are many different interpretations as to what the wedding robe
represents. It could be faith or
holiness of life or even charity. Some
connect it to the Book of Revelation where the faithful are clothed with a white
robe. Some say the robe would have been
provided by the king while others hold each person would have been responsible
for bringing his or her own robe. It is
not clear on whose side Jesus’ initial audience would have sided. Would they have thought it offensive the
guest appeared without the robe or would they have judged the king to be
unreasonable given the last-minute invitation?
This much is clear. As Jesus
tells the story, every other guest manages to do something this one person does
not. His decision to appear without a
robe is a conscious and deliberate choice.
I describe it as an act of defiant individualism. He is willing to come to the wedding banquet,
but only on his own terms.
I have said before I believe one of the most important steps in our
spiritual life is a move from a “me-orientation” to an “us-orientation.” It is an important step in one’s family life,
in one’s civic life, and in one’s religious life. If you are going to have a healthy marriage,
happy family, sustained employment, make contributions in the community where
you live and the church where you worship, you are going to have to do two
things. First, you will have to discover
what you can contribute to the common good and second, you must discern which
of your personal desires and aspirations will need to be laid aside in order to
become a part of something much bigger than yourself.
A newspaper article from the September 29 Carteret County News-Times illustrates what the opposite of defiant
individualism looks like. The report chronicles
the experience of two Morehead City residents who rode out Hurricanes Irma and
Maria on two different islands in the Caribbean. One of these people is Sharp Kemp. He and his wife, Margie, live on St. John’s and
were there when Irma did significant damage and then when the island took a direct
hit from Maria. Allow me to read from
the article:
Mr. Kemp wants to stay and rebuild his charter boat
business, according to his father, Skip Kemp of Morehead City.
“He had three boats and lost two of them, but he’s
alright,” said Mr. Kemp, who has sporadic contact with his son when he’s able
to get a signal on the ravaged island.
“A lot of houses around them were destroyed, but they
still have a roof,” said Skip Kemp. “Right now they are staying at [Margie’s]
father’s house on the island. They’re
putting up about 20 people who have been displaced from their homes.”
He said Ms. Kemp’s father, Tom Coxe of Suffolk, Va.,
was on the island during Hurricane Maria.
“He had gone down to take relief supplies before Maria
hit, and then he got stuck on the island. He’s still there helping,” Mr. Kemp said.
Perhaps the opposite of defiant individualism is radical selflessness
and hospitality – an orientation to employ who you are and what you have in the
service of others.
The man without the wedding garment is judged rather harshly for his
defiant individualism. He is cast out of
the wedding celebration where the community is gathered. Focusing on self-interest alone actually has
the effect of impoverishing his life.
The same judgment holds for anyone who presses upon others a defiant
sense of individualism; be it in a family, a neighborhood, a community, or a
church. Such persons limit their world,
their existence, and their spirit to their own finite vision of life; never
once thinking they could find something greater if they just looked beyond
themselves.
Martin Luther talked about sin as being “incurvatus in se” – a state of
being turned in on one’s self to such a degree that no one else matters. In the final analysis, unwillingness to let
go of self in order to join with others blocks a person’s path to fuller life
in God’s kingdom.
Through this parable, Jesus invites each of us to put on the garment of
selfless humility and to join with a community of faithful believers in order
to experience the richness and joy of God’s kingdom on earth. How are you going to respond to this
invitation? What of yourself do you need
to lay aside in order to accept it?
