“The Kingdom as a Banquet”
October 15th, 2023
Rev. Rebecca Migliore
The Kin-dom as banquet. A table spread with all the trappings—all those delicacies, all those treats, a fountain of abundance. It is Thanksgiving Day every day in the kin-dom! And banquet is one of our most visible images in worship—whether we consciously know it or not. Every time we come to the Lord’s table, we are invited to the banquet spread by God. Protestants talk about a table, and not an altar—for you eat at a table, you sacrifice at an altar.
And since we are reading from Exodus these days, we can’t forget that God is the one who provided food in the wilderness: manna as bread, quail as meat, water as drink. Jesus is often seen at table, eating with all kinds of people, especially those who wouldn’t have been on anyone’s guest list. We pray every Sunday, “give us this day our daily bread”—recognizing that God is involved in the food that strengthens our body, in the drink that gladdens our hearts.
So kin-dom as banquet. What does that say to us today?
Maybe it reminds us that the kin-dom is supposed to be a feast, a celebration, a gathering of all kinds of people—from all sides of the family. It should inspire joy—something our Calvinist foreancestors seemed to have forgotten. We should be excited coming to the kin-dom. It is a privilege to receive an invitation. Our names are on God’s mind. We are the chosen.
That is the premise of the parable. That is kin-dom in the ideal, kin-dom in the best possible circumstances, kin-dom that we should aspire to, work towards, try to snatch moments of in our everyday lives. But anyone who has ever planned a party knows that it rarely goes off without a hitch. We live in a fallen world. Parties are seldom perfect.
And we live in the in between time—where the kin-dom, God’s reign on earth is dawning but has not fully arrived. (And as we are nearing the end of Matthew’s gospel, ominous signs of what is to come are more frequent.)
So, there is a wedding, and a wedding banquet. Remember in this culture, this wasn’t an evening affair—it was multiple days. It was a very big deal. Beautiful invitations have gone out to all the right people. Come, says the king, come and celebrate my son’s wedding (your future king, by the way). But when the day arrives, there is a snag. The king’s people go out to gather those invited, but they don’t come.
So the king sends other people (the Bible says, slaves--I am not prepared today to venture into the hierarchy of king and slaves so casually inserted into this story. I can only imagine that Jesus uses this imagery because it was a way of life known to those who were hearing it. We do not have to continue to support that abuse and misuse of power.) And although these followers of the king are instructed to urge the invitees to “get a move on” by saying: “All is prepared. The oxen and the fat calves have been slaughtered. The goose is cooked. The food is getting cold.” Some pay little attention to this important event. Some feign “other business” that has claimed their time—at their farm, at their business. Still others are more violent. They seize these messengers, and terrorize them, even killing some.
Isn’t this still true today? Doesn’t God send us invitations to the joy that there is in life, to the opportunity to gather with others we don’t always see, to celebrate all the gifts we have been given, to eat and drink and lift praise to the One who provides so much for us? And don’t we sometimes push it aside? Aren’t there often other things that seem to be of higher priority? I hope none of us participates in abusing others, or talking or acting in ways that elevate a culture of violence. We don’t have to do that extreme to miss out on the invitation.
It seems that Jesus’ message is fairly consistent. The ones who think they are on top of the world, are the most prestigious, the most renowned, they are the ones who think they are always welcome at the king’s banquet, but they do not show up. They are too busy doing other, less important, things. It is a not so gentle nudge reminding us to put God and God’s work higher up on our to do lists.
Our parable suggests there are consequences to these actions, or inactions. The king gets angry. The king seeks vengeance. The king uses kingly might to track down murderers and ravages their strongholds. The king wants to bring justice to the land. (And in our current world situation, we can imagine how people who have been wronged want to kill the murderers and raze their cities.) Our God is a God who sends out invitation to a spectacular feast of life abundant. Woe to those who ignore it, or set it aside for later. Woe to those who mangle the message, or worse yet, steal life from others. God does not look favorably on that. And yet, the king in this story, does the very same in the name of justice. It is a thought to ponder.
So, getting back to the meal that is quickly attracting flies and congealing and starting to spoil in the Mideast heat. What to do? We don’t want to put it all in the landfill? (Even if we could put it in the compost heap instead.) The king gets another idea. Open up the doors, invite anyone who will listen to come and eat. And the king sends out the king’s people to the highways and the byways of the city. Jesus says the good and the bad are let in.
Think about that. We are the ones who are the king’s people. We have the banquet right here and now. We are instructed to make the invitation with open arms. We aren’t supposed to have a screening policy at the front door. We aren’t to ask for a resume, or have a panel judging someone’s appearance, or insisting on membership dues (although that would make the treasurer so much happier!) It’s an open bar. It’s a free buffet. You just have to walk in the doors.
And then we get to this confusing end to the parable. Here we have caught people on the street with this invitation, people not expecting to go to a wedding feast, and they have answered the call. They have come in. They are ready to sit down to celebrate with the king. They’ve done everything right. And yet, the king, when entering the hall, picks out someone not in wedding dress. And questions this poor person, “Why aren’t you presentable?” And there is no answer. The king has the king’s people bind this person and cast them into the outer darkness, where, as is always the case in Matthew’s gospel, “there is weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
Hey, that’s not fair, we bristle. That person didn’t get an invitation. That person wasn’t expecting to have to come to the king’s feast TODAY. That person answered the call and got punished for it. What gives?
What gives is that a robe is not just a piece of clothing. A robe is something we surround ourselves with. A robe is what we cover our person with every day. A robe is our outward facing image. A robe distinguishes us. A robe speaks of our inner nature. A robe is an image of what we hold close to ourselves, what we feel comfortable in, what we want to show to the world.
And as I thought about this robe, this wedding garment that our person isn’t wearing, I thought about the passages from the apostle Paul where he mentions clothing ourselves in God’s ways (Ephesians 6:10-17 He says, “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of God’s power. Put on the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
Therefore take up the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to withstand on that evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm.
Stand therefore, and fasten the belt of truth around your waist, and put on the breastplate of righteousness. As shoes for your feet put on whatever will make you ready to proclaim the gospel of peace. With all of these, take the shield of faith, with which you will be able to quench all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.”
And in case, we think Paul just made up this idea of “wearing” our faith—let’s remind ourselves of what the prophet Isaiah said in
Chapter 61, verse 10 (just a little ways past what Jesus used as his inaugural sermon in the gospel of Luke —you know, “the spirit of the Lord is upon me, because God has anointed me [to] bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to the prisoners; to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor) Verse 10 says, “I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my whole being shall exult in my God, for God has clothed me with the garments of salvation, God has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself with a garland, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.”
So like the parables of Matthew 25—the ten bridesmaids, the talents, and the sheep and the goats, this parable has a message of readiness. We can’t think there will be time enough to change our clothes. We shouldn’t be unprepared and not have enough extra oil, in case the bridegroom is late. We dare not bury the gifts God has given us for safety’s sake. We mustn’t ignore those around us, the least of these, for they are to be like Jesus to us.
So that robe is all important. We are to dress (not for success but for God) every day. Because we don’t know when the summons will come. The kin-dom might be ready before we are. Jesus warns, No one knows the day or the hour. So we need to have on our belt of truth, and our breastplate of righteousness, and our shoes that will make us ready to proclaim the gospel of peace, and our shield of faith, and our helmet of salvation, and our sword of the Spirit. Don’t leave home without them!
For many are called but few are chosen. That verse always makes me think of the frozen chosen. Of the idea that we, the special ones, are favored in God’s eyes, and those many, well, they aren’t. But in this context, it has a whole different hue. Many are called to the banquet. Not just the special people, but those who had no idea that they would ever receive such an invitation. And the few. I still have a little problem with “chosen.” More like the few were ready. The few responded. The few had on their wedding robes. The few had put on the armor of God. The few were living life as if the kin-dom was right around the corner. And that means that we have to always be prepared for God to appear.
Kin-dom as banquet, and so much more. The master storyteller, Jesus, has rolled so many things into this parable. Joy and anger. Welcome and justice. Those who don’t have time, and those who get swept up in the moment. It really is a tiny crystal, shining light onto our everyday world.
May we hear the invitation.
May we respond with joy.
May we have our weddings clothes on.
May we bring with us everyone we can.
May we take our place at the banquet of the Lord.
For this is the kingdom.
May it be so, Alleluia, Amen.