PreacherRhetorica
  • Home and to sermons
    • Year B frontispiece >
      • Proper 5B
      • Seventh of Easter
      • Sixth of Easter
      • Fifth of Easter
      • Fourth of Easter homily
      • Third of Easter
      • Second of Easter
      • Easter Day
      • Maundy Thursday
      • Palm Sunday
      • Lent 5
      • Next Before Lent
      • Presentation (Epiphany 4)
      • Third of Epiphany
      • Second of Epiphany
      • Epiphany (2)
      • Epiphany
      • Holy Innocents
      • Christmas
      • The Reign of Christ (Proper 29B)
      • Christ the King (Proper 29B)
      • Proper 28B (2nd Bf Advent)
      • 3rd Bf Advent (CofE)
      • Proper 27B
      • All Saints Sunday
      • Proper 26B
      • Proper 25B
      • Simon and Jude
      • Proper 24B
      • Proper 23B
      • Proper 22B
      • Proper 22B homily
      • Proper 21B
      • Proper 20B
      • Proper 19B
      • Proper 18B sermon
      • Proper 18B performance poem
      • Proper 17B
      • Proper 16B
      • Proper 15B
      • Proper 14B
      • Proper 13B
      • Proper 12B
      • Mary Magdalene homily
      • Proper 11B
      • Proper 10B
      • Proper 9B homily
      • Proper 8B
      • Birth of John the Baptist
      • Proper 7B homily
      • Proper 6B
      • Trinity Sunday
      • Pentecost
      • Lent 4 Mothering Sunday
      • Lent 3
      • Lent 2
      • Lent 1
      • 2nd Before Lent
      • 3rd Before Lent
      • 2nd of Christmas B homily
      • Christmas Day
      • Advent 4B
      • Advent 3B
      • Advent 2B
      • Advent 1B homily
      • Year A frontispiece >
        • Proper 28A (2 Bf Advent)
        • Proper 27A (3 Bf Advent)
        • Proper 26A (4 Bf Advent)
        • Proper 25A Last after Trinity
        • Proper 24A
        • Proper 23A
        • Proper 22A
        • Proper 21A
        • St Matthew
        • Proper 20A
        • Proper 19A
        • Proper 18A
        • Proper 17A
        • Proper 16A
        • Proper 15A
        • Proper 14A
        • Proper 13A
        • Proper 12A
        • Proper 11A
        • Proper 10A
        • Proper 9A
        • Proper 8A
        • Proper 7A
        • Trinity Sunday (Homily)
        • Pentecost
        • Seventh of Easter (Sunday after Ascension)
        • Sixth of Easter
        • Fifth of Easter
        • Fourth of Easter
        • Third of Easter
        • Second of Easter
        • Easter (Poem)
        • Maundy Thursday
        • Palm Sunday
        • Lent 5
        • Lent 4
        • Lent 3
        • Lent 2
        • Lent 1
        • Next Bf Lent (Epiphany last)
        • 2 Bf Lent (Proper 3)
        • Epiphany 7 (RCL)
        • Epiphany 6 (3 Bf Lent)
        • Epiphany 5 (4 Bf Lent)
        • Presentation of Christ
        • Epiphany 3
        • Epiphany 2
        • Baptism of Christ (Epiphany 1)
        • The Epiphany
        • Second Sunday of Christmas
        • First Sunday of Christmas
        • Christmas Day
        • Advent 4A
        • Advent 3A
        • Advent 2A
        • Advent 1A
        • Christ the King Yr A (2)
        • Christ the King Yr A
        • Remembrance Sunday
        • All Saints' Sunday
        • Harvest Homily
        • Harvest
        • Admission of Pastoral Workers
        • Saint Thomas homily
        • Corpus Christi
        • Trinity Sunday
        • Pentecost
        • Pentecost: another example
        • Year C frontispiece >
          • Christ the King (Next bf Advent)
          • Proper 28C (2nd bf Advent)
          • Proper 27C (3rd bf Advent)
          • Proper 26C (4th bf Advent)
          • Proper 25C (Last after Trinity)
          • Proper 24C
          • Proper 23C
          • Proper 22C
          • St Michael & All Angels (homily)
          • Proper 21C
          • Proper 20C
          • Proper 19C (story sermon)
          • Proper 18C
          • Proper 17C
          • Proper 16C
          • Proper 15C
          • Proper 14C
          • Proper 13C
          • Proper 12C
          • Proper 11C
          • Proper 10C
          • Proper 9C
          • Proper 8C
          • Proper 7C
          • Proper 6C performance poem
          • Proper 5C
          • Proper 4C
          • Trinity
          • Pentecost homily
          • Seventh of Easter
          • Ascension Day
          • Sixth of Easter
          • Fifth of Easter
          • Fourth of Easter
          • Third of Easter
          • Second of Easter
          • Easter homily
          • Easter (story sermon)
          • Maundy Thursday
          • Palm Sunday
          • Lent 5C
          • Mothering Sunday
          • Lent 4C homily
          • Lent 3C (story sermon)
          • Lent 2C
          • Lent 1C
          • Ash Wednesday homily
          • Next Bf Lent/Last of Epiphany
          • Epiphany 4 (RCL)
          • Second Before Lent
          • Presentation of Christ
          • Fourth of Epiphany
          • Third of Epiphany
          • Baptism of Christ
          • The Epiphany
          • First of Christmas homily
          • Christmas Day homily
          • Christmas Day
          • Advent 4C
          • Advent 3C
          • Advent 2C
          • Advent 1C
        • Non-lectionary sermons >
          • Plough Sunday
          • Advent and Christmas ideas
          • Christmas Day homily
          • A Christmas Tale
          • Remembrance 2013
          • Remembrance Sunday
          • Harvest homily 2
          • Harvest
          • Harvest homily
          • Harvest Water
          • New Pastoral Ministry
        • Ascension
  • Homiletics
    • A Definition of Preaching
    • Speaking locally
    • Notes from a masterclass
    • Design analysis 1
    • Design analysis 2
    • Encouraging feedback
    • Preaching in an amnesic society
    • The Aldi bag syndrome
    • Blog
  • Disciplecraft
  • Recommended
    • Preaching Fools
  • Second of Epiphany

Be ready for the wedding
Matthew 22.1-14 (Proper 23A, Trinity 16)

Picture
“Why ever did we say we’d go,” and he curses as he struggles to remember how to tie a bow tie. “It was your idea so there’s no getting out of it now,” she replies unsympathetically straining at the zip of the silk frock she hasn’t worn for months. Parties can be fraught. One you’ve looked forward to for months can turn out to be awful; another you drag yourself to only out of politeness turns into a great evening that’s over too quickly. If you’re the host, there’s the worry of getting it right, and the horror if something goes dreadfully wrong. The embarrassing incident that someone videos isn’t always so funny if you’re the one trying to make everyone feel comfortable. Or perhaps it’ll be the one that everyone remembers: “Didn’t we have a lovely time ...” Parties—fraught and fragile or fun-filled and fantastic (funtastic!).

It’s interesting then, how often parties of one sort or another figure in Jesus’ teaching and life. This one is definitely at the fraught end of the scale. It starts off promising enough—this is to be a real hum-dinger of a party; lavish in its provisions; a celebration of love—a feast, a real feast, for a wedding. Yes, that’s what the Kingdom of God is like—a humdinger of a party that marks something wonderful in human experience. Everyone can understand the joy of that. This is one to look forward to: you’ll buy the full new gear for this, this is something so special.

But what do the invited guests do? They make light of it. Can this really be? They make light of it. How devastating is that?

“Sorry I can’t come, I’ve got to go and look at my farm.”

“I’m in the middle of a deal so I can’t come today I’m afraid.”

“I’ve just got married myself so I can’t be troubled by your son’s wedding.” Actually that’s an excuse from Luke’s version of the story, but it makes the point. The excuses are feeble or even insulting, a real slap in the face.

What is going on in this? The story takes place in society where things of honour and status relationships count in every circumstance. It’s the invitation of a king. If we think about what comes with the invitation, or what those invited thought came with it, we might get near what’s going on. Think of those royal progresses we see in film dramas about the Tudors—what an honour it was to be invited to the royal court, but the downside was that with the invitation came the obligation to host Queen Bess if she decided to return the courtesy. Entertaining the queen for a week could bankrupt you and your family!

Is that why the parable’s guests make their excuses? They’re afraid they will have to ask the king back. That’s why their fear is so deep it turns to violence—they ‘seized his slaves, mistreated them, and killed them.’

The king is enraged. Surely on two counts—first, the murder and the violence against those who are his emissaries; and second, because the guests were so calculating in their initial responses. There is no hint of reciprocation required in the invitation; the king’s intention is wholly about joy and celebration but they refuse to accept that. He is offering to come close to them; to share all his joy, but they will not have it. They are determined to keep their distance, whatever the cost.

To the first audience hearing the story it’s plain enough. We’re invited to the king’s party – but most refuse; refusing to see in Jesus any invitation, and they will eventually mistreat and kill the one who is the son and the emissary amongst them. And they will do the same to the son’s followers who keep the invitation before them.

And Matthew the gospeller turns the story again so that a new audience can hear its power. A generation or two after Jesus’ death Matthew sees the destruction of beloved Jerusalem at the hands of the imperial forces. This is desperate and disastrous – hardly a stone left upon a stone – and Matthew and his people are devastated. But the parable of Jesus has all the more power now: ‘The king was enraged. He sent his troops, destroyed those murderers, and burned their city.’

That’s the consequence of making light of a royal invitation. Making light of such an invitation is devastating. But what is lost to the invited is now given to the people of the streets – those with no position to guard, no worries about protecting themselves or their honour – simply ready to enjoy what’s offered. God’s kingdom is like that. That, however, is no reason to gloat over the misfortune of those originally invited—far from it—and that’s where the last detail of the parable, the incident about the wedding garment, comes in.

Some have thought this a kind of stray story that Matthew has stitched, as it were, on to the original parable, but I don’t think so. Yes, the bad and the good are there at the great celebration but they aren’t simply left to the state they are in – good or bad. When the king actually comes amongst them they need to be clothed with the results of his generous invitation. They need to be clothed with ‘the cloak of righteousness’ as the prophet has it (Isaiah 61.10). Yes, they’ve come in off the street in their workaday dress, but once the party is in full swing, when the king’s there himself, something more is required.

In other words there is still a choice to be made. Don’t gloat over those first unfortunates. They were calculating instead of being open to receive. And that calculation did them no good. You have received open heartedly but you must make sure the gift touches your heart and soul. Turn receiving into response. Don’t let the invitation go for nothing – there’s no time to be lost, dress yourself in the joy of the party – live its celebration in righteousness and grace. The king will be here soon – be ready for the party.