Dressed For Success

How many weddings of friends and family members have you already attended this year? They say it now takes brides at least eight to fifteen months to plan a wedding. So, have you been receiving those cute little "Save the Date" postcards? Couples have taken to mailing these out six or more months before the wedding to make sure no one misses the event.

No Big Mystery

Actually, that is not a recent custom. The Jews had an interesting twist on "Save the Date" cards. The king in Jesus' story today had sent out the invitations to the wedding feast months in advance-but it was their custom not to state the exact date or time. Then when everything was ready, couriers went out to say, "The time is right. All is now prepared. Come to the feast!" But as we see, the original guests refused to come, and went about their usual business.

Jesus uses this story that would be very familiar to his listeners, but he gives it a symbolic twist that they could not fail to understand. Years ago, God had invited the Jews to be the Chosen People. Prophets were sent to deliver God's message of love.

But the Jews murdered the prophets and ignored their message. Finally, when God's son came into the world, the Jews were again invited to follow him. But they disobeyed and failed to accept Jesus as the Messiah. They refused God's invitation to the banquet of new life.

The result was that the King sent his servants out to the highways and byways, to invite whatever outcasts and strangers they encountered. The new guests stand for the sinners and the Gentiles, who were ignored and despised as unclean by the Jewish religious leaders of the time. The very people you'd never expect to be invited by the King become his honored guests, and receive an invitation to eternal life.

God Loves Wine...

Jesus announces this message of transformation: God welcomes all to the banquet of love and new life. The banquet itself is the symbol of the lavish, abundant Kingdom of God which fills all our hungers and delights all our senses. Isaiah emphasizes that the Lord "will provide for all peoples a feast of rich food and choice wines, juicy, rich food and pure, choice wines."

Isn't this the perfect imagery for our times, with our current passion for gourmet food and wine? Are you surprised to hear that, in spite of all the markets crashing since 2000, the worldwide wine industry reports a rise of 60 percent in the number of wine-drinkers (winebusiness.com)? I guess we and Isaiah know what gives us pleasure in difficult times-good food and wine! But then, wonderful food and wine have always been Biblical symbols of satisfaction, pleasure, and total fulfillment.

... With Pie

People have associated God's kingdom with food for a long time. Non-believers even used to ridicule religion for holding out promises that they think are nothing but "pie in the sky when you die." (I think Jesus would enjoy that image!) There is just something so wonderful and comforting about picturing us all together, feasting at a magnificent banquet after death isn't there?

Why should this be? Because the hungers we have for good food and drink show us just a shadow of how much our soul is longing for God. The question is: are we willing to do what it takes to be a guest at that banquet? Because after the invitation, there's a little more to it.

Here comes what one boy called "the spooky part" of the story. Yes, it's a bit ominous to hear about the invited guest who was thrown out into the darkness, with the "wailing and gnashing of teeth" for refusing to put on a wedding garment.

Jesus might have borrowed this example from one of the old rabbinic stories. The duty of being prepared for the summons of God was a sacred duty; one did not know the day nor the time God might return, and the wedding garment stands for the preparations that must be made by one who is a true believer.

More than Baptism

Jesus reminds us, it is not enough for us merely to say, "I was baptized, I'm in." Yes, the door has been opened to sinners. But the door is not open for the sinner to come and remain a sinner; the door is open for the sinner to become a saint. Saints are the first to recognize their own lack of perfection, but they also have the humility and respect not to presume that God owes them anything.

Are you, or do you know, a presumptuous person? A guy who thinks he's "God's gift" to his family (or to women) and is proud of his arrogance; a woman who is a catty, disloyal gossip, but thinks God is fine with that? Oh, it is so easy not to see our own sin, our own disrespect of God and other people. But here is Jesus saying, "Many are called, but few are chosen."

If we recognize God's invitation, then hopefully we will be willing to "change our clothes." We want to go to God's banquet dressed in garments of humility, garments of humble sorrow for what we're doing wrong. Let's all show up dressed in garments of love and respect.