Dressing for Dinner Matthew 14:1-14 During the summer term at the Atlantic School of Theology, we have chapel service every morning before class, with a sermon delivered by a faculty member every Thursday. We also have an additional worship service every second Tuesday at four oclock, that includes Communion or Eucharist, depending on which denomination is hosting the service. In my five years at AST, I have never missed a communion service. The sacraments are very important to me. They carry a deep spiritual meaning and so I never miss the opportunity to engage in them. This summer on one of those Tuesday afternoons, I was in my room working on whatever assignment was due the next day, and when the time drew near. I closed my door and changed out of the shorts and T-shirt that I was wearing into clothes that I felt were more suitable for worship: pair of dress slacks, a good shirt and my dress shoes. I then stepped out into the hall and waited as some of my classmates gathered so that we could walk down the five flights of stairs to chapel together. Most of them came out of their rooms dressed exactly the same as I had seen them dressed for class that morning. Someone asked me if I was helping out with the service to which I answered no. So then they asked me why I was so dressed up. In a rare episode of wit and humor, I answered, When I go to the Lords Table, I go dressed for dinner. Now it isn’t that I believe you have to dress a certain way to go to worship. Thats not what its about. For me, as I said, the sacraments carry a very special meaning - a deep spiritual meaning - and part of the way that I choose to express that sacredness - that special setting apart of those times - is to dress up for those events, just the same as I wear my clerics collar when Im presiding over sacraments here, and when my new alb arrives, I will wear that. I dont think it really matters to Jesus how we dress. Jesus judges us by whats on the inside. For me, dressing up for worship is an expression of how I feel on the inside: an expression of my gratitude and respect that I hold in my heart when I come for worship and especially when I come for Communion. But if Jesus doesnt care how we dress when we come to worship, what is this bit in this mornings gospel reading all about: when the man whos not dressed in a wedding robe is bound and tossed out into the cold? Before we can understand that, we have to back up and make sure that we have a full grasp on what this story is really about, because it is, of course, not about food. This parable, like all Jesus’ parables, is a story intended to give his listeners some insight into the kingdom of God. In this case the wedding feast is the kingdom of God. Its a very similar analogy to what David is referring to in the 23rd Psalm when he says, “Thou prepares a table before me in the presence of my enemies.” The banquet table is a symbol of Gods love and abundance, the blessings that are available to all of us. The “food” that is offered are what the apostle Paul refers to as the fruits of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. But in Jesus parable the invitation is first offered to a select few. These are the Temple leaders. The priests those whose job it is to look after the spiritual well-being of Gods people. These are the ones that you would expect to be at the table, the ones that you would expect would best know that they should accept the invitation. But they dont. Theyre so caught up in their worldly ideas and their worldly activities; their quest for power and wealth, and all the other trappings of the world that they just simply havent got time. They refused to come to the banquet because theyre too busy pursuing their own agenda. So the master of the feast, who is, of course, God, extends the invitation to everyone else: the poor, the blind, the lame - the world’s broken and disenfranchised. And they respond. They come to the banquet. The banquet Hall is now filled. But when the master of the feast arrives, he singles out one individual who is not appropriately dressed for the wedding feast. Its important to note here when the guests arrive at the wedding feast, they are provided with the clean, fresh robes that they are expected to wear. The worn, ragged, dirty clothes that they wore to travel to the feast are to be left outside and only the clean and pure worn in. The same holds true for our invitation into the kingdom of God. We are offered new garments. We are expected to strip ourselves of all that dirty, ragged, worn, and stained trappings of the world and instead step fresh and clean into the new garments of the kingdom of heaven. This one individual has accepted the invitation; he has come to the banquet hall and said, “Yes! I want all these blessings. I want these great gifts that God is offering.” These blessings that the table of God is set with these are the blessings with which God wants to fill us. But before we can be filled with these blessings we must first empty ourselves of the stuff that we would otherwise bring in with us. We are called to strip off the anger, the resentment, the guilt, the selfishness and greed and all the other things that settle on us as we travel through the world around us. We need to strip them and wash them away so we can step into the clean, pure, fresh robes of celebration that God offers us. Jesus suggests here that this is an all or nothing deal. The individual who sits at the wedding feast still dressed in his street clothes has refused to let go of what he had, so he cannot accept what is being offered. He is not willing to shed the things that don’t belong in God’s kingdom, so hes tied up and tossed out. This is a challenge for us, because few, if any of us want to or are able to leave our street clothes at the door. Regardless of how tattered, worn and dirty they might appear in the kingdom of heaven, we come to the Lords table still bearing the grudges that we carried yesterday; still feeling the guilt and the resentment; and refusing to take it off and leave it at the door, and so we are unable to fully come to the table and feast in all Gods goodness. No one will be cast out of here today. None of us can judge another. For no matter how much weve dressed up we have still walked in with the trappings and residue of the world clinging to our souls. We come to this Table today accepted for who we are, as we are; invited to enjoy just a small taste of what awaits us when we are truly ready to come to the banquet. Truly, we are blessed because, in spite of our reluctance to wear the robes God offers us, God continues to invite us to the feast. Thanks be to God. Amen. Colin Snyder October 12, 2014
Posted on: Tue, 14 Oct 2014 12:02:44 +0000
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