Lectionary Reflection—15 October 2017
Jesus responded by speaking again in parables: 2“The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding party for his son. 3He sent his servants to call those invited to the wedding party. But they didn’t want to come. 4Again he sent other servants and said to them, ‘Tell those who have been invited, “Look, the meal is all prepared. I’ve butchered the oxen and the fattened cattle. Now everything’s ready. Come to the wedding party!” ’ 5But they paid no attention and went away—some to their fields, others to their businesses. 6The rest of them grabbed his servants, abused them, and killed them.
7“The king was angry. He sent his soldiers to destroy those murderers and set fire to their city. 8Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding party is prepared, but those who were invited weren’t worthy. 9Therefore, go to the roads on the edge of town and invite everyone you find to the wedding party.’
10“Then those servants went to the roads and gathered everyone they found, both evil and good. The wedding party was full of guests. 11Now when the king came in and saw the guests, he spotted a man who wasn’t wearing wedding clothes. 12He said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without wedding clothes?’ But the man was speechless. 13Then the king said to his servants, ‘Tie his hands and feet and throw him out into the farthest darkness. People there will be weeping and grinding their teeth.’
14“Many people are invited, but few people are chosen.”
In the late 12th century, Stephen Langton, the Archbishop of Canterbury, developed a system of chapter divisions that’s the basis of all chapter divisions found in modern Bible translations. And in the mid 16th century, the classical scholar and printer Robert Estienne divided the chapters into verses that we all know today. These and other additions are called paratext. Paratext are additions from authors, publishers, printers, and editors to the main text. Think of a study Bible. The maps, notes, commentary, et al. are paratext and help us navigate the Bible to gain a better understanding of the text.
But, sometimes, paratext can be distracting. Today’s Gospel reading is a good example of this. The story Jesus tells here is a continuation of the confrontation he had with the religious leaders that started in the preceding chapter (Matthew 21.23ff). In other words, contrary to countless sermons I’ve heard, this passage has nothing to do with “going to heaven.”
At the end of the previous chapter, Jesus tells them, “I tell you the Kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a nation that will produce the proper fruit” (Matthew 21.43). Matthewa goes on to tell us that, “When the leading priests and Pharisees heard this parable, they realized he was telling the story against them” (Matthew 21.45).
Today’s Gospel lesson comes directly after the story we read last week. The “them” in verse one would be the religious leaders from chapter 21. Jesus continues his critique and tells them another story about God’s soon coming judgment upon them and their city (verse 7).
As we saw last week, people just don’t like to think of God acting like the “king” in these stories. Especially verses 7 and 10-13 of today’s lesson. “My God,” we’re often told, “wouldn’t act this way.” Perhaps not. But that’s the image of God the biblical prophets painted in various places. For example, Isaiah claimed that God would use Assyria as the “rod of [God’s] anger”:
5Doom to Assyria, rod of my anger,
in whose hand is the staff of my fury!
6Against a godless nation I send him;
against an infuriating people
I direct him to seize spoil, to steal plunder,
and to trample them like mud in the streets.
As we can see, Assyria was God’s tool of judgment upon Israel (verses 10-11). And not just Assyria. A lot of us don’t realize this but God used Babylon as an instrument of judgment upon Israel, too.
Therefore, this is what Yahweh of heavenly forces says: “Because you (Israel—jg+) haven’t listened to my words, 9I’m going to muster all the tribes of the north and my servant King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon,” declares Yahweh, “and I’ll bring them against this country and its residents as well as against all the surrounding nations. I’ll completely destroy them and will make them an object of horror, shock, and ruins for all time. 10I’ll silence the sounds of joy and laughter and the voices of the bride and the bridegroom. Yes, I’ll silence the millstones and snuff out the lamplight. 11This whole country will be reduced to a wasteland, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon for seventy years.”
What Jesus is saying in these stories is the same thing. Just like the Assyrian and Babylonian armies, Yahweh would be using the Roman army as the instrument of justice. While neither Jesus nor the writers of the New Testament ever come right out and say God’s going to use the Roman army, there are clues throughout the New Testament. The clearest reference is found just a few short chapters away from our lesson this morning.
In Matthew 24, where Jesus details the coming destruction of the Temple and the signs leading up to the war, he tells the disciples, “Wherever the carcase may be, there shall the eagles be gathered together” (Matthew 24.28; YLTb; cf. Luke 17.37).c The eagle was symbol used for the standard of the Roman legion. I can imagine Jesus making that statement about the gathering eagles while his listeners could see the Roman standard everywhere in Jerusalem.
This is where the traditional view of these stories falls apart. These stories aren’t about “going to heaven when you die.” Obviously. If so—then how did the person in the story get into “heaven” when he’s evidently still a “sinner”? If the Bible taught that the whole point was “going to heaven when you die” (and I don’t believe that it does, not the way we’ve been told, anyway), Matthew 22.10-14 would be really hard to figure out, if not downright impossible.
If the story is about the coming war with Rome, and the wedding party is about celebrating the end of the Old Covenant age and the beginning of the New Covenant age of God’s Realm and the new life it brings to all of creation, then the person found not in the proper attire would be someone still clinging on to Old Covenant ways. While some people might see this as a stretch, we see this very thing playing out throughout the New Testament. For example, In Acts 15 we read—
Some people came down from Judea teaching the family of believers, “Unless you’re circumcised according to the custom we’ve received from Moses, you can’t be saved.”
And later on—
Some believers from among the Pharisees stood up and claimed, “The Gentiles must be circumcised. They must be required to keep the Law from Moses.”
To say that this was not the way forward is an understatement. Paul wrote a entire letter to the Celtic Christians (the Gauls) in Galatia against mingling Judaism with following Jesus. He didn’t mince words—
I am shocked that you’re turning away so soon from God, who called you to himself through the loving mercy of Christ. You’re following a different way that pretends to be the Good News but isn’t the Good News at all. You’re being fooled by those who deliberately twist the truth concerning Christ.
Let God’s curse fall on anyone, including us or even an angel from heaven, who preaches a different kind of Good News than the one we preached to you. I say again what we’ve said before: If anyone preaches any other Good News than the one you welcomed, let that person be cursed.
What was this “different way that pretend[ed] to be the Good News” but was, in reality, a “deliberately twist” of the Gospel? Paul tells us in the next chapter:
That question came up only because of some so-called believers there—false ones, really—who were secretly brought in. They sneaked in to spy on us and take away the freedom we have in Christ Jesus. They wanted to enslave us and force us to follow their Jewish regulations.
For Paul, there was no middle way—one either followed the Law of Moses or the Grace and Truth of God found in Christ (John 1.16-18).
Let me ask you this one question: Did you receive the Holy Spirit by obeying the law of Moses? Of course not! You received the Spirit because you believed the message you heard about Christ.…I ask you again, does God give you the Holy Spirit and work miracles among you because you obey the law? Of course not! It’s because you believe the message you heard about Christ.
Listen! I, Paul, tell you this: If you’re counting on circumcision to make you right with God, then Christ will be of no benefit to you. I’ll say it again: If you’re trying to find favor with God by being circumcised, you must obey every regulation in the whole law of Moses. (cf. Galatians 3.10; James 2.10).
This is what Matthew 22.10-14 is about—the mixing of the Old Covenant Law with the New Covenant Law. Clinging on to the “old ways” wouldn’t save them when the time came. Those who did such things would be seen as siding with the Jews and caught up in the throes of war. That’s the warning throughout the New Testament—if they’re found mixing to the Old Covenant and the New Covenant, they’ll be considered “luke warm” and just as guilty as those who are “cold” (Revelation 3.14ff).
In closing, this story isn’t about “going to heaven when you die” (how can it). It’s about the then coming war with Rome and the dangers of clinging onto the Old Covenantal system while claiming to follow Christ.
So how can we apply this to our lives today? I think the warning can be taken in a general way. That is, we should be wary of following our traditions instead of following Jesus. We have to be bold and courage and follow where the Spirit of God leads us. We must be true to the “freedom we have in Christ” and not become enslaved by tradition.
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In the Love of the Three in One,
Br. Jack+, LC
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- According to modern scholarship, the author of “The Gospel According to Matthew” is actually unknown. The paratext, “according to Matthew” first appeared in the second century (see: http://bit.ly/2fHUgNu). However, it’s almost unanimously taught from the church fathers and mothers onward that the apostle Matthew wrote the Gospel bearing his name between 55-65 CE (see: http://bit.ly/2fIRS8S and http://bit.ly/2fIplR6 and http://bit.ly/2fIQnHM).
- Scripture quotations marked (YLT) are taken from Young’s Literal Translation. Public Domain.
- A lot of the newer translations will use the word “vulture” in place of “eagles” (see here). In my opinion, this is a case of eisegesis—of reading one’s tradition and interpretation into the text. The Greek word used here is ἀετός (aetos) and it means “eagle”. The word ἀετός appears five times in the New Testament (Matthew 24.28; Luke 17.37; Revelation 4.7; 8.13; and 12.14) and in every instance of Revelation ἀετός is translated correctly as “eagle”. Only in the Gospels is it translated incorrectly as “vultures”.
- Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright ©1996, 2004, 2007, 2013, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
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