From The First Baptist Church in America pulpit

Providence, Rhode Island – August 3, 2008

“How to be a Guest” (Matthew 22:1-14)

Dr. Dan Ivins, preaching

Matthew’s Gospel has a string of nasty stories about Jesus that’s neither heartwarming nor a Jesus we particularly like. That may be why this is the first time in 40 years I’ve preached on this story. It makes the reader want to say with Simon Peter: “Explain yourself Jesus!” But Jesus wouldn’t comply, because the only thing he “made” people do, was think for themselves. Otherwise, we wouldn’t be people, but robots. Last week, a visitor inquired ahead of time, about “what to wear to worship” in the majestic Meeting House? Its summer in Providence. No A/C; stifling hot, and you can sweat doing nothing. And if your doing something you can really sweat! So I said be practical, dress casual. I care more about folks being here than what they have on.

But not Matthew. He has this funky story about somebody who’s “underdressed,” and it got him in a heap o’ trouble. What did the king expect? If you’re out shakin’ the bushes for last minute guests, do you think they’ll be wearing, a tux? He cut them no slack, gave them no time to go home and change and wouldn’t lower the dress code. Get real. Because I don’t know anybody walking around in a wedding gown, just in case they might be invited to a royal banquet. But you never can tell in this kind of world. I guess you better keep a robe in the trunk.

What we have here is no ordinary Bible story. Its looney enough keep us interested, with things like banquets, judgment, and hellfire. And it’s allegorical, which means everything has a double meaning. You have to be able to think on more than one level to “properly divide the word of truth” with Mattthew’s offensive Jesus-stories. For instance anybody can see that the “son” is Jesus. And the outrageous plot is another dead giveaway. Ya’ll ever see anybody murder the Fed Ex guy for delivering a wedding invitation? Or an angry king mobilizing his troops, declaring war, and setting fire to a city? Or graciously inviting everybody, then kicking out this one poor guy because he was improperly dressed?

I told you it’s goofy, if you take it literally. To make sense out of this parable we have to consider the story-behind-the-story. And that is, Jesus’ and Matthew’s frustration, that so few people come to church anymore. Is this up-to-date or what? Listen up Providence. Nobody cared enough to come to the party to celebrate with the king’s son. Even though the prophets invited them long before. But they wasted the prophets. Next was the Apostle Paul, who gave up on the Jews and reached out to the Gentiles, guest list number two. And that’s when all hell broke loose!

Meanwhile the old-timers, the Jews, who’d known God since the time of Abraham were still trying to figure out what it meant to be free of the law, because it’s mighty hard to live without the rules. How else can we tell whose right or wrong, in or out? And it wasn’t too long after Pentecost, that the early church had a discipline problem on its hands. A huge influx of believers gathered around God’s Table, with no understanding of what it meant to be there. The invitation to God’s heavenly banquet was “come as you are.” Everybody’s welcome and nothing’s required: no ticket, no RSVP. What a deal! Wrong, said Matthew. It’s understandable. One reason I dread having company is not just having to wash the sheets, dust and run the vacuum cleaner but because a lot of people just don’t know how to be a guest. Being invited doesn’t mean you can do as you please. And if you do it means not getting invited back! Matthew’s reminding his Jewish/Gentile church that they’ve been invited to a wedding feast with the King! Rise to the occasion, and act like it!

The underdressed guest got called on the carpet because he thought a late hour invitation meant anything goes; or he was doing him a favor for making an appearance. But somebody who didn’t know how to be a guest at somebody else’s place got confused about who’s doing the favors. For whatever reason, this guy didn’t rise to the occasion. Instead, he demeaned it by refusing to change, be a good guest. And Matthew’s not just talking about what he’s wearing either.

Like everything else in the story, the robe has a double meaning. It’s not just something from Penney’s, it’s a way of living. A way that honors the king, and recognizes the importance of being his invited guest, even if the invitation barely made it under the wire. The underdressed guest’s mistake wasn’t that he came in cut-off shorts. But that he showed up short on propriety and thought nobody would notice. Wrong! The original context had to do with the early church. But it happens here every week. Our Sunday worship hour may not be a heavenly banquet, we call it “the Lord’s Supper.” On communion Sunday everybody in town is invited to our monthly banquet at First Baptist. No one is excluded. “Everything is made ready.” But as you can see, most of them had something else to do, like “going to the farm, or tending the business, or socking it to the servants.” Some are out in a sailboat, or on the golf course, or sleeping in after Saturday’s late-night festivities. You know, important things. But we’re here, and not because we’re better than the excuse-makers. “Both good and bad” showed up.

I wonder what are the ways we’re like the underdressed guest? How have we resisted change, or let go of our resentment, or take advantage of grace? Our old rags are as painful to God theirs. My guess is like the story, we don’t think it matters. Most of the world is like that. Worshiping God in church just doesn’t matter. Churches are so empty today that scholars call this the “post-Christian era.”  Most churches I know are happy just to have anybody they can get to fill the pews. They spend lots of cash on marketing and advertising to bring ‘em in. Like the king’s servants, out in the hiways and biways for anybody they can find, “good or bad” to fill up the banquet hall. Hey on college hill we’ll take anybody we can get. Including students! No wonder folks get the idea that “showing up” is all that matters. And Matthew says, Wrong! That’s what the underdressed guest thought too. He assumed the king was just searching for warm bodies, and he’s more than happy to oblige. He’d gladly get a free meal, and rock to the king’s contemporary band, if that would help the Old Man out.

And that’s when he heard a voice: “Friend, how’d you get in here without a robe?” God isn’t looking for warm bodies. God’s looking for wedding guests, who now how to be guests and will rise to the occasion of being one, by respecting his Son. It’s something anybody can do, no matter what you’re wearing. Because our proper dress has nothing to do with fabric, it’s sewn into the whole stuff of our entire lives. You can accept God’s gracious offer of a seat at the banquet table or you can turn your nose up at it. It’s a generous-take-it-or-leave-it-offer. And it’s not to be taken lightly if we ignore it or refuse it. Nor is it subject to negotiation or second chances. But the dramatic turn in the parable is when some made light of the invitation by staying away. But this man was making light of the invitation after he came.

God's gracious invitation always comes to us as we are, but we diss the king’s son unless we come not as we were. Grace is free, but it’s not cheap. I preach to insiders because the outsiders stay outside. But it’s the insiders who are always tempted to take God lightly -- to assume once we’re at the table we can stay like we are; that repentance is for outsiders and we don’t need to change anymore. Consumers of God's grace to be sure, but we dare not be presumers.

Call to Communion:

By God’s grace we have been invited to the banquet table of God. Everything has been made ready. Come to the feast! The good and the bad. Come and be glad. The greatest and least. Everybody’s welcome to the feast!

Pastoral Prayer (8/3/08)

Eternal God, our Father, in this slackened pace of summertime and these moments of corporate prayer, allow us for a little while to stop playing church, to forget our style of dress, our plans for the day and any momentary trifle that makes us more conscious of self than Thee. We are a riddle unto ourselves, eagerly buffeted by harmful desires, and easy-believism. “Created in Thy image,” however slight the resemblance. We can be brutal: cutting off somebody’s head up in Canada for no apparent reason, shooting up a church full of kids down in Knoxville for being kind to liberals. What kind of people are we?

Many are struggling because of the economic slump, forced to scale-back on finances to lower our “enough” threshold. May Jesus’ selfless example serve for us as the upside to the downturn, how we may be better off with less, because we learn to appreciate the things that matter more. For this old city of Providence, rich in buildings but poor in soul, we pray. High in crime, low in morale; playground for some, nightmare for others. May our lighthouse of faith, here on this “hill that cannot be hid,” keep radiating the gospel-light of Jesus all around the town.

We pray for ourselves, bearing the marks of a culture that's too much with us, as we keep flirting with the gods of our own making. May this worship enable us to better live above the need for praise or the fear of criticism. For Thy many blessings from ages past -- the wisdom of the scriptures, the means of grace, the bonds of faith, the hope that inspires us to keep on keeping on, when we feel like giving up.

Grant that our gathering around Thy table, will tune our responses to the needs around us, that we may reflect Thy hopeful Spirit, not the shallow fantasies of this age. Free us from the need to justify ourselves, that others will be at ease in our presence, and our own hearts at peace. All of which we pray in faith, with thanksgiving, through Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.