A parable not only says something; it does something. A parable is its own strategy. Can a joke be explained and still function as joke? If a speaker breaks in on a work of music to tell us what it means, is something lost?
Paul Duke describes a parable as a river rushing forward, sharply turning, steeply falling, spinning eddies. How do you preach a river? The best we can do is ride it, feel its force, respect its expanse. It defeats all efforts to sum it up. Duke consoles us, “It is a fine thing to be defeated by a parable. (Paul Duke, pp. 97-100).
Jesus began to talk to them again in parables. “The kingdom of Heaven,” he said, “is like a king who arranged a wedding for his son. He sent his servants to summon those who had been invited to the festivities, but they refused to come. {They wouldn’t come.)
Then he tried again; he sent some more servants, saying to them: “Tell those who have been invited, ‘Here is my wedding breakfast all ready. The cattle have been slaughtered and everything is prepared.’” (Everything is on the table. Come to the feast.)
But they took no notice of this and went off, one to his farm, and another to his business. (They only shrugged their shoulders. There’s always work to be done.)
As for the rest, they got hold of the servants, treated them disgracefully, and finally killed them. At this the king was very angry and sent his troops and killed those murderers and burned down their city.
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Here’s a snippet of a scene you just might find at our house.
“Honey,” I cried, “where’s that invitation? Do we have to go?”
Sometimes even the grace of God can be just one more thing on an already pressed schedule. All we need is just one more thing on our plate. We can be brutal to the messenger.
But an invitation to the feast is all gift. We can easily be tempted to think our presence, our contribution, does not really matter.
That’s something of my real father’s story. I never knew him. When I was in my late 40’s, I had the opportunity to have a conversation with his third wife who lived in Santa Fe. Several weeks after our visit, I received a letter from her. “Someday your father will have a lot of explaining to do about his ‘discriminatory disinvolvement’ in your life”. She put into words my experience.
Can any one of us make a case for our discriminatory disinvolvement in the Kingdom of God? It is puzzling to try to explain our absence from those things that matter most. It is important to prioritize our efforts, our resources for the sake of the Kingdom. Building Life Together: Reassessing is a time to hold your invitation in your heart and examine the importance of your personal involvement.
John Claypool, in his book, Tracks of a Fellow Struggler, declared, “Only when life is seen as a gift and received with the open hands of gratitude is it the joy God meant for it to be!”
Then he said to his servants: “The wedding feast is quite ready, but those who were invited were not good enough for it. So, go off now to all the street corners and invite everyone you find there to the feast.” The servants went out into the streets and collected together all those they found, bad and good alike. And the hall became filled with guests. (The banquet was on—every place filled.)
The Kingdom of love reassesses the invitation list. We are surprised by the wide ness of God’s mercy! Jesu, Jesu fill us with your love!
I learned this in experience with Ken Medema, the singer, artist, composer, song writer extraordinaire, though blind from birth. You know him. He has worshipped with you here in and in Vickrey Hall.
The experience I remember was one night in my first pastorate in NW Oklahoma. Ken had performed the night before at a campus concert and was astounded that someone had opened before him; a professor who billed himself as a one-man band; playing ten instruments. Ken had never had an opening group, and confessed he had not expected much from this opening group of one. The professor with a PhD in composition and a PhD in English literature played every instrument exceptionally well and wove together a wonderful story. Flying over the plains of western Oklahoma Ken told us about his intrigue with the one-man band from whom he had learned something about being open to the wonder of it all.
That night in Fairview there was not an empty seat in the house. Everyone had accepted the invitation; even Virginia, a preacher’s widow, courting a 56-year-old Momma’s-boy-bachelor in our fellowship. Trust me: I have an earned degree in Virginia. She was a force to be reckoned with.
That evening Ken was spectacular. The whole house stood in line to speak to Ken, not wanting the evening to end. My anxiety spiked when I spotted Virginia camped out at the end of the line.
When Virginia finally got to him, I prayed that she might keep it short; but knew she could not. She talked, and she talked. As the church house emptied. I locked up the building and turned off the lights around the building. Finally, I walked up to deliver Ken from Virginia’s tight grip. I placed my hand on his shoulder; only to discover he did not need my help.
“Oh Steve, you’ve just got to hear Virginia’s story!”
I thought, “Oh, Ken, you’re the most gracious person I’ve ever known in all of my life!”
He said, “You’ll never believe who this woman is”.
“Who is this woman?” I asked.
He said, “She’s the sister of the one-man band from last night!”
And the joke was on me.
In a world without borders everyone is invited; even the good and bad. Open the gates for our neighbors.
“Neighbors are rich folk and poor.
Neighbors are black, brown and white.
Neighbors are nearby and far away.”
But when the king came in to inspect the guests, he noticed among them a man not dressed for a wedding. “How did you come in here, my friend without being properly dressed?’ And the man had nothing to say. Then the king said to the ushers, “Tie him up and throw him into the darkness outside. There he can weep and regret his folly!” For many are invited but few are chosen.
He wasn’t dressed for the occasion. He was cast into the darkness for a breach of etiquette. Seems harsh that God so desires us to be appropriately clothed. The beloved community is to be dressed to the nines in love.
This is a good time for us to reassess the claim of God’s invitation upon our lives! Will we give it top priority? Will we share thr feast? How expansive are our hearts? Can we enlarge our acceptance of others?
Tough love, tough questions, like what does the Lord require of us? (Micah 6:8)
God wants us to do justice—to be a voice for the oppressed, the widow, and the foreigner.
God wants us to love kindness—to care for the handicapped, minorities, the elderly, and the poor.
God wants us to walk humbly with God—to listen for God’s voice wherever God may be heard and thoughtfully examine what it means to live in faith and love.
Holy bold questions like, “How do I spend my money, and what percentage of my income is God calling me to give?” Stewardship, you see, begins when we see that the goodness of our lives is a gift from God.
The man had nothing to say. I stand here speechless. My pocket has a hole in it. Too often I have nothing to give because it’s already gone. Well, perhaps my first response of stewardship is to stitch it up.
The wedding feast requires us to be clothed in love and expects us to put on our best selves.
It’s easy to struggle with how unfair it seems that this one is blindsided, but maybe that’s the point. Maybe it is at his expense so that we are not blindsided as well.
The integrity of the Gospel asks for us to put on the garment of love.