In our gospel lesson today we hear about a wedding feast. In these days wedding feasts were a huge deal! They are a big deal now in many cases but they were a huge deal then. They lasted for a week. There were certain codes about what people should wear and how they would act and most importantly for our puposes it brought great shame if no one came. So the man holding the feast, a king, the father of the groom in this case did all that he should have, he invited people in advance, those people RSVP'd, they said they would come. But then the day of the feast came and the food was cooking and the flowers were out and everything was decorated and the bride and groom were ready. But no one came. And the host was getting anxious. What shame that no one would come, what kinds of friends were those anyway. He sent messengers out to check on people. They each made an excuse. I have to work, I'll be away for the week, that kind of thing. Some even chased the messengers away and gave no answer.
So the messengers came back dejected. Sad and unsuccessful they told the host that no one was going to come. After his rage had passed he said, "well then, we will invite the common people. We're still going to celebrate with great joy." He says to his messengers alright, go down to main street. You will find good people and bad people there, people in all walks of life and all stations. Bring them all! We will have the most fantastic feast. It will be filled with people, together we will express our love and well wishes for my good son and together we will share what we have to give each other, our time, our goodwill, our love and our possessions.
So the messengers brought people to the door and as they showed up gave them each a clean, new garment to wear. It was tradition to have garments provided at weddings for all those who didn't come in proper attire, there was a certain, uniform and ritual way that they were all supposed to look. In this case the clean garment did a little something different, it made them all equal in the eyes of the one holding the feast and in the eyes of all who were there. They were no longer there as rich or poor, as people who wore their occupation on their sleeves, as people who had a questionable history or even as people who had an important role in society, they were all just there to share in generosity and fellowship.
So they were all were ushered in, they were all seated and feed.
What a feast they must have had, a refined man who had planned an elegant feast now had a banquet filled with unrefined and unknown people but out of great love for his son he feed them, wined and dined them as if they were kings and queens. And we are led to believe that he was quite happy about it and so were they.
This story comes as a parable in a series that Jesus uses to put the Pharisees, the religious elite in their places. To explain to them that the kingdom of God comes in unusual ways, not just to the usual people but to all people, especially those people who are left behind and left out. But this parable unlike the ones that came before it focuses on the messengers. Those who go out and bring people into the wedding feast and who offer them the new garments to wear.
Luther says, remember that we're going to have a little bit of Luther every week for a while. Luther says in this case we are the messengers, we members of the church who go out in the main streets and invite any and everyone up to feast with us. The ones who call out to all people around us asking them to join us in the great joy of knowing God's love. He also says that, in the case of this story, the garment that everyone put on is Christ. That unlike a normal wedding feast the people here were brought in by messengers instead of by invitations that they had earned by their own merit and instead of silk or satin to wear they were offered the love of God as a common garment.
The whole thing is a reversal of the normal wedding rites and rituals.
Instead of elaborate invitations and qualifications all are welcome into this feast right off the street.
Instead of fine wedding garb of silk or satin all are made equal wearing the same clean garment.
Instead of a gathering of the elite, the proud and the important, the poor and hungry and those longing for comfort are brought together and fed the fine food and drink.
Instead of wedding gifts of gold and fine fabrics what is needful is provided to those in need.
Jesus says that this is what the kingdom of God is like. This is a picture of what it means to put on Christ. As messengers of the kingdom of God we respond to the love of God and the great gifts that we have been given by putting on this new garment that Christ offers and by offering it to other people. Mother Theresa, as she did work with the poor in India encountered many people putting on Christ in many ways but she tells a great story about one couple that she met trading in earthly wedding garments for the garments of messengers of Christ.
"Just a few days before I left Calcutta, a young couple came to our house and they gave me lots of money to feed the poor. In Calcutta every day we cook for 7,000 people. If we don't cook, they don't eat. And so these young people gave, me this money and I asked them, "Where did you get so much money?" And they said, "Before marriage—we have been married just two days—but before marriage we decided that we will not buy wedding clothes, we will not have wedding feast, that we'll give you the money to feed the people." And I asked them, "But why? Why did you do like that?" Because that's a scandal for us in India not to have the wedding clothes, not to have the wedding feast. [It is] one of the most beautiful days in their lives. And they gave me a most extraordinary answer: "Out of love for each other, we loved each other so tenderly that we wanted to give each other something special. And that was our love for the poor. We gave that love for each other by making that sacrifice." See, this is something so wonderful. To show that tender love for each other, they made that big sacrifice. Every day I get something like that from all over the world. You would be surprised what people write. And you must have experienced it yourselves if you have all worked for the beautiful project of the house.
Jesus made Himself Bread of Life to satisfy our hunger for His love, and then He makes Himself the hungry one so that you and I can satisfy His hunger for our Love. That is why I ask you [to] ask your priests to teach you to pray. Ask them to give you the beautiful opportunity to be alone with Jesus in adoration. Ask them to help you to come as close as possible to Jesus in the Eucharist. And often during the day say: "Jesus, in my heart I believe in your tender love for me, I love you." God Bless you."
This is what it looks like to be a messenger of Christ. this is what we are called to when we are called to love our neighbor. This is how we should live out our baptisms with the promise that just as often as we invite others into the love of God we ourselves are invited in as well. This is good news, Thanks be to God. Amen
You can find the text of this speech from Mother Theresa in several places, I used the version in this speech: http://www.ualberta.ca/ALUMNI/history/speeches/82autteresa.htm
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