Matthew sets the Parable of the Wedding Feast in a time of high tension between Jesus and his people’s leadership. We might interpret the parable as presenting a stark contrast between us and them. The violence of the King invites us to take up the sword. Here’s the rub: such thinking is not typical of Jesus. He was an inclusive thinker. He came among us as light that gives life (John 1: 2-4).
The stage on which the drama plays out is a banquet. It does not seem to be the end-time messianic banquet. Nor is it set in heaven. The feast may represent the counter-reality Jesus preached called the kingdom of heaven or the kingdom of God. Recall that Matthew tells us that the kingdom is at hand. John the Baptist says it (3:2). Jesus preaches it with John’s same words (4:17). Jesus instructed the disciples to preach it (10:7). The counter-reality is all around us and within us. It is the Christian way to be in this world.
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus uses this-worldly imagery (6:25-34) to call us to our Christian self. Learn to be like the birds of the sky or the flowers in the field. Re-embed yourself in nature knowing that it is God’s bountiful creation. Restore your relations with others knowing that God makes each person in God’s image. If one reads the Sermon straight through (5-7), one finds an invitation to become one’s best.
This counter-reality is not escapism. Nor is it optimistic. Jesus ends the section of the great sermon with these words: “Do not worry about tomorrow; tomorrow will take care of itself. Sufficient for a day is its own evil” (6:34). Jesus is realistic. Christians are called to navigate this world despite the worst of it. We can suffer poor civic leadership—the parable’s violent, abusive king. We can endure religious types who beat people down, inflict guilt, divide peoples, dominate others. The social environment might drain one’s spirit. Instead, we are called to live in the spirit of Christ.
St. Paul offers us listings of virtues lived by counter-reality Christians. In Colossians, Paul writes: “Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, bearing with one another and forgiving one another…. And over all these put on love, that is, the bond of perfection. And let the peace of Christ control your hearts…” (3:12-15a). Last week, the reflection ended with the fruits of the Spirit: “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” (Gal 5:22). We need both lists to engage with our world.
The tension expressed in the parable is a tension within our own souls. It asks each of us how we intend to live here and now. The first part asks us whether we will join the celebration of life. Preoccupation with the stuff of this world can draw us away from the feast. Can we live in this world without belonging to this world? (John 17:14-19).
The second part refines the first. If we decide that the counter-reality is worth our commitment, can we rub shoulders with “whoever you find,” “the bad and the good?” Can we live inclusively, without judgment, without coercion or domination? Can we put on love? The parable challenges us on how to live in this world. It ends on an anxious note. If we don’t put on love, there is only darkness, the wailing and grinding of teeth.