“When Vision Fails”

Rev Denis Ryle 15/10/2023

Readings - Exodus 32:1-14

Meditation – Moses standing in the Breach when his People Fumbled the Ball

When Moses stands in the breach interceding for his compatriots who have fumbled the ball, it is not the immortalised images of Charlton Heston in a Cecil B de Mille epic that come to my mind.

The people got tired waiting for Moses to come down from the Holy Mountain with the blueprint for how they were to live out their community calling. In their impatience, they poured all their investment into a lesser hope, an image of their own creation, something that carried an air of mystery but that was under their control. An angry and disappointed Moses nevertheless intercedes for their salvation.

I see a parallel here with the phenomenon of this weekend’s referendum.  Seven years ago, at Uluru, considered the sacred centre of this land, indigenous representatives brought down from the rock a generous invitation to take further steps to walk with them on a path of reconciliation and unity. With patience they waited for a response. Golden calves, however, were already a distraction. Yesterday revealed the extent to which our divided nation was prepared to respond to the Aboriginal invitation to allow deeper engagement through a constitutional Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice to Parliament.

It was readily clear that should the outcome be Yes or No, today, the day after, would be a day of reckoning in how we would move forward as a nation.  

We now need a Moses to intercede for our people, to raise wise leadership, to open respectful dialogue, to quench lies and false rumours, to tear down our golden calves, to awaken our people to the beauty of what might yet emerge when leaders and elders and national voices come together with open hearts and good will.

Who will that Moses be? Collectively, it will be those who have been invested in respectful listening, open hearts and a vision for reconciliation. It will be those that recognise that, for all its faults and inadequacies, the referendum and its processes have laid bare the divided underbelly of our society and exposed that which requires remedy and healing. What has been said cannot be unsaid, but it can be unpacked, noted and offered to the possibility of grace and forgiveness.

There is a breach in the nation’s fabric. We need a Moses to fill that breach. Maybe you and I can step forward.     

Matthew 22:1-14

Message “Fumbling the Ball of Wedding Etiquette”

As this year’s journey with the Gospel according to Matthew draws towards an end, we are hit with a well-known story of an invitation refused.

Matthew’s telling of this well-known story is stark in its darkness and violence, we much prefer Luke’s version.

The story must have been around for a while – both Luke and Matthew pick it up from the common Q source. It is also found in without context in the non-canonical Gospel of Thomas.

Both Luke and Matthew tweak it to suit the thrust of their narrative. It is easy to discern Luke’s heart for the poor and downtrodden in his telling, for example.

The basic story is simple – a rich man plans a feast and ends his one servant out with invitations to the rich man’s well-off peers. They each excuse themselves from coming because of an immediate preoccupation. The rich man is distressed at such rejection and sends the servant out to the streets to bring in whoever he can find to fill his house and enjoy the banquet.

When Matthew relates the story, we note some alterations, and they all carry a meaning.

1.    No longer just a rich man – but a king

2.    No longer just a feast – but a wedding banquet

3.    No longer is the Kingdom of God like this story – it may be compared with this story

4.    It is not a single servant who carries the invitation, but multiple slaves

5.    The reaction of those invited is more passive-aggressive. Where the original story offers arguably plausible excuses, here we see them making light of the invitation and turning away to their preoccupations, some even seizing the slaves, maltreating them and killing them. There is ill-disguised open hostility towards the king.

6.    The king’s response is rage. He sends his troops to destroy the murderers and burn down their city.

7.    He says to his remaining slaves that the banquet is now ready – go out and gather everyone you can find and bring them in.

8.    The slaves gather everyone they can see, the good and the bad, and the wedding hall is filled with guests.

9.    Then we have an add on – the guest thrown into the outer darkness where there is wailing and gnashing of teeth because he was not wearing the correct wedding clothes.

10.“Many are called, few are chosen.”  

What has got under Matthew’s skin? Why does he have Jesus teaching this parable in this manner? This is not the one we sang about in Sunday School!

Is the king really meant to be like God? He seems to be more like Herod, the cruel tyrant who looms large in Matthew’s birth narratives and then through his progeny’s dealings with John the Baptist. Soon Jesus will stand before his mockery on the eve of his crucifixion. If this is an allegory it does not line up well with the God who calls his people to the community of Shalom that Matthew has Jesus speaking so eloquently in the Sermon on the Mount.

To whom is Jesus speaking this parable?

Ah, if we look closely, we see it is being moulded to infiltrate the sensibilities of the religious authorities that are challenging him in the Temple precincts.

Maybe the king in the story is their version of God, for they have already rejected God as revealed in Jesus.

He has already offered the parable of the two sons – one who said he would carry out his Father’s request but didn’t, and the other who verbally refused but then went and worked for his father anyway.

Then he tod the story of the vineyard leased to tenants, but who rejected the owners messengers, sometimes killing them, until finally he sent his son who they also murdered, thus evoking the wrath of the owner who destroyed them.

It seems they still don’t get it – so Jesus now teaches them this familiar story overlaid with apocalyptic symbolism with rich reference to the day of judgement with which their tradition was well acquainted.

If they will not come to the table and wear the garment of grace that such a repetitive invitation offers, they will find themselves in the outer darkness.

By the time Matthew was relaying this story, the Temple in which Jesus was teaching and in which the authorities exercised their power and control lay in ruins.

So, what is our takeaway? Particularly on this weekend where, after the heat and dust of many words, our nation contemplates the outcome of an invitation from the Nation’s Heart?

First, the language of sending and inviting is used repeatedly.

Second, there is the delightful surprise that the king invites everyone to the wedding banquet, both good and bad.

A story of judgement, but also grace and mercy

 A story that carries themes of inclusion and exclusion

A story that has us confronting our distractions. Our culture resonates deeply with Christopher Nolan’s Batman when he says, “it’s what we do that defines us.” We create jobs and family situations where our performance is deeply tied to our sense of worth. We want to be the best employees or best parents because that will dictate whether or not we are okay. We know that we are okay, that we are justified, because we have fought the good fight, done our duty, been a good person.

Maybe In Matthew’s parable, the king responds by turning our systems on their head. By sending out his troops to destroy the people and their “city,” the king is destroying our human notions that what we have done and built has value when it comes to the wedding banquet, the community of shalom. Instead, the king invites everyone in the main streets: the good and the bad, the non-elite. No longer are we worried about the elite, the wealthy, or those who control society. Instead, God is declaring his preference for the marginalized. This might be like hearing that one’s workplace is giving bonuses to everyone; even the bad employees, or even employees who have been fired. Matthew has already shared a parable about that!

To put on the wedding robe provided by the king is to take on the garments of Christ; when we come to the wedding feast, we are clothed like everyone else in mercy. If we refuse this mercy by instead relying on our hubris or accomplishments, we stand in judgement. As Paul reminds us, those who wish to be judged under the law will face the consequences.

If we want to prove ourselves worthy, we will indeed feel the sting of “Many are called, but few are chosen.” Yet, if we remember that God’s grace is what saves us, we won’t worry how we are clothed, or who else God has decided to include in the Wedding Banquet. There is no room for piety or first rate Christians in the community of shalom.