A Wedding Invitation
When I was younger I didn't care so much about wearing the right thing at the right time. Give me a pair of athletic shorts or ripped pair of jeans and an oversized t-shirt and I would be just fine. Except when it came to church.
I was taught as a child to care deeply about what I wore to church. And to never wear a hat inside a building.
About half of my fashion ambivalence was that my family didn't have the money to spend on ever-changing fashion trends. The other half was that I grew up in the country, and we didn't pay attention to such things.
So when I walked into a new school in 6th grade I was conforming to the dress code, but I was definitely wearing the wrong clothes.
Years later, when my brothers and I wanted to play golf at a new course near our house, we entered the clubhouse wearing what we usually wore to play at our normal country course, and we left without playing a single hole. Only one of us had a shirt with a collar. That day we played at our normal golf course.
It may be these experiences that cause a recurring dream of mine. I'm at my childhood church, I'm getting ready to preach a sermon, and I'm completely naked.
Clothing and fashion are an important part of a culture. I would argue a little too important for some, but you can tell a lot about a person by the clothes they wear. There is even an emerging theological discipline of fashion based in how much time the biblical writers gave to describing clothing.
One of the stories directly related to this discipline is in Matthew 22, the parable of the Wedding Feast.
Jesus has found Himself at odds with the religious leaders in Jerusalem. This is mainly because He has just ridden into town on the foal of a donkey to shouts of "Hosanna, blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!" This was a clear reference to messianic prophecies, and He followed that up by kicking the money changers out of the Temple, another messianic thing to do.
So the Jewish religious leaders challenged Him in public. And Jesus brilliantly set them in the awkward political position to either offend the crowd or validate Jesus by telling 3 stories. The 3rd is the parable of the Wedding Feast.
In act 1 of the story a king is throwing a feast to celebrate the marriage of his son, and sends messengers with the invitations. Instead of accepting the invitations the people treated the messengers poorly, even killing many of them. This part of the story is clearly about the Israelites and their response to the prophets throughout the Old Testament.
Act 2 of the story goes somewhere the religious leaders didn't like. Since the messengers were treated poorly, the king sends an open invitation to anyone who might like to come, and goes ahead with the celebration, and many people come to the feast. Every one from everywhere was invited. And they came, from the gutters and foreign lands they came.
The reason this was offensive is that the offer of Life with God was going to be made available to everyone, not just those inside the Jewish community. Gentiles and uncircumcised people would have the opportunity to join the club!
But there's an interesting little scene toward the end that gets us back to the idea of clothes. The king comes into the feast to evaluate the guests and notices someone trying to fit in who is not wearing appropriate wedding clothes. The demands weren't harsh or hard to reach, the only requirement was a clean white robe, though that's not written in the story. But because the guest was not dressed appropriately he was seized by the servants and thrown out of the feast.
If we think of the characters in this story, the king is obviously the Father, the son is Jesus, the initial invitees are the people of Israel, and the rest of the invitees are the people of the world, Jew and Gentile alike, who are invited to take part in the Feast. But what's the deal with the clothes?
I think the clothes represent faith. Those who believe that Jesus is who He said He is, and will do what He said He will do have access to the Feast and are clothed with the white robe of righteousness, leading to Eternal Life with the Father. But there are some (and Jesus will talk about this in the next couple of chapters) who enjoy the community but aren't believers. They enjoy the cultural benefits of the faith community but don't actually believe this stuff is actually true.
And that's fine. For now.
But there will come a time at the final judgment when the King will look over His guests and those without the proper garments will be removed from the feast. The invitation is open to all, the demands aren't harsh or hard to reach, and the party is real.
So... are you dressed for the party?
I was taught as a child to care deeply about what I wore to church. And to never wear a hat inside a building.
About half of my fashion ambivalence was that my family didn't have the money to spend on ever-changing fashion trends. The other half was that I grew up in the country, and we didn't pay attention to such things.
So when I walked into a new school in 6th grade I was conforming to the dress code, but I was definitely wearing the wrong clothes.
Years later, when my brothers and I wanted to play golf at a new course near our house, we entered the clubhouse wearing what we usually wore to play at our normal country course, and we left without playing a single hole. Only one of us had a shirt with a collar. That day we played at our normal golf course.
It may be these experiences that cause a recurring dream of mine. I'm at my childhood church, I'm getting ready to preach a sermon, and I'm completely naked.
Clothing and fashion are an important part of a culture. I would argue a little too important for some, but you can tell a lot about a person by the clothes they wear. There is even an emerging theological discipline of fashion based in how much time the biblical writers gave to describing clothing.
One of the stories directly related to this discipline is in Matthew 22, the parable of the Wedding Feast.
Jesus has found Himself at odds with the religious leaders in Jerusalem. This is mainly because He has just ridden into town on the foal of a donkey to shouts of "Hosanna, blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!" This was a clear reference to messianic prophecies, and He followed that up by kicking the money changers out of the Temple, another messianic thing to do.
So the Jewish religious leaders challenged Him in public. And Jesus brilliantly set them in the awkward political position to either offend the crowd or validate Jesus by telling 3 stories. The 3rd is the parable of the Wedding Feast.
In act 1 of the story a king is throwing a feast to celebrate the marriage of his son, and sends messengers with the invitations. Instead of accepting the invitations the people treated the messengers poorly, even killing many of them. This part of the story is clearly about the Israelites and their response to the prophets throughout the Old Testament.
Act 2 of the story goes somewhere the religious leaders didn't like. Since the messengers were treated poorly, the king sends an open invitation to anyone who might like to come, and goes ahead with the celebration, and many people come to the feast. Every one from everywhere was invited. And they came, from the gutters and foreign lands they came.
The reason this was offensive is that the offer of Life with God was going to be made available to everyone, not just those inside the Jewish community. Gentiles and uncircumcised people would have the opportunity to join the club!
But there's an interesting little scene toward the end that gets us back to the idea of clothes. The king comes into the feast to evaluate the guests and notices someone trying to fit in who is not wearing appropriate wedding clothes. The demands weren't harsh or hard to reach, the only requirement was a clean white robe, though that's not written in the story. But because the guest was not dressed appropriately he was seized by the servants and thrown out of the feast.
If we think of the characters in this story, the king is obviously the Father, the son is Jesus, the initial invitees are the people of Israel, and the rest of the invitees are the people of the world, Jew and Gentile alike, who are invited to take part in the Feast. But what's the deal with the clothes?
I think the clothes represent faith. Those who believe that Jesus is who He said He is, and will do what He said He will do have access to the Feast and are clothed with the white robe of righteousness, leading to Eternal Life with the Father. But there are some (and Jesus will talk about this in the next couple of chapters) who enjoy the community but aren't believers. They enjoy the cultural benefits of the faith community but don't actually believe this stuff is actually true.
And that's fine. For now.
But there will come a time at the final judgment when the King will look over His guests and those without the proper garments will be removed from the feast. The invitation is open to all, the demands aren't harsh or hard to reach, and the party is real.
So... are you dressed for the party?
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