Year A Proper 23 2023 Of Barcodes and Expectations

 Year A Proper 23, 11 October 2020

St James the Less at The Cathedral Shrine of the Transfiguration, Shrine Mont

“Of Barcodes and Expectations”

Collect: Lord, we pray that your grace may always precede and follow us, that we may continually be given to good works; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Matthew 22:1-14

Once more Jesus spoke to the people in parables, saying: “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding banquet for his son. He sent his slaves to call those who had been invited to the wedding banquet, but they would not come. Again he sent other slaves, saying, ‘Tell those who have been invited: Look, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready; come to the wedding banquet.’ But they made light of it and went away, one to his farm, another to his business, while the rest seized his slaves, mistreated them, and killed them. The king was enraged. He sent his troops, destroyed those murderers, and burned their city. Then he said to his slaves, ‘The wedding is ready, but those invited were not worthy. Go therefore into the main streets, and invite everyone you find to the wedding banquet.’ Those slaves went out into the streets and gathered all whom they found, both good and bad; so the wedding hall was filled with guests.

“But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing a wedding robe, and he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding robe?’ And he was speechless. Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ For many are called, but few are chosen.”

Many are called, but few are chosen. We see a two-fold judgment happening in the story today. First, there is judgment for those that downplayed the invitation and did not come to the Feast. Those who deemed it beneath themselves to even care were the first rejected. Then, when the doors were open to any and all, the ones who did not put in any effort were not welcome either.

We either shout hurrah, or wince at this. And being a person attempting to be a good Anglican I want to find a middle way.

If you were given tickets to a concert, and not just that, but VIP passes to get you backstage to meet the band, you would feel very good, right? It is pretty cool. That is, if you like the band. And let’s say you do, they are your favorite band. You would be pretty excited. And the days leading up to the show, you might even tell people how lucky you are and how cool it is, and your friends would celebrate with you and be excited for you. 

But the day of the show you stay in your pajamas, you don’t even shower, and you just bum around all day. And when it is close to the concert you wonder if it is worth even going. Getting the tickets was the honor anyway, right?

NO! It is not enough to be invited. The invite is not the point. The concert is the point. And to go to the concert one has to show up! You have to go to Will Call and get the tickets. And when we go to something nice, we do what we have to do for the occasion.

I went to a beautiful wedding last weekend and it was wonderful getting together with everyone dressed up looking good. Our efforts made the event all the more special. 

If I was still in my bathrobe, unwashed when I walked into the VIP area with the band at the concert, I would expect someone to say, throw the bum out. Jesus’s story is exactly what I just described.

Showing up is a start. We all are invited, and all are allowed in. But we need to put in something. Comb our hair at least. Put on the best that we have, no matter how meager. The most humble offering of a beggar is worth more than the nonchalant cast-off of the rich.

Jesus tells stories for us to see something clearly by shifting our perspective. Jesus is talking about Grace here. What is given, and what our response should be. One of the great problems of the modern church is that people have not been given the understanding and expectation that we are trying daily to be more and more like Christ. We have been sold a consumerism in our Christianity that clings to passing feelings, and making us “feel good.” One poet likened our modern discipleship to “a cup of warm milk or a nap in the sunshine.”

Christlikeness. Will any of us get there on this side of heaven? No! Of course not. Do we try? Yes! Of course we do. So often people think that coming to church is like getting your card swiped when you go to the Y or a gym. They scan your barcode and let you in. Now that that is done, does that count as going to the gym? No. That is getting in the door. Going to the gym is working out. The barcode is the beginning but not the intent. 

Being a Christian, by calling oneself one or being baptized into the faith is like getting that barcode scanned. So many in the pews have never tried to learn and grow and be like Christ. They never “made it to the gym” even though their barcode may get scanned every week. Showing up is good. Showing up is the start. But just showing up is not the intent or the reason that Jesus gave his life.

Jesus came to show us the Way. That is what the early Church was even called, The Way. Jesus came to show us how to love God in our everyday, walk-about, work-a-day lives. And he paid the price to show us how much we are loved so it would be clear that we could do everything that he promised. 

While showing up may be a start, that is not all. Being ready is requisite. We have to put some skin in the game. And where we start and who we are might determine what we bring to the show. In today’s reading we see one of the late invitees castigated. I want to read it again to be clear:

“But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing a wedding robe, and he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding robe?’ And he was speechless. Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ For many are called, but few are chosen.”

This sounds so exclusionary, at first glance. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a saint of the last century and executed by NAZIs, explained things that look like this as Cheap Grace vs. Costly Grace. Cheap Grace would say, do not bother. God will save me no matter what I do. I am free to do whatever so I do not have to respect it. Costly Grace understands that it is free but that is so costly as to be priceless.

The one who showed up, not appreciating the gift that was set before them, did not go home and grab their best, whatever that was. They came, uncombed, unkempt, unappreciative. A taker, not one who was grateful. And the King, while gracious, calls his guests to be likewise. What does it say to the host to show up to their child’s wedding feast while wearing the clothes that you just cut the grass in on an August afternoon? What does it say about you? Not much either way.

We wouldn’t do it to a human, especially a King, why would anyone think it is acceptable to God?

I see this parable being about Grace, the nature of it, the cost of it, the price of it. When we live by Grace (that only comes from God through Christ), we live graciously. We say thank you. We give our best, not to pay for anything but rather to show how much we appreciate it.

There is a wonderful book on how the British Empire abolished slavery. Amazing Grace by Eric Metaxas is about William Wilbeforce, the member of the British Parliament who made it his life’s work to remove the stain of slavery from the British Empire. It is a great book, and Wilbeforce is a profound force for good in human history. He was a devout Christian who claimed nothing but his relationship with Christ to be worthy of honor. Though of no rank other than a being a Member of Parliament, he was buried in Westminster Abbey out of acclimation, devotion, and respect from royalty and the people alike. 

In the epilogue, the story was told of the emancipation of the island of Jamaica. They were free as of midnight July 31, 1834. But rather than celebrate, the formerly enslaved people climbed the mountains so they could look to the east early on that first day of August 1834. They stayed up all night praying and singing. As the glow stretched over the horizon, they waited in anticipation. The day they had all awaited had finally come. As they sang in the dawn, they showed that they understood the gift that they had been given. They had no fine robe to put on, but they had themselves. They had their song. They gave the best of what they had. They sang in the dawn and praised the God that made them. The same God that William Wilbeforce praised as he worked for the freedom of all God’s children. The same God that we worship today. They came dressed in their song!

Friends, all are welcome. Few understand the price that was paid for you to be free. As it says on the Korean Conflict Memorial, “Freedom is not free.” Show up. Make an effort. Be worthy of the price that was paid for you to be here today. And let us in each of our lives, sing in the dawn praising God. Many are called. Few are chosen. Amen