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ПЪРВО ЧЕТИВО Ще ви дам ново сърце и нов дух ще вложа посред вас. Четене из книгата на Пророк Иезекиил 36,23-28 В онези дни: Тъй казва Господ: "Ще осветя великото Си име, обезславено от народите, сред които го обезславихте, и ще познаят народите, че Аз съм Господ, казва Господ Бог, когато покажа върху вас светостта си пред очите им. Ще ви взема из народите, ще ви събера от всички страни и ще ви доведа във вашата земя. И ще ви поръся с чиста вода, - и вие ще се очистите от всички ваши скверности, и от всички ваши идоли ще ви очистя. Ще ви дам ново сърце и нов дух ще ви дам; ще взема из вашата кръв каменно сърце и ще ви дам сърце от плът. Ще вложа във вас Моя Дух и ще направя да ходите по Моите заповеди, да пазите и изпълнявате Моите наредби. И ще живеете на земята, която дадох на отците ви, и ще бъдете народ Мой, и Аз ще бъда ваш Бог." Това е Божие слово. Пс 50,12-13.14-15.18-19 (О: Иез 36,25) Ще ви поръся с чиста вода, и ще се очистите от всички ваши скверности. Сърце чисто създай в мене, Боже, и несломим дух обнови в мене. Не ме отхвърляй от лицето Си, и Светия Твой Дух не отнемай от Мене. O Върни ми радостта на Твоето спасение, и във великодушие ме утвърди. Беззаконните ще науча на Твоите пътища, и грешниците към Тебе ще се обърнат. O Защото нито на жертви се радваш, и ако бих ти дал всесъжение, не би го приел. Моята жертва, Боже, е дух съкрушен; сърце съкрушено и смирено, Боже, не ще презреш. O АЛИЛУЯ Пс 94,8ав O Алилуя. Не ожесточавайте днес сърцата си, а чуйте гласа Господен. O Алилуя. ЕВАНГЕЛИЕ Колкото души намерите, поканете ги на сватбата. Четене от светото Евангелие според Матей 22,1-14 В онова време: Като им отговори, Исус продължи да говори на първосвещениците и стареите народни с притчи, като казваше: Царството небесно прилича на човек цар, който направи сватба на сина си. И разпрати слугите си да повикат поканените на сватбата, а те не искаха да дойдат. Пак изпрати други слуги, като рече: "Кажете на поканените: Ето, приготвих моя обяд; юнците ми и каквото е угоено, са заклани, и всичко е готово: дойдете на сватбата." Но те пренебрегнаха: и отидоха кой на нива, кой по търговия; други пък хванаха слугите му и ги убиха. Като чу за това царят, разгневи се, изпрати войските си, та погуби ония убийци и изгори града им. Тогава каза на слугите си: "Сватбата е готова, ала поканените не бяха достойни. Затова идете по кръстовищата и, колкото души намерите, поканете ги на сватбата." И като излязоха тия слуги по пътищата, събраха всички, колкото намериха - и лоши, и добри; и напълни се сватбения дом с много сътрапезници. Царят, като влезе да види насядалите, съгледа там един, който не бе облечен в сватбарска премяна, и каза му: "Приятелю, как влезе тук, като не си в сватбарска премяна?" А той мълчеше. Тогава царят рече на слугите: "Вържете му ръцете и нозете, вземете и го хвърлете във външната тъмнина; там ще бъде плач и скърцане със зъби." Защото мнозина са звани, а малцина избрани. Това е слово Господне.
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Once more Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying: 2‘The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding banquet for his son. 3He sent his slaves to call those who had been invited to the wedding banquet, but they would not come. 4Again 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.” 5But they made light of it and went away, one to his farm, another to his business, 6while the rest seized his slaves, maltreated them, and killed them. 7The king was enraged. He sent his troops, destroyed those murderers, and burned their city. 8Then he said to his slaves, “The wedding is ready, but those invited were not worthy. 9Go therefore into the main streets, and invite everyone you find to the wedding banquet.” 10Those slaves went out into the streets and gathered all whom they found, both good and bad; so the wedding hall was filled with guests. 11 ‘But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing a wedding robe,12and he said to him, “Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding robe?” And he was speechless. 13Then 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.” 14For many are called, but few are chosen.’ Translation: And again, Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying, "The kingdom of heaven may be compared to an earthly king who gave a marriage feast for his son. And he sent his servants to call the-ones-who-had-been-called to the marriage feast, but they did not want to come. Again, he sent other servants, saying, 'Speak to those-who-have-been-called: Behold! I have made ready my dinner, my oxen and fat calves are killed, and all is ready. Come into the marriage feast.' But the ones being neglectful went away, one to his land, another to his trade, and the rest seized his servants, treated them with insolence, and killed them. The king became angry, and sending his soldiers, he destroyed those murderers and burned their city. Then he said to his servants, 'The marriage feast is ready, but the-ones-who-had-been-called were not worthy. Go, therefore, upon the journey-ways and call into the marriage feast as many as you find.' And those servants went out into the 'ways' and gathered together all whom they found, both bad and good, and the wedding feast was filled with guests. But when the king came in to behold the guests, he saw there a person who had not put on the wedding garment. And he said to him, 'Friend, how did you get in here not having a wedding garment?' But he was speechless. Then the king said to the deacons, 'Bind him hand and foot and throw him out into the outer darkness. There, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.' For the invited (are) many, but the chosen (are) few." Background and situation: The lection is mostly from Q--the parallel is Luke 14:15-24--though, again, Matthew's version is some different from Luke's. In Luke, "a man" gives "a great dinner." Matthew kicks this up to a king giving a wedding banquet for his son. (Matthew has a special fondness for royal images. He frequently presents images of king-ship and kingdoms.) For both Luke and Matthew, the marriage feast is an important symbol. It represents God's abundant fellowship with humanity at the culmination of history. This idea goes back at least to first Isaiah (c. 750 BC): On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-matured wines, of rich food filled with marrow, of well-matured wines strained clear. (Isaiah 25: 6) Matthew tells three parables between 21:23 and 22:14--the parable of the two sons, the parable of the wicked tenants, and, now, the parable of the wedding banquet. In the first parable, the parable of the two sons, tax collectors and prostitutes are said to go into the kingdom of heaven before the religious leadership. Then, in the parable of the wicked tenants, the kingdom will be taken away from the religious leadership and given to people who produce fruits. Then, in the parable of the wedding banquet, the invitation is rejected by those first invited and given to those rounded up at the last minute. Having been led through three parables which place the religious leadership in a negative light, the surprising conclusion at the end of the parable (11-13), added by Matthew, focuses attention on the shortcomings of the church. The old leadership is compromised, yes, but the new community also has its own problems--specifically: the failure to live and work in light of the death and resurrection of the Lord. Parable of the wedding banquet: The king sends his servants out to "call those who have been called" (tous keklemenous). The root Greek word (kaleo) is the same as that which also designates the church--ekklesia, which literally means: the "called out ones." Matthew is the only one of the four gospels to use the word ekklesia (16: 18). In this parable, however, the "called out ones" refers to the first "called out ones," the Hebrews. They are represented in this parable, and throughout Matthew's gospel, by the Jewish religious hierarchy. (Matthew has nothing against Jews per se. He is one himself, as was Jesus. His argument is with the religious leadership.) This is made clear by a brief re-cap: It is Holy Week. Jesus has entered Jerusalem, driven the profiteers out of the Temple, then publicly embarrassed and verbally assaulted the "chief priests and scribes"--the Temple hierarchy--by reminding the crowd of the hierarchy's complicity in the murder of John the Baptist. Then, he tells the parable of the two sons, the point of which is to accuse the "chief priests and scribes" of not practicing justice and of opposing God. After that, he tells the parable of the wicked tenants, the point of which is the rejection of the religious hierarchy in favor of those who "produce the fruits of the kingdom." Then, he tells this story, the parable of the wedding banquet. The king is holding a wedding banquet in honor of his son. He sends his servants to call those invited--the original "called out ones"--but they hold the king's invitation in low regard and did not want to come. This is a surprising impertinence. An invitation from the king was as close to a "command performance" as could be found in the ancient world--or today either, for that matter. This disregard for the king's invitation symbolizes Israel's resistance to the first servants sent by the king, the Old Testament prophets. The king then sends out "other" servants to the same group. These "other servants" of the king represent the followers of "the way"--the early Christians, in other words. They issue the announcement of the arrival of the Great Banquet. This time, the invitation is stated fully and explicitly: "Behold! I have made ready my dinner, my oxen and fat calves are killed, and all is ready. Come into the marriage feast." "All is ready" is clear eschatological language. One should ask: Exactly how is it that "all is ready"? Note that the figure of "the son" does not actually appear in this parable. This "son" had been killed in the parable of the wicked tenants immediately preceding. Yet, in this parable, the son is obviously alive. The parable of the wedding banquet assumes that the son has been raised from the dead. In his death and resurrection, "all is ready." At this latest invitation, the invitees are called "neglectful." They "did not care" about the king's dinner. One went to his farm--literally, "ground." The other went to his business--emporium, in Greek. They went back to preserving and expanding their economic interests, in other words. Agriculture and commerce were primary sources of wealth for the ruling families of Jerusalem. The "rest"--loipoi--inflict violence upon these "other" servants. The "rest" are the minions of the ruling class, those not directly wealthy themselves, but rather those who lived high on the hog off the largesse of their benefactors, the wealthy ruling families. The "other servants" are seized, mistreated, and killed. The king retaliates by sending soldiers who destroyed the murderers and burned the city. (Any connection with a real event is hereby sundered. You don't get angry, start a war, and conquer a city all before the pot roast gets cold.) The mention of a burning city is an obvious reference to the destruction of Jerusalem in the Roman-Jewish War, AD 70, and Matthew's audience would have recognized this immediately. For Matthew, the destruction of Jerusalem was the judgment of God against those who resisted God's "way of justice" and killed its chief advocate, Jesus. The original "ones who were called" turn out to be "not worthy." The king then tells his servants to "go, therefore." (In chapter 28, the same phrase will announce the mission to "all nations.") Here, the servants are to go to, in Greek, diexodous ton 'odon--literally: "through out of ways of ways." The precise meaning of diexodous, obviously, is unclear. It appears to mean road-exits leaving a town. You'll notice also the word "exodus" in it, a recollection of the Hebrew people on their journey out of slavery into freedom. (Does diexodous ton 'odon suggest that following the way of Jesus is true freedom?) The servants go out on these "road-exits" or, as I've translated it, "journey-ways," and "gather together"--synagoge--"all" they found, "both bad and good." Placing "bad" before "good" draws attention to this pointed rejection of morality as a basis for determining who goes to the banquet. Morality is not a consideration. The servants are to gather up all they find without regard to whether anyone deserves it or not. Accordingly, the wedding banquet is "filled with guests." The "friend": Matthew then appends vss. 11-13 which are unique to Matthew. The king enters the wedding hall to "behold the guests" whereupon he notices one person who was not dressed in the proper wedding garment. This person is called "friend" (etairos). Matthew uses this word three times in his gospel--once to describe the "friend" who complained about the justice of the owner in the parable of the laborers of the vineyard, its use here, and once in relation to Judas, the betrayer. None could really be seen as positive examples. Its meaning depends on whether you read it straight or ironic. It may mean the kind of "friend" who is a partner in an enterprise--not a personal friend, but a business friend. If it is used ironically, however, it may mean "friend" as in "look, buster," or "hey, pal". In that sense, the word carries a certain chill. Robert Capon imagines that the host of the banquet must have supplied the wedding garments. Otherwise, how could you expect people rounded up off the streets to have the proper clothes? You don't leave for work in the morning by packing a tux in your lunch box on the outside chance that someone might call you to a wedding party. Capon says that the host supplied the wedding garment in the form of the death and resurrection of Jesus. The Great Banquet has been made possible and ushered in by that and that alone. One person apparently thought the banquet is based in something other than that. He wears some other garment. We are not told whether the man wore rags or a tux. It matters not which. Anything other than the wedding garment of Christ's death and resurrection is irrelevant. The man is unceremoniously shown the exit because the death and resurrection of Jesus is the only reason that anyone is there. Their presence has nothing to do with their "goodness" or "badness." It has nothing to do with whether or not they are in any way "worthy." It has everything to do with a "new creation" in which none of that counts. The lection closes with a line which, at first glance, doesn't relate very well to the rest of the story: "For many are called, but few chosen." On the basis of the story, who are the "many"? Conversely, who are the "few"? For me, the word for "chosen"--eklectoi--indicates the people of the early church, the ekklesia. Many have been called, in other words, but only a few have been chosen for the church. This would have been important for Matthew's community to hear. Their Jewish-Christian community was under pressure from both sides. On the one hand, Pauline Christianity, with its rejection of Torah, was in the ascendant. On the other hand, the Jewish-Christians were becoming pariahs within the Jewish community. By saying "many are called", Matthew is able to affirm the universal message of the gospel, and, by saying "few are chosen," he simultaneously explains why it has not taken the world by storm. Image: 14th century Russian icon