Lord,I can't help but think
that Matthew
messed up this Sunday's parable.
Maybe he wrote it down all crooked?
Did he fall asleep before you finished
and have to make up his own ending?
I can believe that the King
in your story about his son's wedding banquet
was disappointed
by the guests who didn't show up.
But going to the extreme
of burning down a city?
Doesn't make sense,
coming from someone
who is all about mercy and compassion.
I love to imagine a party
to which everyone is invited --
because that's just
how you roll.
After all, you're the guy who hung out
with tax collectors and sinners,
and who encourages us to welcome the least,
to care for the hungry,
the thirsty,
the naked,
the sick,
and the prisoner.
(At least Matthew got that part right.)
What I don't buy
is the end of his telling of the parable
where one wedding guest
who wasn't wearing a "wedding robe"
is bound hand and foot and thrown into "the outer darkness
where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth."
Excuse me?
That's just not how you roll,
is it?
You love us all equally
and the King in any parable you tell
would probably be more like the one
that we see at the Last Supper in John's gospel,
the one who removed his outer robe
in order to wash the dirty feet of his guests.
I suspect you would prefer to have the King in your story
take his mis-dressed guest aside
and offer him the finest wedding robe imaginable --
to raise him up rather than throw him out.
That King would be more like the prodigal father.
Is it possible that after hearing your parable,
Matthew procrastinated,
and then later,
when his memory was rather fuzzy,
he couldn't remember the way you told it originally,
and human bias and a need for retribution crept in?
Otherwise,
I just don't get it.
Really, it doesn't sound like
the kind of story
an all-loving,
all-forgiving
God like you
would tell.
Regardless,
thank you
for loving us
and for inviting us ALL
to your banquet,
no matter who we are
or how we believe.
I promise I'll do my best
to show up in appropriate wedding clothes
when I'm invited to your heavenly feast someday,
but I'm pretty sure
that what I've done wrong
or what I wear
won't really bother you one way or the other,
no matter what Matthew wrote.
I know you love me,
and I love you too.
What else matters?
+Amen.
