The Wedding Robe

The Wedding Robe

Preached on Thursday 20 August 2020

Matthew 22.1-14  

In Africa, and especially in West Africa, there is a wonderful tradition for big events, like weddings and even funerals.  It’s a tradition of printing a huge bale of cloth, and then making garments from that bale – so that everyone wears the same cloth to the event.

I’ve seen this particularly in the Diocese of Ho, where I was present for the 10th Anniversary of the founding of the Diocese, a few years back.  Bishop Matthias had commissioned the cloth, and he gave me a stole made from it.  It happened to have pictures of Mary on the cloth, as well as a picture of the Bishop himself.  And the stole he gave me ended up with the Bishop’s picture right over my heart!

The parable we’ve just heard is about such a wedding feast – as a lens through which to understand the Kingdom of Heaven.  It is essentially a history of salvation.  God is, of course, the King who throws the party.  The slaves he sends out to invite the guests are his prophets and priests.  The wedding guests are the Jewish people – at first – who, according to the parable, fail to turn up to the wedding.  In our first reading today from Ezekiel, we are reminded of all the times God’s people turned from God’s way, worshipping other idols, their hearts turning to stone. 

In other words, many whom God invites never quite sit down and eat from the table of God’s Kingdom.  

So the King invites everyone else in.  These are the Gentiles…the rest of humanity.  The parable is teaching us that whilst our faith has Jewish roots, it is a faith meant for all the world.

But then there’s a sting in the tail.  Among the guests, the King spots a man who is not wearing a wedding robe.  He doesn’t have one of the pieces of special cloth produced for the occasion. He has obviously decided that he wants to be in the party, but he doesn’t want to live by the rules of the host.

Who is this parable pointing to?

One day, when I was out driving with Bishop Matthias, he pointed up to a mansion on a hill.  It was a fine mansion indeed…with high walls, vast gardens, security fencing and many many rooms.  ‘Who do you think lives there?’, the Bishop asked me.  ‘I don’t know’, I replied.  ‘A pop star?  A chief?  A banker?’.  ‘No,’ replied the Bishop, ‘that mansion is owned by the self-styled Apostle of one of the TV churches.  He gets people to send him money via his TV channel, promising to do the work of God – and then he builds himself that mansion to live in!’

The man without a robe is anyone who comes to the party, but who doesn’t want to play by the party’s rules.  He is any church member – or church leader – whose lifestyle, beliefs, and choices and not Kingdom lifestyle, beliefs and choices.  He is the church member, or church leader, whose heart has remained cold to the preaching and teaching of the Kingdom.  And who uses the church for his own gain.

The man without a robe is the kind of so-called Christian who promises healing in return for donations.  Or the kind that assures you that if you just make a generous donation to the church, the Lord will shower you with blessings in return.  He is the charlatan, who finds other guests at the wedding feast, and then gets them under his spell and influence.  Or worse still, perhaps, he is the kind of so-called Christian who joins a church, and pretends his faith, just so that he can abuse children, or steal from the church’s coffers.

There are some politicians who try this on too.  They make a pretence of their piety – going to church, or, perhaps, standing outside a church brandishing a Bible, when in their heart they are full of hatred for others, and greed for themselves.  Some people have suggested that a certain American president has these characteristics.

But of course, it’s easy to point the finger at others. Whenever we point our finger at others, we have three fingers pointing back at us.  The Bible always invites us to consider whether we are the villain in the story.

That’s a question each of us can only answer for ourselves.  But if we are the kind of Christian who puts on our religion when we leave the house, but who never practices their faith at home… 

And if we are the kind of Christian who prays about forgiveness, but who actually nurses and feeds the hatred in our heart…

And if we are the kind of Christian who offers himself publicly as a living sacrifice, but then makes no sacrifice at all…

…then we should be wary.  The King may decide to deal especially harshly with such a one.  The outer darkness may await.

The Kingdom of God is a place of welcome for all.  Go out into the streets, and say ‘Everyone is welcome here.  Jew and Gentile, rich and poor, black and white, male and female…and every other description you can think of!’  God’s gift of life is freely given, and lavishly provided.  But let no-one take such generosity for granted.  And let no-one use it for his own gain.  

Amen