Not Plan B

In a 1990 Christian Century column, Deloris Williams suggests that the parabolic king in Matthew 22:1-14 was forced into a change of plans by the irritating invitees.  "In order for the wedding feast to occur," she proposes, "the king had to change his standard about whom he would consider desirable company" (October 17, 1990, page 931).

That is certainly one way to read the parable.  I am not so sure, however, that it is the only way.  It may be that the king's standards have not changed at all.  If we do not abstract the parable from the concrete Biblical story, we may come to a different place in our reading.  "On this mountain," intones the prophet, "the LORD of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food..." (Isaiah 25:6a).  For all peoples...

It may be that the king has planned all along to invite the riffraff to the celebration.  Perhaps this is the real reason the recalcitrant recipients are so resistant.  They know that the king intends to invite the wrong sort of people to the party.  They do not intend to sit cheek by jowl with such a motley crew.  Like Jonah, they flee in the opposite direction precisely because they know the king's plan.

I remember a conversation with a lifelong Lutheran who did not attend worship on Easter Sunday.  He called it "Visitors' Sunday."  He saw it as one of those days when the riffraff showed up and took the seats belonging to the regulars. 

He said that his favorite days were the "after" Sundays--after Christmas, after Easter, after Thanksgiving.  On those days the "real" church folks could worship unhindered by the disruptive outsiders.

I have a soft spot in my heart for such churchly curmudgeons.  They love the church and want to protect it.  But my friend was, of course, quite wrong.  Welcoming tax collectors and sinners is not Plan B.  It is not a strategy to fill seats that would otherwise go wanting.  Welcoming all is precisely the plan from the beginning.  God's people bear Abraham's call to be the means by which all the nations of the earth will be blessed.

So I do not need to search the emergency guest list to find my name.  There is a beautifully lettered name card at my place. And there is one at the table for you as well.

Note: I did not link you to the Williams column because I found it in my sermon file rather than online.  Sorry!