All Are Invited, Not All Are Welcome

Posted on October 13, 2023 by Herb Montgomery

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All Are Invited, Not All Are Welcome

Herb Montgomery | October 13, 2023

“All are invited to sit at the table of justice but not all are welcome: this table that we sit down to requires that we stand for something. The justice table is about justice for everyone: justice for women, justice for people of color, justice for the LGBTQ community, justice for Indigenous people, justice for the poor and the list could go on. This table is about justice for everyone, especially those the present system does harm. And everyone is invited to the table. But to be welcome at that table, one has to take off the garments of patriarchy and put on the clothes of egalitarianism. One has to take off the garments of racism and put on the clothes of racial justice and inclusion. One has to take off the garments of White supremacy and authoritarianism and put on the clothes of a diverse, democratic society. One has to take off the garments of homophobia, biphobia, and transphobia and put on the clothing of equality. One has to take off the garments of colonialism, and put on the clothing of reparations and repentance. One has to take off the garments of classism and put on the clothing of resource sharing, wealth redistribution, and equity”.

To listen to this week’s eSight as a podcast episode click here.

Our reading this week is from the gospel of Matthew:

Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying: “The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son. He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused to come. Then he sent some more servants and said, ‘Tell those who have been invited that I have prepared my dinner: My oxen and fattened cattle have been butchered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.’ But they paid no attention and went off—one to his field, another to his business. The rest seized his servants, mistreated them and killed them. The king was enraged. He sent his army and destroyed those murderers and burned their city. Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to come. So go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find.’ So the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, the bad as well as the good, and 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 wedding clothes. He asked, ‘How did you get in here without wedding clothes, friend?’ The man was speechless. Then the king told the attendants, ‘Tie him hand and foot, and throw him outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’” For many are invited, but few are chosen.” (Matthew 22:1-14)

The first thing we must stress as we ponder this week’s reading is that the parable is not about heaven, but about the Kingdom. In the gospels, the Kingdom is Jesus’ vision for a just human community. Jesus was leading a Jewish renewal movement, and his “kingdom” was his vision of what a safe, inclusive community could look like if his society returned to the social justice themes in the Torah. This is the soil out of which Luke’s and Matthew’s versions of this parable grew.

These two versions are very different. Most scholars believe that Luke’s version is the oldest and most closely resembles the oral parable passed down in the Jesus community between Jesus’ crucifixion and the writing of the Jesus story. Let’s consider Luke’s version: it will help us understand the changes Matthew made and, possibly, why.

Luke’s Version

Jesus replied: “A certain man was preparing a great banquet and invited many guests. At the time of the banquet he sent his servant to tell those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’ But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said, ‘I have just bought a field, and I must go and see it. Please excuse me.’ Another said, ‘I have just bought five yoke of oxen, and I’m on my way to try them out. Please excuse me.’ Still another said, ‘I just got married, so I can’t come.’ The servant came back and reported this to his master. Then the owner of the house became angry and ordered his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame.’

‘Sir,’ the servant said, ‘what you ordered has been done, but there is still room.’ Then the master told his servant, ‘Go out to the roads and country lanes and compel them to come in, so that my house will be full. I tell you, not one of those who were invited will get a taste of my banquet.’ (Luke 14:16-24)

In Luke’s version, the overall point is that Jesus’ kingdom will be composed of those his society marginalized, excluded, and pushed to the edges and undersides. This parable illustrates a common gospel theme: that the first shall be last and the last shall be first.

The elite, privileged, propertied, and powerful were invited first, and they refused to come. So the gates were swung wide open to anyone in the town’s streets and alleys, including the “poor, the crippled, and the blind, and the lame.” It must be stressed that these people were those Jesus’ society shunned. They were, in economic terms, the lowest of the low, often forced into begging for money and barely surviving.

Luke’s Jesus teaches a vision for our world that is a safe, compassionate, just home especially for those the present system makes vulnerable to harm. In this world, privilege and elitism has no place, and so those who want to hold on to forms of classism find themselves on the outside of Jesus’ kingdom.

Now, with this as our backdrop, let’s consider Matthew’s version.

Matthew’s Version

Remember that Matthew’s audience was much more Jewish than Luke’s. Luke’s community of readers was more cosmopolitan, and Luke was written in the wake of Paul’s and others’ work to include Gentiles in the Jewish Jesus community.

Matthew, on the other hand, was written for a Galilean audience. Although that audience included Gentiles, it was a much more Jewish concentrated community of Jesus followers. Like Luke’s gospel, Matthew’s was also written after the Roman destruction of Jerusalem in 70 C.E. These Jewish Jesus followers, like all Jews at this time, were wrestling with what to make of a world that no longer had a Jewish temple and in which Jerusalem was destroyed. In this context, Matthew’s author adapts the parable to their community’s needs: it becomes a parable that explains the destruction of Jerusalem as the result of the leaders’ rejection of the Torah’s economic teachings, especially in regards to the poor. These poor people revolted in the poor people’s revolt of the mid 60’s C.E. Their revolt led to the Roman Jewish War of 66-69 C.E., which in turn resulted in the destruction of Jerusalem the following year.

I want to steer clear of supersessionism here: I don’t interpret Matthew’s parable as anti-Jewish or pro-Christian. That would be harmful and overly simplistic. Again, Matthew’s community was composed of a large number of Jewish Jesus followers in and around Galilee. When Matthew refers to an enraged king who sends his army to destroy murderers and burn their city, he is referring to a long history of the elites and the powerful, those who economically benefited from a system that impoverished others, repeatedly rejecting the economic teachings of the Torah in relation to the poor, the Hebrew justice prophets’ call to return to those teachings, and Jesus’ call to do the same. Jesus stood squarely in the justice tradition of the Hebrew prophets. And so this parable tell its audience that the recent events in Jerusalem were caused by the refusal to embrace economic principles that would have eradicated poverty in their society.

This is important. This is not a parable that says Jerusalem was destroyed because “the Jews rejected Jesus.” No. That is an anti-Jewish interpretation. Rather, this parable claims that Jerusalem was destroyed for refusing to take care of the poor. And that interpretation can lead us to advocate for an end to poverty.

Interpreting this passage in terms of poverty harmonizes with the Hebrew prophets as well. Notice why they stated Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed:

“Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy.” (Ezekiel 16:49)

Making this connection also helps us understand the last portion of the parable about the person found without a wedding garment. At the time of Matthew’s writing, the community was expanding the invitation into Jesus’ kingdom to those outside of Jewish society. But that invitation still came with the warning that weddings require appropriate attire. Jesus’ kingdom here on earth requires regard for people harmed by our world’s systems. If we disregard the social harm being done to others, especially those most vulnerable to that harm in our present system, we will end up just like those in the parable who were originally invited.

And this leads me to one application to our context today. All are invited to sit at the table of justice but not all are welcome: this table that we sit down to requires that we stand for something. The justice table is about justice for everyone: justice for women, justice for people of color, justice for the LGBTQ community, justice for Indigenous people, justice for the poor and the list could go on. This table is about justice for everyone, especially those the present system does harm. And everyone is invited to the table. But to be welcome at that table, one has to take off the garments of patriarchy and put on the clothes of egalitarianism. One has to take off the garments of racism and put on the clothes of racial justice and inclusion. One has to take off the garments of White supremacy and authoritarianism and put on the clothes of a diverse, democratic society. One has to take off the garments of homophobia, biphobia, and transphobia and put on the clothing of equality. One has to take off the garments of colonialism, and put on the clothing of reparations and repentance. One has to take off the garments of classism and put on the clothing of resource sharing, wealth redistribution, and equity.

All are invited, and not all are welcome. To be welcome at the kingdom table, you have to embrace the values, ethics, and principles for which the table stands, because this is a table that is first and foremost about transforming our present world into a safe, compassionate, just home for everyone.

HeartGroup Application

1. Share something that spoke to you from this week’s eSight/Podcast episode with your HeartGroup.

2. What are some ways the parable of the wedding banquet inform your justice work today? Share and discuss with your group.

3. What can you do this week, big or small, to continue setting in motion the work of shaping our world into a safe, compassionate, just home for everyone?

Thanks for checking in with us, today.

I want to say a special thank you to all of our supporters out there. And if you would like to join them in supporting Renewed Heart Ministries’ work you can do so by going to renewedheartministries.com and clicking donate.

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You can watch our new YouTube show called “Just Talking” each week. Todd Leonard and I take a moment to talk about the gospel lectionary reading for the upcoming weekend. We’ll be talking about each reading in the context of love, inclusion, and societal justice. Our hope is that our talking will be just talking (as in justice) and that during our brief conversations each week you’ll be inspired to also do more than just talking.

If you teach from the lectionary each week, or if you’re just looking for some thoughts on the Jesus story from a more progressive perspective within the context of social justice, check it out, you might like it. You can find JustTalking each week on YouTube at youtube.com/@herbandtoddjusttalking. Please Like, Subscribe, hit the Notification button, and leave us a comment.

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My new book, Finding Jesus: A story of a fundamentalist preacher who unexpectedly discovered the social, political, and economic teachings of the Gospels is now also available at renewedheartministries.com

Right where you are, keep living in love, choosing compassion, taking action, and working toward justice.

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I’ll see you next week.

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Herb’s new book Finding Jesus: A story of a fundamentalist preacher who unexpectedly discovered the social, political, and economic teachings of the Gospels, is available at renewedheartministries.com.

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