Proper 23 -- Isaiah 25: 1–9; Psalm 23; Philippians 4: 4–13; Matthew 22: 1–14
A sermon by The Rev. Gene Tucker, given at Trinity Church, Mt. Vernon, IL; Sunday, October 12th, 2008
“Be there and be square!”
That’s an old Army phrase we used to use to get the troops to do two things:
- Be present and on time, and
- Be prepared by bringing everything (including a good attitude) for the task at hand.
“Be there and be square!” Essentially, it means, “show up” and “be squared away”.
That’s what today’s parable is all about: “Be there and be square.” In other words, “Accept the Lord’s invitation to the banquet, and do everything necessary to not only ‘show up’, but honor the Lord in the process by preparing for the banquet.”
Today’s parable follows on two others, which we have read and studied in the past two weeks. All three are directed at the chief priests and the elders of the Jewish people, and take place within the Temple courts early in Holy Week, that is, the last week of Our Lord’s earthly life.
Similarities exist, as well, between the subject matter of this parable and the parable we heard last week: Last week, we heard Jesus tell His audience that the owner of a vineyard had sent servant after servant to the tenants of the vineyard, seeking the fruits of his vineyard, but those servants who’d been sent were mistreated by the tenants. This week, the same message is couched in the symbolism of the first group of invitees who’d spurned the kings’ invitation to come to the banquet which honors the marriage of the kings’ son.
The similarities continue as the king issues new invitations to anyone who could be found in this week’s parable. In last week’s parable, Jesus tells the chief priests and the “the kingdom will be taken away from you, and given to a nation that produces the fruits of it.”
But now, Jesus advances the argument a step further, as He now outlines the responsibilities that fall to this new group, those who had responded to the king’s second invitation….
In essence, Jesus tells this new group of invitees, those who had been rounded up in the thoroughfares, that they are not only to accept his invitation (in Army terms, to “be there”), but they have some work to do to be prepared to remain at the banquet: he asks one of them how they got into the banquet without a wedding garment…in Army terms, the king asks why the individual isn’t “squared away”.
Let’s look briefly, then, at this part of Jesus’ parable:
- Good and bad present at the same time: The first thing we notice is that the king issues the invitation, and the ingathering begins,[1] with both good and bad persons being brought to the banquet. We might pause here for a moment…..Matthew records another similar teaching of Jesus in the Parable of the Wheat and the Tares (Matthew 13: 24 – 30), in which the Church is described as a field which has both good and bad (wheat and tares/weeds) in it. In the case of the parable before us today, and the Parable of the Wheat and the Tares, both good and bad elements remain until the owner of the field/the king come and separate the bad out from the good. Matthew apparently has a very realistic view of the Church, recognizing that it is composed of persons who are “walking the walk” of God, and those who are not. Furthermore, Matthew seems content to allow both elements to remain in the Church until the time that God chooses to remove the impure elements from it.
- “Being there” isn’t enough: “Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?” the king asks. The implication is clear: being invited to the king’s banquet requires some sort of a response. After all, being properly attired is a sign of respect – respect that was entirely lacking from the original group of invitees, by the way, as they treated the king’s invitation casually and with disrespect – for the king’s person and office.
As we consider how we might be “squared away,” what steps might we take in response to God’s invitation to enter into a relationship with Him?
After all, Jesus’ parable makes clear that simply “being there” isn’t enough to stay in that relationship…..we have work to do!
What work might that be? How can we honor God, doing our part to cement the relationship between God and us?
For an answer, we turn to the Baptismal Covenant[2], and I offer a list of ideas which suggest some responses we can make to God’s invitation to become a part of His family, that is, the Church. We begin with Baptism itself, which is our response to God’s invitation to come into His family, and we continue with a key question from the Baptismal Covenant….
Baptism: “Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?” the king asks…..Recall the process of baptism itself: It is the separating point between our old selves and our new self in Christ….. “We are buried with Christ in His death,” St. Paul writes in Romans, chapter six. Indeed, the early Church carried out the Sacrament of Holy Baptism in very graphic ways: the person to be baptized entered into a body of water (lake, pond or stream), was immersed completely under the water, and was raised out of the water, only to leave the water by another route (on the other side, if at all possible), and was then clothed in a new, white garment.[3] The white garment was the symbol of purity in Christ. “Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?” Our “wedding garment” is the purity of baptism!
“Will you continue in the Apostles’ teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of the bread, and the prayers?: This key question is one of those that are asked of persons who are to be baptized. The question assumes several things, all of which are our response to God’s invitation:
- Baptism is an ongoing process: Yes, we are baptized once. Baptism is a Sacrament which cannot be repeated. However, we cannot assume the posture that says, “I’ve was baptized on such-and-such a date, and that’s ‘old history’ now.” No, the question asks, “Will you continue…” In other words, will you “keep on keeping on” by learning more and more about the Lord, and about what it means to be a child of God through baptism, which buries us with Christ in His death, only to be raised to new life with Him.
- The Apostles’ teaching and fellowship: How can we know what the Apostles’ teaching is, if we don’t study and learn what it is? Hence, an ongoing learning process is absolutely necessary: individual Bible study, Sunday School, Sunday group Bible study, learning sessions such as our midweek gatherings, and diocesan training sessions, all of these offer opportunities for Christian growth and maturity. And, oh yes, lest I forget, let me acknowledge that my sermons have a deliberate teaching element to them! Regular engagement with all of these is absolutely mandatory for responding to God’s invitation.
- The breaking of bread and the prayers: This question has to do with worship…. “The breaking of bread” refers to Holy Communion, of course. And “the prayers” has to do with our regular gatherings for prayer, which forms a large part of what we do together on Sunday mornings when we gather for worship. The Christian faith has always been carried out and nurtured in community. It cannot be a “one man” or “one woman” undertaking.
“Be there and be square!” we used to tell our young troops. Today, God calls us not only to respond to Him by following the Lord into the waters of Baptism, in Army terms, “Be there,” but to undertake an ongoing response by preparing to meet Him again and again in the pages of Holy Scripture, in a deliberate and committed regimen of study, and in the faces of other Christians. By these measures, may we “be square”.
AMEN.
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[1] Remember that Matthew always has the final sorting-out of the good and the bad at the end of time in view. This focus permeates all of Matthew’s Gospel account.
[2] Book of Common Prayer, 1979, pp. 304 - 305
[3] This white garment survives as our modern-day alb.
