Proper 23
Preaching
PREACHING MATTHEW'S GOSPEL
A Narrative Approach
"Once more Jesus spoke to them in parables...." That's how this week's appointed text begins. Once more. Jesus has already told two stories in answer to the question of the chief priests and elders about the source of his authority. Jesus' first story was about two sons. One son said Yes and meant No. The other said No and did Yes. This son represents tax collectors and prostitutes who go into the kingdom ahead of the chief priests and elders because when they were confronted by the ministry of John the Baptist they repented, believed, and, so it is implied, bore fruits of repentance (Matthew 21:23-32).
Jesus' second story was about a householder who planted a vineyard (read: Israel) but could not get the tenants to produce for him the fruit of the land. In desperation the householder sent his son (read: Jesus) but they killed the son. So the householder took the vineyard away from the initial tenants and gave it to other tenants (read: Gentiles) who might bear fruit (Matthew 21:33-46).
These stories have much in common. Those who by logic and by call ought to bear fruit do not bear fruit. People are called and fail to respond. They reject the ministry of John the Baptist. They reject the ministry of the Son of God. So, others are chosen. "For many are called, but few are chosen" (Matthew 22:14). Tax collectors and prostitutes are chosen. Another nation that will produce fruits is chosen.
This week's text follows the same plot line. Many are called. They are invited to the marriage feast that the king will host for his son. But they will not come. They reject the message of the king's messengers. (John's ministry was rejected. They killed the Son. The messengers of the kingdom of heaven fare no better!) The king, however, will have a feast. He sends out his servants again noting that those who had been invited were not worthy. (They bore no fruit?)
The king says: "Go therefore into the main streets, and invite everyone you find to the wedding banquet" (22:9). And they came. The bad and the good. The wedding feast was ready to go. Many are called; few are chosen.
Robert Smith notes the similarities among these three consecutive parables of Jesus. He also notes a progression of thought.
All three paint vivid pictures of sharply contrasting responses to plain obligations, and in doing so they condemn disobedience or fruitlessness and summon readers to unflinching self-examination. They have much in common, and yet they have been so arranged as to lead readers forward step by hard step. The first (21:28-32) yields the lesson that prostitutes and tax collectors (little ones) come more quickly to fruits and obedience than the leading lights in the religious community. The second (21:33-44) pronounces a verdict: unresponsiveness and disobedience deserve punishment (vv. 41, 43). The third (22:1-10) describes the execution of terrible punishment upon nay-sayers (v. 7). The appendix (22:11-14) to that third parable applies the lessons of the parable neither to ordinary members nor to leaders of the Jewish community but to the new Christian community and its leaders. In fact that surprising appendix (vv. 11-14) encourages reading all three parables as arrows fired at deficiencies inside the new community.1
The wedding feast was filled with the bad and the good. On the one hand this is a signal of God's grace. In each of these parables the kingdom reaches out to claim the outsiders for life. Still, these outsiders are expected to bear the fruits of repentance. That may well be the point of the wedding garment segment of the text: vv. 11-14. Having no wedding garment, that is, may be a sign of a lack of bearing fruit. Robert Smith calls this a sharp warning to the new community. "It is not sufficient to hold membership, to sit at table as invited guest, to have said yes instead of no. What is being promoted here is doing the Father's will, bearing fruit, being properly garbed."2
Smith also notes that Matthew is quite consistent in portraying the new community as a mixed body of good and bad. The parable of the wheat and the tares (13:24-30), the good fish and bad (13:48), obedient and disobedient sons (21:28-32), and sheep and goats (25:31-46) make the same point.
Matthew pondered the strange make-up of the new community, he saw the grace of God in its odd assortment of people.... Matthew loves to celebrate the surpassing depth and splendor of that grace. At the same time Matthew was painfully aware of sad tendencies among the good and the bad: (1) "Good" people in the community are tempted to embark on programs of purification, to weed out the tares or to cast out the erring. (2) And the "bad" are tempted to count on God's foolishness and to misconstrue grace as divine indifference to morality or behavior. So Matthew is tireless in warning that judging others is no business of the community, and equally ardent and insistent that history will end with God's judgment.3
Matthew, therefore, is always goading the new community toward self-examination.
Homiletical Directions
There are a number of ways that we can move narratively with this week's text. We can put it together with the two parables that precede it. The earlier parables have been the texts for the last two weeks, so they can be briefly retold. One goal of putting these texts together would be to fashion a sermon which calls for repentance and self-examination with an eye toward fruit bearing. A second homiletical goal of putting these three stories together might be to accent the closing line of this week's text: "For many are called, but few are chosen."
We will explore in more depth a third possibility. This possibility will focus on the graciousness of God's inviting. This graciousness is clearly seen in all three of these parables. Tax collectors and prostitutes go into the kingdom before the chief priests and elders because they witnessed the ministry of John the Baptist and believed. Other nations (Gentiles) are offered the kingdom of heaven because the tenants of the vineyard (Israel) killed the son. People in the thoroughfares of the city are invited into the kingdom feast because those who were first invited were not worthy. The first task of this sermon, therefore, would be to tell this week's text in light of the previous week's text as a text offering God's gracious inviting.
This gracious inviting into the kingdom of heaven offered to the unworthy is the alpha and omega of Matthew's Gospel. In the alpha chapter, Matthew 1:1-16, there is a genealogy which contains some amazing surprises. We have discussed the women that appear in this genealogy in Chapters 1 and 7. We even suggested that a sermon on the women in Matthew 1 would make a wonderful Advent series. If you have not as yet told the stories of the women in Matthew's genealogy, here is another opportunity to do so.
First comes Tamar, the "righteous prostitute." Her story is told in Genesis 38. Righteousness is a key theme in Matthew's Gospel, so it is not surprising that Tamar is the first women mentioned in the genealogy. Next comes Rahab. Her story is told in Joshua 2 and 6. Rahab is a non-Israelite woman who helps to save Israel at the time of the conquest of the land. Then comes Ruth, a Moabitess, the great-grandmother of David. Once again a non-Israelite woman plays a role in the birth of David of whom Jesus is Son. Finally, there is Bathsheba. She is a Hittite who gives birth to Solomon. Here, too, a non-Israelite woman plays a key role in God's saving plan.
These women--three of them Gentiles!--are an early clue to Matthew's message. The kingdom of heaven proclaimed by Jesus is not just a kingdom for Jewish men. In Judaism it was primarily the men who carried out the worship life. It will not be so in the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom brought by Jesus. Women are included from the very beginning of the story as mothers of the faith. And they are not just Jewish women. There are Gentile women as well. The fact that the first chapter of Matthew includes these Gentile women is a sign of the missionary character of this book. The alpha word of Matthew's Gospel is that the kingdom of heaven is open to the little ones, the unworthy, the bad and the good, the Gentiles.
Story two of this sermon, therefore, would be the story of these women as the story of God's gracious invitation to the whole world.
The omega word of Matthew's Gospel is also a missionary word. "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations..." (Matthew 28:16-20, 19). We recognize this as the Great Commission. The word that the message is to go to "all nations" reminds us directly of Matthew 21:43: "...the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people/nation that produces the fruits of the kingdom."
Story three, therefore, would focus briefly on the Great Commission. We are charged by God to be agents of God's gracious invitation to all the world.
These three stories portray a God of gracious inviting. A closing proclamation might go like this: "I am the God of gracious invitation. I invite tax collectors and prostitutes into my kingdom. I invite the bad and the good. I invite people from the highways and byways. I invite Tamar and Rahab and Ruth and Bathsheba into my kingdom. I will to invite all nations into my kingdom. Most important of all, I will to invite you into my kingdom. Get your garment ready. We're going to have a great kingdom party."
Amen.
___________
1. Robert H. Smith, Matthew: Augsburg Commentary on the New Testament (Minneapolis: Augsburg Press, 1989), pp. 256-257.
2. Ibid., p. 259.
3. Ibid., p. 256.
Jesus' second story was about a householder who planted a vineyard (read: Israel) but could not get the tenants to produce for him the fruit of the land. In desperation the householder sent his son (read: Jesus) but they killed the son. So the householder took the vineyard away from the initial tenants and gave it to other tenants (read: Gentiles) who might bear fruit (Matthew 21:33-46).
These stories have much in common. Those who by logic and by call ought to bear fruit do not bear fruit. People are called and fail to respond. They reject the ministry of John the Baptist. They reject the ministry of the Son of God. So, others are chosen. "For many are called, but few are chosen" (Matthew 22:14). Tax collectors and prostitutes are chosen. Another nation that will produce fruits is chosen.
This week's text follows the same plot line. Many are called. They are invited to the marriage feast that the king will host for his son. But they will not come. They reject the message of the king's messengers. (John's ministry was rejected. They killed the Son. The messengers of the kingdom of heaven fare no better!) The king, however, will have a feast. He sends out his servants again noting that those who had been invited were not worthy. (They bore no fruit?)
The king says: "Go therefore into the main streets, and invite everyone you find to the wedding banquet" (22:9). And they came. The bad and the good. The wedding feast was ready to go. Many are called; few are chosen.
Robert Smith notes the similarities among these three consecutive parables of Jesus. He also notes a progression of thought.
All three paint vivid pictures of sharply contrasting responses to plain obligations, and in doing so they condemn disobedience or fruitlessness and summon readers to unflinching self-examination. They have much in common, and yet they have been so arranged as to lead readers forward step by hard step. The first (21:28-32) yields the lesson that prostitutes and tax collectors (little ones) come more quickly to fruits and obedience than the leading lights in the religious community. The second (21:33-44) pronounces a verdict: unresponsiveness and disobedience deserve punishment (vv. 41, 43). The third (22:1-10) describes the execution of terrible punishment upon nay-sayers (v. 7). The appendix (22:11-14) to that third parable applies the lessons of the parable neither to ordinary members nor to leaders of the Jewish community but to the new Christian community and its leaders. In fact that surprising appendix (vv. 11-14) encourages reading all three parables as arrows fired at deficiencies inside the new community.1
The wedding feast was filled with the bad and the good. On the one hand this is a signal of God's grace. In each of these parables the kingdom reaches out to claim the outsiders for life. Still, these outsiders are expected to bear the fruits of repentance. That may well be the point of the wedding garment segment of the text: vv. 11-14. Having no wedding garment, that is, may be a sign of a lack of bearing fruit. Robert Smith calls this a sharp warning to the new community. "It is not sufficient to hold membership, to sit at table as invited guest, to have said yes instead of no. What is being promoted here is doing the Father's will, bearing fruit, being properly garbed."2
Smith also notes that Matthew is quite consistent in portraying the new community as a mixed body of good and bad. The parable of the wheat and the tares (13:24-30), the good fish and bad (13:48), obedient and disobedient sons (21:28-32), and sheep and goats (25:31-46) make the same point.
Matthew pondered the strange make-up of the new community, he saw the grace of God in its odd assortment of people.... Matthew loves to celebrate the surpassing depth and splendor of that grace. At the same time Matthew was painfully aware of sad tendencies among the good and the bad: (1) "Good" people in the community are tempted to embark on programs of purification, to weed out the tares or to cast out the erring. (2) And the "bad" are tempted to count on God's foolishness and to misconstrue grace as divine indifference to morality or behavior. So Matthew is tireless in warning that judging others is no business of the community, and equally ardent and insistent that history will end with God's judgment.3
Matthew, therefore, is always goading the new community toward self-examination.
Homiletical Directions
There are a number of ways that we can move narratively with this week's text. We can put it together with the two parables that precede it. The earlier parables have been the texts for the last two weeks, so they can be briefly retold. One goal of putting these texts together would be to fashion a sermon which calls for repentance and self-examination with an eye toward fruit bearing. A second homiletical goal of putting these three stories together might be to accent the closing line of this week's text: "For many are called, but few are chosen."
We will explore in more depth a third possibility. This possibility will focus on the graciousness of God's inviting. This graciousness is clearly seen in all three of these parables. Tax collectors and prostitutes go into the kingdom before the chief priests and elders because they witnessed the ministry of John the Baptist and believed. Other nations (Gentiles) are offered the kingdom of heaven because the tenants of the vineyard (Israel) killed the son. People in the thoroughfares of the city are invited into the kingdom feast because those who were first invited were not worthy. The first task of this sermon, therefore, would be to tell this week's text in light of the previous week's text as a text offering God's gracious inviting.
This gracious inviting into the kingdom of heaven offered to the unworthy is the alpha and omega of Matthew's Gospel. In the alpha chapter, Matthew 1:1-16, there is a genealogy which contains some amazing surprises. We have discussed the women that appear in this genealogy in Chapters 1 and 7. We even suggested that a sermon on the women in Matthew 1 would make a wonderful Advent series. If you have not as yet told the stories of the women in Matthew's genealogy, here is another opportunity to do so.
First comes Tamar, the "righteous prostitute." Her story is told in Genesis 38. Righteousness is a key theme in Matthew's Gospel, so it is not surprising that Tamar is the first women mentioned in the genealogy. Next comes Rahab. Her story is told in Joshua 2 and 6. Rahab is a non-Israelite woman who helps to save Israel at the time of the conquest of the land. Then comes Ruth, a Moabitess, the great-grandmother of David. Once again a non-Israelite woman plays a role in the birth of David of whom Jesus is Son. Finally, there is Bathsheba. She is a Hittite who gives birth to Solomon. Here, too, a non-Israelite woman plays a key role in God's saving plan.
These women--three of them Gentiles!--are an early clue to Matthew's message. The kingdom of heaven proclaimed by Jesus is not just a kingdom for Jewish men. In Judaism it was primarily the men who carried out the worship life. It will not be so in the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom brought by Jesus. Women are included from the very beginning of the story as mothers of the faith. And they are not just Jewish women. There are Gentile women as well. The fact that the first chapter of Matthew includes these Gentile women is a sign of the missionary character of this book. The alpha word of Matthew's Gospel is that the kingdom of heaven is open to the little ones, the unworthy, the bad and the good, the Gentiles.
Story two of this sermon, therefore, would be the story of these women as the story of God's gracious invitation to the whole world.
The omega word of Matthew's Gospel is also a missionary word. "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations..." (Matthew 28:16-20, 19). We recognize this as the Great Commission. The word that the message is to go to "all nations" reminds us directly of Matthew 21:43: "...the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people/nation that produces the fruits of the kingdom."
Story three, therefore, would focus briefly on the Great Commission. We are charged by God to be agents of God's gracious invitation to all the world.
These three stories portray a God of gracious inviting. A closing proclamation might go like this: "I am the God of gracious invitation. I invite tax collectors and prostitutes into my kingdom. I invite the bad and the good. I invite people from the highways and byways. I invite Tamar and Rahab and Ruth and Bathsheba into my kingdom. I will to invite all nations into my kingdom. Most important of all, I will to invite you into my kingdom. Get your garment ready. We're going to have a great kingdom party."
Amen.
___________
1. Robert H. Smith, Matthew: Augsburg Commentary on the New Testament (Minneapolis: Augsburg Press, 1989), pp. 256-257.
2. Ibid., p. 259.
3. Ibid., p. 256.
