1st Michaelmas
Matthew 22, 1-14
And Jesus continued to speak in
parables to them:
The kingdom of the heavens arising in human hearts is like a man, a
king, who prepared a marriage feast for his son. And he sent out his servants
to call the guests who had been invited to the marriage, but they would not
come.
Then
he again sent out other servants, and said , “Say to those who have been
invited, ‘Think, I have prepared my best for the banquet, the sacrificial oxen
and fattened cattle have been slaughtered; everything is ready. Come quickly to
the wedding.”
But they were not interested and went off, one going to his field to be
his own master, another falling into the hectic pace of his own business. The
rest however took hold of the servants, mistreated them and killed them.
Then the king grew angry; he sent out his army, brought the murderers to
their destruction and burned their city. Then he said to his servants,
“Although the marriage feast is prepared, the invited guests have proved
themselves unworthy. Go out therefore to the crossroads of destiny and invite
to the wedding whoever you can find.”
And the servants went into the streets and gathered together all whom
they found, both bad and good. And the wedding hall was filled with guests.
Then the king came in to see the guests, and among them he noticed a man
who was not dressed in the wedding garment
which was offered to him. And he said to him, “My friend, you are
sharing the meal; how is it you came in here without putting on the wedding
garment that was offered to you?”
But the man was speechless.
Then the king said to the servants, “Bind him hand and foot and cast him
out into the darkness, where human beings wail and gnash their teeth. For the
call goes out to many, yet only a few make themselves bearers of the higher
life.”
Michaelmas
Matthew 22: 1-14
This
is the time of harvest. Part of the harvest process is sorting. The really good
fruit is sent on. The middling fruit serves a second tier purpose. And what
fails to measure up is rejected and discarded.
Today’s
gospel reading involves a kind of inner harvesting of human soul qualities. The
King of human hearts is looking for those with fruits of soul expressed in
particular soul qualities. He wants to invite them into an intimate event with
Him. He first “picks” those whom he could expect to be near and dear, His
Chosen Ones. But unfortunately over time these souls had become distracted with
ownership and business. These souls had developed necessary qualities which
serve well in the temporal realm. But they had forgotten their previous
engagement. The servants’ reminder that they were meant to be elsewhere aroused
at best, indifference, and at worse, destructiveness. They murder the messengers.
The
King of human hearts then expands His search for those soul qualities in anyone
at all who will fill His banquet hall. Ordinary definitions of good and bad
don’t seem to count here. All that seems to be necessary is that one present
oneself. In showing up, in being present, one will be gifted with what else is
required. In the story one soul shows up and is given a festive garment with
which to outfit himself properly for this very special event in the realm of
the heart. But he refuses the gift. And he is rejected. The only soul quality
that makes us unworthy is the refusal to clothe oneself differently. The only
quality that send us into the outer darkness is the refusal to change.
All
of these characters in the story are aspects and qualities of our own soul. Our
indifference, or over-concern with the temporal, our outright refusal to clothe
our souls with what is befitting in the Father’s realm of the heart, make us
into measly fruit, fruit that fails to measure up, that fails to serve the
banquet. That which we refuse to produce, to develop and grow in our souls is
then thrown into the heap of destiny. Our failures produce the darkness, “where
human beings wail and gnash their teeth. For the call goes out to many, but few
make themselves bearers of the higher life.” Matthew 22:13,14. It is up to us
to take up the invitation and to present ourselves as bearers of higher life.
We
can train in ourselves the qualities of loving, of putting aside our
self-centered egotism, our indifference, our murderous anger. We can do our
best, and still need to acknowledge that we need the gift of the wedding
garment, the gift of grace from above. Worthy or not, we can answer the King’s
invitation to the wedding of His Son. For the wedding we show up for (or not)
is our own. It is the soul’s own wedding to the Son who loves us.
The
poet said,
I want both of us
To start talking about this
great love
As if you, I and the Sun were
all married
And living in a tiny room.
Helping each other to cook,
Do the wash,
Weave and sew,
Care for our beautiful
Animals.
We all leave each morning
To labor on the earth’s field
No one does not lift a great
pack.
I want both of us to start
singing like two
Traveling minstrels
About this extraordinary
existence
We share,
As if
You, I, and God were all
married
And living in
A tiny
Room.[1]
[1]
Hafiz, “I Want Both of Us”, in The Gift,
Poems by Hafiz, translated by Daniel Ladinsky, p. 180.
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