Sermon for 18th Sunday after Trinity – morning
Sunday 15th October 2017
Proper 23
Isa. 25. 1-9
Matthew 22.1-14
Revd Preb Maureen Hobbs
“Do not judge a book by its covers!” I seem to recall being told often when I was growing up…..
And yet here, in Jesus’ story about the king and the wedding banquet we seem, at first hearing to have the very opposite!
How many people here have heard this story before and thought “that seems a bit harsh! Presumably the man was one of those compelled by the king’s slaves to come into the feast from the streets – the highways and byways – and now he is being condemned to eternal damnation for not having the right party clothes!”
It seems to run counter to all our instincts of natural justice doesn’t it? And scholars and theologians have long pondered and scratched their head and wondered quite what Jesus is getting at here…
Of course, it is perfectly possible that what we have is not in fact one story but two or even more that have been rather clumsily stitched together by the Biblical editors…. maybe Jesus didn’t tell it quite like that – or maybe he did… ?
Several people have asked me whether or not it feels strange to be back after a long time away? And of course it does in one way…. Lots has happened to me in the past couple of months (not all of it very pleasant!) and lots has happened to you too – not least of which Scarecrows and Bells Run etc.
But I am back now, and beginning to pick up the reins – very grateful to all of you who have managed things in my absence – and done very well!
One of the ways in which I prepared myself this morning to come back and be your Vicar again, was in choosing what to wear.
Now, I don’t know how much thought you gave to what you put on this morning before coming to church? But one of the key things I had to do was to put on a clerical collar again. Something that I have not done before the past few days, for some 8 or 9 weeks!
Of course, I was still a priest all of that time – I always am, whatever I happen to be wearing, but before coming out this morning, there was a definite decision to put on the uniform before coming back to work…. Those of you who have ever worn a uniform or formal work clothes will know exactly what I mean.
And on one level, it makes no difference of course, what I choose to wear. I am still your Vicar – still the person authorised to conduct services of worship in this building and elsewhere. But on another level, it makes all the difference in the world. It helps me to “get back into role” and I hope it helps you to know that “the Vicar is back”.
So what we wear – what the outside of the book says about us – does matter to some extent?
And what about that guest at the party?
Whenever I (or any other priest) conducts a baptism, we tell the person or baby baptised that they have been “clothed with Christ”.
In dressing for church, whether we are clergy or lay, or in dressing for a party, we dress for the day; for the occasion. In ‘dressing myself with Christ,’ I dress for eternity. So perhaps in this story about a wedding, there are overtones of another rite of passage? The wedding garment, is clothing donned at baptism and that baptismal robe is a relationship to be constantly renewed. “Love that must be lived and realized afresh, each day”.
Every time we come to God’s table to receive in bread and wine the proof of his love, perhaps we need also to ask ourselves, “What am I wearing?”. Does my outward appearance – not literally, but in the outward face I show the world – in the way I behave to others – does that demonstrate my attitude to God’s love to me? Am I a guest worthy of the name who – to paraphrase the poet-priest George Herbet, can accept Love’s gracious and compelling invitation to sit and taste Love’s meat? Or, through my own carelessness and callousness, am I condemning myself to a far darker future?
God help us to remember to clothe ourselves afresh each day with your love and to proudly show forth that love to the world.
Amen.