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Today our
subject for the talk is again the Parables of the Lord. In previous
weeks I have tried to pair together parables that were similar or shared
something in common. For example we began with the Parable of the Sower
which was paired with the Parable of the Weeds. Although two very
different parables they both had to do with seeds. Next we saw the
Parable of the Talents which was paired with the Parable of the Pound.
Again both had to do with money given in trust to the servants of the
Lord. And last week we saw two parables that had to do with workers and
vineyards. Today, continuing our analysis on the Parables of the Lord,
we will look at another two parables which again are very similar, but
contain enough differences to be interpreted as separate parables. The
parables we will hear are the Parable of the Great Supper and the
Parable of the Wedding feast. So let's hear the first of today's
parables "The Great supper" taken from the Gospel according to St. Luke.
"The Lord said this parable: A certain man made a
great supper, and bade many: And sent his servant at supper time to say
to them that were bidden, Come; for all things are now ready. And they
all with one consent began to make excuse. The first said unto him, I
have bought a piece of ground, and I must needs go and see it: I pray
thee have me excused. And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen,
and I go to prove them: I pray thee have me excused. And another said, I
have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come. So that servant came,
and shewed his lord these things. Then the master of the house being
angry said to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of
the city, and bring in hither the poor, and the maimed, and the halt,
and the blind. And the servant said, Lord, it is done as thou hast
commanded, and yet there is room. And the lord said unto the servant, Go
out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my
house may be filled. For I say unto you, That none of those men which
were bidden shall taste of my supper." (Luke 14:16-24)
This parable
is directed against the Jews who believed that because they were the
chosen people and descendants of Abraham then this guaranteed them of
the promise of salvation. But here Christ wants to correct their
misguided delusions and tells them that yes, they have the calling from
God to partake of great things, but this calling is not enough in
itself, it must also be accepted. The parable shows that those who at
first had the privilege and high calling to sit at the great feast with
Abraham were eventually completely shut out and others, who were not
included in the first calling, are now invited to take part and enjoy
the great banquet.
“A certain man made a great supper, and bade
many:”
The
man in question is God the Father who prepares a great supper which in
spiritual terms is referring to the graces and gifts of the Holy Spirit.
There is an image that this supper was still in the preparation period
and was left on hold until the guests who were invited accepted the
invitation. The Great supper is so grand, so magnificent that is it
possible to satisfy millions of people. It implies the rich spiritual
provisions of good things which God has made for the sustenance, the
refreshment, the enjoyment and satisfaction of the poor souls in his
kingdom. It is called a Supper which is the evening meal because in
those days as it is still today, the evening was the ideal time for a
great feast when people finished work and were able to relax, but also
because the full enjoyment of the good things of grace in heaven are
reserved for the chosen and given to them at end of the day of their
earthly life.
Many were
invited, in other words the twelve Tribes of Israel. They from among all
the nations of the world were invited because they were a people special
to God. The many can refer to everyone, but in reality it is only for
the people of Israel, because this invitation represents all and every
historic occasion of the divine calling to the Israelites. But this
calling is also directed to every man and woman which the intention of
establishing everyone as eternally blessed. The calling is identified
with man’s calling to be holy because blessed and holy is one and the
same thing. And this calling of God does not come about by some miracle
or by some audible voice from heaven that we hear with our ears, but
partly by the outward circumstances in our daily life, our
acquaintances, our relationships, by reading or hearing something and
something similar to these things and also partly from the interior
state and disposition of our mind, our heart and our conscience and by
some mystical voice in the depth of our heart where we hear God echoing
the words “come, everything is ready”. What then awaits us if we also
start to make stupid and unfounded excuses that we cannot come? None of
those people invited shall taste of my supper.
“And sent his servant at supper time to say to
them that were bidden, Come; for all things are now ready.”
His
servant represents all those that God sent to his people and especially
John the Baptist and Jesus Christ, who as St. Paul says
“took upon him the form of a servant”
(Phil. 2:7), and was sent to the Jews calling them through the Gospel to
the eternal enjoyment. The hour of our calling by grace is appointed.
“Come; for all things are now ready.” Behold Now is the day of our
salvation. There are no extensions no prolonging even for a little while
for as we are told, everything is ready. Come and do not postpone.
Accept the invitation. If we close our ears and play deaf, the
opportunity will pass us by and we will be eternally cut off from the
pleasures of the heavenly supper. There can be no excuses for not being
ready. Preparation was made to all on earth by God the Father through
his Son Jesus Christ. Through Jesus we have already been given many good
things: forgiveness of sins, the gifts of the Holy Spirit, and adoption
as sons and heirs of the Kingdom of God. Christ has sent out the
invitations through his Gospel and the Church. The Preparation therefore
has been made and there can be no more delay for the Great Supper.
“And they all with one consent began to make
excuse. The first said unto him, I have bought a piece of ground, and I
must needs go and see it: I pray thee have me excused.”
They were
all of one opinion and one mind; they were not prepared spiritually to
accept the invitation so made excuses to be released from what must have
been a burden. We can even say that there was a conspiracy for everyone
to make excuses. In human terms their reasons for being excused may seem
plausible, but they lack seriousness. They only show the bad intentions
of those invited. They were informed beforehand of this coming day and
should have prepared. They should have put their businesses in order so
that any other obligations would be done on any other day. In General
these excuses represent all those things that distract us from leading a
spiritual life: the care of worldly things like our work, our property,
money, wife, children and everything else that take up most of our time
that we leave no room to think of God or what will happen to us when we
die. They also represent the various passions that people don’t want to
be deprived of, thus they ignore the message of the Gospel for the
enjoyment of this earthly life. People who have their hearts full of
worldly cares have deaf ears so as not to hear the Gospel invitation.
In the case of the first excuse of having bought a piece of land and has
to go and see it, this is an obvious exaggeration: he must have seen the
land beforehand to then decide to buy it. Thus he could have postponed
the new visit for another time. But one more thing is noticeably in his
answer: he does not say Please have me excused, neither as in the King
James “I pray thee have me excused” but as in the Greek “I ask you to
have be excused” which lacks the respect of a polite answer.
“And another said, I have bought five yoke of
oxen, and I go to prove them: I pray thee have me excused”.
Five yoke of
oxen must have been a fairly large buy. This man doesn’t use the pretext
of the first man of being a necessity to go and see them and in fact
shows that he couldn’t care less whether his excuse is convincing or
not. It is worth noting that neither of the two are portrayed as acting
illegal in any way. They are neither thieves nor crooks but obtained
their possessions legally. But these possessions are shown that they
become obstacles for the spiritual life and the inheritance of the
heavenly kingdom when man’s heart becomes attached to them.
“And another said, I have married a wife, and
therefore I cannot come.”
This
third excuse is the strongest of the three because the excuse is based
on the canons of worldly life and the young man is saying that he is
prepared for the great supper, but according to the Law of Moses he
cannot come. He is convinced that his excuse is indisputable. It is
probably based on the law found in Deuteronomy which says:
“When a man hath taken a new wife, he shall not go
out to war, neither shall he be charged with any business: but he shall
be free at home one year, and shall cheer up his wife which he hath
taken.” (Deuteronomy 24:5) Thus his excuse is that he must first
fulfil his God-given duty to his wife and then he will be free to attend
to other things. This excuse shows the absorption of our time from
family pleasures and comforts. Exaggerated attachment to our family can
be an obstacle for us not fulfilling our duty to God. Christ also said:
“He that loveth father or mother, son or daughter
more than me is not worthy of me.” (Matthew 10:37)
Adam’s
excuse was “The woman whom thou gavest to be with
me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.” (Gen. 3:12) Here the
new groom is saying: “My wife is obstructing me from eating” but he
could have attended the great supper accompanied by his wife, because
surely they were both invited.
“So that servant came, and shewed his lord these
things.”
The
servant didn’t need to give an account of the negative answers, they
were already known to God, but it is used to give a continuance to the
parable and also because in earthly terms we would expect for a
messenger on returning to give an account of the things for which he was
sent to do.
“Then the master of the house being angry said to
his servant, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and
bring in hither the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind.”
The
ingratitude of those invited and their contempt for God, for the Gospel
and everything that he has done for them justly arouses God’s anger
against them. The Supper is ready and cannot be postponed any longer,
thus he tells his servant to go out quickly, not because his anger makes
him impatient, but because he wants to put a stop to any more delays and
possibly so that those invited might not have the time to change their
minds. They had their change but turned it down, now they are cut off
indefinitely.
The streets
and lanes of the city refer to the public places where are usually found
those without a descent home over their head. The poor, the maimed, the
halt, and the blind who gather where there are many people to beg for a
living. Those who declined to accept the invitation were the High
priests, the scribes and Pharisees and all those who had a high standing
and were honoured by the people. Now it was the turn of those who were
considered as outcasts of the city to be invited. But be careful that
you understand that they were not invited to take the place of those who
declined the invitation. They were not invited just to fill up the empty
spaces. They would have been invited even if the others hadn’t declined:
they also lived in the city and were also Jews and descendants of
Abraham. Out of respect for their position the high priests and those
who studied the law were invited first, and once they had taken their
seats then everyone else would have been invited. Here it is worth
noting that he doesn’t invite the merchants and the publicans, in other
words the tax collectors, because they too would have been too absorbed
in their businesses that their answer would have been like the first
three “I ask thee to have me excused”.
“And the servant said, Lord, it is done as thou
hast commanded, and yet there is room.”
The
good things of the kingdom where not prepared in vain. Yes, we see that
there were many that rejected the kingdom of God, but there were also a
great many that with gratitude accepted. Even among the Jews, not all
the high priests and scribes rejected to become members of the church.
Many rejected the law and were cursed by their people and they became to
them as the gentiles. But in God’s kingdom even the gentiles are
invited. The “yet there is room” is to draw our attention to the
following verse which is the order to the servant to go and extend his
invitation to the gentiles and other nations and to all the world.
“And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into
the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may
be filled.”
So
now out of the city, out of Jerusalem and after the calling of the
chosen people we see the calling of the gentiles. Compel them to come in
does not mean to bring them in by force, but rather to compel them to
put aside their false gods and bring them to faith of the one true God.
Compel could also refer to men who want to enter, but hesitate through
fear and cowardice that they might be rejected. The Lord seeing their
hesitation orders his servant to compel them with persuasion to enter
without fear. Persuade them to enter because God’s house is roomy enough
for everyone and must be filled. And this will come about when the
number of those invited is accomplished and when everyone who has been
given to the Lord enters into it.
“For I say unto you, That none of those men which
were bidden shall taste of my supper. For many be called, but few
chosen.”
“None
of these men” of course refers to all those that spurned and declined
his invitation: The Jews who were not convinced of who Christ was and
is, and all those who because of the cares of this world have left no
room in their hearts for him to enter and give them a foretaste of the
good things that await the believer in the kingdom of God.
Let's now
hear the second parable – "The Wedding Feast" taken from the Gospel
according to St. Matthew.
"The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain
king, which made a marriage for his son, And sent forth his servants to
call them that were bidden to the wedding: and they would not come.
Again, he sent forth other servants, saying, Tell them which are bidden,
Behold, I have prepared my dinner: my oxen and my fatlings are killed,
and all things are ready: come unto the marriage. But they made light of
it, and went their ways, one to his farm, another to his merchandise:
And the remnant took his servants, and entreated them spitefully, and
slew them. But when the king heard thereof, he was wroth: and he sent
forth his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their
city. Then saith he to his servants, The wedding is ready, but they
which were bidden were not worthy. Go ye therefore into the highways,
and as many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage. So those servants
went out into the highways, and gathered together all as many as they
found, both bad and good: and the wedding was furnished with guests. And
when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had
not on a wedding garment: And he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou
in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless. Then said
the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and
cast him into outer darkness, there shall be weeping and gnashing of
teeth. For many are called, but few are chosen." (St Matthew
22:2-14)
The same
Great feast mentioned in the first parable is now portrayed as a Wedding
feast. Our participation in the kingdom of God after the Second Coming
and the General Resurrection from the dead is likened to a wedding feast
because in worldly terms there is no greater love than when a bride and
groom give themselves totally to each other. It is an event filled with
great joy and merriment with everyone invited taking part in the
celebrations. We see the same symbolism of marriage in the parable of
the ten virgins who wait for the bridegroom to come in the middle of the
night. In the Gospels Christ calls himself the Bridegroom, as in the
passage where he tells the disciples of St. John the Baptist that the
children of the bridechamber cannot mourn as long as the Bridegroom is
with them, but the days will come when the Bridegroom shall be taken
from them, and then they will fast. The fathers often describe our life
on earth as the betrothal between ourselves and Christ and the future
life as the fulfilment of this betrothal in a marriage union with God.
But if
Christ is the bridegroom who is the bride? The bride is the Church and
the wedding feast is the participation of the Church in the Body and
Blood of Christ which we partake of even in this life. But if you
remember our talks from last year on the interpretation of the Liturgy,
you will remember that the Divine Liturgy transcends our earthly time,
the Church ascends to heaven and we find ourselves with Christ after the
Second Coming and partaking of the Wedding banquet.
The parable
begins with a certain king who made a marriage for his son. In the
original Greek the word marriage is in the plural, in other words. the
certain king made marriages for his son. It does not mean the son was
being married to many wives. but refers to the marriage customs of the
time which consisted of a seven day celebration. In our times seven days
of eating, drinking and dancing to celebrate a wedding is socially
unheard of, but if we go back fifty or sixty years, a three day
celebration was the normal practice in Cyprus. My own parents who
married in 1954 had a three day event so if we go back further in time a
seven day celebration is very feasible especially if we consider that
most people didn't have a nine to five job, but were agricultural
farmers which allowed them certain periods of rest.
In the
parable the king refers to God the Father and the Son refers to Christ.
The first servants sent forth to call the wedding guests are the
prophets and the guests are the people of Israel. Notice that it says
the servants were sent forth to call them that were bidden to the
wedding. The prophets were not sent out with invitations to the wedding,
but to remind the people of the invitation which had been sent out some
many years earlier so that they would have enough time to prepare for
this great event. But those invited showed contempt and indifference to
the royal invitation and refused to go. Their refusal to attend the
wedding was a direct insult against the king, but the king being good
hearted and compassionate excused the guests, who perhaps delayed on
account of some misunderstanding. The forgiving king doesn't want those
invited to miss out on the wedding feast so he sends out other servants
to again call them to the feast. This time the servants sent forth are
to tell the people "Behold, I have prepared my dinner: my oxen and my
fatlings are killed, and all things are ready: come unto the marriage."
The oxen and fatlings and all things are used to describe the splendour
of the feast that no extravagance has been spared. In spiritual terms
they refer to the good things of grace that await us in the future age.
The two lots of servants reminds us of last weeks "Parable of the Wicked
Servants" where God sent the first group of prophets who were beaten and
killed and then the second group of prophets who received the same fate.
In this parable the second group of servants probably doesn't refer to
prophets, but to the Apostles, the first Christian preachers. How this
is derived we will see very shortly.
Again the
reminder to attend the Wedding feast is completely disregarded and one
went to his farm and another to his merchandise. One was preoccupied
with his land and real estate while the other was preoccupied with
getting rich through trading. Whatever their occupation they were both
slaves to their passion and glued to earthly and temporal things. But
worse than these were the remnant that remained and who took the Lord's
servants; entreated them spitefully, and slew them. They showed how
spiteful and wicked they were. It wasn't enough that they had showed
contempt by refusing the Lord's invitation, they added injury to insult
by slaying God's ambassadors who were simply messengers. Their error
offended the king's dignity, who, able to endure no more, sent forth his
armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned their city. Here we
see why the second group of servants is most probably referring to the
Apostles, because the destruction of the city is an event which took
place after most of the apostles had been spitefully ill-treated and
murdered.
The army sent forth
to destroy the murderers and burn their city is not a legion of angels
as we might suppose. Christ is prophetically telling his listeners of
the future destruction of Jerusalem by the Roman army. In 68AD after
Nero's suicidal death, Vespasian was declared Emperor. As a general
Vespasian had been sent to Jerusalem two years earlier to restore order
after the Jews of Judea rebelled against their Roman masters. Now as
Emperor and the army led by his son Titus, Vespasian returned in 70 AD
and ransacked Jerusalem slaughtering thousands and enslaving many more
thousands who were sent to work in the mines of Egypt or were dispersed
to arenas throughout the Empire to be butchered for the amusement of the
public. The Temple was burnt and destroyed while the sacred relics were
taken to Rome where they were displayed in celebration of the victory.
In the parable the Lord calls the Roman army "his armies" because
everything created belongs to the Lord and because the Lord used them as
the instrument that would fulfil his will.
The Lord
then said to his servants: "The wedding is ready,
but they which were bidden were not worthy. Go ye therefore into the
highways, and as many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage." The
wedding is ready and it will not be postponed on account of the
unthankfulness of those invited. Because the Jews refused Christ they
refused the kingdom and lost their right to partake of the Wedding
Feast. But the king wanted to share his feast with his subjects so he
ordered his servants to go out into the highways and invite everyone to
the marriage whom they would meet, without distinction. As with the
previous parable the highways is a reference to the calling of the
Gentiles to become members of the Church of Christ. The servants went
out into the highways, and gathered together all as many as they found,
both bad and good: and the wedding was furnished with guests. It says
that both bad and good were gathered together because the Church as a
spiritual hospital calls and accepts everyone. It is not for the
servants to judge who is worthy and who is not, this is the prerogative
of God alone. The servants were entrusted only with the job of inviting
whoever they found and to bring them to the Wedding, if they came
willingly. That they were all present at the heavenly banquet means that
they were all Christians, but there are Christians who are only
Christians by name and never work for their salvation and then there are
true Christians who having heard the Gospel of Christ accept it into
their hearts and work for their salvation.
The Wedding
venue is now full of guests and the king comes out to see those present,
but he saw something that upset him: "he saw there a man which had not
on a wedding garment" and said to him: :Friend, how did you come in
without a wedding garment.
To
understand why the king was upset we need to understand the Jewish
customs of those times. When someone was invited to a wedding he had to
come with the proper festive garments, but if he didn't have his own the
householder provided the garments for his guests which were obtained
from the steward of the house on entry. Anyone who refused to put on
such a garment showed contempt for the master of the house. In spiritual
terms the entry of the king is the day of judgement where the works of
everyone will be manifest for all to see. The wedding garment is the
same garment we receive at baptism. One of the petitions during the
baptism service says: "That he/she may preserve the garment of baptism,
and the earnest of the Spirit undefiled and blameless in the fearful day
of Christ our God, let us pray unto the Lord." In another of the
baptismal prayers it says: "preserve in him/her the garment of
incorruption, which he/she has put on, spotless and undefiled." The
garment we put on is Christ himself and as St Paul says: "As many of you
as have been baptized into Christ, have put on Christ." This garment we
must preserve spotless throughout our lives by our way of life and good
works. The wedding garment is the proper spiritual condition of the soul
and if we stain it with a sinful life then it will no longer resemble a
bright wedding garment but dirty rags. Only by living a life in Christ
will our wedding garment shine bright as we sing during Holy Week: "I
see Thy bridal chamber all adorned, O my Saviour, but I have no wedding
garment so that I may enter in. Make bright the vesture of my soul, O
Giver of light, and save me."
St. Theophan
the Recluse says: "Live in such a way, that the God of love will love
thee with eternal love. Go forth to thy commerce, but watch, so as not
to sell thy soul to the world through the acquisition of worldly goods.
Go forth to thy fields, fertilize thy land, and sow seed in it, so that
with its fruits thou mayest strengthen thy body; but especially sow the
fruits of eternal life in the field. Preserve the garment received in
Holy Baptism pure and spotless until the end of thy life, that thou
mayest be a worthy partaker of the heavenly bridal chamber, wherein
enter only those who have a pure garment and burning lamps in their
hands."
In the
parable Christ calls the man with no wedding garment "Friend". I read
somewhere that when Christ called him friend he said this ironically. I
don't think that on such a serious matter of someone being cast out of
the kingdom that Christ would speak ironically and mockingly. Christ is
love and his love for all people would never allow him to act this way.
Christ called him friend because he was a baptized Christian and through
baptism a friendship was formed with Christ. Christ did not forget this
friendship, but rather the man neglected and violated this friendship
through sin.
When the
king asked the man what he was doing there without the proper attire,
the man remained speechless. He was speechless because he had no excuse
to justify himself; his garments testified that he had lived a life of
depravity, thus in reality he passed sentence on himself. Through his
way of life he was found unworthy to sit at the table and enjoy the
wedding feast and was bound hand and foot and cast into outer darkness.
The binding of the hands and feet refers to the fact that in this life
the feet walk towards sin and the hands act out the sin, but in the
after life all these actions will come to an end and there will be no
more sinful actions. The hands and feet will be bound and will no longer
be able to participate in sin. The outer darkness means outside of the
Messiah's royal palace where the divine light brilliantly shines and
bathes everything within. In this place of darkness there will be
weeping and gnashing of teeth. But we should not assume that this is
hell. It is only a place deprived of God's light whereas hell is a place
of hellfire prepared for the devil and his angels, but some people will
also join them. There are therefore two places of punishment: one in
outer darkness and the other in hellfire, but in both places there will
be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
As a last
thought, of all the good and bad people who entered the king's palace
for the wedding feast only one man was judged as not having a wedding
garment. There is no mention of the other bad people or those somewhere
in between good and bad. Can we therefore take comfort and thank our
lucky stars that only one person stood out and can we assume that most
of us will probably be sitting at the king's table? That of course would
only be wishful thinking. The last verse of the parable puts the dampers
on our wishful expectations. For many are called, but few are chosen.
Everyone is invited to the wedding feast, but only a few will actually
accept it and attain the necessary entry qualifications. Also the person
in the parable who did not have the wedding garment is not a single
person, but a representation of a whole group of people.
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