Read between the lines. Look beyond what is said to the underlying feelings. Therapists do that. Once in a while--perhaps--husbands and parents do too. Friday's readings are filled with more denouncing and judgment of sin. But I think we can look beneath the surface to the mercy and grace which calls the sinners to repentance (Amos), or the concern that believers not be led astray (Jude), or to the king's openness to all and his desire to share his joy with a banquet-room full of guests.

The following comments are based on those of December 7, 2007 (Friday in the week of the first Sunday of Advent, Year One), when comments were repeated with editing and supplement from December 2, 2005 (Friday in the week of the First Sunday of Advent, Year Two), and on comments on Amos 5:6-15 of February 6, 2008 (Ash Wednesday, Year Two), when comments were repeated from March 1, 2006 (Ash Wednesday, Year Two):

As noted yesterday, in the Book of Amos we read about a number of punishments inflicted by God. But it is important to note that the punishments are not just a series of senseless or absurd disasters. God uses them to confront his people and call them to repent and return to him “In chapter 4:6-11,” say Francis I Andersen and David Noel Freedman, “Amos enumerates seven plagues: (1) famine (v. 6); (2) drought (vv. 7-8); (3) blight (v. 9); (4) locusts (v. 9); (5) pestilence (v. 10); (6) sword (v. 10); and (7) ‘overthrow’–earthquake? fire? (v. 11)” (Amos; A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary, Anchor Bible, 24A, 1989, on Amos 4:6). Yesterday’s reading closes with a reminder that what Mobley calls a “doxology,” that is, “the first of three . . . interspersed throughout the book (5:8-9; 9:4-6) . . . [emphasizes] that the God Israel encounters in judgment is the creator” (op. cit., on v. 13):

As Amos continues in today’s reading, we note that he alternates judgment and calls to repentance. “Hear this word (hz0,ha rbA6DAha, haddāvār hazzeh) that I take up over you in lamentation (hn!yq9, qînāh), O house of Israel” (Amos 5:1). The term “lamentation” (hn!yq9, qînāh), which William L. Holladay defines as “dirge” (A Concise Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament, 1971, 10^th corrected impression 1988, s.v. hn!yq9, qînāh), is different from the term “lament” which modern scholars use to describe many Psalms, for example, Bernhard W. Anderson (Out of the Depths; The Psalms Speak for Us Today, rev. ed., 1983, chap. 3, pp. 63-105). Anderson lists thirty-seven lament psalms, community laments or individual laments, and seven penitential psalms (ibid., Appendix A, pp. 23-6). But many of these include what Anderson calls “words of assurance” and “a vow of praise,” elements not found in the typical “dirge” (ibid., p. 77), that Amos pronounces over Israel.

Gregory Mobley says, “among the forms of prophetic speech was the lament; hearing one’s own funeral speech delivered by a prophet must have had a sobering effect (cf. Jer. 9:17-22)” (NOAB, 3^rd ed., augmented, 2007, on Amos 5:1-3). Gene M. Tucker, revised by J. Andrew Dearman, says, “Since it is maiden Israel that has died, the song announces the death of the nation” (HarperCollins Study Bible, rev. ed., 2006, on Amos 5:2). They add that “the military forces will be decimated” (ibid., on v. 3).

Seek me (yn9Uwr4D9, diršûnî ) and live; / but do not seek (Uwr4d4T9-lxav4, w^e’al-tidr^ešû) Bethel,

for Gilgal shall surely go into exile (hl,g4y9 hlo8GA lGAl4G9ha yK9, kî haggilgāl gālōh yigleh), / and Bethel shall come to nothing. (Amos 5:4-5, NRSV)

According to Ehud Ben Zvi, “The Heb. is punning: For Gilgal shall go into exile (‘galoh yigleh’ [cf. above] )” (The Jewish Study Bible, 2004, on Amos 5:5). According to Mobley, “Though the lament form was meant to convey a sense of inevitable judgment, there is yet time to seek the LORD and live” (op. cit., on vv. 4-7). “Seek” (yn9Uwr4D9, diršûnî ), say Tucker and Dearman, “is probably a technical term for inquiring of God or turning to God in a service of prayer” (op. cit., on v. 4). Bethel, along with Dan, was a place where Jeroboam I set up “calves of gold” and told the people, “Here are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt” (1 Kgs. 12:28-29, cf. vv. 26-30). “Seeking the Lord,” say Tucker and Dearman, “is contrasted with making pilgrimages to the famous religious centers at Bethel (see 3:14; 4:4; 7:10-17), Gilgal, and Beer-sheba (see 8:14; Gen. 21:14, 32-33; 26:23-25), which are destined for exile and destruction” (ibid., on v. 5). “Beer-sheba,” says Mobley, “though in the Negeb to the far south, was a shrine associated with Israel’s ancestors (Gen. 21:25-31; 26:23; 46:1-4) and would have attracted pilgrims from the north” (op. cit., on v. 5). The call to repentance is repeated with a warning. “Seek (Uwr4D9, diršû) the Lord and live, / or he will break out against the house of Joseph like fire, / and it will devour Bethel, with no one to quench it” (v. 6). According to Ben Zvi, “The emphasis must be on seeking God, which cannot be accomplished by seeking out the traditional sites where He is worshipped” (op. cit., on Amos 5:4-6).

Earlier, Amos has called upon the wealthier people of Israel to cease from oppressing the poor and needy (cf. 4:1-3). That call for justice and righteousness continues here. “Ah, you that turn justice to wormwood,/and bring righteousness to the ground” (5:7). The NRSV text, “Ah,” is based on a correction of the Hebrew text that includes yOh (hôy, “alas! woe!” according to William L. Holladay, A concise Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament, 1971, 4^th impression, 1978, s.v. yOh, hôy) here as in 5:18; 6:1). The correction apparently assumes the accidental omission of similar letters. For Myk9p4hoha, K. Elliger suggests reading Myk9p4ho(ha) y(v)ho (Liber XII Prophetarum, Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, 2^nd rev. ed., 1983, on Amos 5:7). The Authorized (King James) Version and Today’s New International Version do not make this correction, but the recent Jewish translation does in brackets: [Ah,] you who turn justice into wormwood / And hurl righteousness to the ground! / [Seek the LORD,] / Who made the Pleiades and Orion” (Amos 5:7, 8a NJPS 1985, 1999). “Wormwood,” says Ben Zvi, is “an aromatic plant that yields a bitter extract and tastes bitter (cf. Deut. 29:7; Jer. 9:14; 23:15; Prov. 5:4; Lam. 3:15, 19). Justice is supposed to be sweet, but they turn it bitter and by doing so they embitter the life of the poor; cf. 6:12” (op. cit., on 5:7). By adding “Seek the LORD” in brackets (see above), the Jewish translation connects verses 7 and 8 and includes verses 7-9 as a stanza, whereas the NRSV has a break between verses 7 and 8 (cf. TNIV). The connection and the added appeal, “Seek the LORD” (NJPS) continue the call for Israel to turn to

Mobley, following the NRSV stanza break between verses 7 and 8, refers here to “the second doxology” (op. cit., on 5:8-9). Earlier he says 4:13 is “the first of three doxologies interspersed throughout Amos (5:8-9; 9:5-6). These hymn-like sections emphasize that the God Israel encounters in judgment is the creator” (ibid., on 4:13). Tucker and Dearman explain: “The Lord made the constellations (Pleiades and Orion), causes day and night, and brings rain from the sea” (op. cit., on v. 8). However, they add, “the one who controls natural forces also acts in history to destroy” (ibid., on v. 9). According to Mobley, “Pleiades and Orion also occur together in Job 9:9; 38:31. Though astral bodies could inspire illicit worship (e.g., 2 Kings 23:5), to the faithful they testified to God’s power (e.g., Ps. 8:3)”(op. cit., on v. 8).

Amos elaborates on the reasons for God’s judgment. “They reject justice, that is, “They hate the one who reproves in the gate, / and they abhor the one who speaks the truth” (v. 10). “Therefore,” says Amos, speaking for the LORD, “because you trample on the poor / and take from them levies of grain, / you have built houses of hewn stone, / but you shall not live in them; / you have planted pleasant vineyards, / but you shall not drink their wine” (v. 11). According to Ben Zvi, “The image of building houses and establishing vines but being denied the ability to enjoy them points to the futility of human activities in the face of divine judgment (cf. Deut. 28:39; Mic. 6:15; Zeph. 1:13). Later (9:4) the image is turned around to exemplify the bliss that results from human activity under divine blessing” (op. cit., on v. 11). The LORD knows the transgressions of these people: “For I know how many are your transgressions, / and how great are your sins–you who afflict the righteous, who take a bribe, / and push aside the needy in the gate” (v. 12). It is a time for “the prudent [to] keep silent”; it is “an evil time” (v. 13). According to Mobley, “At the very site of legal proceedings, the city gate, the truth is rejected, the poor are plundered, and witnesses are bribed” (op. cit., on vv. 10-13). “Again,” says Ben Zvi, “the infractions are ethical rather than cultic” (op. cit., on v. 12). “Therefore,” says the prophet, “the prudent will keep silent in such a time; / for it is an evil time” (v. 13). According to Tucker and Dearman, “The prophet refers enigmatically to the time of judgment (evil time).

Again the prophet calls for the people to seek the LORD. In addition to the calls to repentance noted earlier (vv. 4, 6, 14), there is a specific call for justice.

it may be that the Lord, the God of hosts, / will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph. (Amos 5:14-15)

“It is possible,” say Tucker and Dearman, “ that it is not too late to change and avert the coming disaster”; and they add that “be gracious,” means “pardon,” and “remnant of Joseph,” means “what is left of the Northern Kingdom, Israel” (ibid., on v. 15). “This,” says Ben Zvi,

picks up on the theme of seeking, developed in vv. 4-6. The emphasis on ethical behavior here and in similar verses (e.g., Mic. 6:8) contributed much to an understanding of the prophets as bearers of ethical monotheism. These vv. are much cherished for this reason in modern liberal streams in Judaism. Within its ancient context, the v. claims that a sharp turn toward ethical behavior may influence God to revoke the divine decree against Israel. Still, whereas repentance is necessary for the annulment of the decree, the book claims that repentance by itself is not sufficient. God decides whether to revoke or not. On this understanding of ethical monotheism, see also 5:21-25. (op. cit., on vv. 14-15)

So, though the possibility of repentance and living with God’s grace is presented (vv. 14-15), the emphasis is upon judgment, lamentation and mourning. “Therefore thus says the Lord, the God of hosts, the Lord: / In all the squares there shall be wailing; / and in all the streets they shall say, ‘Alas! alas!’ / They shall call the farmers to mourning, / and those skilled in lamentation, to wailing; / in all the vineyards there shall be wailing, / for I will pass through the midst of you, / says the Lord” (vv. 16-17). Tucker and Dearman point out that “as in vv. 1-2, mourning songs announce the death of Israel. Those skilled in lamentation are professional mourners (Jer. 9:17-19; Ezek 8:14; 2 Chr. 35:25)” (op. cit., on vv. 16-17). Even so, we should not overlook the hopeful signs, for, as noted above, God says, “Seek me and live” (v. 4), “Seek the LORD and Live” (v. 6), “Seek good and not evil. . . . Hate evil and love good, / and establish justice in the gate [i.e. court of justice]; / it may be that the LORD, the God of hosts, / will be gracious to the remnant of Israel” (vv. 14-15).

To those who are called, who are beloved in God the Father and kept safe for Jesus Christ:

3 Beloved, while eagerly preparing to write to you about the salvation we share, I find it necessary to write and appeal to you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints. 4 For certain intruders have stolen in among you, people who long ago were designated for this condemnation as ungodly, who pervert the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.

5 Now I desire to remind you, though you are fully informed, that the Lord, who once for all saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe. 6 And the angels who did not keep their own position, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains in deepest darkness for the judgment of the great day. 7 Likewise, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which, in the same manner as they, indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural lust, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire.

8 Yet in the same way these dreamers also defile the flesh, reject authority, and slander the glorious ones. 9 But when the archangel Michael contended with the devil and disputed about the body of Moses, he did not dare to bring a condemnation of slander against him, but said, “The Lord rebuke you!” 10 But these people slander whatever they do not understand, and they are destroyed by those things that, like irrational animals, they know by instinct. 11 Woe to them! For they go the way of Cain, and abandon themselves to Balaam's error for the sake of gain, and perish in Korah's rebellion. 12 These are blemishes on your love-feasts, while they feast with you without fear, feeding themselves. They are waterless clouds carried along by the winds; autumn trees without fruit, twice dead, uprooted; 13 wild waves of the sea, casting up the foam of their own shame; wandering stars, for whom the deepest darkness has been reserved forever.

14 It was also about these that Enoch, in the seventh generation from Adam, prophesied, saying, “See, the Lord is coming with ten thousands of his holy ones, 15 to execute judgment on all, and to convict everyone of all the deeds of ungodliness that they have committed in such an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things that ungodly sinners have spoken against him.” 16 These are grumblers and malcontents; they indulge their own lusts; they are bombastic in speech, flattering people to their own advantage. (Jude 1-16, NRSV)

On December 7, 2007 (Friday in the week of the first Sunday of Advent, Year One), comments were repeated with editing and supplement from December 2, 2005 (Friday in the week of the First Sunday of Advent, Year Two); they are repeated again here with some editing:

The Epistle readings for today and tomorrow present the New Testament Epistle we know as Jude ( =IouvdaV, Ioudas, Jude 1; cf NRSV text note a, “Gk. Judas). The author identifies himself as “Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James” (Jude 1a), which most likely refers to the brother of Jesus (Mk. 6:3; Mt. 13:55; Gal. 1:19). While some question this claim (e.g., J. D. N. Kelly, The Epistles of Peter and of Jude, Black’s New Testament Commentaries, 1969, pp. 231-234), others see little reason to doubt it (cf. William Barclay, The Letters of John and Jude, The Daily Study Bible Series, rev. ed., 1976, p. 173). Paul J. Achtemeier, Joel B. Green, and Marianne Meye Thompson agree with Barclay: “The nature of Jude’s polemic, together with his use of the Hebrew version of the Scriptures, suggests this letter’s provenance in a Palestinian Christianity at home with apocalyptic forms of interpretation. There is no reason, then, not to credit Judas, the brother of Jesus (and thus of James ‘the Just’), with this letter” (Introducing the New Testament; Its Literature and Theology, 2001, p. 533).

The greeting is a kind of benediction, “May mercy, peace, and love be yours in abundance” (v. 2), that varies somewhat from the greeting of most other New Testament Letters; compare “Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Jesus Christ our Lord” (1 Tim. 1:2b; 2 Tim. 1:2b). The letter is addressed “to those who are called, who are beloved in God the Father and kept safe for Jesus Christ” (Jude 1b). Although Patrick A. Tiller considers this a rather vague definition of the readers, he says “the emergency identified as its occasion (vv. 3-4) and the concrete descriptions of the opponents indicate that it was a real letter to particular recipients.” He says that

the date of composition is uncertain, except that it must be earlier than 2 Peter which uses Jude. The reference to ‘the words spoken by the apostles’ (v. 17) may indicate a period in the church when the apostles could be spoken of as a unified group from the past. If so, this may point to a date late in the first century CE. Others have dated Jude as early as the 50s.” (NOAB, 3^rd ed., augmented, 2007, in the Introduction to Jude)

Jude states his purpose in writing: “Beloved, while eagerly preparing to write to you about the salvation we share, I find it necessary to write and appeal to you to contend for the faith (pivstiV, pistis) that was once for all entrusted to the saints” (v. 3). One notes that the term “faith” (pivstiV, pistis), which in the earlier letters of Paul, for example, often refers to a “state of believing on the basis of the reliability of the one trusted, trust, confidence, faith,” as for example to faith in Christ (e.g. Rom. 3:22, 26; Gal. 2:16, 20, etc.), here means “that which is believed, body of faith/belief/teaching,” a meaning found in Paul’s early letters (e.g. Rom. 1:5; Gal. 1:23), but more commonly in later letters (e.g. 1 Tim. 1:19; 4:1, 6; 6:10; 2 Tim. 2:18) (Bauer-Danker-Arndt-Gingrich [BDAG], A Greek-English Lexicon, 3^rd ed., 2000, s.v. pistis, meanings 2 and 3).

According to Jude, this “body of teaching” is under attack. “For certain intruders have stolen in among you, people who long ago were designated for this condemnation as ungodly, who pervert the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ” (v. 4). Jude presents three examples from the Old Testament of judgment on the wicked by God, “three dreadful examples,” according to Barclay (op. cit., pp. 181-186, on Jude 5-7). He reminds the readers “that the Lord, who once for all saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe” (v. 5). According to Richard J. Bauckham, “A whole generation of faithless Israelites died in the wilderness (Num. 14:1-35; 26:64-65)” (HarperCollins Study Bible, rev. ed., 2006, on Jude 5). Jude presents two other examples, the fate of fallen angels, “And the angels who did not keep their own position, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains in deepest darkness for the judgment of the great day” (v. 6); and the fate of those living in Sodom and Gomorrah, “Likewise, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which, in the same manner as they, indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural lust, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire” (v. 7). According to Tiller, “angels (v. 6; see Gen. 6:1-4; 1 Enoch 6-16) were judged when they went astray, and Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen. 19) were destroyed by fire for their sexual immorality” (op. cit., on vv. 5-8).

As Jude turns to denouncing the present “intruders” (v. 4), he emphasizes the contrast with mevntoi (mentoi (“yet,” NRSV), which might be translated in an adversative sense. Frederick William Danker, with Kathryn Krug, calls it a “particle with focus on reaction to a preceding narrative detail yet, nevertheless” (The Concise Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, s.v. mevntoi, mentoi). “Yet in the same way these dreamers also defile the flesh, reject authority, and slander the glorious ones” (v. 8). Kelly, who translates mevntoi (mentoi) as “notwithstanding,” suggests a paraphrase, “in spite of the dreadful fate of the three groups just mentioned” (op. cit., on Jude 8). “These dreamers will suffer a similar fate for their misdeeds. The intruders apparently claim to experience revelatory dreams. The authority that they despise may be either God’s authority or angelic authorities. According to Tiller, the glorious ones [‘or angels; Gk glories,’ NRSV note d] are probably angelic dignitaries” (op. cit., on v. 8).

According to Barclay, “Deuteronomy 13:1-5 sets down what is to be done with ‘the prophet or dreamer of dreams’ who corrupts the nations and seduces the people from their loyalty to God. Such a prophet is to be mercilessly killed. These men whom Jude attacks are false prophets, dreamers of false dreams, seducers of the people, and must be treated as such” (op. cit., on vv. 8, 9). Barclay adds that their false teaching “made them defile the flesh” and despise angels. He says,

This follows immediately after the citing of Sodom and Gomorrah as dreadful examples; and part of the sin of Sodom was the desire of its people to misuse its angelic visitors (Genesis 19:1-11). The men Jude attacks spoke evil of the angels. To prove how terrible a thing that was Jude cites an instance from an apocryphal book, The Assumption of Moses. . . . [After reporting the death of Moses, Deut. 34:1-6], The Assumption of Moses goes on to add the further story that the task of burying the body of Moses was given to the archangel Michael. The devil disputed with Michael for possession of the body. . . . The point Jude is making is this. Michael was engaged on a task given him by God; the devil was seeking to stop him and was making claims he had no right to make. But even in a collection of circumstances like that Michael spoke no evil of the devil but simply said, ‘The Lord rebuke you!’ If the greatest of the good angels refused to speak evil of the greatest of the evil angels, even in circumstances like that, surely no human being may speak evil of any angel. (ibid., pp. 187-188, on vv. 8-9)

“But these people,” says Jude, “slander whatever they do not understand, and they are destroyed by those things that, like irrational animals, they know by instinct” (v. 10). Jude pronounces their “woe”: “Woe to them!” he says, “For they go the way of Cain, and abandon themselves to Balaam’s error for the sake of gain, and perish in Korah’s rebellion” (v. 11). We think of Cain as the one who killed his brother, but, says Kelly, “In contemporary Judaism, however he was ‘a child of the Evil One’ (1 Jn. iii.12) and personified a much wider spectrum of iniquity. For Philo (De post. Cain 38 f.; Migr. Abr. 75; Quod det. pot. ins. sol. 32; 48; 78) he is the great lover of self, the rebel against God who relies on his own resources, the instructor and leader of men who give themselves over to godlessness and sensuality and are doomed to eternal corruption” (on v. 11). According to Tiller, they are compared to “Balaam who prophesied for gain: Num. 22; Rev. 2:14 . . . [and to] Korah who rebelled: Num. 16. Similarly, the opponents lead others to their doom by leading them astray for gain and rebelling against the (apostolic) leadership of the church” (op. cit., on vv. 11-13).

At this point, Jude’s disparagement of the false teachers turns from Old Testament examples to various metaphors. “These are blemishes on your love-feasts, while they feast with you without fear, feeding themselves. They are waterless clouds carried along by the winds; autumn trees without fruit, twice dead, uprooted” (v. 12). Tiller says, “They are members of the group, participating in their love feasts . . . Jude calls them intruders (v. 4) because their membership is illegitimate” (ibid., on v. 12). They are called “wild waves of the sea, casting up the foam of their own shame; wandering stars, for whom the deepest darkness has been reserved forever” (v. 13). Waterless clouds, trees without fruit in season, wild waves, and wandering stars illustrate uselessness, or worse, promising benefits that they can’t deliver. According to Bauckham, “Wandering stars [i.e., planets] mislead those who are guided by them” (op. cit., on v. 13). Tiller says, “in the pseudepigraphical books of Enoch, wandering stars (planets) were understood to be disobedient angels. For Jude the phrase serves as a metaphor for the activity of the opponents” (op. cit., on v. 13).

Jude follows this allusion to the Book of 1 Enoch with a quotation: “It was also about these that Enoch, in the seventh generation from Adam, prophesied, saying, ‘See, the Lord is coming with ten thousands of his holy ones, to execute judgment on all, and to convict everyone of all the deeds of ungodliness that they have committed in such an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things that ungodly sinners have spoken against him’ “ (vv. 14-15). The quotation is from 1 Enoch 1:9 (from The Wesley Center Online, http://wesley.nnu.edu/biblical_studies/noncanon/ot/pseudo/enoch.htm, accessed December 6, 2007):

“1 Enoch is a collection of apocalyptic writings,” says Tiller, “dating from the third century BCE to the first century CE attributed to Enoch (Gen. 5:21-24. Jude has a high regard for the authority of these writings, but it would be anachronistic to suppose that he considered them canonical” (op. cit., on vv. 14-16). Referring again to his opponents, Jude says, “These are grumblers and malcontents; they indulge their own lusts; they are bombastic in speech, flattering people to their own advantage” (v. 16).

Tiller compares 2 Peter 2:1-22 with Jude 4-18. “Beginning with 2:1 the author borrows language from Jude 4-18 but modifies it extensively to accommodate a different polemic. The ethical condemnations are fairly standard polemical attacks: greed, licentiousness, and deception; the author adds disregard for authority ( [2 Pet.] 2:10)” (NOAB, 3^rd ed., augmented, 2007, on 2 Pet. 2:1-22). For a comparison, see the separate file, Jude - 2 Peter 2.

22:1 Once more Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying: 2 “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding banquet for his son. 3 He sent his slaves to call those who had been invited to the wedding banquet, but they would not come. 4 Again he sent other slaves, saying, 'Tell those who have been invited: Look, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready; come to the wedding banquet.' 5 But they made light of it and went away, one to his farm, another to his business, 6 while the rest seized his slaves, mistreated them, and killed them. 7 The king was enraged. He sent his troops, destroyed those murderers, and burned their city. 8 Then he said to his slaves, 'The wedding is ready, but those invited were not worthy. 9 Go therefore into the main streets, and invite everyone you find to the wedding banquet.' 10 Those slaves went out into the streets and gathered all whom they found, both good and bad; so the wedding hall was filled with guests.

11 “But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing a wedding robe, 12 and he said to him, 'Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding robe?' And he was speechless. 13 Then the king said to the attendants, 'Bind him hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.' 14 For many are called, but few are chosen. (Matthew 22:1-14, NRSV)

On July 5, 2009 (the Sunday closest to July 6, Year One), comments were repeated from July 3, 2008 (Thursday in the week of the Sunday closest to June 29, Year Two), when comments were repeated from December 7, 2007 (Friday in the week of the First Sunday of Advent, Year Two), when comments were repeated from July 8, 2007 (the Sunday closest to July 6, Year Two, when they were based on earlier comments that had been combined with revision on July 6, 2006 (Thursday in the week of the Sunday closest to June 29, Year Two), from an E-mail sent December 4, 2003, for December 5, 2003.), from July 1, 2004 in an email sent June 28, 2004, for June 28-July 4, and from December 2, 2005 (Friday in the week of the First Sunday of Advent, Year Two). The comments of July 5, 2009 are repeated here. For recent comments on Luke’s version of this parable, see the Archive for November 8, 2009 (Sunday in the week of the Sunday closest to November 9, Year One).

The Parable of the Wedding Banquet (Mt. 22:1-14) is similar to Luke’s Parable of the Great Dinner (Lk. 14:15-24) as the following table demonstrates:

The Parable of the Wedding Banquet / Great Dinner †
Matthew 22:1-14 *	Luke 14:15-24 *
22:1 Once more Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying: 2 “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding banquet for his son. 3 He sent his slaves to call those who had been invited to the wedding banquet, but they would not come. 4 Again he sent other slaves, saying, 'Tell those who have been invited: Look, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready; come to the wedding banquet.' 5 But they made light of it and went away, one to his farm, another to his business, 6 while the rest seized his slaves, mistreated them, and killed them. 7 The king was enraged. He sent his troops, destroyed those murderers, and burned their city. 8 Then he said to his slaves, 'The wedding is ready, but those invited were not worthy. 9 Go therefore into the main streets, and invite everyone you find to the wedding banquet.' 10 Those slaves went out into the streets and gathered all whom they found, both good and bad; so the wedding hall was filled with guests. 11 “But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing a wedding robe, 12 and he said to him, 'Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding robe?' And he was speechless. 13 Then the king said to the attendants, 'Bind him hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.' 14 For many are called, but few are chosen	15 One of the dinner guests, on hearing this, said to him, “Blessed is anyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!” 16 Then Jesus said to him, “Someone gave a great dinner and invited many. 17 At the time for the dinner he sent his slave to say to those who had been invited, 'Come; for everything is ready now.' 18 But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said to him, 'I have bought a piece of land, and I must go out and see it; please accept my regrets.' 19 Another said, 'I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to try them out; please accept my regrets.' 20 Another said, 'I have just been married, and therefore I cannot come.' 21 So the slave returned and reported this to his master. Then the owner of the house became angry and said to his slave, 'Go out at once into the streets and lanes of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame.' 22 And the slave said, 'Sir, what you ordered has been done, and there is still room.' 23 Then the master said to the slave, 'Go out into the roads and lanes, and compel people to come in, so that my house may be filled. 24 For I tell you, none of those who were invited will taste my dinner.' “
† Kurt Aland, Synopsis of the Four Gospels, rev. printing, 1985, sec. 216, pp. 192-193 and sec. 279, pp. 244-245. * NRSV

Matthew includes this parable in his account of Jesus’ final ministry in Jerusalem between the Parable of the Wicked Tenants (Mt. 21:33-46; Mk. 12:1-12; Lk. 20:9-19) and the account of the Question about Paying Taxes posed by the Pharisees and Jesus’ response. Luke includes it as a part of Jesus’ teaching in the extensive Travel Narrative (Lk. 9:51-18:14), between a section on Humility and Hospitality (Lk. 14:7-14; cf. Jn. 5:29) and a section on the Cost of Discipleship (Lk. 14:25-33; cf. Mt. 10:37-38). In Luke the setting is a meal in “the house of a leader of the Pharisees” (Lk. 14:1), and thus it is implied that those who refuse the invitation to the dinner (vv. 18-21) are people like the Pharisees who reject Jesus’ message. But the setting in Matthew, following the questioning of his authority by the chief priests and elders (Mt. 21:23-27), the Parables of the Two Sons (vv. 28-32) and of the Wicked Tenants (vv. 33-44), preceding a further series of hostile questions, about Paying Taxes (22:15-22), the Resurrection (vv. 23-33), and the Greatest commandment (vv. 34-40), is clearly directed against the Jewish leaders. The parable is introduced, as it were, by the closing paragraph of the preceding chapter. “When; the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they realized that he was speaking about them. They wanted to arrest him, but they feared the crowds, because they regarded him as a prophet” (Mt. 21:45-46).

This parable has two parts. The first (Mt. 22:1-10) emphasizes the king’s desire to have guests for his son’s wedding, which we may take to represent God’s desire that people recognize his Son Jesus and come into the Kingdom of God. He has gone to great lengths to prepare for the banquet. He sends his slaves to invite the guests (Mt. 22:2-3). But “they would not come” (v. 3). When the invitation is repeated through other slaves (v. 4), “they made light of it and went away, one to his farm, another for business, while the rest seized his slaves, mistreated them, and killed them” (vv. 5-6). The king is profoundly disappointed when people, for one reason (excuse) or another (v. 5), fail to respond to his invitation. The behavior of “the rest” reminds us of the tenants in the Parable of the Vineyard (Mt. 21:35-36). At this point in the story, the king, “enraged, . . . sent his troops, destroyed those murderers, and burned their city” (22:7), which apparently anticipates or symbolizes the destruction of Jerusalem by the Roman army in A.D. 70.

The reference to “the rest” who “seized his slaves, mistreated them, and killed them” (v. 6) refers to the Jewish leaders who turned against him and to the killing of the prophets (cf. Mt. 5:12). The parable comes after the Parable of the Wicked Tenants (as noted above) and illustrates Matthew 21:43, “Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that produces the fruits of the kingdom.” It may be surprising that the troops are called God’s troops in the parable, God being represented by the king. in the parable. But though Nero, the emperor at the time, would surely not have agreed, in or about A.D. 57 Paul said “those authorities that exist [including Nero] have been instituted by God [i.e. the Judeo-Christian God of the Bible, not the gods of Rome]” (Rom. 13:1). In the end, “street people” were gathered for the feast (Mt. 22:10), but the one without the “wedding robe” was expelled (vv. 11-14).

In the second part (Mt. 22:11-14) the parable emphasizes the need for a proper “wedding robe,” which we may take to represent preparedness for entering the kingdom. While the invitation is extended to outsiders and marginal people, “everyone you find” in “the main streets” (v. 9), it turns out that something is necessary. In another context in Matthew, Jesus says, “For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven” (Mt. 5:20). Matthew 5:20 should be balanced, perhaps, by another saying from Matthew:

Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. (Mt. 11:28-30, NRSV)

Krister Stendahl sees this “royal wedding feast” as “more eschatological [than] the story” in Luke 14:16-24, where “a man gives a dinner” (Peake’s Commentary on the Bible, 1962, reprinted 1972, sec. 690 l, p. 791, on Mt. 22:1-14). But Luke prefaces the story with reference to the “messianic banquet” (Lk. 14:15), as Stendahl also notes. “The wedding garment symbolizes the ethical quality expected in the church (cf. Rev. 19:8) . . . The rational problem of how they could have such garments, being ushered in from the highways and by-ways, is irrelevant to Mt.” (ibid.). According to Dennis C. Duling, “A wedding robe would not be expected of someone summoned off the streets . . . it may symbolize a new way of life; see Rom. 13:14; Gal 3:27-28; Col. 3:11-12; Gospel of Thomas 37” (HarperCollins Study Bible, rev. ed., 2006, on Mt. 22:11).

“The final words of the parable [v. 14],” says Duling, “serve as a warning against self-righteous arrogance among God's new people” (ibid., on v. 14). Taking the wedding robe as symbolizing “a new purity and a new holiness and a new goodness,” William Barclay says, “This parable has nothing to do with the clothes in which we go to church; it has everything to do with the spirit in which we go to God’s house” (The Gospel of Matthew, The Daily Study Bible, rev. ed., vol. 2, p. 270 on Mt. 22:11-14). Barclay lists “garments of the mind and of the heart and of the soul–the garment of expectation, the garment of humble penitence, the garment of faith, the garment of reverence” (ibid., pp. 270-271).

Too often [he says], we go to God’s house with no preparation at all; if every man and woman in our congregations came to church prepared to worship, after a little prayer, a little thought, and a little self-examination, then worship would be worship indeed–the worship in which and through which things happen in men’s souls and in the life of the Church and in the affairs of the world. (ibid., p. 271)

Daily Scripture Readings
Friday (December 4, 2009)*
Daily Office Lectionary, The Book of Common Prayer, the Episcopal Church in the U.S.A., 1979	Daily Lectionary, Book of Common Worship, the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A., 1993	Daily Lectionary, Book of Worship Inter-Lutheran Commission on Worship, c. 1978 (2002 printing) ‡
http://www.satucket.com/lectionary/index.htm http://www.pcusa.org/lectionary
‡ Daily Lectionary, Evangelical Lutheran Worship, ELCA, 2006. In the Evangelical Lutheran Worship book of 2006, the Daily Lectionary (pp. 1121-1153) is revised to correlate with the Sunday Lectionary (the Revised Common Lectionary) on the three year cycle: Year A, Year B (now current), Year C. “The readings are chosen so that the days leading up to Sunday (Thursday through Saturday) prepare for the Sunday readings. The days flowing out from Sunday (Monday through Wednesday) reflect upon the Sunday readings” (p. 1121).
Unless otherwise indicated, the scripture texts quoted are from The New Revised Standard Version (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers), 1989.
Friday AM Psalm 16, 17 PM Psalm 22 Amos 5:1-17 Jude 1-16 Matt. 22:1-14 John of Damascus: http://www.satucket.com/lectionary/John_Damascus.htm Psalm 29 Ecclesiastes 3:9-14; 1 Corinthians 15:12-20; John 5:24-27 Eucharistic Reading: Psalm 27:1-6,17-18 Isaiah 29:17-24; Matthew 9:27-31	Friday Morning Pss.: 102, 148 Amos 5:1-17 Jude 1-16 Matt. 22:1-14 Evening Pss.: 130, 16	Friday Morning Pss.: 102, 148 Amos 5:1-17 Jude 1-16 Matt. 22:1-14 Evening Pss.: 130, 16
		Year C Daily Readings Luke 1:68-79 Malachi 3:13-18 Philippians 1:18b-26
* Friday in the week of the First Sunday of Advent, Year Two