Pentecost+20/Proper 23A (Matthew 22:1-14)

In the philosophy of language, there are three fundamental principles according to Gottlob Frege, the 19th-century German philosopher. The second one is called the context principle: “never to ask for the meaning of a word in isolation, but only in the context of a proposition.” For example, let’s think of the word “wafer.” If someone at a grocery store is looking for a wafer, we know what it is. But if the word is used in a church setting, we know it means a communion bread or host (hostia in Latin, meaning a victim). A corny dad joke plays with words used in different contexts. Here’s another example of the context principle: “Why do fathers take an extra pair of socks when they go golfing?” “In case they get a hole in one!”

Not only in language but also in reality this context principle can be applied. In order to function appropriately, skillfully, and wisely, one needs to know the context in which one is situated and surrounded. Knowing the context, and recognizing one’s reality here and now is the key to understanding the king in Jesus’ parable whose character appears to be moody if not deceiving. Let’s be quite frank about the wedding banquet in the parable. Would you honestly want to be invited to the wedding? For me, no. My reason for nay is that I might be thrown into the outer darkness if I don’t properly dress up for the wedding. Why would I put myself in trouble of being imprisoned for breaking the dress code? Let’s not forget what happens to those without a wedding robe: “Bind him hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” (Matthew 22:13) What about you? 

I have no desire to defend the king’s erratic behavior. Yet, there’s a consistent pattern. He’s actually quite fair to all the invitees as long as they themselves are mindful of the very fact that they’re invited to the wedding banquet, not to a birthday party, etc. In the parable, there are four groups of invitees. Group 1 is the one who declines the king’s invitation. They’re busy with their busy everyday routines and have no time and interest to spend their precious time elsewhere even if it’s the king who invites them. Group 2  is a bunch of murderers who intend to kill the king’s messengers. Group 3 consists of random people, good and bad, who are invited from the streets. Out of Group 3, Group 4 is the most unfortunate one who is at the banquet without wedding robes.

It makes sense that Group 2 is punished according to their evil behavior. What may be most puzzling is the case of Group 1 when compared to Group 4. When guests in Group 4 are thrown into the outer darkness, nothing happens to the ones in Group 1. There must be something between the behaviors of Group 1 and Group 4. What is it then? The context principle mentioned above can be applied here. Group 4 isn’t aware of their context of being invited to the wedding banquet whereas Group 1 is mindful of what this event is about and says no. Knowing where they are makes a radical difference in them. Radical enough that Group 4 ends up in the outer darkness, probably in prison and Group 1 continues to carry on with their lives. 

The key is to know one’s reality, context, here and now. It’s to be fully alert and mindful of the present moment. This might sound like too easy or trivial. But is it really? How often do we get stuck in the past or jump in the future? The past brings regrets, guilt, or even shame. The future creates anxiety and fear. The past we cannot change and the future we cannot know too often becomes our unreal and nonexistent reality so that we do not live in the present. The present carries our past actions as well as their corresponding results. The future depends on the results of our present actions. What matters is our present actions yet we don’t live in the present. This situation is where guests in Group 4 are stuck. They don’t realize where they are right now and do not act appropriately to their present reality, which is to wear a wedding robe. 

One of the numerous expressions to describe God is God as the Ultimate Reality. Our thoughts about the past and the future get in our way to the Ultimate Reality, which is in other words the kingdom of God. Thoughts are like the dust of our unskillful becoming of who we are or simply the ego. The Ultimate Reality is available to every single one of the entire humanity. Yet, who among them is available to that reality? Thus says Jesus, “For many are called, but few are chosen.”