The Wedding Banquet
In today’s reading, the reference of “king” is a common metaphor for God; the story is evidently about a divine wedding banquet. The wedding banquet is a metaphor for our relationship with God. This parable teaches us that we all have been invited to the Greatest Event ever! Jesus is teaching us that God has sent out His invitation for your salvation. Will you make excuses or accept God’s invitation?
Forgiveness
The harmony of Jesus’ teaching about conflict and the role of witnesses is often noted, but there is something subtly different in today’s readings. Jesus is not instructing us to bring witnesses to testify against our “brother” who has sinned against us, but to testify to the exchange between brother and sister. This is not just about safety in numbers, but the safety of the numbers. Jesus follows this with talk about the power of agreement, saying that anything that is agreed upon by two on earth will be done for them by the Father in heaven.
Transfiguration of Our Lord
Witnesses to the glory of God in the face of Jesus will be unable to avoid reflecting that glory in the world. It was true for Moses. It was doubtless true for Peter, James, and John. We pray that it will be true of all of us who see the glory of the Lord in the word and in the supper and who are being “transformed into the same image” by the Spirit of God.Witnesses to the glory of God in the face of Jesus will be unable to avoid reflecting that glory in the world. It was true for Moses. It was doubtless true for Peter, James, and John. We pray that it will be true of all of us who see the glory of the Lord in the word and in the supper and who are being “transformed into the same image” by the Spirit of God.
Much like Jesus’ healing miracles, his feeding of the crowd shows his compassion of human beings and their needs. Jesus cared for the people in their ordinary hunger and demonstrated loving hospitality. Sending the crowds home means sending them back into the oppressive and alienating economic realities of Galilee. Scarcity, hunger, alienation, and fear are symptoms of unjust political, social, and economic arrangements.
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In the parable of the weeds and wheat, an “enemy” comes when everyone is sleeping and sows “weeds.” For the disciples, the enemy could be opponents of Jesus who, threatened by the good seed he sows, attempt to spoil his harvest. For the ruling class, the enemy might be Jesus himself, plundering the “strong man’s house”. The strange practice of allowing the wheat and weeds to grow up together is understood as a symbol of God’s patience.
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