PostScript: A disturbing parable

Jesus tells of a king who throws a wedding banquet (Matthew 22.1-14).

Introduction

Despite being about a party, this parable requires us to wrestle with some difficult issues. In particular, it confronts us with violent anti-Jewish rhetoric.

Context

The Council of Christians and Jews (CJJ) is celebrating its 75^th anniversary. Its formation was announced in The Times on October 1^st 1942, in response to the Nazi propagation of antisemitism.

Antisemitism – hatred, bigotry, prejudice or discrimination against Jews – has not gone away: it is still an issue. Recently, for example, there has been disquiet over antisemitism in the Labour Party. CCJ organises seminars to consider how the antisemitism has changed, and how it affects the Jewish community today. There is also work with Muslim partners to understand and tackle Islamophobia. A key concern is to encourage dialogue over Israel/Palestine – to facilitate more complex, nuanced conversations about the situation.

Reflection

The disconcerting thing about this parable, especially if one assumes that the king represents God, is its violence. Invitees murder the servants sent to call them, simply to avoid a wedding. The king then escalates things, burning down a city. And the poor hapless guest wearing the wrong clothes is cast into outer darkness. Amy-Jill Levine, a Jewish New Testament scholar, writes:

The parable should disturb. If we hear it and are not disturbed, there is something seriously amiss with our moral compass. It would be better if we perhaps started by seeing the parable not as about heaven or hell or final judgment, but about kings, politics, violence, and the absence of justice. (Amy-Jill Levine, Short Stories by Jesus: The Enigmatic Parables of a Controversial Rabbi, New York: HarperCollins, 2014, p282.)

Most commentaries say that the murder of the servants represents Israel’s treatment of the prophets and of Jesus, with the destroyed city being Jerusalem. The third sending out symbolizes the mission of the church. Aware of the subsequent history of Jewish-Christian relations, I find this explanation problematic. I have no doubt that given the context in which Matthew’s Gospel was written – fierce rivalry between different Jewish groups following the destruction of the Jerusalem temple – the commentaries are right. Matthew’s community was defining itself over and against other Jews, especially the Pharisees. But the question then becomes: what do we do with this interpretation today? Is it still an appropriate message to be preaching? Or, given the challenges of multi-cultural Britain, can we be more creative?

We often assume that Jesus’ parables convey simple truths in homely tales that anyone can understand. The Gospels explicitly say otherwise: In Mark, Jesus tells the disciples, ‘for those outside, everything comes in parables; in order that they may indeed look, but not perceive, and may indeed listen, but not understand’ (Mark 4.11-12). Today’s reading ends, ‘For many are called, but few are chosen’. Parables require hard work, including grappling with inconvenient truths about ourselves. When giving a children’s address, it may be best to ignore the violence of the story, and extract a positive message about a banquet open to all. But, at other times, the courageous approach is to face up to hard questions over Christianity’s anti-Judaism, and its New Testament roots. There is no straightforward message to read off the page. We have to wrestle with the story, in order to construct a way forward for today. May the Holy Spirit inspire our endeavours.

Prayer

Use George Herbert’s poem ‘Love (III)’ as a basis for meditation. You can find a copy of the words, and hear it read by Jo Shapcott, on The Poetry Archive website.

Questions

What do the people ‘up front’ in your church wear? What messages do their garments convey?
What do you wear to church? Do you dress up or dress down? Why?

Action

Start planning for Inter Faith Week (12-19 November 2017). Have a look at the map on the Inter Faith Week website, to see if there will be any activities happening near you.

Or consider putting on an event yourself. There are plenty of suggestions in The Inter Faith Week Toolkit.

Young people

Could you throw a party for local people in need of cheering up? Maybe you could co-ordinate with a local care home, refugee hostel, foodbank or homeless shelter. Or how about planning a party for Inter Faith Week, together with young people from a neighbouring mosque, gurdwara or synagogue?

Ann Conway-Jones is completing a four-year term as joint Honorary Secretary of CCJ.

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