[Matthew 22 – The Message]

So, you call me to your feast and I turn away because my to-do list is too long. I am no different from the guests in the parable. Can I change my mind and come after all? Will you still let me in? I do hope so. I do hope so.

Then there is the final twist – sending someone away to hell because he’s wearing the wrong clothes – what does that say? Some turn busily or violently away, some come gratefully, some come on their own terms – and cannot get in. What is the proper dress for your feast? Not the rags of guilt or the robes of entitlement, but the simple tunic of a friend. Is that it? I must come for the relationship with you – not for status, recognition or ‘reward.’ A wedding banquet for your son is about bringing your son’s friends near to celebrate current and future relationships.

Paying taxes to Caesar? Let him have his due. Give him coins, but give yourself to me. You bear my image.

About marriage and resurrection, well, rules of this world do not apply – your vision is too small for the possibilities that are there. God is. Now and forever. And Love is the greatest command. Love God; love God’s. That is what knits the world into one and the law reflects that unity. So the Sadducees and Pharisees both are left speechless, having based their speeches on their own, self-aggrandizing understanding of how they see things.

[photo bydynamosquito per cc 2.0]