April 24, 2013 | Culture Matters

  “And again Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying, ^‘The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son, and sent his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding feast, but they would not come.’ “ (Matthew 22:1-3 ESV)

You see, Watson, but you do not observe

Reading Jesus’ parable, I am first off struck by something that seems odd to my modern eye. Why do people need to be invited to the wedding feast? Aren’t the guests already there after the ceremony? Why don’t they just walk into the fellowship hall from the auditorium as we all did last weekend at the wedding I attended?

Hebrew weddings

To grasp the image behind Jesus’ wedding feast parable it’s necessary to understand the Hebraic background. Part of good interpretation is figuring out meaning from cultural & historical clues. In this particular story, historians tell us that the three-part activity of marriage must be understood as separate, not blended into one whirlwind day as is our modern fashion. In classical Israel, the betrothal, consummation, and marriage feast were separate events. For wealthy families, like the son of the king in Jesus’ story, lengthy gaps occurred between each part. Keep that in mind, and the story become more poignant and pointed.

But wait, there’s more!

However, it’s a mistake to think that only one layer of culture was affecting Jesus’ milieu. His audience did business in Greek and lived under Roman laws. Those layers of civilization also influenced their thought and lives. Further, the Jews weren’t totally singular in their marriage practices. In this Roman carving celebrating a wedding, notice the marriage contract being offered by the groom. It’s clear such was standard practice beyond just Hebrew betrothals. Notice also the mantle being placed on the couple. It’s reminiscent of the chuppah under which a Jewish couple recited their vows. The point is that one should look for all cultural context clues when unwrapping an “everyday” story such as Jesus’ wedding feast parable.

That reminds me of a story…

Time and space press me on, but you get the idea. Once you have observed today’s parable and properly worked through the background necessary to interpret it well, it’s important to correlate the ideas to our own mixed culture. For example, as I was walking through this parable I came to verse 5 (But they paid no attention and went off, one to his farm, another to his business) and some reflection brought up a correlation from my own experience. Under the heading “worldliness is a powerful motivator” I wrote in my journal:

When I was a youth pastor, I would often have lunch with kids from the church at their various high schools. America was less bland then, and such things were allowed. Because I am the funniest man in the world (that joke is for you, Benjamin), we always had lots of students gathered around the tables. It was a joy building relationships in order to invite people to the real King.

But there were always two groups of kids I could count on to dislike me strongly. Even though I was nothing but loving, the super-rich & popular kid would often hate me. He didn’t want to hear anything about any church nonsense. All he wanted was quiet so he could enjoy being the only senior high kid driving a Rolls Royce.

The second group of youth-pastor-haters consisted of kids dedicated to some kind of perversion. Those determined to abuse drugs or sex were rankled by my presence – even though we never discussed such things. Without saying a word, I represented the right & wrong that they desperately wanted to pretend didn’t exist.

The jocks, the atheistic kids, the science nerds, the Hindu or Buddhist or Jewish kids – they all enjoyed me, even if they rejected the kingdom. But the ones caught up in worldliness, they hated me because my love for them was a walking conviction.

Apply to affected area…

That’s what I read on a bandage package the other day, and it fits for our last step in Bible hermeneutics (the art of handling scripture). Once we have observed, interpreted, and correlated – then, we need to apply. You will come up with many applications as the Holy Spirit guides and convicts through this passage. Here’s one of mine, written beside verse 12: “I must impart (live out) the righteousness given to me in the clothing of Christ.”

Have fun! I look forward to hearing and seeing what God does in each of us through His Word.

God bless,

Wayne