Jesus & the Prophets – the Celestial Banquet … (10/27/18)
In a direct reference to the “feast for all peoples” mentioned in Isaiah 25:6-81 (see also Isaiah 55:1-2, Isaiah 61:10, Jeremiah 31:31-342, Nehemiah 8:9-123, & Psalm 63:5 – along with the Banquet mentioned in the proclamations of Talmud Pesachim 119 & Midrash Rabbah Exodus 25:8), Jesus likens the Kingdom of God to the “wedding banquet” given by a king for his son in Matthew 22:1-14.4 In this tale (distinct from the one found in Luke 14:15-245), the invitees to the banquet are summoned by the king who had invited them to the same. Upon receiving said summons, they each somewhat flippantly declined to attend for one reason or another, whereupon the incensed king instructed his servants to “go into the streets and invite everyone you find.”6 Thereafter, the king arrived and noticed a man who was not dressed in proper wedding attire, whereupon he instructed his servants to bind the man and “throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”7 At first glance, such harshness would seem to perfectly reflect the highly exclusive “Messianic Banquet” that the Old Testament claimed would be offered to only those Jews who were obedient to the Law, and yet closer examination actually reveals a great distinction between the two – with Jesus’ latter feast being inclusively & unconditionally offered to all those not originally invited to attend; all those who ultimately chose to transcend the Law by following his selfless Way instead.
“Why do some people champion heretics? Far more often than not for the very same reason that churches accuses them of heresy – solely because it serves their longings for security &/or power to do so. This is why heretics preaching unpopular doctrines are burned and crucified, and this is why heretics preaching dogmas too strong to suppress or destroy are ultimately proclaimed to be saints clothed in orthodoxy … Any heaven that is right & true will cover the smallest of mole hills as much as the tallest of mountains, the same as any God worth worshiping will radiate a mercy that is boundless and a Love that is perfect. If there isn’t a seat at the banquet for everyone, then what is being offered from its platters isn’t worth eating.” ~ inspired by Umberto Eco & Abraham Wright
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1 NOTE that, in stark contrast to the compassion-based ministry of Jesus Christ (which would undeniably hold a final banquet fully devoid of any innocent suffering), this Old Testament feast consists of “rich food filled with marrow.” In contrast to that contrast, NOTE as well that this older feast would have God obliterating “the shroud that is cast over all peoples” – recalling the Temple’s curtain that is torn asunder after the crucifixion of Christ on Golgotha (his own “mountain”), a rent that finally allowed everyone direct access to the Temple’s previously shrouded Holy of Holies.
2 The original covenant mentioned herein is considered by many to be the equivalent of a marriage contract between God & Israel – a covenant that was broken & abandoned, and thus a covenant that Jesus came to refurbish and re-establish (see also Matthew 24:12-14, Mark 14:24, Luke 22:20, John 1:17, Hebrews 8:8-13, & Hebrews 9:15 et al) thereafter summoning a renewed & bettered “wedding banquet” as well – this one between God and the entirety of humanity.
3 NOTE in this passage that “all the people wept when they heard the words of the Law,” and yet were told to rejoice instead, “for the joy of the LORD is your strength.” (see John 15:11)
4 Refer as well to Matthew 8:11-12 (where Jesus has Gentiles seated at the table with the most revered Jewish Patriarchs), Matthew 14:13-21 & Matthew 15:32-38 (especially the latter – where Jesus feeds the multitudes regardless of their citizenship or creed), Matthew 15:21-28 (where the Canaanite woman is included in that meal), Matthew 8:5-13 (where Jesus lauds the faith of the homosexual centurion by proclaiming “I have not seen such faith in anyone in Israel. Many shall come from the east and the west to recline at the table with Abraham & Isaac & Jacob in the Kingdom of Heaven, while the original heirs to the Kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness”), and Luke 15:11-32 (where the Messianic Banquet is symbolically foreshadowed by the merciful “father” in the Parable of the Prodigal Son).
5 Whereas the former telling is one of harsh retribution for acts of selfish hypocrisy &/or ungrateful greed (which makes sense contextually, seeing as how it is relayed at a time during Jesus’ ministry when he was facing extreme opposition from the Jewish leadership), the latter focuses on encouraging its listeners to deeds of selfless kindness. Whereas the former is a wedding banquet thrown by a king, the latter is a “great dinner” given by “someone.” Whereas the original guests in the former become aloof or angry when invited – and thus are destroyed, those in the latter merely provide excuses for their lack of attendance – and thus are merely passed over. Whereas the king in the former ultimately had his servants go out into the streets and invite “everyone – both the good and the bad,” the man in the latter had his servants ultimately go out into the streets to invite “the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame” – and then everyone else thereafter.
6 This is actually an especially intriguing verse, seeing as how the servants then went and “gathered all they had found, both the good and the bad” to fill the banquet hall with guests – and this, just after the king himself had seemingly murdered all the “bad” invitees who had rejected his summons.
7 First of all, NOTE that “weeping and gnashing of teeth” was not used in the biblical texts to convey physical pain or psychological terror, but rather the intense emotional distress (sadness, anger, &/or frustration) suffered by all those whose selfish desires are fully thwarted. Second, the condemned man’s sentence was not applied due to his poor appearance (the lack of the “wedding garment”), but rather because he had ungratefully rejected the robes that all in attendance had been given to wear during the proceedings (see Matthew 22:12). Third, the “outer darkness” into which the king casts the indignant guest was not Hell as many know it, but rather a common Jewish punitive exclamation (see Judith 16:17, Wisdom 17:21, & Ezra 7:93 – also Matthew 5:29, Matthew 13:42-50, & Matthew 22:13 et al).
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