Proper 23 A

Oct. 12, 2008
The Rev. Susan J. Latimer

In the Diocese of Atlanta, where I was ordained, the Standing Committee had a favorite question to ask all the candidates for ordination:

“What is your favorite heresy?” I loved this question for many reasons.

I was reminded of this question as I grappled with the Gospel this past week. This is one of a series of difficult parables in Matthew. As in many of the parables, this one has to do with God’s kingdom and salvation.

The King is giving a wedding banquet for his son, but the invited guests decide not to come. So a new invitation was issued, to everyone who was within earshot, “both the good and the bad”, Matthew tells us. So the good and the bad from the main streets fill the wedding hall. We might interpret this as God inviting people into a new relationship through Jesus – with the first invitation list declining the offer. So then the gates are thrown wide open to everyone. But then a strange thing happens.

The king enters the hall and sees a man who is not wearing a wedding robe ( the standard garment required for such an occasion ). This is not at all surprising to me, as this man was just out in the street, going about his business, when he was invited to the wedding party. But it is important to Matthew’s story that this man was not properly prepared. So he is thrown out of the party into the darkness, with weeping and gnashing of teeth.

As with any good parable, this raises some questions. Of what significance is the wedding robe? As you might guess, the answers to this have varied widely over time. Augustine said it was Love. Luther insisted that it had to be Faith. Calvin decided it had to be both Faith and Works.

( Living the Word, Christian Century Oct. 7, 2008 ).

One more modern interpretation of the wedding robe is that it signifies Baptism. In the early church, deciding to be baptized was no light thing.

It involved risking your life. It had to be done in secret, and the preparation for it involved three years of learning what it meant to follow Christ. And when you were baptized, and came up out of the waters, you were dressed in a new white baptismal robe. You were “clothed with Christ”.

It was against the law to be a Christian. Baptism was a life-changing, life-risking event.
“You are sealed by the Holy Spirit in Baptism, and marked as Christ’s own forever.”
( Sam Wells, Christian Century October 7, 2008 ).

This may be. It may be that Matthew was pointing us toward the commitment we make in Baptism. But what about those who are not baptized? Here is where I am drawn back to my favorite heresy – Universalism. Universalism says that all of humanity will be redeemed by God. All will be saved. Not one group going to heaven and another to the outer darkness with gnashing of teeth.

While this belief is still heretical to some, I am in good company with others who hold it. Origen, one of the great early church theologians,
believed in Universal salvation. I could make a case for Julian of Norwich, and many of the great mystics of the church throughout the ages. In modern times, I look to Alan Jones of Grace Cathedral, San Francisco. After all, if we proclaim that all of humanity can’t be redeemed by God, aren’t we limiting God?

But even Universalism, as I understand it, leaves room for human choice. God does not force us to choose life. God does not force us to love God and other humans. I believe that Universal salvation is possible – and I fervently hope that at the end of time, all of creation, including all of humanity,
will be redeemed. But I don’t think that God will force anyone to choose one way or the other.

Did the man in the parable choose to come unprepared?

If there is a Hell, I believe that it is of our own making. A definition of Hell is separation from God. God never chooses that for us – but we can
choose to separate ourselves from God.

Julian of Norwich, the wonderful 14th century mystic,
had this to say about God, humans, and Hell:
“ It is God’s work to love the Hell out of us “.

God is always inviting us to the party – always calling us home.
The doors are wide open – it’s a standing invitation.
God waits on us as long as it takes.