Faith Catechesis or Fake Catechesis
Along the lines of the Gospel readings of the previous Sundays, Jesus continues in a kind of no-holds-barred attack on the Jewish establishment. The guests who refused to come to the banquet, and who, in fact, killed some of his servants, is a clear attack on the Jewish establishment which, according to Jesus, refused God’s invitation and even killed some of his prophets sent to them (the slaves who were sent out to invite people).
Since, however, that is a theme that I have taken up in earlier reflections, I would like to focus on the last part of the parable about the man who is found without a wedding garment, and is subsequently thrown out of the wedding hall. That addition, found only in Mathew’s version, unlike the same parable narrated by Luke (14:15-24), really interests me. Keeping in mind that the various Gospels are NOT a straightforward chronological story of Jesus , but rather proclamations of Jesus’ life and teachings addressed to different audiences, it would seem that Mathew specifically brought into this last section of the parable a theological message that he wanted to stress.
So why is this last part in Mathew’s story so interesting, and puzzling? The Gospel story says: “Those slaves went out into the streets and gathered all whom they found, both good and bad, so the wedding hall was filled with guests.” So if both good and bad were in the wedding hall, why was only this one man singled out, a man whose only fault was that he did not have a wedding garment.
Allow me then to suggest an interpretation that may make sense to us today. First and foremost, the parable rejects any understanding of God’s invitation as being addressed only to a ‘chosen people’. If one translates the idea of ALL being invited, whether good or bad, into today’s context, we could say that the parable is reminding us that ALL, whatever their background, sinful or not, whether belonging to this religion or that, or even those denying God, were all called. The kingdom of heaven is open to all. But though all are invited, one was rejected. And for the simple reason that he didn’t have a wedding garment. In other words, all these others who finally came in had actually cleaned themselves up, removed their earlier clothes, and put on their wedding garments, before they entered the wedding hall. But one person chooses to come in unprepared, without choosing to change - expressed symbolically in the notion that he refused to change into a wedding garment.
The author of Mathew's Gospel, writing around two or three decades after Jesus’ death and resurrection, was acutely aware that there were many who were technically part of the Christian community (and thought themselves to be in this symbolic wedding hall), but in reality, had not prepared themselves for the kingdom of God, i.e. they had not put on a new way of living , put on the wedding garment, that was necessary to be able to continue at the banquet of the Lord. The author of Luke's Gospel too was aware of this phenomenon, and in his second book found in the New Testament (Acts of the Apostles), gives us two such examples of such failures. The first is the story of a couple, Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5:1-10), who pretended to share all their wealth with the rest of the Christian community but had in actuality kept a nest egg for themselves, and secondly the story of Simon the sorcerer (Acts 8:9-25) who chose to be baptised, but we soon learn that his interest was in using his wealth to buy from the Apostles the power to work miracles. Mathew does not have these stories as he is writing only about the time of Jesus, but since he is writing at the time of the early Church when this phenomenon of ‘false’ Christians was already emerging, he brings in this last part of the parable about the guest who had no wedding garment, and thus brings in this same theme of a lack of preparation, symbolised by the changing into a wedding garment.
This interpretation would harmonize significantly with another teaching of Jesus’, that is also found in Mathew (7:21-23): “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ Then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; go away from me, you who behave lawlessly.’
What Mathew was concerned about, was an issue that troubled the early Church significantly, namely that there was a need for people to be prepared so that they entered the Christian community only after they had changed their internal ‘garment’. Perhaps it is an issue that we too should be concerned about today. Maybe there are many of us Christians who have not put on the wedding garment.
And so the early Church spent a significant amount of time (sometimes even up to 3 years, just as Jesus spent three years with his apostles) to ensure an adequate preparation. A study of the early Church’s practice of how such preparation was carried out seems to suggest three different aspects of such preparation or catechesis, and could perhaps give us insights for today.
The first aspect was immersion in the Word of God. This is also done today in our preparation of adults who want to become Christian, and children who are offered catechism classes. Unfortunately for us, today the kind of immersion that is offered is primarily learning Bible stories and maybe teaching some basic interpretation of the more difficult to understand stories. Hardly any one is encouraged to think for themselves, ask questions and think of connections to our lives today. For the most part, any uncomfortable questions about Bible passages are considered unacceptable and indicative of a weak faith.
A second element that was there in the early Church was the handing over of the faith. Again, unfortunately, since today, for most people, faith is identified with belief in certain dogmas, our catechetical preparation today tries to ensure that the initiate knows and confesses all the right beliefs. I find this a great weakness as we are increasingly realising that such intellectual assent to dogmas does not really mean much, because we have to ask ourselves whether having faith is the same as accepting the ‘right’ beliefs? Deep down we probably sense that these two are different. We would not assume, for instance, that an old person with no theological background, who has perhaps many “wrong beliefs”, necessarily has less faith than the biblical scholar or theologian who has all the “right beliefs”. If we do not accept this distinction, we would have to concede that generations of Catholics/ Christians who had the wrong beliefs (e.g. the once commonly held belief that the Adam and Eve story is a historically true story as we understand history today, or that all other religions were the work of the devil, etc etc ), could not have had true faith. So having the right or wrong beliefs is not the same as having faith or not having faith, and focusing on beliefs instead of on faith is perhaps quite the wrong way to go about ‘handing over of the faith’. So we have to find more effective ways to inculcate faith (which will include beliefs, but not limited to that) in those of us who want to become Christian, and for that we could usefully look at how Jesus tried to do that (as I have explained below).
The third and perhaps most important aspect of preparation in the early church was the spiritual and moral formation of the catechumen. Today, this element of preparation basically includes teaching the catechumen the more popular prayers and how to participate in the sacraments/rituals and learning the moral and other rules of the Church, plus a ritualistic rejection of “Satan and all his works”. But are these really sufficient in actually forming people into living the way that Jesus wants us to live by?
If we look at the way Jesus prepared his disciples over the three years of his time with them. Jesus seems to start that preparation with a “Come and See” invitation (John 1:39), which was his way of building them spiritually and morally by allowing them to experience life with him and thus creating a relationship with them. Through this experience he shares his faith relationship with God with them, helping them change their entire attitude or relationship with God, especially focusing on God being their loving Father, rather than a stern Judge. Again through this entire experience he kept pushing them (not very successfully during his lifetime, one may add) to change their understanding of how God works in human lives, including drumming into their heads (among other lessons) the teaching that God does not use power to force change in human hearts, that suffering can be redemptive, and that love of God is only real if there is love of one’s neighbour, and even of one’s enemy. And all through this experience, in bits and pieces as it were, he immerses them in the Word of God by making them think about the Scriptures. And while he did tell them to listen to what the religious authorities said, he encouraged them to not blindly accept their teachings or interpretations, and therefore offers them re-interpretations of the same Scriptures.
And so the three years that the Apostles spent with Jesus were a journey they walked with him and walking with him was all that Jesus expected of them, however weak and not very intelligent some of them were, for Jesus knew that becoming his disciple, (later understood as becoming a Christian or being saved) is “a fluid process, not a fixed and static entity; a flowing river of change, not a block of solid material; a continually changing constellation of potentialities, not a fixed quantity of traits.” (taken from Carl Rogers’ “On Becoming a Person”)
So, just belonging to a Christian community, being in the wedding hall, gives one no advantage over others who come later to the banquet hall, for all are invited. It is the journey of constant preparation that is important, and those who believe in Jesus are fortunate to have Jesus’ teachings and life constantly before them to give them insights into how to do this, how to go about putting on the wedding garment, for we are all called to ultimately clothe ourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 13:14) .
First Reading: Isaiah 25:6-10
On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wines, of rich food filled with marrow, of well-aged wines strained clear. And he will destroy on this mountain the shroud that is cast over all peoples, the sheet that is spread over all nations; he will swallow up death forever. Then the Lord God will wipe away the tears from all faces, and the disgrace of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the Lord has spoken. It will be said on that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, so that he might save us. This is the Lord for whom we have waited; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation. For the hand of the Lord will rest on this mountain. The Moabites shall be trodden down in their place as straw is trodden down in a dung-pit.
Second Reading: Philippians 4:12-14, 19-20
I know what it is to have little, and I know what it is to have plenty. In any and all circumstances, I have learned the secret of being well-fed and of going hungry, of having plenty and of being in need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me. In any case, it was kind of you to share my distress. And my God will fully satisfy every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. To our God and Father be glory forever and ever. Amen.
Gospel, Matthew 22:1-14
Once more Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying: “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding banquet for his son. He sent his slaves to call those who had been invited to the wedding banquet, but they would not come. Again he sent other slaves, saying, ‘Tell those who have been invited: Look, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready; come to the wedding banquet.’ But they made light of it and went away, one to his farm, another to his business, while the rest seized his slaves, mistreated them, and killed them. The king was enraged. He sent his troops, destroyed those murderers, and burned their city. Then he said to his slaves, ‘The wedding is ready, but those invited were not worthy. Go therefore into the main streets, and invite everyone you find to the wedding banquet.’ Those slaves went out into the streets and gathered all whom they found, both good and bad, so the wedding hall was filled with guests. “But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing a wedding robe, and he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding robe?’ And he was speechless. Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ For many are called, but few are chosen.”
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