Matthew 22:1-10
DAILY BYTE
The first theme that we’ll be exploring in this Lenten Discipleship Course is Identity. And the simple question we’ll be asking to unpack it is, ‘Who are you?’ Because at various points in our lives we all experience a crisis of identity, where the old answers to the question, ‘Who are you?’ seem utterly inadequate. These are truly Crossroads moments, holding rich potential for us to choose new paths of deeper faithfulness and devotion to Christ.
So who are you? How do you usually answer that question? By giving your name? By describing what you do? How adequate an answer is that? Does it do justice to the rich complexity that is you?
In Matthew 22:1-10 we read the parable of the wedding banquet. A king prepared a wedding banquet for his son, but the invited guests refused to come, and ended up being destroyed as a result. Then the king sent his servants out into the streets to invite to the banquet anyone they could find, both the good and the bad. And the wedding hall was filled with guests.
Like all of Jesus’ parables, this one defies easy explanation. One interpretation is that all the guests, those initially invited as well as those gathered from the street corners, represent different parts of who we are as individuals. It conveys the good news that every part of us is invited to share in the feast of the kingdom. Those parts of us that refuse the invitation, that refuse to be included, do so at their peril.
Recently I saw a fascinating art exhibition at the Kirstenbosch Gardens in Cape Town. It was a collaborative effort between a sculptor, Dylan Lewis; a poet, Ian McCallum; and an architect, Enrico Daffonchio. The exhibition was entitled ‘Untamed’, and explored the wild nature within us and around us, as well as the struggle to integrate this wildness into our self-definition of who we are as human beings. The sculptures depicted human figures “clothed” with animal attributes, blurring the boundaries between the human and animal realms. They were housed in a specially designed pavilion that blurred the boundaries between ‘inside’ and ‘outside’, the natural world blending with contemporary design.
At the entrance to the exhibition are these words by Ian McCallum:
Whose permission are we waiting for to enter that ‘uncertain ground’
where the voice of our wild history can be heard? How long is it going to take to acknowledge that there is indeed a menagerie within each of us...a wolf, a hyena, a lion...a wild man and a wild woman!
As I wandered through the exhibition I was invited to acknowledge that there are indeed wild and untamed parts of me that are part of the rich complexity of my personhood.
But wondrously, all of these parts are invited to the gracious wedding banquet of God. How tragic when this invitation to be included and accepted and redeemed is ignored or rejected, even by one of the parts within me. That day I realized again that the question, “Who are you?” is not a simple one for any of us to answer. Yet it is an essential question for us to explore as fully as we can, because knowing and accepting the depth and breadth of our personhood will mean a richer participation in, and contribution to, the great Kingdom banquet of God.
QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION
- List as many words as you can that describe who you are.
- Now add to this list words that describe what you long to be.
- Think of an experience you’ve had when a wild impulse suddenly arose from within and caught you by surprise. How do you feel about that experience? What might it be saying about who you are?
Welcoming God, you accept us as we are, and embrace every part of us. Thank you that at your banqueting table, everyone has a place and everything belongs. Help us to see ourselves through your compassionate, non-judgemental eyes, so that even the wild and wayward parts of us would their place at your feast of grace. Amen.
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