Alternative Readings and Political Resistance

Categories: uncategorized

Date: 02 February 2011 12:27:24

No, don't worry this is not yet another rambling on LGBT stuff or a rant against the latest turns in the Con-Dem nation. Today I had Matt 21:33 - 22:14 as my NT reading, it includes the story of the wedding banquet where the king puts on a party and nobody wants to go.

This story, or another gospels version of it, is one of those few I've heard where I vividly recall a sermon I've heard. I remember the sermon so well because it caught me unawares. I had wandered into this Methodist Church because it was near the bus station in town and therefore in walking distance. The first hymn had been "fluffy" and inclusive and I felt at home and there had been an attempt at a "kids talk" which had turned into a bit of a farce due to a dirth of children. Then there had been this sermon, (I think it was this week - not the week after), a sermon which hit me for six. There was a well dressed, obviously middle-class minister who gave it. You know the sort who you can imagine being called Geraldine or something.

Anyway, this very well turned out middle aged woman starts giving a sermon which "may require some imagination" she says, as she moves into a full on liberation theology interpretation of the text. She points out that this perspective has questioned why nobody wanted to go to the banquet. Surely, if most of us got an invite from the palace we'd jump at the chance - but these people weren't. The evidence therefore points to the king actually being an unpopular ruler, possibly a dictator.

In this situation when the "commoners" are dragged in from the street they have no choice. They have been told they are going to the party. In this situation her sermon continued the guy not wearing the correct wedding clothes may have been using the only sign of resistance open to him.

I remember this sermon so vividly because it was at the beginning of my time in Durham and was one of those "signs" which confirmed I had found a home where I would be welcome and accepted even if I am sometimes the heretic in the corner ;)

Rereading this story today I was left wondering was the protester thrown out because his resistance had failed?

I guess one needs real wisdom to get your head truly around these texts and what they mean for us today. Pity that Job 25:1 - 29:25 made clear that God alone knows where wisom dwells and we can never truly be wise.

Psalm 18:7 - 15 has violent but powerful imagery within the poetry.