B (3:00)

That's right. It's a crucial idea. And of course, what we're going to see in the parable is judgment comes on those ultimately who refuse to respond. And they.

B (3:13)

That's anticipating the judgment that is going to befall Jerusalem in the year 70 when the city is destroyed. But we're getting ahead of ourselves.

A (3:22)

Yeah, well, here's a key line, Michael, we can jump down to in verse nine. The king, when people don't come and he says, well, actually even I'll back up to verse eight. He said to his servants, the wedding feast is ready, but those invited were not worthy. Go therefore to the main roads and invite to the wedding feast as many as you find. And then those servants went out into the roads and gathered all whom they found both bad and good, so that the wedding was filled with guests, right? And you get that little detail, both bad and good, and that's going to play out what happens next. And I think a lot of people forget, don't they don't notice that little detail, do they?

B (3:56)

That's right. Now it's a crucial, crucial detail because again, part of what's going on in the story is that God, well, the, the. The Father of the Son is inviting basically the hoi polloi, right? And just everyone, you know, anyone, just go out there and find people to come to this wedding feast. And initially, the people who would go to a king's wedding feast would be the aristocrats and the wealthy, the cultural elite. And, you know, the imagery of a banquet is especially fitting throughout the Gospel of Matthew. The way Jesus extends kingdom, fellowship, if you will, to people is by bringing them to the table. Jesus is constantly eating meals with people, and he's criticized for eating with just the sinners. And so what ends up happening is those who are invited to the feast, those who are invited to Jesus table, who are invited to be among his followers, refuse. Because what Jesus announces is you have to repent. That's a real obstacle for people who don't think they have anything to repent of. Right. So if you're proud and you think you're not a sinner, you're not going to show up.

A (5:08)

I'm struck right now. And it's probably because my son just had a wedding over Christmas and it was during COVID times. So we kept having to pare down the wedding guest list, which was really brutal for my son and his then fiance, now wife, when they had to say, okay, who can we invite? We can only have, you know, first we're going to have 150, and then it was going to be, you know, eight, you know, 100, then it was going to be 80, and then it had to be maybe, maybe it's got to be 70. And it was so painful for them. But here you have this idea that he wants. This king obviously is a royal wedding, because he has the means. Invite everyone you find. So he's got all these servants, they go out and make this kind of last minute invitation to fill in the wedding guests for this great event. And then the king comes to look upon the guests.

B (5:57)

Right. Just one thing. So he wants to invite as many as you find. And. And that's a really important word. Throughout the Gospel, we have the idea of the many being those who are invited into the eschatological kingdom, into the kingdom of God. So Jesus, for example, talks about how the Son of man has come to give his life as a ransom for many. Right. In Matthew 20, this is two chapters earlier. So again we have.

B (6:26)

Jesus ministry symbolized in this invitation to the wedding feast. Yes.

A (6:32)

Now, yeah, I love that you have to read these parables as Jesus own story.

B (6:37)

That's right.

A (6:37)

And notice the little details in these parables and the details that come up in other parts of the biblical narrative. And so I think if you just. I want to highlight that method that Dr. Barber just gave you on how to read the biblical text and the gospels with care. And you'll read it much more richly. Well, then, Michael, let me read verse 11. But when the king came to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had no wedding garment. And he said to him, friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment? And he was speechless. Then the king said to the attendants, bind him hand and foot and cast him into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. For many are called, but few are chosen. And I always love when this is going to be read in church because I think a lot of people don't know, what's the punchline at the end? Watching people's reaction, like, wait a minute, right? He just, you know, friend, you know, you have no wedding. And then he says, turns to the attendants, could you just bind him hand and foot and throw him out into the utter darkness?

B (7:35)

Right.

A (7:35)

I mean, they didn't see that coming.

B (7:37)

Certainly not. Yes. And, you know, it is appropriate to read that in church. One thing that, you know, we try to do as a family is dress nicely on Sunday for Mass. Make a big deal out of it. Kids all have suits, all the boys have suits. The girls have dresses. Boys wear a tie. We really try to teach them to dress for the occasion. Right. And that basic idea is rooted in the parable here, right. That if you're going to the wedding feast, you don't just treat the wedding feast like any other banquet. Right. There is a need to honor the king and. And to recognize that you're being invited into something special. And so you don't just wear your ordinary clothes to a wedding. Well, how much more true of the Mass should that be? Right. I mean, if you're gonna meet the President of the United States, I always tell the kids, if you're gonna meet the president of the United States, or maybe more interesting for them, the commissioner of baseball, Right. If you're gonna meet somebody like that, then you're gonna dress nicely. Right.

A (8:37)

Well, and that comes from the principle that dresses. Dressing up is a way of honoring somebody.

B (8:42)

That's right. That's right.

A (8:43)

So that idea that they're dressing up, I know for I have these vivid images of my son's recent wedding and people dressed up for the wedding. And of course, the bridal party was really dressed up.

B (8:52)

That's right.

A (8:53)

With tuxes. And they look great. And I saw all Joe's friends that he hangs out with, and to see all these, I consider them boys, but these older boys, these young men in tuxes, was so cool and some great pictures with all them hanging out together. But it really says that this is an important event and you're honoring the people involved.

B (9:12)

Right.

A (9:12)

And you're saying that that's exactly the mentality that Jesus is trying to teach us when we come to the wedding banquet of the Lamb, which is the Mass.

B (9:20)

That's right.

A (9:21)

So every Mass is an invitation to the wedding banquet, isn't it?

B (9:24)

Definitely. And the Catechism of the Catholic Church, for example, links the Eucharist and the wedding feast of the Lamb. One more thing just to point out, many scholars have noted that the. The imagery that we find in the Gospel of Matthew, not just here, but throughout the Gospel is very similar to imagery we find in a non biblical book that was wildly popular in Jesus Day called First Enoch. And in that book we have a scene that maybe sheds some light on this story here. I mean, what is the wedding garment all about? Okay, I get it. We're supposed to dress nicely for masks, Dr. Barr, but what did this mean to Jesus? ORIGINAL AUDIENCE well, in First Enoch, there's this amazing scene of the final judgment we read. And the righteous and the chosen will be saved on that day. And the faces of the sinners and the unrighteous will henceforth not see. They'll be in darkness, right? And the Lord of the spirits, that's God, will dwell over them and that Son of Man with him, they will eat and they will lie down and rise up forever. So they're going to have a banquet with the Son of Man, which is very similar to the wedding feast here. And we've seen the son of the wedding feast identify with Jesus, who elsewhere in the gospel is called the Son of Man. And the righteous and the chosen will have arisen from the earth, there's resurrection. They'll be raised from the dead and have ceased to cast down their faces and have put on the garment of glory. And this will be your garment, the garment of life from the Lord of spirits. And your garments will not wear out and your glory will not fade in the presence of the Lord, Lord of the Spirit and God. In the presence of God. The idea in First Enoch is salvation isn't just about getting in. Salvation isn't just about escaping the fires of hell. Salvation is about transformation. Salvation is about glorification. And that's what Jesus wants for us. And so I think it's very possible that this imagery from 1 Enoch, which was very popular in Jesus's day, would have been resonating in the background as Jesus told the story. And in fact, we saw that they're saved and they're chosen. They the parable ends with Jesus talking about the fact that.

B (11:37)

Many are called, but few are chosen. So what is it that we're chosen for? It's not just to get out of hell. It's not just that we can be part of the club and be in the feast, that we can be transformed and ultimately become like Christ. And so this man comes to the feast, but he's not transformed.

A (11:53)

I love that, Michael and I think just to build on what you just said, and I think that's such a great to go Back to that ancient Jewish source of Enoch. You get this sense of expectation that Jews had in Jesus day and that helps shed light on the biblical text. And I think for a lot of people, the real disconnect here, or what's so dissonant in their reading of it is it seems like some poor guy, he got a last minute invitation, he comes to this banquet, the king comes up to him and says, where's your wedding garment?

B (12:19)

Right?

A (12:20)

And he doesn't have a white wedding garment. And we know that the Jews would wear a white garment to go into the temple. And so when they would go through the mikvaot, then they would have some kind of white garment that they would go into the temple complex. It seems that there was the wearing of a special garment for a wedding festival. But we see this in Revelation 19. To build on what you said in Revelation chapter 19, verse 7 and 8, we have the wedding banquet of the Lamb, right? So the heavenly wedding banquet for the Lamb of God, Jesus and the angels are gathering the people, and it says, let us exalt and give him glory for the marriage. And I'm reading in verse 7 of Revelation 19, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and his bride has made herself ready. Now notice what's going to happen in verse eight, how the bride makes herself ready. And it was granted to her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure. For the fine linen and is the righteous deeds of the saints. So what the wedding garment represents is the righteous deeds. And so it means conformity to God's will and love, because righteous deeds are about love. And so the idea is you can't be in the wedding feast if you don't have love. And so what I think this signifies is what this man was lacking was not just the wedding robe, that was a symbol for him lacking righteous deeds. And remember earlier, and it says they gathered both the good and the bad. And so he was one of the bad who didn't have righteous deeds of obedience and love of God. And so he's going to be escorted out of the banquet. And so again, as Jesus approaches his last days, he's warning us about our own last days and the last days of the whole world. And that there is an ultimate judgment. And what we want to do is we want to be transformed. And so we want to be transformed. And what is the power of, of transformation in our life but the love of God and that grace, that love of God that transforms us? And so that is what it seems this man is lacking. And I love the imagery of the bride, of the bridegroom. And of course, the Bridegroom in Revelation 19 is Christ and the bride is the church. The righteous deeds of the saints are what we are to weave with our. And that kind of echoes back earlier in Revelation. I know you love Revelation.

B (14:40)

Yeah.

A (14:41)

In Revelation 6 and 7, you have the righteous wearing white robes.

B (14:44)

That's right. Yep. So I think it's all of a piece. Right. And what does it mean to be transformed and be glorified? It means to become like Christ. And Paul's going to use that language of putting on Christ, being clothed with Christ. What does that ultimately look like for Paul most of all? Love. Right. We learn to love others as Christ loved us and gave himself for us.

A (15:07)

Oh, that's such a great. I don't know if you want to read that passage in Colossians 3. I just lectured on it today, so it's so tempting. But, you know, he says in Colossians 3:12, put on then. So this is Paul's metaphor that Dr. Barber just mentioned. Put on then as God's chosen one. So remember, few are chosen.

B (15:24)

That's right.

A (15:24)

So this really fits in well with that, doesn't it? I never noticed that word connected.

B (15:28)

Yeah.

A (15:28)

Holy and beloved, compassionate, hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience bearing with one another. And if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other as the Lord has forgiven you, so that you must forgive. And above all these put on, as you mentioned, love.

B (15:45)

Yep.

A (15:45)

Yeah. So these virtues, the righteous deeds, are what we clothe ourselves with. And I like this because, you know, I mentioned wearing the white garments going into the temple after the mikvel oat washing. And I always think of that with what Paul is doing in Colossians, because a lot of his baptismal catechesis and we putting on the baptismal garment and keeping that white and preserving that love, that we're washed with the blood of Christ and persevering with that. So I think it'll help you if you don't know that the white wedding garment signifies the righteous deeds. You're like, well, why is this guy being kicked out of a banquet because he's underdressed? That's not fair. And now you have the deeper meaning. And we have to. To. To attend the wedding feast of the Lamb, we have to come with the right attire, which actually is the right virtues.

B (16:37)

That's right. That's right. It's not just about clothes. Right. And so you could dress just to circle back. You could dress nicely for Mass. But if you're going there with hatred in your heart for your brother, you go to Mass unwilling to forgive others, to not show kindness and. And love. It doesn't matter what you wear.

A (16:56)

Even with a tie as sharp as yours. Right.

B (16:59)

This is my dad's.

A (17:02)

But I do love your point, though, of honoring. And I think our Lord would definitely find that as important for us. And that's why, as we kind of realize the depth of this teaching and these kinds of analogies, it changes the way we practice our faith. And it changes the way. I know for me, Michael, when I started to study the Gospels and learn these things, it changed the way I would come to Mass and dress.

B (17:25)

That's right.

A (17:25)

And so I always try to go to Mass with a tie and just dress up as a way to honor our Lord.

B (17:31)

That's right.

A (17:32)

And again, it doesn't mean that because we're better dressed than other people that we're better prepared in our hearts. Not at all. But the idea is that the external.

B (17:41)

Apparel is meant to point to an inner disposition of honor and love. You're putting on the outside what you're trying to learn on the inside. And that is, I want to make myself presentable to the world.

A (17:53)

That's the beautiful thing about the Catholic way.

B (17:54)

It's both and always both.

A (17:57)

Yes, but better to have your heart pure and wear blue jeans, but best of all, to dress right. So I'm scandalizing Michael by saying that I knew I was going to get a reaction. And all my priest friends out there know it's great to honor the Lord by dressing up well and both interiorly and exteriorly. Well, Michael, we go into the next part.

B (18:19)

These are just three quick stories. I think we should just try to kind of COVID them quickly, because I think we can. So what happens is Jesus is in Jerusalem. And now he's going to be tested by these leaders who have rejected him. And in many ways, the parable is foreshadowing their rejection. So the Pharisees come to Jesus, and then the Sadducees come to Jesus. And then a teacher comes to Jesus. And they all put questions to Jesus, hard questions. And in this, Jesus is shown to be like Solomon. Solomon was a wise man. And you'll remember the story of the Queen of Sheba coming and asking him hard questions. And so Jesus, who is something greater than Solomon here in the story, is going to face those hard questions. The first question has to do with paying taxes to Caesar. The Pharisees are trying to entangle him in his own Words we read. And they. They come to him and they say, we know you're a true teacher. We know that you teach the way of God truthfully. They're just putting on airs. Flattering. Yeah, flattering him. Exactly. And then here comes the real question. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar? And this is a trap.

A (19:31)

Yeah. So this is more intense than just a question. As you said, it's a trap. It's a test. And it's a test to ensnare our Lord.

B (19:39)

That's right.

A (19:40)

And to bring him down. And Jesus even says, aware of their malice.

B (19:43)

That's right.

A (19:44)

Not just malice is pretty dark. Why do you put me to the test? And you hypocrites, we should explain why.

B (19:51)

It'S a test, right? Because if Jesus says that, yes, you should pay taxes to Caesar, then the leaders will say, oh, he thinks that we should be submissive to these gentile oppressors who are just barbaric.

A (20:05)

That's an important point. And so for people who don't realize that for the Jews to pay taxes, and it's not just paying it to the irs, it means that you're legitimizing someone's kingship and rule over you. And so kings have a right of tribute, and if you pay tribute, you're legitimizing the rule. And so there was a revolt. And that when Jesus was an infant by Judas the Galilean.

B (20:25)

That's right.

A (20:25)

No king, but God was the rallying cry. And many Jews died refusing to pay tribute to Caesar.

B (20:32)

That's right. But if Jesus says, oh, don't pay taxes to Caesar, then you can imagine what they will do with that. They'll go to the Roman authorities. And so Jesus is between a rock and a hard place. And here's where we see the brilliance of Jesus, right? Jesus says to them, show me a coin. And so they show him a coin and actually have an image of the coin here that we think that they use. And you can see an image of Caesar on there. And Jesus says, whose likeness and inscription is this? And they say, caesar's. And then Jesus. Okay, when he says, whose likeness is on the coin? That's an echo from Genesis. From Genesis, chapter one, where humanity is made in the image and likeness of God. Right? Whose likeness is on this? He says, oh, Caesar. All right, then give to Caesar the things that have his likeness. Give to Caesar the things that are Caesar and to God the things that are God. And we read when they heard it, they marveled. Why are they marveling? Because Jesus outwitted them. In a certain sense, Jesus goes deeper than what they expected he was going to be able to do. And what he says is, yeah, Caesar has his image on this. Great. Give him that. But you need to give God whatever has his image and likeness on it, and that's the human person. So Caesar gets his stuff, a piece.

A (21:53)

Of metal with his ugly mug on it, but God gets us.

B (21:56)

God gets everything. Right? And so that is a really significant line. Then the next story is the Sadducees.

A (22:03)

And by the way, that fits too, with the parable of God being the king of the wedding feast, because kings made their kingship known by having images of themselves all over their kingdom. So we read this a lot in the book of Daniel that Nebuchadnezzar makes a statue with an image of himself. And you get the idea of image and likeness in the book of Daniel. And that's the greatest cluster of image and likeness until you get to before, to Genesis. Right, Right. So the idea is that God.

B (22:32)

God.

A (22:33)

Makes his kingship known not by putting statues and pieces of art like Caesar and Nebuchadnezzar do, but God puts his imprint on the human soul. Right, by making us in his image and likeness. And so wherever there's human beings, there is a signpost of God's kingship which is so powerful, and you see him as king far greater than any would be earthly king.

B (22:56)

That's right. So he silences the Pharisees because the depth of his teaching here exceeds anything that they could have expected from him. Now, the Pharisees were bitterly opposed to this other group, the Sadducees, which we've already talked about. The Sadducees do not believe in life after death. They don't believe in resurrection of the body. They think the whole thing's a joke.

A (23:18)

Which is why they're sad, you see?

B (23:19)

That's exactly right. And so they. There's no afterlife. Right. So they're sad. Right. So what ends up happening is they come to Jesus and they do something that is seeking to reveal what they think is the absurdity of the idea of resurrection from the dead. And they say if a man dies having no children, his brother must marry the widow and raise up offspring for his brother. Right? Okay. Now, there were seven brothers among us, and the first married and died having no offspring and left his wife to his brother. They then the second to the third, all the way down to the seventh. And so they say in the resurrection, whose wife is she going to be? And they think they've disproven that there can be no life after death, that there can be no resurrection from the dead. The whole idea of resurrection from the dead is silly. That's the whole point of the story. Right? And Jesus now has a very difficult challenge. And that reason it's a difficult challenge is because nowhere in Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, numbers are Deuteronomy do we have specific references to resurrection. Right? We do have references to resurrection in the Scriptures of Israel, in Isaiah, in Daniel, most especially Ezekiel. Especially Ezekiel. Right. But. But not in the Torah, not in the five books of Moses. And the Sadducees only accepted as authoritative the five books of Moses. So they think they've got Jesus cornered, right? There's no passage that Jesus is going to be able to go to to demonstrate to them that there's a resurrection. And now they've made the whole resurrection thing look silly. Jesus comes back and says, you are wrong because you neither know the scriptures nor the power of God. Yeah.

A (24:57)

You don't know the Scriptures. And these are the teachers.

B (24:59)

That's right.

A (25:00)

These are the authorities. Nor the power of God. Two things that we should always anchor our hope in. The Scriptures and the power of God.

B (25:06)

And the two are linked. Right. If you don't know the Scriptures, you won't know the power of God. Right. If you don't understand the Scriptures, you won't know the power of God. Right. And so then Jesus goes on to say, in the resurrection, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like the angels in heaven. And this actually alludes to what we see in Daniel 12, when in the resurrection people are glorified and they become like the stars, which are images of angels in the Old Testament. So Jesus is saying, in the new world, in the new creation, there won't be marriage. So this is not an issue. You don't understand what you're talking about. And then he says something that is just. It's a mic drop moment, right? Where he says, as for the resurrection of the dead, have you not read, have you not. There's this book, you might want to look into it sometime. Right?

A (25:55)

Yeah. To say this to a Jew is.

B (25:56)

Just, I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. Now that is of course a reference.

A (26:05)

Yeah. He's not the God, he's the God of the living, not the God of the dead.

B (26:08)

This is how God introduces himself to Moses, right? At the burning bush. He is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

A (26:15)

In the present tense.

B (26:15)

Not once.

A (26:16)

Yeah, exactly.

B (26:17)

It's not. I was the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. God says, I am, which seems to imply that they still exist. Yeah, that's the key thing. And so he says he is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living. And when the crowd heard it, they were astonished at his teaching because nobody had thought to use that line in debates with the Sadducees, apparently.

A (26:39)

No. And the Sadducees, that theory is not going to last long after Jesus.

B (26:43)

No.

A (26:43)

He crushes it. And it's such a powerful thing. And then we're going to see the third question from a teacher about what is the greatest commandment? And I just want to highlight here that we. By three tests, Michael, here at the end of Jesus life, is this not an echo to earlier where the devil comes and puts Jesus to the test three times?

B (27:06)

Right, yeah. No, I think that's a very appropriate reading. Matthew loves to bookend things. Right. So Matthew 1, Jesus is Emmanuel God with us. Matthew 28, he's going to say, I am with you always to the end of the world. Right. And so then you have the temptation narrative at the beginning of Jesus. Narrative, Jesus's ministry. We where the devil tests him three times. Now Jesus is tested again.

A (27:33)

And I like it. In the very next chapter, Jesus will call the Pharisees and scribes a brood of vipers.

B (27:38)

Very good. Yes.

A (27:39)

Because they're like the ancient serpent, the offspring of Satan.

B (27:41)

The offspring of Satan. Right.

A (27:43)

After they act, they imitate the Satan, the accuser, by setting traps and testing Jesus. He calls them that. He calls them out on that.

B (27:51)

Yeah. Very good, very good. So then the next test is a Pharisee comes and heard that he silenced the Sadducees and he says, what's the greatest commandment? And here is where Jesus gives us the greatest two commandments. Love the Lord with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and love your neighbor as yourself. And on love is what all of the law Jesus says is contingent on. Right.

A (28:19)

Jesus cuts right to the heart of the law, which is love. And it's beautiful. And a lot of people don't appreciate that. That idea of loving God with all your heart, mind, soul, and loving your neighbor is found in the Torah, and it was there. And Jesus brings it out. And in other words, the God of the Old Testament is the God of the New, and the God of the Old Testament demanded and asked for above all else, love.

B (28:41)

That's right.

A (28:41)

And so I think we have to learn how to read the Old Testament rightly and ironically, I think what blinds people from reading the Old Testament? Well, Michael, is they're not listening to Jesus and reading the New Testament because the New Testament is really the. Takes the veil and helps us see the Old Testament has already there.

B (29:00)

Yep. Paul says in 2nd Corinthians 3 that if you read the Old Covenant, the books of the Old Testament without Christ, then it's like you have a veil.

A (29:10)

Eyes over your eyes.

B (29:11)

Yeah.

A (29:12)

Well, I can't believe our time is already up, Michael. It goes by fast, but next time we're going to dive into Matthew chapter 23, so make sure you're ready for that. And you might even want to read ahead. It might help you a little bit to understand, you know, as we move through the text, you know, a little bit more prepared. And of course, the version of the Bible that we're using is the ESV Catholic edition. So you can get that at Catholic Market. People ask, where do I get that translation? So we love that translation. It's a very readable, excellent translation. And I want to thank everybody who supports us in our mission circle by giving just $10 or more a month. You support our mission, but you support our programming. We're able to have this Bible study because of the mission circle. In fact, we're already planning out for things for the summer and fall, and we're going to add more programming because the mission circle has been growing and we're really excited. So by supporting us, you're really supporting more programming and work, and we're really grateful for that. And may the Lord bless and keep you. Take care.