'All Are Invited' - Weekly Reflection 11th October 2026

 Today, 11^th October is Prisons Sunday leading into Prisons Week. 

I had the Prayer Guides for the week out sitting on the stairs ready to take to Church. My wife noticed them and said jokingly, “now that could be misunderstood, prisons week and all are invited.!”

‘All are invited’ is the strap line being used for this year’s Prisons Week and is taken from the parable Jesus tells in Mathew 22:1-14, the RCL Gospel set for today.

However, this parable is easy to misunderstand and is complex, at least as Matthew has chosen to tell the story. Luke’s version (chapter 14:15-24) is easier on the eye and easier on the conscious.

Luke gives us no king, but simply ‘a certain man.’

And a king is our first problem. Some might view this king as being representative of God. Okay, but look at what this king does to those who maltreated and abused his messengers. Is that retributive justice, almost revenge, really an image of God Matthew is trying to portray?

Luke has this ‘certain man’ getting angry but no mention of violence and destruction that Matthew brings into the story. 

Matthew’s rendition is a horror film of nightmarish proportions.

And as with several of Jesus’ parables we often have a ‘popular’ version in our minds.

However, I would encourage you to go and dig deep, to seek to discern and discover why Matthew might have told this story in this way.  

Let me lay a few foundations to get you started.

Most important, this is a parable, it is a story, a story that will offer multiple meanings. Some obvious, other cryptic and hidden.

The consider the contexts.

The original context, that is, Jesus’ context. Who is he addressing here?  Where is he? What is happening, noting that we are drawing closer to the Passion, nearer to Jesus’ death.

Then what is happening with Matthew’s community, which most scholars agree was a Jewish context. And we can be certain that the Temple has been destroyed by the time of Matthew writing his Gospel. For Matthew and his community, a king in the form of the Roman Emperor’s servants had come and destroyed and killed. Just who is the ‘king’ in Matthew’s telling?

And then finally, what of our own context. What can we learn about God’s will and ways, his purposes and plans in our day and age.

Also excluded from Luke version is the poor unfortunate soul who turned up inappropriately dressed and finds himself cast into outter darkness.

What are we to make of this man inappropriately dressed.

Remember, this a parable and so we are allowed to play with the images it offers. There are multiple ways we can discern the wisdom from this story. There is not one correct interpretation.

So, this man, not wearing wedding clothes.

Some comment that a host would have often provided a wedding garment for guests who might not have one or couldn’t afford one.  And although there is no firm evidence of such a practise, it does help to make some sense in this context. 

Have you ever found yourself in this situation, inappropriately dressed?

There are those who have made a long trip to visit someone in prison only to be told they are unable to enter the prison because they, or their children are inappropriately dressed.

Checking the dress code is important.

And this pushes me back to something I have been reflecting upon a lot since reading Stephen Cherry’s book, ‘Unforgivable?: Exploring the Limits of Forgiveness.’  In certain cases, repentance must proceed forgiveness, otherwise it might be unwise or even dangerous to offer forgiveness.

This also pushes my mind back to our Gospel readings over the past couple of weeks.

The story of where Jesus’ authority is questioned and then the story of the two sons, one saying yes, but not doing what he said he would, the other saying no, but then repenting and going to work in his father’s vineyard.

John the Baptizer, whom Jesus references when questioned about his authority, railed against the Pharisees, who came to see what John was doing but refused the baptism he was offering, “But when John saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he said to them: “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce fruit in keeping with repentance.”

Produce fruit in keeping with repentance.

The talk must be followed by the walk.

We might say, I believe in Jesus, that’s great, but so does the devil!

A question then as we reflect on this man dressed inappropriately.

What is the dress code to enter the Kingdom of Heaven?

Well, thankfully Colossians 3.12 begins to answer that question for us.

^“Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.”

Therefore, my challenge to us this week is to think about what’s in your wardrobe?

And the good news is that all we have to do is ask and receive the robes of righteousness that Jesus offers.

‘Everyone is invited to the banquet’ – and…

I am overwhelmed with joy in the Lord my God! For he has dressed me with the clothing of salvation and draped me in a robe of righteousness. I am like a bridegroom dressed for his wedding or a bride with her jewels. Isaiah 61.10

 

All Are Invited

 https://youtu.be/O3Cv-cH3a9s?si=qzS0312JsmAYP4AA