Many years ago I was invited by someone I knew in Oxford to visit him and his family in Pakistan. You can see and hear me give this Homily on Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBrMrPy8HJ4
I was nervous for many reasons. It’s such a different world from the one I’m used to; but almost as soon as I arrived, feeling like a fish out of water, my host asked me if I would like to wear traditional Pakistani clothes and was delighted when I said yes. Within 4 hours, I had been measured, chosen my cloth, and the new clothing, my Shalwar-Kmaiz, had been delivered. It was a lovely gesture and made me feel a little less different from everyone else around me.
Just as I was clothed by my Pakistani friend, so hidden in our Gospel today (Matt 22:1-14) is a message about being clothed by God. The King is angry that so many people have rejected his Invitation to the Feast, and so he sends his servants out anywhere and everywhere, to fill the hall with guests.. whatever they are like. And so we hear, “The wedding hall was filled with guests” but with the significant phrase “Bad and good alike.”; which reminds us of that pithy comment by Jesus, that he has “Not come to call the righteous, but sinners” (Matt 9:13) What follows seems a bit strange to us, for once these people are at the wedding, one person is rejected - not for being bad, but for not wearing a wedding garment. Now from our modern point of view, we could easily see this as a suggestion that the man has failed to dress himself properly. But that’s strange, given they have been summoned at a moment’s notice from the crossroads. It’s a bit unfair to expect them to be all dressed and ready isn’t it. I agree with the scholars who point out that, like my host in Pakistan, the wedding garments were provided by the King, and all the man had to do was put them on. Not to wear the garment, was to ignore the gift.
But I think there is rather more to this hint at clothing than might at first appear; not least because there is a wonderful passage on this topic in Isaiah. It is actually one that must have been very familiar to Jesus, because it follows the piece that we know that he read out when he visited his home Synagogue in Nazareth. He read “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me etc..” (Luke 4:16-21) but I wonder if he actually went on a little further than the Gospel story tells us, and read that God gives “The garment of praise instead of a faint spirit” (Is 61:3) and a little later even more powerfully “He has clothed me with garments of salvation he has covered me in the robe of righteousness” (Is 61:10)
Looking up this image of being clothed by God also led, to my surprise, to the story of Adam and Eve. I had obviously been too influenced by that famous Renaissance picture of them leaving Paradise stark naked (not even with fig leaves!), and hadn’t ever noticed, that before they leave, and despite their degradation, we hear that “God made garments for them)…and clothed them.” (Gen 3:21) It’s a great reminder to us that even when we have rejected God, even in our darkest moments, God reaches out to care for us in some way. We might link this to those lovely words in our 1st Reading today (Isaiah 25:6-10) where we hear that “The Lord will wipe away the tears from every cheek.” Adam and Eve are clearly weeping, and in doing so they represent all of us weeping for our tragically fallen world. How helpless we feel as we see dreadful scenes of warfare and violence on the News. In Israel and Palestine at the moment, which has somehow blotted out the continuing tragedies in the Ukraine and the Sudan. This image of tears being wiped away from our eyes by a loving God is such an important one isn’t it, and it’s even more personal than that of being clothed. We imagine the mother or father taking their weeping child into their arms. Tears are wiped away, words of comfort are spoken, and somehow,, sometime almost instantly, and sometimes much more slowly the sobs subside and a little smile returns to their face. It reminds me that too often when we think of God as a Father we think of him more like a rather old Grandfather, than a comforting Daddy in his 20’s or 30’s. The Abba of Jesus.
There is however one more image related to clothing that I’d like to draw your attention to. It is one that I find quite difficult. It’s where Jesus says, “Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? …. Why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? (Matt 6:26-30). Hearing this always reminds me how weak my faith is, and how often I have to say with the father of the epileptic child “I believe, help my unbelief.” It is exactly why I find the absolute faith of St Paul in our 2nd Reading equally difficult. (Phil 4:12-14.19-20) Of course, clothed as we are with Christ – something we are told happens to us at our Baptism – we might expect to be able to say with St Paul “I am ready for anything anywhere….. There is nothing I cannot master with the help of the One who gives me strength.”
Well yes, we can say it, but most of us would accept that our faith is rather more shaky than St Paul’s! Indeed, I wonder if St Paul gave himself extra courage by his use of the image (in his Letter to the Ephesians) that God doesn’t just provide ordinary clothing for us, but a whole suit of armour! (Eph 6:10-17) But even with armour, my heart still wonders if, put to the test, I would manage to remain faithful. But then I remind myself that St Paul also promises that we will not be tested beyond what we can bear. (1 Cor 10:13) And that’s the experience of many people isn’t it, when faced with a crisis they suddenly find the strength that they didn’t think they had? Perhaps we should remember that in the end the clothing or the armour of God is actually another way of talking of God the Holy Spirit ; and God is not a static thing like clothing but an ever-changing source of power and life and light responding to different situations in different ways. The clothing we are offered is God himself surrounding and supporting us. Something we must never forget.
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