Today's reading offers us another of Jesus' parables about the Kingdom: the parable of the wedding feast. To understand its meaning...
Today's reading offers us another of Jesus' parables about the Kingdom: the parable of the wedding feast. To understand its meaning, it is important to remember that the relationship between God and the people of God had often been compared to marriage since the preaching of the prophet Hosea. And in the context of the prophet Jeremiah's teaching about the renewal of the union-covenant between God and the people of God on the day of the Messiah's coming, the wedding feast becomes a symbol of the messianic Kingdom.
Jesus' parable explains what keeps the invited guests from coming to this feast. On the one hand, they are hindered by attachment to everything earthly, to everything that makes them forget the Kingdom (vv. 3-9). Here, clearly, the situation in view is the one that had developed among the people of God even before the exile, when messianic preaching first sounded in Israel. In those days messianism was indeed thoroughly permeated with politics, and many understood the Kingdom in completely earthly terms, as an independent and powerful Jewish state that would be founded by the Messiah sent by God. But even after the Babylonian exile, already in the Gospel era, popular religious life still assumed precisely this view of the Kingdom. It is no surprise that this messianism was doomed to defeat, for no such earthly kingdom existed in God's design. Meanwhile, the rejection of the prophets was often connected precisely with the fact that they said about the Kingdom something other than what the majority expected from them. It is no surprise that those who expected an earthly kingdom ultimately come to ruin: they reject the true Kingdom for the sake of their own idea. But problems also arise for those who eagerly hurry to the wedding feast. It is no accident that the parable mentions a man who entered the banquet hall without wedding clothes (vv. 11-14). At first glance, this seems a strange complaint, considering what kind of people had gathered for the feast (vv. 9-10). But in those days the host sent festive clothing to the invited guests, so all they had to do was put it on. In such a situation, neglecting the clothing that had been sent meant disrespect for the host, a claim that the guest's own clothing was no worse, and perhaps even better, than what the steward of the feast had sent.
It is no accident that the parable of the wedding feast continues Jesus' conversation with the chief priests and elders about "the baptism of John": many Pharisees were held back precisely because they did not think they needed any cleansing, being sure that they were already fit for the Kingdom. But it turns out that merely accepting the Kingdom is not enough; true humility is also needed, an acknowledgment of one's own unreadiness for life in it. Only then can one put on the clothing given by the King.
11 The birth of Jephthah, rejected by his brethren, Jdg 11:1-3.
The Gileadites chuse him for their general, Jdg 11:4-11.
His treating with the king of Ammon, Jdg 11:12-28.
His war with, and victory over the Ammonites, Jdg 11:29-33.
His vow and the performance of it, Jdg 11:34-40.
11:29 Spirit came - Indued him with a more than ordinary courage and resolution. Manasseh - That is, Bashan, which the half tribe of Manasseh beyond Jordan inhabited. Mizpeh of Gilead - So called to distinguish it from other cities of the same name, having gathered what forces he suddenly could, he came hither to the borders of the Ammonites.
11:33 Minnith - A place not far from Rabbah, the chief city of the Ammonites. Subdued before Israel - It does not appear, that he offered to take possession of the country. Tho' the attempt of others to wrong us, will justify us in the defence of our own right, yet it will not authorize us to do them wrong.
11:34 His daughter - In concert with other virgins, as the manner was.
11:35 Trouble me - Before this, I was troubled by my brethren; and since, by the Ammonites; and now most of all, tho' but occasionally, by thee. Opened my mouth - That is, I have vowed. Cannot go back - That is, not retract my vow; I am indispensably obliged to perform it.
11:36 Do to me - Do not for my sake make thyself a transgressor; I freely give my consent to thy vow.
11:37 Mountains - Which she chose as a solitary place, and therefore fittest for lamentation. Bewail - That I shall die childless, which was esteemed both a curse and a disgrace for the Israelites, because such were excluded from that great privilege of increasing the holy seed, and contributing to the birth of the Messiah.
11:39 Did with her - Jephthah's daughter was not sacrificed, but only devoted to perpetual virginity. This appears,
- From ver. Jdg 11:37-38, where we read, that she bewailed not her death, which had been the chief cause of lamentation, if that had been vowed, but her virginity:
- From this ver. Jdg 11:39, where, after he had said, that he did with her according to his vow; he adds, by way of declaration of the matter of that vow, and she knew no man.
It is probably conceived, that the Greeks, who used to steal sacredhistories, and turn them into fables, had from this history their relation of Iphigenia (which may be put for Jephtigenia) sacrificed by her father Agamemnon, which is described by many of the same circumstances wherewith this is accompanied.