The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1921-02-04
International
SundaySchoolLesson
By WILLIAM T. ELLIS.
For February Is. THE Marriage
Feast"-Matt 22:1-14

For February s Is. The Marriage
Feast Matt. 22:114
| Affronting a Hosts Honor.
| Once, in rural Japan, back of
Hiroshema. I encountered a Shinto
festival. in which lusty. shouting
coolies carried the sacred ark con-
tanning the mirror emblem. An
obliging japanese who had been in
Hawaii and so spoke some English, ex-
planned to me, God in box"
/ Tell me the size of a peoples god,
| and 1 Will tell you all that needs to
| be known about the people. A god
| in box" a small and potable and
limited diety, can never make a ma
ton or an individual great. The
ancient Hebrews sang often of the
| greatness of Jehovah, as compared
with the smallness of the gods of the
heather. Only an Almighty God can
serve our world in this day.
1 Straight from Matthews biography
of Jesus as if des gned especially for
the present time, comes the story that
| is a sermon about the gracious king
| whose honor was affronted by those
whom he had invited to the wedding
festivities of his own son. The parable
is a picture of the kingdom. says
| Jesus.
The point of it all is the offended
| kingliness and good will of the king.
| A solemnizing reminder of the great
ness and dignity of God is this Lesson
Parable. Ours is a soft and lawless
| day. Ceremony, politeness, respect
and reverence have gone out of
| fashion along with modest raiment
The favorite conception of God now
adays is that He is "a good fellow,
easy-going, tolerant, asking nothing of
anybody, and obedience least of all.
| We have diluted Deity down to vague
impulses of benignity and cheerful
ness.
The fashionable God is no longer
| a jealous Cod; He cares nothing
| about beliefs or sacraments or OBJ
| servances- This twentieth century
God is quite as fond of the golf course
and the automobile speedway on Sum-
| day as He is of the temple reared for
His worship and for the exposition of
| His word. He has no laws that are
not subject to revision by Mrs. Grundy.
And He could not in any case be dis
agreeable to anybody In fact, the
Deity of our day is no longer a
supreme Being-"ho1y and reverend
| is His, name"--but a .eharacterless.
Goddess, complacent, cheerful All
tnlng or Nothing. He is the antithesis
OF the God of our fathers, the God
OF Israel and the God of Holy Writ.
Putting God on This Throne.
When L sojourned at the Greek
monastery on Mt. Sinai it was neces-
safy TO take off my shoes before being
admitted to the Chapel of the Burning
BUSH. Even-so must one do in the
All of which is the antithesis of the
undue familiarity with which we
sometimes approach theSInfinite With
reverence and awe. and some such
FEELING of unwerthiness as marked the
| Hebrew prophets, we should address
the King of kings and Lord of lords
| God is jealous of His throne-rights.
| His sovereign dignity may not safely
be affronted; For the Lord thy
God am jealous God. This parable
is a tale of those who treated lightly
the high honor of God. With all of
our modern talk about the kingdom
| of heaven We sometimes overlook the
most important fact of all, which is
that it is the presence of the King on
His throne that makes the kingdom.
AS an old writer puts it. do let God
be God"
Suppose We quote the Lesson Story
itself, from the Weymouth transla-
| ton:
Again Jesus spoke to them in fig
The Kingdom of the Heavens
He said. may be compared to a king
who celebrated the marriage of his
son, and sent his servants to call the
invited guests to the wedding, but they
We're unwilling to come.
"'Again he sent other servants with
message to those who were invited.
My breakfast is now ready" he
said, my -bullocks and the fat cattle
are killed, and every preparation is
made: come to the wedding
They, however. gave no heed. but
went. one to his home in the country,
another to his business: and the rest
seized the kings servants, rnaltreated
them. and murdered them. So the
kings anger was stirred. and he sent
his troops and destroyed those muir
derers and burnt their city. Then he
said to his servants.
"'"The wedding banouet Is ready.
but those who were invited were UNI
worthy of it. Go out therefore to the
crossroads, and everybody you meet
invite to the wedding"
$50 they went out into the roads
and gathered together all they could
find both bad and good, and the ban
quoting hall was filled with guests.
"'Now the king came in to see the
guests; and among them he discov-
cred one who was not wearing we'd
ding robe
my friend" he said. chow is It
that you came in here without a we'd
ding robe?"
The man stood speeehless. Then
the king said to the servants.
"'''Bind him hand and foot and
fling him into outer darkness: there
will he the weeping aloud and the
gnashing Of teeth"
"'For there are many called, but
few chosen"
Is Religion a Feast?
Observe that the parable portrays
the kingdom of heaven as festival.
Faith produces not a famine or a fast. ,
but a feast, 1t represents the fullness
and jeyousness of life. The aseetics
and anchorites apd hermits of the
early church, whose caves NAV still be
seen in the wild places of the Near
Fast misinterpreted the message of
the Master If Christianity cannot
work out successfully in normal rela
tionship, it cannot work out at all. |
Jesus, guest at weddings and BAN
uuets put the stamp of His approval
upon Iife's normal ways.