(un)fleaced a wedding feast... *

Again Jesus used parables to talk

to people, with their leaders close around.

“The rule of heaven is ... like this (don’t balk,

but): “Once there was a king who one day found

His son, a prince, had now a wife to wed.

The king sent servants to invited guests,

and when the wedding feast was all prepared,

they went again, to save them being stressed.

And certainly they did not get up-tight,

these “guests” who were invited there before,

or feel constrained to come to be polite,

they were “emancipated” at their core,

they said (& acted) that, they did not want

to come to celebrations of the king,

that was so “boisjwahzee”,  they were avant-

garde; AND would choose right now, some other thing!

The King sent other servants to those “guests”.

Their message was: ‘My feast is ready, baked;

my butchered beasts are cooked, deserts - the best,

since everything is ready. Come - partake!’

But some invited guests paid no atten-

-tion, went about their businesses - to work:

while others grabbed the servants (well their hench-

men), beat them, killed them, threw them out as jerks.

(The king was very angry; so he sent

his soldiers, now to kill (and burn right down

the livelihoods of) “guests”. So off they went.

Those murd’rer’s blood then mingled with their ground.)

…

But then he called his servants to his side

and said to them, ‘My wedding feast is right

& ready, but the people I invite-

ed, don’t deserve it. Now go far and wide,

and find the people anywhere they are,

forget their occupation or income,

their housing, or their int'rests, near or far,

from farms, or streets, or even from a slum,

invite them to the feast (this is no joke)!

So servants went and did as they were told

the wedding hall was filled with all these folk.

The king went in to see these folk - his “gold”-

whose only job was truly to accept

his generosity and celebrate

a wedding with him (from their side, they kept

their clothes and shoes, none “early” and none “late”)

there’s no-one who should not have come, to start

(except if someone won't participate).

They all did what they could to play the part,

and for that night, forgot their private “hates”.

This King, you might recall, did not like much

when people just for power or advance

lived their own lives, and wouldn't keep in touch,

espesh’ly when they thwarted kingdom plans...

so when he saw a man there who'd not wear

his best clothes from his side, to really be

a wedding guest, to celebrate “the pair”

he checked (to let the man become ready),

and asked the bloke  ‘Friend, how did you get here?

For no-one here has snuck in through the back.

Your wedding clothes show you are very dear,

your lack of them is worse than being slack!

He opened up, as man to man they stood,

this King, to this man, “Friend”, he called him then,

and if the man apologized, or stood

his ground - explaining what had happened, when …

this King might well have given him his own

apparel, so he'd add to all the fun

of celebrating, friendship might have grown.

The man, instead, said not a word, not one!

…

In those days folk knew that the king was Boss -

both Judge and Jury, Law-maker as well.

This king then told the servants, “Tie this loss

of friendship up, and throw it into hell,”

(for “hell” was what they called the city dump)

“and see that he is powerless as well

to stop these celebrations, he's a chump,

and maybe he'll think twice before he'll ‘sell’

again, or think of using other crowds

to make a buck, to do ‘what he thinks best’ ”.

And Jesus said to finish off, aloud;

There’s diff'rent kinds of “chosen from the rest”.

---

* (Matt 22:1-14 retold by Paul Walker)

See also Luke's (similar, but different) rendition of this parable..