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One of my favorite new shows is Ted Lasso. Staring Jason Sudeikis, it tells the story of American Football coach Ted Lasso becoming the head of a premier British Football Club, in spite of the ridiculousness of a coach going from one sport to a completely different one.
One of the big subplots of the show has Rebecca, the owner of Lasso’s team, dealing with her ex-husband, Rupert, trying to weasel his way back into the owners’ box. This leads Ted to make a bet with Rupert over a game of darts. If Rupert wins, he can pick the starting line-up for the next game. If Ted wins, Rupert stays away from the stadium.
Rupert seems to be in the lead when Ted asks what he needs to win. He’s told “two triple twenties and a bulls-eye.” Rupert remains smug and assured in his victory, which leads Ted to say “guys have underestimated me my entire life, and for years, I never understood why. It used to really bother me.” Then, when he was driving his son to school, he saw a mural of a Walt Whitman quote that said “be curious, not judgmental.” Ted throws the first of the triple twenties and continues, “All of a sudden, it hits me. All them fellows that used to belittle me, not a single one of them were curious. You know, they thought they had everything all figured out, and so they judged everything and they judged everyone. And I realized that their underestimating me, who I was had nothing to do with it. ‘Cause if they were curious, they would ask questions. You know? Questions like: ‘have you played a lot of darts, Ted?’” Ted then throws the second triple twenty and concludes, “Which I would have answered, ‘yes sir. Every Sunday afternoon at a sports bar with my father from age 10 till I was 16 when he passed away.” Ted throws the final shot, a bullseye.
It is really easy for us to judge. Take our story from Exodus, and the explanation of it in Psalms. The Israelites could not wait a single minute for Moses to get done with his conversation with God. They just went ahead and made their own gods, not caring about the real God in front of them, almost literally.
It is easy to say that was a really stupid move by the Israelites part. It was, by the way. But if we lack curiosity, if we lack the ability to examine and question ourselves, we will fail to realize that we have done the same thing many times before.
That is one of the points in the parable Jesus tells this morning. As we heard last week, these parables we have been hearing from Jesus lately in Matthew are His teachings against the leaders of His day. This parable is no different. The leaders are the people who were originally invited to the wedding but didn’t come. They killed the ones inviting them, in fact, and they suffered the consequences for doing so.
New people are invited: those we would least expect to be invited. Basically, anyone that could be found is let in.
Yet one person doesn’t have the proper clothes. This person is not celebrating as one should for a wedding. This person faces punishment too.
Except this is not about clothes. It is about knowing that just because we have been chosen to replace those who refused to come doesn’t mean that we can’t fall into the same patterns that they have before. If we fall into the same patterns as the leaders in Jesus’ day, the pattern of not listening to nor wanting to be in relationship with God, we will meet the same fate.
We shouldn’t be judgmental, thinking we are better than those who have come before us. We are not. The same mistakes the Israelites make are the same ones we make all the time. Really be honest with yourself and see. We are no more deserving of God’s love than any who have come before us or after us. We are all in dire need of God’s grace.
Instead, we should be a little more like Ted Lasso. We should be curious. We should ask questions. We shouldn’t see ourselves as better than others, because we are truly not. If we ask the questions, though, we can see where it is we have fallen short. We can take the time to turn around, to repent even. If we are curious and ask questions, then we will learn from the lessons of those before us, even the Israelites, and we will be able to catch ourselves before we fall.