The image we have of the starving artist in his garret is largely based on the lives of the Impressionists and Post Impressionists. Their painting was so revolutionary for its time that many were unable to sell or even exhibit their work. Most were never recognised during their lifetimes and usually died young and impoverished. Looking through the lives of some of the most well known of the Impressionist and Post impressionist generation I was fascinated to discover that most came from wealthy or even aristocratic backgrounds, all abandoned earlier careers to take up art and usually were disowned by their parents. Cezanne refused to join his father’s bank, Toulouse- Lautrec from an aristocratic family was destined to become a Compte but decided to live amongst the low life of Paris. Gaugin was a stockbroker before he became a painter. Manet a Naval cadet, and Seurat a officer cadet. Van Gogh, a lay preacher and Sisley, whose painting of ‘Trees in Spring’ and the only Brit among the Impressionists, was set up to succeed to his father’s silk business in Paris before leaving to be an artist. Of course it was all for the love of art, a love that consumed their lives at great cost to themselves.

Our reading today is all about love and its cost. Love does not have a price but always has a cost. For example weddings can be very costly, I’m told that £ 20,000 is about the average for a wedding today, but we can put no price on the love of the couple making their vows. Sadly expectations for some often exceed the finances of the couple and they choose not to marry.

The King in our parable today clearly laid out a fortune for his son and his bride. Everything was provided for, even the wedding garments were given as gifts by the hosts, which explains why the guest who refused to dress up was ejected from the wedding banquet. The cost to the guests was not counted in pounds but in time and energy. Those who received the invitation could not be bothered to attend, they had more pressing engagements.

At the heart of every wedding the cost is measured not by the money we have to spend but by the commitment and love which we are prepared to give to each other. The cost is everything we have! The cost to the wedding guests is not of the same order, they are asked here to come and celebrate the happy couple who are getting married. Not such a great price to pay. Clearly those who refuse the invitation to the feast are not prepared to make even that small sacrifice of time, but are busy with their own lives.

The parable then poses a problem to us all; we can see it either as an invitation or a judgement. “For many are invited but few are chosen”. Matt 22:14.

It depends on how I perceive it, as an invitation it comes, like the marriage vows as a free gift costing nothing less than everything we have. As a judgement it exposes the attachments in our lives that we are not prepared to sacrifice, for love nor money!

At the centre of this parable, then is the story of God’s costly gift of love, a free gift offered to all, but a gift which exposes us to the truth about what we value most.

Love asks of us a commitment to leave behind the things that consume us, sometimes things that damage us like resentment or anger in order to embrace a better future. Just as Paul asks of the two sisters who were engaged in a dispute to let go of the past in order to live in peace with each other. The value of a relationship, whether that of marriage or simple friendship outweighs all that we are asked to give up and enriches us and the whole community.

‘Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent, or praiseworthy – think about such things’. Phil 4: 8.

Rev. Simon Brignall

Today we especially pray for all the innocents caught up in the terrible events of the past week in Israel and Gaza.