They ever watch a TV show or movie or read a book where the author uses this narrative

technique where they have a character, you're not quite sure what to make of, you're rooting

for them, you feel like they could come around and they go and do something and you're like,

no, that's wrong. Don't do that. Your judgment is wrong on this point. It's like,

Alan Rickman's character in Harry Potter. Help me out. I know it's Snape. I'm not a Harry

Potter guy. I just remember this character because I really like Alan Rickman. And you remember

in those stories, I think I'm getting this right again, not a Harry Potter expert, but it seems

like, man, this guy's redeemable. Come on, man, go and do the right thing and then you see what he's

doing. You get these little flashbacks and looks and you're like, oh, that's not good. That's not

right. Bomber. That's not the decision I wanted that character to make. But in the end, big picture,

you look at it and you're like, oh, I get it now. I see it. I see why that thing that looked

dumb and not the way I wanted it to go actually was redemptive and the right call all along.

I feel like that's the kind of thing we're running into in Matthew chapter 22 with this parable

of the banquet on the surface. This just isn't a very good look. And I think it's okay for us to

admit that that this king looks like he's punitive and looks like he's in a foul mood after a really

bad day and a bad start to his wedding feast. And then he behaves in a way that looks kind of

judgy and mean he throws a guy out over what just not having nice enough clothes. Come on, man,

that's crazy. But as we talked about in the last episode, I think is we look a little more

closely at this and we break it down and we think about the cultural expectations and we think about

the fact that this is a parable and who Jesus is talking to as he tells it. It starts to make more

and more sense. And in retrospect, I think we look back and we're like, oh, I get why the king

did that. And so when we get to the end of chapter 22 and we're on the back end of this story about

...