The Banquet
Matthew 22:1-14 ESV
And again Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying, “The
kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for
his son, and sent his
servants to call those who were invited to the wedding feast, but they
would not come. Again he sent other
servants, saying, ‘Tell those who are invited, “See, I have prepared
my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and
everything is ready. Come to the wedding feast.”’ But they
paid no attention and went off, one to his farm, another to his business, while the
rest seized his servants, treated them shamefully, and killed them. The king
was angry, and he sent his troops and destroyed those murderers and burned
their city. Then he said to his
servants, ‘The wedding feast is ready, but those invited were not worthy. Go
therefore to the main roads and invite to the wedding feast as many as you
find.’ And those servants went out
into the roads and gathered all whom they found, both bad and good. So the
wedding hall was filled with guests.
“But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw
there a man who had no wedding garment. And he
said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?’
And he was speechless. Then the
king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot and cast him into the
outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of
teeth.’ For many are called,
but few are chosen.”
Let’s start
off with the equals in this parable…
King = God
Son = Jesus
Wedding Feast
= Eschatological Banquet (The Great Feast for all time)
Servants =
God’s messengers
Murder of
Servants = Murder of prophets and Jesus
Sending servants
= Mission of the Church
Man without
garment = People (many) at the last judgment who did not repent and turn to God
for salvation but rather depended upon their own works
In this
parable, once again, we see how the Kingdom of God will pass outward to those
who produce the fruit of repentance. God repents us and gives us his grace. We
are invited to the Great Feast of all time. In this invitation, we must be
careful not to take God’s saving grace too lightly. We repent… we turn away
from our selfish desire to only be concerned about the affairs of the day, and
miss the call of Christ to his Wedding Banquet.
This Banquet
is for those who want to learn the true joy in Christ. No one at this banquet can
abuse the grace of God. There is a response to God’s grace. Turn away from self
and turn to God.
The church on
earth contains both bad and good. God, in his time, will separate this out.
The question
for me here is… Am I also like the man improperly clothed?
As the sinner
that I am, will I be speechless before God?
When the
Truth of God comes to me… will I hide in myself? Will I rely on my own garment
to save myself?
Or… will I turn
to the Truth? Will I see my sinfulness? Will I give up myself and my selfish
ways knowing that I cannot save myself? Will I see that I must shed my sinful clothes
and give my sin to Jesus? Will I throw off myself and receive the great gift of
Jesus righteousness that he gives freely to me?
Listen to God’s
call to the Banquet. See what Jesus did in his death and resurrection. Look at
the new creation and new life Jesus gives as he took upon himself your sin.
Jesus put on my dirty sinful garment and gives to me and to you his own clean
and beautiful and splendid white garment of his righteousness.
Why?
So that you
may live with him and celebrate eternal life with him and feast with him at the
Great Banquet prepared for all who turn to God today.
A joyous
banquet on the mountain of God. A Banquet where we will lack nothing at all for
all eternity in life.
Turn to God. Give up our garment of sin and
put on the garment of righteousness that only Jesus can offer each and all of
us… today… tomorrow… and forever. Thanks be to God!
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