August 12, 2012
Matthew 22:1-14
Key verse Matthew 22:2 “The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son.”
The chief priests and the Pharisees challenged Jesus’ authority. Jesus refused to answer their question but told them two parables. In the parable of the two sons and the parable of the Tenants, we learned that we should produce the good fruits of obedience, the fruit pleasing God. Otherwise, the vineyard of God will be given to someone else. Today we will learn the parable of the wedding banquet. We need to pay a special attention to this parable because this parable is not only a parable but it will happen literally in the Kingdom of God, our true hope.
Let’s read verse 2. “The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son.” Here we need to take a pause before we go further. The Kingdom of heaven is mentioned so many times in the Matthew's gospel. However, to young students like me, the kingdom of heaven sounds too abstract. I wonder how much attractive the Kingdom of heaven is to you! How much do we know about the kingdom of God?
Since we don’t know the kingdom of heaven much, let’s talk about this world and our hope in this world. Last Friday, Sheila gave a book report based on “Counterfeit Gods” by Timothy Keller. We can’t deny that people put their hope in Money, Sex, Power, Success, and Fame and so on. They are so tempting and seem to guarantee us something very good. Many people chase their own Idols, just believing that they are doing well. But they can’t see that they are in disillusion until they meet a painful disappointment. For example, getting a good job seems to establish our future security. Partially it is true. However, due to the world-wide recession, many people have a trouble in getting a job. Some people believe that success in their career will give them a great satisfaction. However, success alone cannot give us a true meaning of life. For example, King Solomon did his best to seek the true meaning of life. He sought wisdom and understanding. He even studied a man’s madness and folly but he said, “Meaningless!” He enjoyed many women, drinking and parties but he said, “Meaningless!” He built houses and planted vineyards. He had silver and gold more than any kings in Israel but he said, “Meaningless!” “Meaningless! Meaningless! Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless!” The kingdom of heaven is where God reigns. When our good Shepherd Jesus rules our hearts, we are thankful for everything and a small thing in our daily life can be very meaningful. Right now, how meaningful it is that we are worshiping God together!
Edmond gave a book report, too. His topic was suffering based on Philip Yancey’s book “Where is God when it hurts.” People suffer a lot. Maybe you would be diagnosed with a cancer tomorrow. We may lose a job or a beloved one suddenly. You may fail a course. Suffering implies that there are some elements in our lives which we cannot control. We hear many terrible news from Syria, North Korea and many places in the world. We can see that in the world there is the Evil who oppresses and kills people. Who can destroy the Evil? Who can wipe out tears of the people under a terrible suffering? Revelation 7:17 says, "For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; he will lead them to springs of living water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes." God will wipe away tears of the people under painful sufferings in the kingdom of God. God will comfort you fully if you are suffering. Bring your suffering to God and be comforted!
Hello! Here is good news! Jesus tells us how we can be a citizen of the Kingdom of God through the parable of the wedding banquet. Look at verse 2 again. “The kingdom of God is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son.” A wedding is one of the most pleasant and joyful event in one’s life. Especially, in the parable, the bridegroom is a king’s son. The king made a long list of invited guests and prepared best choice foods for the wedding banquet. Here the king refers to God and his son refers to Jesus. When all the saints enter the kingdom of God, there will be a great wedding banquet for Jesus and his church. Through this parable, Jesus tells us what kind of people can attend the banquet.
Look at verse 3. “He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused to come.” As the wedding approached, the king sent his servants to those invited to announce that the wedding was soon. However, they refused to come! A wedding for a king’s son is the most honorable, joyful and important event not only to the king but to the whole country. They should have come and celebrated it. Their refusal means their intentional rebellion toward the king. They were high officials, noble people or rich men. They despised the king’s authority and threw away the honor of attending the son’s wedding. Here those invited refer to broadly the people of Israel and narrowly the religious leaders. They were chosen by God with a great affection and privilege. But they rejected God and even killed Jesus, the Son of God.
But what was the king's response? Look at verse 4, "Then he sent some more servants and said, 'Tell those who have been invited that I have prepared my dinner: My oxen and fattened cattle have been butchered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.'" What is more surprising than the invitees' rejection is the response of the king. The king did not send his army to destroy them or punish them, or force them to attend. The king should have been angered. The oxen and fattened cattle could not be un-butchered, and all was ready except for the absent wedding guests. He instead softened his voice and entreated them, "Everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet." He gave them a second chance.
Let's read verse 5 together. "But they paid no attention and went off–one to his field, another to his business." Amazingly, the response to this second chance was indifference. They despised the king and went off to their business or fields. People continue to do so today as they work hard to obtain future security. They pursue their hobbies but have no time for Bible study or a relationship with God. These goal-oriented people seem very smart but they will find that they cannot buy the kingdom of heaven with their efforts. What is worse is that "The rest seized his servants, mistreated them and killed them." (6) What was the result? Look at verse 7, "The king was enraged. He sent his army and destroyed those murderers and burned their city." The king was not weak or indecisive. The retribution of the king was quick, deliberate, and complete. This reminds us that there will be indeed be a judgment for those who reject God's invitation. God invites us again and again through his servants but if we refuse it to the end, we will not find God’ favor in the end.
So did the king give up the wedding banquet for his son? No! Look at verses 8-10. “Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding banquet is ready, but those invited did not deserve to come. Go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find. So the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, both good and bad, and the wedding hall was filled with guests.” The king had a great passion to fill the banquet hall with guests. As a father, he wanted to celebrate his son’s wedding with many guests. He sent his servants to the street corners and commanded to invite anyone they find. When the servants heard the king's command, they were afraid and doubtful about gathering these street people. But they obeyed the king, for they knew that the king wanted to fill the wedding banquet. When they went out, they met all kinds of bad and good people. The people you can find in the street corners are usually those marginalized in the society such as beggars, homeless, jobless, gangsters, prostitutes and so on. They had nowhere to go, no fields to work, and no businesses to attend to. They had no power to attack the servants, for they were crippled, broken, and powerless. But all of them were invited. Some couldn't believe that the king was inviting them. But they also met waiting and willing people who accepted their invitation with great thankfulness and joy. Our God wants to fill the wedding hall full of guests. Indeed, this is the good news of great joy that God wants all people to enter the kingdom of heaven.
Look at verse 11. “But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes.” We may think that the king demands too much from this poor man. But we need to understand the custom of those times. Guests who were invited to the wedding banquet were given wedding clothes. I believe that the king had them take a bath in the palace’s shower-room because they just came from the street corner. The best hair stylist cut their hair and the best make-up artist made women in the street into noble women. And most of all, the king provided wonderful wedding clothes. Everything was free. Everything was given by the king’s grace. Then why did this man not wear wedding clothes? Obviously he did not want to wear wedding clothes. He just wanted to wear his usual t-shirt and jeans. I am I. No one can change or bother me. When I attended my graduation ceremony last June, I had to wear a graduation gown certified by UofT. If I didn’t wear, I was not allowed to enter. It was a rule to wear wedding clothes for the wedding banquet and even the clothes is given freely. He is like a very self-centered man who only thinks of himself. By the king’s grace, he was invited but he did not behave properly. Some people think of God too easily. People say, “God is love. He will forgive me anyhow and I will enter his kingdom.”
The king noticed this man immediately and questioned him. "Friend, how did you get in here without wedding clothes?" The man was speechless. His speechlessness confirmed his guilt. He may have thought he would not be noticed among such a large number of guests. Verse 13 reads, "Then the king told the attendants, 'Tie him hand and foot, and throw him outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'" We learn here that just as there will be the joyful light of the wedding banquet, there will be the darkness of judgment. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth for all those who reject the invitation and are unprepared without wedding clothes.
What are the wedding clothes? It is Jesus Christ. The king invited people in the street corners. They don’t deserve to attend the banquet. They were smelly and dirty. Their languages were very coarse with many F-words. They even did not know royal etiquettes. What could make them qualified was the wedding clothes. Jesus came to call not the righteous but sinners. But God can’t accept sinners as they are because God is not only a God of love but also a God of Justice. Jesus died for the atonement of our sins and rose from the dead to give life in the kingdom of heaven. When we accept Jesus’ death and resurrection for us by faith, we are clothed to attend the wedding banquet. We must repent of our sins and by faith accept Jesus Christ as our righteousness. Though our sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool when we have faith in Jesus. There are no other wedding clothes, no other way.
Jesus concludes, "For many are invited, but few are chosen." (14) Many are invited. Many sit in church. Unless there is the transformative work of the Holy Spirit through which we believe by faith in Jesus' death and resurrection, we cannot but remain burdened with our hidden sins and the suffocating weight of religiousness that CANNOT save. Rather, let's hear the invitation of our King, our God, "Come to the wedding banquet." Today, let's repent honestly of our sins and claim only the saving blood of Jesus Christ and accept his life-giving invitation to the kingdom of heaven.