Parable Of The Kings Sons Wedding Series

Parable of the King’s Son’s Wedding

Want to read you a verse and then ask you a question

 Matt 22:14 "For many are called, but few are chosen."

 Does this verse make you a little nervous? Why is that?

 Want to look at this section of scripture to see if there is truly is a need for us to be apprehensive about being included in the “few” that are chosen

This is another of the parables of Jesus and comes under the classification of a Parable of Judgment

 These parables are called Parables of Judgment because they usually end with “bad news” for someone

Matt22:1 Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying: 2"The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son.

 Can’t help but get the impression from God’s word that He likes to party

 In OT has its annual feasts; in the NT were have the Lord’s Supper, and on Christ’s return, we have the marriage supper of the Lamb

3He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused to come.

 Matthew was primarily written to the Jews so these invitations have to be viewed in the context of Jewish history

Matt 22:4 "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.' 5"But they paid no attention and went off--one to his field, another to his business

 Okay, so what do we begin to see here…who is leaning over backwards to include Israel in this party

 But it gets worse

6The rest seized his servants mistreated them and killed them.

 This has been the history of God’s dealing with Israel over 1200 years

 And here we see the Pharisees ignoring a direct invitation from Jesus

7The king was enraged. He sent his army and destroyed those murderers and burned their city.

 There is a time when the patience of God does run out, but not before he has given adequate warning of the consequences

 This happened to Jerusalem in 70 AD under Titus

 Matt 21:43: “Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a nation producing the fruits of it.”

8"Then he said to his servants, 'The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to come.

 “did not deserve to come” notice this statement. Whose fault is it that they are not included?

 God did not just drop the Jews after one bad experience

 This had been going on for centuries, with Moses, the prophets, John the Baptist, and now even Jesus himself for three and a half years

 Even after his death, God through the apostle Paul continued to reach out to the Jews, but eventually he too moved on

 In Acts 13:46, Paul and Barnabas said to the Jews of Antioch, “It was necessary that the word of God should be spoken to you first; but since you reject it, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, behold, we turn to the Gentiles.”

 Probably a better translation of the verse we read at the beginning would be, “Many are invited, but few refuse to come!”

So the banquet is all prepared, food, drink, servants, entertainment, what do you do, waste all the food and preparation time?

 No, you have a party

9Go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find.'10So 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.

 Notice to whom the invitation is extended – Both good and bad, so along with the good Baptists, Catholics, protestants, the low life, the trailer trash, pimps, prostitutes, the long haired riff-raff with their ghetto blasters are also invited

 by the end of the parable, there is no one who is not invited to the son’s wedding feast, Jew or Gentile, good or bad

 When God throws a party, it’s the biggest bash in town, there isn’t a single person who is left off the invitation list.

 “Many” truly are invited

 And the only thing that prevents anyone from attending the banquet is their own indifference or their own stubborn refusal to accept the invitation

 Notice also in the story there is no mention of anyone having to qualify to earn an invitation, it is simply a matter of accepting the invitation

But now we come to this unfortunate incident at the banquet