Text: Matthew 22:1-14
Theme: Host or Guest?
Greetings: The Lord is good. ‘Many are invited but few are chosen.’ (Matthew 22:14).
Synopsis of the Parable: The word parable comes from the Greek word ‘parabole,’ which means “a placing beside”. It has a real-life or real-life situation from which spiritual truth is drawn. A parable is not an allegory but is basically an earthly story with a heavenly meaning (Ref: square space).
This parable revolves around three categories of people, the host, the servants, and the Guests. Invited guests neglected and paid no attention to it. A few were busy with their daily cares and work, the rest of the guests had mistreated the servants who carried the message of honor, and some even killed the servants. The host was enraged and destroyed the guests and burned their city. However, the host extended his invitation to all people, good and bad to the wedding banquet. However, strictly the dress code was observed. Jesus spoke this parable in the context of hostility.
This parable conveys the divine call, divine clemency, and divine condemnation.
1. Divine Call (Matthew 22:3-6)
It reminds God’s generous call for a sumptuous feast. The Swiss Protestant theologian, Karl Barth, sums it up: “In the last resort, it all boils down to the fact that the invitation is to a feast, and that he who does not obey and come accordingly, and therefore festively, declines and spurns the invitation no less than those who are unwilling to obey and appear at all.”
By not accepting the Kingdom I am excluding myself from it. (Ref: Sacred Space). Many miss the kingdom due to their own carelessness and being drawn away by the cares of this world.
The first invited guests were Jews. The prophets of the Old Testament, John the Baptist, and Christ himself told them that the kingdom of God was at hand. The apostles and ministers of the gospel were sent to tell them and persuade them to accept the offer (Matthew Henry).
The invited guests simply refused to come at once, some treated the invitation as an anecdote and went about their business. To the worst, some invitees even assaulted and killed the servants. What a ridiculous situation? ‘Some being ambivalent about it and some being antagonistic and even homicidal’ (Ref: explaining the book).
This wedding can be a metaphor for the relationship between God and Israel (Isaiah 54:5-6; 62:5; Hosea 2:16-20), and a banquet is a sign of the covenant between them (Isaiah 25:6-10; 55:1-3). The guests became unworthy means their attitude and prioritization toward the Kingdom and its values. Paul says that our standing before God depends only on our acceptance of God’s grace.
This is a kingdom Parable. God sent throughout history his prophets who were the servants of God inviting people to the wedding banquet of his Son. Prophet Jeremiah says that God has sent his prophets again and again but they have not paid attention to the call of God through prophets (Jeremiah 35:15).
God calls the thirsty, and hungry to come to Him and participate in the banquet, whoever comes is satisfied (Isaiah 55:1). Jesus spoke the same on the last day of the feast (John 7:37). The spirit of God gives the same call ‘come’ whoever is thirsty (Revelation 22:17). The pastors, evangelists, and preachers are the missionaries, sent out to call the invited to the Wedding Banquet (2 Corinthians 5:20).
We carry the message of love, an invitation to the love feast of God. Moses was a servant of God sent to Egypt to bring the people for a greater banquet of God at Canaan (Exodus 3:10). Isaiah heard the voice of the Lord, ‘Whom shall I send? And who will go for us’ (Isaiah 6:8)? Paul was a servant of God to lead gentiles to the Kingdom of God (Acts 26:16). God wants all men to come to him and be saved (1 Timothy 2:4).
2. Divine Clemency (Matthew 22:7-10)
This is a parable about grace. Those who were invited – and who came – were utterly undeserving of the invitation (Enduring Word Commentary). The religious leaders of Jesus’ time rejected his teaching and his authority. The common people, including social outcasts, sinners, and prostitutes, heard him gladly.
The divine clemency is exhibited just after the divine indignation. The host was enraged and became more upset over the insolence of the invited. The arrogant behavior and undisciplined attitude of the guests brought destruction and eradication (Matthew 22:7). However, the divine clemency outflowed from the Host, from God the Father. Now the invitation is extended to all (Matthew 22:9-10). James writes in his Epistles that the boundless generosity and inclusive reach of God’s grace, but he also affirms that for us to be “worthy” of God’s gift requires nothing less than our whole life.
This parable shows that the Kingdom of God is open to everyone, not just the Jews. At the last, in Matthew 28 Jesus told his followers to go and to make disciples of all nations! Not just to the Jews but to everyone in the world. We were found when we were on our work, business, and on highways and byways. God cares for us. We need to invite people to worship, prayer meetings, revival meetings, and to the kingdom of God.
3. Divine Condemnation (Matthew 22:11-13)
God’s mercy and compassion cannot be taken for granted. No one can treat the love of God so cheap and play with God. The unconditional love and mercy of God cannot be trampled, mistreated, and misused for the personal gains of the invitees. God never compromises his standards of holiness and justice. Those who reject the salvation, those who reject the warnings, and those who take things of God lightly will reap the consequences in due time.
The king carefully examined his guests to see if they all wore the garments that were customarily offered to those attending a wedding feast. It was the custom of the Greeks and not Jews (Enduring Word Commentary).
This man was willing to eat the good things set before him, but in his heart, there was no love either for the King or his well-beloved Son. He had made too free with holy things; he had actively insulted the King (Spurgeon).
William Barclay comments that the destruction of Jerusalem by the armies of Rome in A.D. 70 refers to this parable (Matthew 22:7). The Temple was sacked and burned and the city was destroyed stone from stone. Complete disaster had come to those who refused to recognize the Son of God when he came.
At the end of the parable, we see an interaction between the king and a man who was not dressed appropriately. The unsuitably dressed man represents those who were not prepared for complete commitment to Jesus (ref: bbc.co.uk). He was sitting there with all of the other invited guests. But he doesn’t have the proper attire. the gracious king who so patiently invited all sorts of guests and was willing to provide them with all sorts of excellent and costly food could surely provide the necessary attire for this man.
It is profoundly true that church is not for a fashion parade. But there are garments of the mind and of the heart and of the soul, the garment of expectation, the garment of humble penitence, the garment of faith, the garment of reverence, and these are the garments without which we ought not to approach God. People go to Church without preparation but if everyone came to church prepared to worship, after a little prayer, a little thought, and a little self-examination, then worship would be worship indeed (William Barclay).
This is the reality in churches across the world. Worshippers, Christians come, listen, sing and give. But they’re not clothed in Christ’s righteousness. They have the filthy rags of their own self-righteousness. They will be thrown into hell where Weeping and gnashing of teeth were the order. With weeping shows the intensity of the emotional suffering and gnashing of teeth shows the intensity of the physical suffering (ref: explaining the book).
Conclusion: Who invited to the Kingdom? Whom you have invited to the Kingdome of God?
