Introduction:
It’s fascinating to me how after only a few years of being married, a couple can sometimes communicate with a very small number of words. Husbands, if you will, imagine this scene with me. You’ve been invited to a party, and after spending the day working out in the yard, you dash into the house and get cleaned up. You go to your closet, but you suddenly realize that you’re not quite sure about what sort of dress is appropriate for this function. You’re not sure if it’s completely casual, or if it’s a little dressier affair and you need to wear slacks and a sport coat. But you find an outfit that you think will work, and you put in on, and comb your hair, get the car keys and go out to the living room, where your wife is waiting.
She looks at you, and smiles -- but it’s not the sort of smile that says, "Darling, I really love you." It’s more of a sort of a polite smile. She looks at you and says five words to you. Just five. She says, "Is that what you’re wearing?" And you know how to respond. You go back to the bedroom and you change clothes!
Here in Matthew 22, Jesus tells a story that has to do with clothing, and what to wear, and he even talks about wearing the wrong thing. It’s a disturbing story in some ways, and it doesn’t have a happy ending. But it’s a story with several important lessons, so let’s take a look at it together this morning.
I. The Message of the Parable
A. The invitation rejected.
"The kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who arranged a marriage for his son, and sent out his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding.”
Now it was unlikely that any of the people Jesus was speaking to had ever actually been to a royal wedding feast, but they were all familiar with wedding feasts in general and had some idea of the importance and magnificence of one that a king would prepare for his own son.
In that day and time, a wedding feast was the highlight of all social life. And a wedding feast that a king prepared for his son would be the “mother of all feasts”. Jesus was picturing the most elaborate celebration possible. This was the ultimate party. If it took place in Boone, it would no doubt have been held at the Broyhill Inn, but it would make everything that’s happened there this weekend look like nothing.
I think it’s significant that Jesus often compared his kingdom to a feast or a banquet. Being a part of God’s kingdom is like going to a party. It’s a festive occasion, a time of fellowship, a time of joy. A lot of people seem to believe that you can’t enjoy yourself if you’re a Christian, that to be a Christian you have to denounce every joy and pleasure that abound in this world. But I think Jesus wanted us to understand that the greatest joys this life has to offer are found in his kingdom.
"The kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who arranged a marriage for his son, and sent out his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding…and they were not willing to come. Again, he sent out other servants, saying, ’Tell those who are invited, "See, I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and fatted cattle are killed, and all things are ready. Come to the wedding."’ But they made light of it and went their ways, one to his farm, another to his business.” (Matthew 22:2-5).
Now in that place and time, there was a two-stage process of being invited to a wedding. The invitation was actually sent out well in advance of the banquet and everyone sent back their RSVP. Then, those who had said "yes" received a courtesy reminder on the day of the banquet itself.
So the king sent out his servants to tell everyone to come join the party, but those who had been invited wouldn’t come. So he tried again, sending out his messengers to say, “Look, it’s going to be a great party -- lots of food and fun!” But they, "We’ve got other things to do. Sorry, can’t make it. We’d love to, but we’re just too busy. You know how it is.”
And you know how the king felt, don’t you? We’ve all had that happen to us at some time or another. You work like a dog getting ready for something. Maybe it’s a party. Maybe it’s a Sunday School lesson. Maybe it’s some get-together for some group in the church. You spend hours and hours getting everything ready. You work hard and you’re excited about what you’ve got planned.
The big day comes. You planned for twenty and three show up. You planned for thirty and you get eight. You know how it feels. You want to cry. It makes you angry and frustrated and depressed. You know how the king in this parable felt. And if you know how the king in this parable felt, then in some small way, you know how God feels whenever one of us rejects his invitation to be a part of the kingdom that he has prepared for us. But it got even worse.
“And the rest seized his servants, treated them spitefully, and killed them. But when the king heard about it, he was furious. And he sent out his armies, destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city. Then he said to his servants, ’The wedding is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy.’"(Matthew 22:6-8)
I’m sure the Jews listening to Jesus would have thought to themselves, "Who would do such a thing -- refuse to go to a king’s banquet? The very idea is preposterous." Let’s face it, attending the royal wedding would be the greatest honor a man or woman would ever enjoy in their entire life. And yet these people refused to attend. They were indifferent and just carried on with business as usual. Some of them got downright violent with the messengers, showing contempt for the king and committing a flagrant act of rebellion.
So the king is furious. He punishes those rebellious people, and then he decides to extend the invitation to this feast to anyone and everyone who wanted to come. He tells his servants, “Round up all the folks you can.”
"’Therefore go into the highways, and as many as you find, invite to the wedding.’ So those servants went out into the highways and gathered together all whom they found, both bad and good. And the wedding hall was filled with guests." (Matthew 22:9-10).
Remember several years ago when Nicole Contos was scheduled to be married in a Manhattan church? She showed up, 250 invited guests showed up, but the groom didn’t. He took off for Tahiti where they had planned to honeymoon. So there she was with a $100,000 reception and no wedding. What did she do? She did the only thing she could do. She said, “The food is ready, the drink is ready. We’re gonna have a party. And she did.”
That’s what the king does here in this parable. He says, “The food is ready. The drink is ready. We’re gonna have a party.” And he did. He invited everybody. Anybody who wanted to come was welcome to enjoy the feast -- good and bad. When the respectable folks refused, he invited the disreputable and despised. The banquet hall was filled with people.
Now, to understand what Jesus was trying to say, you need to remember that for three years, Jesus had been teaching and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, which included proclaiming himself as the Messiah, the Son of God. His message was primarily for the people of Israel, the chosen people of God -- the people who for years had said, “We want to be a part of God’s kingdom.”
The king in this parable obviously is God, and the invited guests were his chosen people, the Jews, who had already been called by him. The servants God sent to them again and again were John the Baptist, Jesus himself, and the New Testament apostles and prophets. But John the Baptist was rejected and beheaded, Jesus was rejected and crucified, and the apostles and prophets were rejected and persecuted, many being put to death.
When the Jews rejected the kingdom, the invitation was then extended to anyone and everyone who wanted to come. 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.” And that’s exactly what they did.
Notice that by the end of the parable, there is no one who is not invited to the son’s wedding feast. And that’s one of the points of the parable. When God throws a party, it’s the biggest bash in town, and there isn’t a single person who is left off the invitation list. When Jesus died on the cross and was made sin for us, no one was left out. The only thing that leaves us out of the feast is our own indifference to that death, our own stubborn refusal to accept the invitation, and then it’s entirely our own fault. God’s desire is to fill his banquet hall with guests. God wants to throw a party, and he’s invited the world.
So, it’s easy to understand the parable to this point, but then there is this “incident”:
C. The guest without a wedding garment.
"But when the king came in to see the guests, he saw a man there who did not have on a wedding garment. So he said to him, ’Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless. Then the king said to the servants, ’Bind him hand and foot, take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ For many are called, but few are chosen." (Matthew 22:11-14).
The king came in to see how the banquet was going, and he spotted someone without a wedding garment and he was furious.
At the end of World War II, the Russian head of state gave an elaborate banquet to honor British prime minister Winston Churchill. The Russians arrived in their best formal wear -- military dress uniforms -- but their honored guest did not. Churchill arrived wearing his famous zipper coveralls that he had worn during the German bomb attack in London. He thought it would provide a nostalgic touch the Russians would appreciate. They didn’t. They were humiliated and insulted that their prominent guest of honor had not considered their banquet worthy of his best clothes.
You see, wearing the right clothing to a formal dinner honors the host and the occasion. And neglecting to wear it is an insult.
Weddings were such a big and important occasion in that day and time that people were expected to wear the proper clothing. Getting cleaned up and dressed up was a way of showing appreciation and respect for the invitation.
At first, you might wonder how any of those who accepted the king’s invitation could have been expected to come properly attired. They had been rounded up from every part of the land, and many of them had been taken off the streets. Even if they had time to dress properly, they didn’t have any clothes appropriate for such an occasion as the wedding of the king’s son.
Commentators tell us that in that day and time the king supplied the wedding garment himself. All the guests had to do was just put it on. But here was a man who didn’t even make the small effort involved in putting on the proper clothing
It’s important for us to remember that accepting an invitation means accepting the terms of the invitation. If you go to eat at a restaurant which has a sign out front that says, “Coat and tie required”, don’t go wearing your jeans and T-shirt and expect to get a good reception at the door. Accepting an invitation means accepting the terms of the invitation.
At first glance, it seems a small thing, but it’s not. This guy without a wedding garment thought he could come to the king’s feast on his own terms, thinking his own clothes were good enough. Forget about what the king wanted or had provided for the occasion.
And, so often, isn’t that the case with people and the kingdom of God? A lot of people want to be a part of the feast, but they don’t want to submit ourselves to God’s terms.
II. Lessons For Us Today
As I said earlier, the parable of the wedding feast was originally intended for the Jews, especially the Jewish leaders. It’s an allegory of the history of God’s salvation. God chose the people of Israel, but time and time again they rejected God’s prophets, and refused this invitation to follow God’s commandments. Then, God sent Jesus -- and again, the people of Israel (by and large) refused to believe that he was the Messiah. So the invitation was then given to anyone -- the good and bad, those who knew God’s law and those who didn’t, both Jews and Gentiles.
And that’s a nice way to read the story, because we believe in Jesus. Since we believe that Jesus was the Messiah, this story sort of makes you want to smile and shake the hand of the people seated around you this morning and say "Congratulations!" because after all, we’re not like those bad old Jews who didn’t accept Jesus. We believe in Jesus. We’re in! Except…
Except for this part about the one who "just showed up". I mean, I could feel good about this story even though it doesn’t really have much of a happy ending…. Except…
Except for this nagging feeling inside that says this story has a message that is somehow deeper than just the difference between those who believe in Jesus and those who don’t.
The more you study this story, the more you get the feeling that this story says something about the difference between believing in Jesus and really following Jesus. I get the sense that this is somehow about the difference between accepting Jesus as Savior, and serving Jesus as Lord, the difference between “joining the church” and being the Church.
There are several lessons that stand out:
A. Our response to God’s invitation is crucial.
It’s a dangerous thing to make light of God’s invitation! In the parable, some of those who were summoned ignored the king, others declined because they were too busy with other things, and still others became hostile and violent. But all of them, each in his own way, according to verse 5, "made light" of the invitation. The Greek word used there means to neglect or be unconcerned about someone or something. It’s the same word that used in Hebrews 2:3, "How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?"
The invitation to the feast just wasn’t important to any of those who were invited; it had no priority for them. Reminds me of folks we know who just don’t seem to have any interest in spiritual things. They aren’t always antagonistic toward the things of God; they just simply have no time for them.
Even those of us who are Christians need to examine our lives to see if we are responding to God’s invitation on a daily basis. Do we still have that love for God that we once had, the desire to do everything we can to serve him? Or have things changed? Somehow our initial enthusiasm for the kingdom has a way of growing dim unless we nourish it. We can find ourselves in the position of making light of God’s invitation to be his people.
When Paul and Barnabas said to the Jews in Acts 13, "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." (Acts 13:46), it’s important to understand that their unworthiness had nothing to do with their inherent qualities or lack of them. The Gentiles weren’t a morally better people. But it was the Jews’ stubborn attitude and their refusal to obey that designated them as "unworthy".
What makes a person worthy of salvation today is the same thing that has always made a person worthy of salvation -- a willingness to commit our lives to God and take him at his word, and obey him. Whether or not God judges you as worthy of his kingdom is determined by your response to him! And it’s not just your initial response in becoming a Christian, but your continued response in being an obedient follower of Christ.
B. God’s invitation is extended to everyone.
The king sends his servants out into the streets to invite everyone they can find, "both bad and good".
In Revelation 22:17, when the final invitation in the Bible is extended, "the Spirit and the bride say, ’Come!’ And let him who hears say, ’Come!’ And let him who thirsts come. And whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely." Who can accept the invitation of God? Anybody who wants to!
God’s invitation is extended to people who have lived moral, upright lives since the time they were little children, as well as to the dregs of society -- the murderers, rapists and prostitutes of this world. Everyone is invited, "both bad and good". That’s what’s known as grace.
It’s one of the things that distinguishes the kingdom of our Lord. By grace, God invites all kinds of people to the party -- even tax collectors and prostitutes, the good and the bad.
Paul said to the Corinthians, "Neither fornicators, nor idolators, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you." (I Corinthians 6:9b-11a). That’s the grace of God’s invitation. It calls you wherever you may be to something better.
C. Grace doesn’t eliminate standards.
The fact that we enter the kingdom by grace doesn’t mean that there are no standards. The king who gave this banquet discovered a man who had no "wedding garment". This man hadn’t made an effort to prepare himself for the feast and showed a half-hearted attitude; he obviously wasn’t taking his presence at the feast seriously.
Even though salvation is by grace, the kingdom of God involves living by certain standards. Being a part of God’s kingdom means a diligent effort to live up to kingdom standards. Spiritual sloppiness will not be acceptable at the banquet of the King of Kings!
It’s true that the door of salvation is open to all men, but when we come through that door we must put off the old man and put on the new man. Grace is not just a gift; grace is a responsibility.
“Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? God forbid! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?” (Romans 6:1-2).
A man cannot go on living the life he lived before he became a follower of Christ. He must be clothed in a new purity and a new holiness and a new righteousness.
We’ve got to be committed to getting our life in line with what God wants us to be. And I’m talking about a lot more than just sitting in this pew and enduring an hour of worship service every Sunday morning.
Let me tell you, you can get wet from head to foot and be physically baptized a thousand times over. But if you’re not baptized from the inside out; if your heart stays the same, there’s no amount of water on the face of this earth that can save you.
Jesus said, "Many are called, but few are chosen. That’s another way of saying: Everybody is invited, but very few wind up at the table. Why? It certainly isn’t God’s fault. He’s prepared a feast for everyone, but he’s not going to force anyone to eat and drink. If you miss out on the party and you go hungry, you have only yourself to blame. Everyone has the opportunity to enter the kingdom of God, but only a relative few will accept the invitation to enter the kingdom and will be serious enough to clothe themselves in God’s righteousness.
Conclusion:
I read recently about a family that was working through some problems. The dad, it seems, was a classic example of a workaholic 20th-century American capitalist. And because of this, the family had done quite well -- in terms of money. But he worked long hours, and sometimes seven days a week. He had invested most of himself in climbing the corporate ladder and making money, and he’d done well at that. He was now one of the top executives in his organization, but his marriage had been in trouble for years. His wife had put up with a lot, and tried to hold the family together. She had actually done a pretty good job of it, and their two kids were turning out pretty good. But there had been some acting out and some incidents with their son at school. And so the mom started going to a family therapist, to help herself deal with some of the pain in her own life, and to help her children deal with some of the issues she sensed they were dealing with. But over and over again, the conversations seemed to come back around to Dad, so after weeks of asking, and pleading, the father finally showed up for one of the sessions.
It was during the third session with the whole family that the daughter, who was now in college, decided to confront her Dad about some things which had caused her a great deal of pain when she was growing up. She’d been trying to get her courage up for several weeks, and finally the time had come. She turned to her father, and said, "Couldn’t you have come to at least one of my softball games when I was in elementary school? And when I was in middle school and got a part in the school play, do you know how much I wanted you to come and see the performance? Even though you told me you couldn’t, that you had to work, I still kept looking for you that night, I still hoped you might be there. And then when you weren’t there to see me on senior prom night, I guess that was it. I guess that’s when I stopped counting on you to be there."
The father listened, and looked as if he was getting angrier and angrier as these charges were leveled at him. Finally he said, "Okay, I messed up, all right?! You say it hurt you, I believe you. I’m sorry. I’m sorry I hurt you, okay? Forgive me, all right? I apologize."
And the daughter said, "I’ve already forgiven you, Daddy. I had to do that to get on with my life. And I’ve learned to deal with the pain and disappointment. That’s not the worst part. The worst part is what happened to you. You missed out on getting to know me, and you missed out on enjoying me. The saddest part is you -- you missed out on me.
I can’t help but feel that God had the opportunity to speak to you this morning, he’d say the same thing. His biggest regret is that you have missed out on the opportunity to be with him, to get to know him. The bad news is, those years can never be recovered. The good news is, the invitation still stands.
God has prepared a spiritual feast for anybody who wants to join with him. He wants you to partake of that joy with him. But no one will enjoy the "feast" of the kingdom who refuses to take the kingdom seriously. Whether or not you come to the feast depends on you. If you take the kingdom of God lightly, you will never enter. There will always be some excuse you can come up with. But if you give the King’s invitation the priority it deserves, willing to believe it and obey it, then you will enjoy the blessings of that kingdom throughout eternity.
