The Wedding Feast

Children’s talk- Josh’s party

 London

 Josh, 13th birthday

 Dad, who had a big business with lots of workers and a big house in Chelsea, threw a party

 Posted invites to his friends: David, Rebecca & Paul (brother and sister), Rachel and James (sister & brother)

 Show invite. Child to read?

 They all RSVPed to say they would make it

 Josh’s birthday came

 Then Josh’s Dad sent out two of his chauffeurs, Bill and Ben, with a Mercedes to David’s house in Kensington- shouted through closed door that it was too far away and he didn’t want to come

 Two more servants, Milly and Molly, drove Josh’s Dad’s BMW to Rebecca and Paul’s house- Rebecca, 12, answered the door but said she was sorry but she had to go and water all the plants in her garden and then visit her pony; Paul upcoming young businessman, aged 15- out selling boxes of matches in Covent Garden

 Lastly, Rosie and Jim went to pick up Rachel and James in Josh’s Dad’s Rolls Royce. They couldn’t believe it! Rachel came out of their house and started pulling Rosie’s hair. Moses was even worse- he came up to the Rolls Royce and started shooting out all the tyres with his air rifle. When Jim got out to speak to him, he shot Jim in the eye with his gun, and Jim fell to the ground still as a stone. You would have thought that would have stopped them, but they carried on punching and kicking Rosie until she had to run away all the way back to Josh’s Dad’s house in Chelsea

 What do you think Josh’s Dad said? What do you think he did?

 Sent out invites to everyone: all they had to do was come and take the ticket on the door

 Get children to do this… [prime Chris? Get Chris to draw his own]

 When Josh’s Dad came, what do you think he said…?

 Story is about Jesus… coming back…big feast…everyone invited… many ‘clever’, ‘good’ and ‘rich’ people reject Jesus, and many ‘simple’, ‘bad’ and ‘poor’ accept him because they are only too glad to be asked. Which are you in your own eyes? Humble enough to come to him, and also to use the ticket he provides?

Talk

Intro (before reading)

Recently, the media has been full of talk of a very important, imminent event. Speculation has reached fever pitch and there have been differing venues concerning the venue, those invited and even what is going to be in the goodie bags (luxury Coach wallets for the men, diamond necklaces for the ladies). Yes, you guessed it, it’s Ben and Jen’s on-off wedding! Whether or not you envy, disregard or sympathise with them, celebrities put a high price on getting their weddings just right. Posh and Becks spent a mere $800,000 on theirs in 1999, after having giving each other £40,000+ engagement rings!

Unfortunately for Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck, lots of gremlins have got stuck in the works, and at present their wedding is off. J-Lo has problems with Ben’s gambling, and his mother has been casting doubt about the suitability of the thrice-divorced Lopez as a future wife and mother of Ben’s children. Ben has been seen with other women, Jennifer alone on the beach and the goodie bags have been given away, I heard, to homeless people!

Today we are going to be looking at a very different wedding, which certainly wasn’t and isn’t going to be called off… Yasmine is going to come and give the reading.

Pray. Encourage folks to open their Bibles.

Context

Jesus has just told two parables in chapter 21. In the first, He speaks of two sons who were told to go and work in the vineyard. One said he wouldn’t, but did, and the other said he would but didn’t. In the second parable, Jesus speaks of some wicked tenants who refuse to pay their rent and kill the son of the landowner. In both cases, Jesus is speaking to the religious leaders and warning them that “the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a nation bearing the fruits of it” (21:43). Naturally they are enraged at this and are thinking about killing Him, thus fulfilling the very parable Jesus has spoken about them (21:46).

Amazingly, it seems as if Jesus is answering their unspoken thoughts (“answered”- NKJV) as he gives this third and final parable, in some ways the most devastating of the lot.

AD70 destruction armies of Titus, but… two minds about saying at start who king and son are, but it should be obvious- God the Father, God the Son. The wedding feast being spoken of is “the marriage of the Lamb” (Revelation 19:7). This is when the Bride of Christ, that is the Church, that is all true believers in Jesus will be united with Him in heaven. This is such a joyous, deeply intimate moment, that it is described as a marriage, and indeed all marriages are just a mere shadow of this ultimate union.