Wedding Banquet Series

The Parable of the Wedding Banquet

Matthew 22:1-14

Pastor Jefferson M. Williams

Chenoa Baptist Church

10-23-2022

What a Wedding!

The biggest wedding that Maxine and I have ever attended was her friend Amy and Chris in Florida. There were over 300 guests, a sit-down dinner reception with prime rib, and the Miami Heat mascot, (whatever this thing is) was even there.

This morning, we are going to study a parable of a wedding reception that would blow Amy’s wedding away.

What a week!

Jesus told this parable on the Wednesday before His crucifixion. The day before, He had scattered the money changers in the Temple and the religious leaders had a question for Him:

 “By what authority are you doing these things?” they asked. “And who gave you this authority?” (Matt 21:23)

Jesus doesn’t answer directly but gives them three parables in a row.

The parable of the two sons

“What do you think? There was a man who had two sons. He went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work today in the vineyard.’“‘I will not,’ he answered, but later he changed his mind and went.

“Then the father went to the other son and said the same thing. He answered, ‘I will, sir,’ but he did not go. “Which of the two did what his father wanted?”

“The first,” they answered.

Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you. For John came to you to show you the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes did. And even after you saw this, you did not repent and believe him.” (Matt 21:28-32

B. The parable of the tenets

Listen to another parable: There was a landowner who planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a winepress in it and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and moved to another place.  When the harvest time approached, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his fruit.

“The tenants seized his servants; they beat one, killed another, and stoned a third. Then he sent other servants to them, more than the first time, and the tenants treated them the same way. Last of all, he sent his son to them. ‘They will respect my son,’ he said.

“But when the tenants saw the son, they said to each other, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him and take his inheritance.’ So they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.

“Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?”

He will bring those wretches to a wretched end,” they replied, “and he will rent the vineyard to other tenants, who will give him his share of the crop at harvest time.” (Matt 21:33-41)

When the Pharisees heard these parables they were enraged:

“When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard Jesus’ parables, they knew he was talking about them. They looked for a way to arrest him, but they were afraid of the crowd because the people held that he was a prophet.” (Matt 21:45-46)

Remember, that a parable is an earthly story with a heavenly point.

Then Jesus told the third parable that we call the parable of the wedding feast. This would a stinging indictment of the religious leaders’ hypocrisy and hostility toward Him and His rescue mission.

Turn with me to Matthew 22.

Prayer

A Royal Invitation

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

I remember watching Diana and Charles’ royal wedding on July 29, 1981. It is estimated that one billion people turned in between television and radio to see the ceremony.

It cost over 100 million dollars and they had 27 wedding cakes!

We love royal weddings and millions watched as their kids William and Harry got married.

A wedding was the biggest celebration of Jesus’ day. It normally lasted for a week and food and drink were provided for all the guests. It was only at the end of the seven days that the actual ceremony would take place.

Jesus has been teaching about the Kingdom of heaven - the rule and reign of Jesus on earth and in our hearts.

This King prepared a wedding banquet for His son. The King is God. The Son is Jesus. The wedding banquet is for the invited guest - the Jewish people.

The wedding banquet’s main point is to bring honor to the Son.

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

There would be the initial invitation and then, when everything was ready, the servants would go and remind them.

But they were not willing to come. To those listening, this would have been unthinkable.