By Randall L. Broad
Read: Exodus 15:19-17:7; Matthew 22:1-33; Psalm 27:1-6; Proverbs 6:20-26
Today in our New Testament reading Matthew records the Parable of the Wedding Banquet (22:1-14) and the earthly story of judgement helps us better understand the heavenly meaning of salvation. His gospel was written to Jewish-Christians to prove Jesus was the messiah foretold in messianic and Old Testament prophecy. One of the recurring motifs of his gospel is the phrase “kingdom of heaven” which is used thirty-two times in his gospel and nowhere else in the New Testament. Specifically, Jesus began twelve different parables in Matthew’s gospel with the phrase “the Kingdom of Heaven is like …” including the one found in our reading today (c.f. 13:24, 31, 33, 44, 45, 47, 52; 18:23; 20:1; 22:2, 25:1 and 25:14).
The Kingdom of Heaven is closely associated with the term "Kingdom of God" found a combined sixty-eight times in the New Testament. This motif is used four times by Matthew (12:28; 19:24; 21:31; 21:43); fourteen times by Mark; thirty-eight times by Luke (thirty-two times in his gospel, six times in Acts); eight times by the Apostle Paul; and three times by John (twice in his gospel, once in Revelation). The key to both of these motifs is the word kingdom which recurs one hundred and sixty-two times in the New Testament. Historically, the word “kingdom” has three important meanings. First a kingdom is a realm or place where a sovereign monarch reigns. Secondly, it represents the people who are ruled, and thirdly it represents the time of the actual reign.
All three usages can be found in the New Testament. In modern usage the temporal character of the term kingdom is often neglected, but it was the primary meaning in both the Greek and Hebrew languages of Jesus’ time. The Kingdom of Heaven is the sovereign rule of God manifested in Christ to defeat His enemies through the cross, creating a people over whom He reigns through the Church, and issuing in a realm or realms in which the power of His reign is experienced. Our parable today begins with the phrase “the Kingdom of Heaven is like …” and tells the story of a wedding feast the king prepares for his son.
The Parable of the Wedding Banquet
1Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying: 2“The kingdom
of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son. 3He
sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to
come, but they refused to come.
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.’
Matthew 22:1-4
Normally, in Palestine it was
common for a host to announce the day of the feast and invite the guests but
not to set the hour–when everything was prepared his servants would go and
summon the most honored guests (vv. 3-4). Those “less honored” and not summoned yet still invited were usually two
sets of people. The smallest group was lessor officials and people who thought
they were important; they would usually arrive late to draw attention to
themselves. The least important people invited would be early because their
admittance would be based on how much space remained after the others arrived.
However there was many whose station in life is such they had no hope of
attending any royal functions.
Luke tells the same story in his gospel (vv. 14:15-24) and calls his version the Parable of the Great Banquet. It is interesting to note Luke’s telling of this parable the uninvited are the poor, the lame, the maimed, and the blind. Some interpretations see them as sinners who despite their expectation of judgment are the first ones brought into the feast (kingdom) when the Jews reject their invitation. And when there was still room … others (the Gentiles) were brought in from the roads and the country lanes.
Luke writes:
21“The servant came back and reported this to his master. Then the owner
of the house became angry and ordered his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the
streets and alleys of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind
and the lame.’
22“ ‘Sir,’ the servant said, ‘what
you ordered has been done, but there is still room.’
23“Then the master told his servant, ‘Go out to the roads and country
lanes and compel them to come in, so that my house will be full. 24I tell you,
not one of those who were invited will get a taste of my banquet.’ ”
Luke 14:21-23
Those who accepted this invitation to the wedding feast received a joy such as they had never expected; but those who should have been the guests missed a chance which would never return. In this parable the wedding feast is the messianic feast. The original guests were God’s chosen people–the descendants of Abraham. Everything in their history happened to prepare for the coming of the Word and the ones who ignored their invitation gave up the place reserved for them.
5“But they paid no attention and went off—one to his field, another to
his business. 6The rest seized his servants, mistreated them and
killed them. 7The king was enraged. He sent his army and destroyed
those murderers and burned their cities.
Matthew 22:5-7
Not only did they give up their place in
Matthew’s gospel, but they brought judgment upon themselves. One thing is
certain–verses six and seven are oddly placed within this parable and they do
not appear in Luke’s version. Even as the King holds the banquet he sends his
armies off to destroy the killers of his servants. However this passage is
probably intended to be more a prophecy of future events than of a concurrent
act of anger. One common interpretation suggests the Jewish leaders are the honored guests who refuse the invitation
of the King (Yahweh) to the wedding of His Son (Jesus Christ-the bridegroom)
and His bride (… the Church). The servants they kill are the prophets and later
the Apostles. In turn the phrase “and
burned their city” is a foreshadowing of the destruction of Jerusalem and
the temple that is still to come.
Interestingly, in the Gospel of Luke (vv. 14:15-24) we find a more detailed list of the excuses used by the ones who reject the invitation and there is modern significance in their excuses worth noting.
18“But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said, ‘I have just
bought a field, and I must go and see it. Please excuse me.’
Luke 14:18
Work is far and away one of the most common excuses not to attend church or worship God. This is the person who is so caught up in making money and taking care of their business they have no time or place for God in their life.
19“Another said, ‘I have just bought five yoke of oxen, and I’m on my way
to try them out. Please excuse me.’
Luke 14:19
People are easily distracted by things–especially shiny new things. New possessions capture our attention and demand our time. This is equally true of ideas and relationships as it is of material possessions. As a human being it is essential to retain the adventurous mind which is not afraid of what is new, but our most basic need is for God, therefore, we must never let new enthusiasms, activities, and friendships interfere with our call to worship and serve God.
20“Still another said, ‘I just got married, so I can’t come.’
Luke 14:20
This excuse is the demands of home … and by extension we can consider our church to be part of our home. Our homes are a paradox. They are the most important place in our lives. However they are not places for us to hide or withdraw from the world. Rather they should be places where we are sheltered, protected, and refreshed so that we can go back out into the world fully equipped to represent Christ, serve people, and make disciples by showing them the love of Jesus, the power of the Holy Spirit, and the will of the Father.
All
these excuses are in themselves good reasons not to attend the feast. A person
should take care of their business; we should be inspired by what is new; we
should value and invest ourselves in our homes. But we cannot allow even good
things to come between us and Christ. If all the temptations we had to watch
out for were easily recognized as “bad” we would never fall short. Instead the
enemy uses the good to interfere with the best. Your relationship with Jesus
Christ is the best thing that will ever happen to you … keep going deeper into
that relationship.
So after the armies have been
sent out in Matthew’s gospel:
8“Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding banquet is ready, but those
I invited did not deserve to come. 9So go 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, the bad as well
as the good, and the wedding hall was filled with guests.
Matthew 22:8-10
In verses eight thru ten the language is less
specific then we find in Luke, but in that quality we are given the freedom to
see other possibilities. These three verses could be on a deeper level a call
to build the church. The King sends his servants out into the streets to
evangelize and gather all the people they find–Jew and Gentile alike–the bad
(sinners) as well as the good (righteous), and the wedding hall (the Church)
was filled with guests.
This part of the parable takes another strange twist when one of the guests is singled out by the King for not wearing wedding clothes (vv. 11-12). The offender is tied and thrown into darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. The phrase is used five other times in Matthew’s gospel (c.f. 8:12; 13:42; 13:50; 24:51 and 25:30) and each time reflects the penalty of judgment (V.13)–which ultimately is exclusion from the kingdom (v.14).
11“But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who
was not wearing wedding clothes. 12He asked, ‘How did you get in
here without wedding clothes, friend?’ The man was speechless.
13“Then the king told the attendants, ‘Tie him hand and foot, and throw
him outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of
teeth.’
14“For many are invited, but few are chosen.”
Matthew 22:11-14
One final thing to consider is the
distinction between Matthew and Luke’s versions. We should begin by taking into
account the audiences of the two gospels. A gospel written to people rooted in
the Mosaic Law would need a stronger theme of judgment and here in these last
four verses the message seems to be the need for preparation before entering
the kingdom. This could be a reflection of Jewish thought at the time. It
speaks to the world view which would have seen the inclusion of the Gentiles
into the Kingdom as only possible if they became Jews first. We need to
remember as this parable was being shared by Jesus the idea of including the
Gentiles in the Messianic Kingdom was unthinkable in anyone’s mind. Even though
in hindsight we can see Jesus was already teaching them this very thing–in this
very parable. But they wouldn’t fully understand this until Christ was
ascended, the Day of Pentecost came and Saul of Tarsus was slain on the road to
Damascus. From that day forward the Apostle Paul would make it his life mission
to make sure everyone understood the Messianic Feast was for all people and there
was a place in the Kingdom of God for both Jew and Gentile.
Walk with the Lord …
Ephesians 1:17
(RLB250202)
© Copyright 2020: Randall L. Broad
Disclaimer: This commentary is written by Randall L. Broad. It is in no way affiliated with or represents any denomination, university, church, or pastor. Any errors or omissions are purely my responsibility.
