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The Banquet
The Banquet Matthew 22:1-14 Key Verse: 22: 2 “The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son.” Last week we saw how the Jewish authorities questioned Jesus about His authority to do the things that He was doing. Jesus answered them with a question of His own in order to help them take a close look at their own hearts. They couldn’t answer Jesus question because they were more concerned with their own positions of authority than with acknowledging God’s work that was occurring among them. They failed Jesus’ test, but Jesus still wanted to help them. Jesus told them two parables in order to help them to understand the fruit that God wants each of us to produce in the life that he has given us. In today’s passage Jesus tells them a third parable comparing the kingdom of heaven to a wedding banquet prepared by a king for his beloved son. Jesus told this parable to help the Jewish religious leaders focus on what really mattered – the kingdom of heaven. Let’s listen to Jesus words and accept his invitation to the heavenly banquet that he has prepared for us. Let’s also prepare our hearts, minds and lives so that when we get there we are not thrown out for wearing the wrong clothes. I. Come to the wedding banquet Look at verses 1 and 2. “Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying: ‘The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son.’” In last week’s passage Jesus had spoken to the religious leaders in the hope that they would take a look at their own hearts and begin producing the fruit that God wanted them to produce with their life. The chief priests and Pharisees could not accept or understand Jesus words, so instead of repenting and believing, they made plans to arrest Jesus. Jesus did not give up on them, He continued to talk to them in parables. This time, however, He turned His focus to the kingdom of heaven. Jesus did this because He knew that the kingdom of heaven is what all people need the most. If we focus our eyes and hearts on this world all we see is trouble and distress. We see wars, famines, desperate poverty, starvation, nuclear bombs being built, threats from other countries like North Korea and corruption throughout governments and private businesses. These things fill our hearts trouble and distress. However, if our focus is on the kingdom of heaven our hearts can be full of peace and security. The chief priest and Pharisees of Jesus’ time were focused on what was going on in their own world. They saw their people being oppressed by the Romans and they were desperately looking for a Messiah who would save them from this problem. Jesus didn’t seem to be the Messiah they were looking for, but He did seem to be attracting a huge following that was undermining their authority. They wanted to silence Jesus because their focus was on the world, so Jesus wanted to help them refocus on what really mattered – the kingdom of heaven. If you think back to the beginning of both Jesus and John’s ministries their message was simple and exactly the same, “Repent for the kingdom of heaven is near.” The chief priest and Pharisees didn’t accept this message so Jesus told it to them again in a parable. In verse 2, Jesus compares the kingdom of heaven to a wedding banquet prepared by a king for his son. Weddings are the most joyful times of our lives. People spare no expense when they prepare for their wedding. Many people even go into debt just to make sure their wedding day is perfect. For the guests of the wedding, the banquet is often the highlight, so this is usually the biggest expense of the whole wedding. In this case it was a king who was preparing the banquet. Cost was not an issue and he was preparing it for his own beloved son, so you could be sure that everything was going to be absolutely perfect. It would be the best banquet any of the guests would ever attend. This is what Jesus compared the kingdom of heaven to. In the parable, the king had made all the preparation for the wonderful banquet, which means that he had sent out all the invitations well in advance so all the guests could clear their schedules and attend. Verses 3-6 tell us what happened when the wedding day came. The king sent his servants out to those who had been invited, but those guests refused to come. The king didn’t give up when the first servants failed to bring the guest, he sent more. Once again the guests refused to come. Many of them didn’t go because they were just too busy living in this world. These guests simply went off to their jobs or into their grain or grape fields. The worries of this world were too much for them. They didn’t think they had time to enjoy a banquet prepared by their king. They are just like many people today. In order to live in this competitive world people think that they have no time for God. They think that they only have time to work hard and get ahead this life. They are looking for ultimate happiness and fulfillment for their life in their jobs and in worldly success. What they don’t realize is that they will never find fulfillment in those things and they are missing out on the perfect banquet, full of joy, peace and security prepared by God himself just for them. Other invited guest showed that they hated the king and they mistreated or killed the king’s servants. These people are like the atheists we see in the world today. Recently I watched a movie with all of my classes. The title of the movie is God’s Not Dead. In the movie there is a philosophy professor who claims that God does not exist and he forces his students to write “God is Dead” on a piece of paper on the first day of class. One student refuses to do this and he has to defend his belief in God in front of the whole class. In short, in order to pass the class, he has to convince the whole class that God is not dead. The professor wanted to destroy the young man who was defending God (to find out what happened you have to watch the movie). The professor, and many atheists in the world today, are just like the people in the parable who mistreated and killed the king’s servants. They hate God and want to destroy anything that comes from God. This parable is really timeless, it fits Jesus’ time and it also fits our time as well, but in reality, Jesus was telling the Jewish leaders their own situation. He, the son of the king, was standing in their presence and the king had sent out invitations to these people through the prophets. Yet these men could not see who Jesus was and they refused to come to the feast that God had prepared for them. When Jesus, the son, came to invite them personally, they wanted to mistreat him by throwing him into prison, or worse yet, by killing him. The religious leaders refused to come to the banquet God had prepared for them. The kingdom of heaven is the wedding banquet of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, prepared by God, the King. Since the fall from Eden, we have lived under the misery of sin and separation from God, but God promised us redemption from sin and a way to the kingdom of heaven. God kept his promise when he sent Jesus to die on the cross to pay the price for our sins and sanctify us by his blood so that we can enter the kingdom of heaven. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” (Jn 3:16-17) The kingdom of heaven is the banquet of life, reconciliation, joy, salvation, and healing. It is made possible only because of the one-sided grace and love of God who says, “Everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.” Our response to his invitation determines whether we enter the eternal life of the kingdom of heaven or into the darkness. What will be your response? II. Invite anyone you find How did the King respond to the invited guests who refused to come? Verse 7 says, “The king was enraged. He sent his army and destroyed those murderers and burned their city.” The king was not weak. His subjects could not just ignore him or treat his servants anyway they wanted. If they did he was going to act because he had the power to act. Likewise, God will not just sit around and do nothing for those who refuse his invitation. God is all powerful and when the time is right he will act. He will destroy those who refuse His invitation and mistreat His servants. However, like the king, God will not stop there. Look at verses 8-10. The banquet had been prepared, and the king’s heart desire was for people to enjoy it. He sent his servants out into the streets to invite anyone they could find. The servants obeyed and they brought all the people they could find, both good and bad. It is important to note here that the kings invitation was no longer just for a chosen few, it was open to everyone, whether they were good or bad, whether they deserved to be invited or not. Likewise, it is important to note that the king’s servants did as the king ordered. They didn’t question the king or the people they were sent to gather, they simply did what the king told them to do. Verses 8 through 10 seem to be a perfect description of our times. God has prepared a great heavenly banquet, but His specially invited guests refused to come because they didn’t accept the authority of His son, Jesus. Now, God has opened up the kingdom of heaven for anyone who will accept his son – whether they’re good or bad. God has called servants to go out and gather the people – those servants are you and I. It is our job to go out and find anyone we can to bring to the wonderful banquet God has prepared. We don’t need to judge the people we invite, God just says go out there and simply invite them. Like the servants in the parable we need to simply obey our God and our King. What happened when the servants obeyed? The wedding hall was completely filled with guests. However, there was a problem. Look at verse 11. “But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes.” The king was not happy to see this man not dressed properly, but he didn’t just send his servants over to throw him out. The king went over to the man himself. The king addressed him personally, not as a sinner or as enemy, but as a friend (the new NIV puts the word friend at the end of the verse, whereas the old NIV, ESV and KJV all put the word at the beginning of the verse). Look at verse 12. “’Friend,’ he asked, ‘How did you get in here without wedding clothes?’ The man was speechless.” The man had gladly accepted the invitation from the king’s servants, but he had not prepared himself at all before presenting himself in the king’s presence. In short, he was careless and he didn’t show proper respect to the king. Once again, the king acted with the power he had. He had the man bound hand and foot and thrown outside into the darkness. This man serves as a warning for us today. By God’s great one-sided grace, we have all been invited to the great heavenly banquet that he has prepared for us. We don’t deserve the invitation but God offers it to us free of charge. However, that does not mean that we can just walk in any way we choose. God is still in control. We must enter the banquet in the way that he desires – that is, we must enter through Jesus Christ. We must accept Jesus and his words. This means we must obey Jesus and do what He tells us. This is how we are washed in his blood, how we take off our old clothes (our old sinful life) and how we can be clothed in Jesus’ righteousness (our wedding clothes). How terrible it will be for us if when we get to the heavenly banquet God finds that we have not dressed ourselves properly. Today Jesus told the religious leaders one final parable to help them to focus on the kingdom of God. Jesus told them that God had prepared a perfect heavenly banquet for them and sent his servants to bring them in. Likewise, God has prepared that banquet for each of us. He has sent his servants to bring us in. It is our job to accept his invitation by accepting his one and only son in our hearts. When we do this, Jesus himself will wash us, make us clean and put the proper clothes on us for His heavenly banquet. Accept God’s invitation today. |
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