Text: Matthew 22:1-14 Proper 23A
SN: 0032 10/15/23
The Feast is Ready, Come to the Feast
If you could be invited to one party or event in your life, what would it be? Would it be the Super Bowl, the Oscars, or something that’s only happened once in many of our lives a royal coronation? How would you respond to such an invitation? Would you be filled with joy and gratitude? Would you count down the days till that event filled with anticipation? Or would you spurn the invitation and make up a lame excuse why you couldn’t go? Would you insult and perhaps even hurt the one who sent you the invitation?
That would be crazy. But that is exactly the situation Jesus described in our parable this morning. A rich king had prepared a lavish wedding banquet for his son. When the feast was ready, he sent his servants to summon those who had been invited to the feast. They refused the invitation. So, the king sent more servants to summon those who had been invited. Some made excuses as to why they could not come, while others mistreated and killed the king’s servants. The angry king destroyed the city of those who had killed his servants. He then ordered his servants to go out on the highways and byways and invite all they found to come to his feast.
In order to understand this parable, we need to understand the context in which Jesus gave it. Shortly after the Triumphal Entry of Palm Sunday, Jesus was teaching and preaching in the temple courts on either Monday or Tuesday of Holy Week. The Pharisees, chief priests, and other leaders of the people questioned by what authority Jesus was teaching these things. Jesus responded with a series of parables intended to call these men to repentance.
All three of the parables deal with the idea of disobedience towards God and rejection of his Word. In the parable of the Wedding Banquet, Jesus says that the chief priests and elders of the people are like those guests who had been invited to the banquet but had rejected the invitation. These were the same leaders who had rejected the ministry of John the Baptist and now rejected the ministry of Christ and were actively plotting to kill him. Jesus uses this parable as a reminder and a warning of what happens to those who reject God’s Word.
Throughout the Old Testament, the people of both Israel and Judah had repeatedly turned away from God. They had fallen into sin and rebellion. God, in his great mercy, sent his prophets to his people again and again to call them to repentance. Sometimes, the people would listen, but many times, the people would scorn and attack these servants of God. We see this in the story of Elijah being persecuted by wicked King Ahab and Queen Jezebel. We see this in the book of Jeremiah, where that prophet was repeatedly mocked and threatened for his message of warning. This history against God’s servants, the prophets, is summed up in the letter to the Hebrews 11, “They were stoned; they were sawed in two; they were tempted; they were killed with the sword; they went around in sheepskins and goatskins, needy, afflicted, and mistreated. The world was not worthy of them as they wandered in deserts and mountains and caves and holes in the ground.”
God’s great mercy and patience are displayed in this history and the parable. Just as the king sent more servants to extend the invitation to the wedding feast, God sent his prophets again and again. God even sent his own Son to preach, witness, and call his people to repentance. But God’s patience with sinners is not infinite. There is a time when God will punish the sins of those who rebel against him and refuse to repent. We see this in the history of Israel and Judah. God sent the Assyrians to destroy the kingdom of Israel, and he sent the Babylonians to take the kingdom of Judah into captivity. We also see this after Jesus’s death when the Romans destroyed the city of Jerusalem and the temple in 70 AD.
While this parable is a warning specifically to the chief priests and elders of the people, it also serves as a warning to us today. As Christians, we are God’s chosen people. Through faith and the waters of baptism, we have received an invitation to the great wedding feast of the Lamb. The glorious feast awaits in eternity, where we will dwell in the presence of our God for all eternity. But are there times that we give other things higher priority than the invitation of our God? Do we faithfully attend worship and partake of the glorious foretaste of that heavenly feast offered in Holy Communion, or do we sometimes give work, leisure, family, or anything else higher priority? The sad truth is that we are breaking the 1st and greatest commandment to love God anytime we sin because we are saying that our sinful pleasure is more important to us at that moment than God.
Dear brothers and sisters, by faith in Christ, we have received a gracious invitation to the wedding feast of our Savior. Isaiah describes this banquet as the most lavish and extravagant banquet that has ever been prepared. “On this mountain the Lord Almighty will prepare a feast of rich food for all peoples, a banquet of aged wine— the best of meats and the finest of wines.” This is an invitation of pure grace. Like the king in the wedding banquet, God sent his servants to preach the Gospel to anyone they could find. We are not worthy to receive this invitation. By nature, we are all sinners and deserve only the wrath of God. But in his mercy, he extends the invitation of the Gospel to all people.
The message of the Gospel creates faith in our hearts and makes us worthy to attend the feast of salvation. As Paul writes in Romans 1, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes—to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed by faith, for faith, just as it is written, ‘The righteous will live by faith.’” Paul is talking about the righteousness given to us because of faith. Jesus Christ offered his perfect life as a payment for the sins of the entire world.
By faith, we receive his perfection. Our sins have been washed away by the blood of the lamb. By his resurrection, he proved that God accepted his sacrifice. We can be absolutely certain that our sins have been paid for. As the words of our hymn this morning proclaim, “Bold shall I stand in that great day; who can a word against me say? Fully absolved through these, I am from sin and fear, from guilt and shame.” We are forgiven; more than that, we have been invited to an eternal banquet in heaven. The power of death has been broken, and all who believe in Christ will be raised again in glory on the last day to dwell with God in that glorious place where there is no more weeping, crying, or pain.
Dear friends, because we have received the invitation to the great feast, we are God’s children. And as God’s children, we are called to live as his children. Think of the wedding guest who was at the feast without wedding clothes. How would you feel if one of the guests showed up in filthy clothes at your wedding or the wedding of a son or daughter? You would be insulted. You would feel that this person did not appreciate the honor shown to him.
This is how God feels when his people do not live and act as his people. Our sins are an affront to God, and we want and desire to live in a way that is pleasing to our heavenly Father. We obey his commands because we know this makes him happy and shows our gratitude for the many blessings he has given us. We fulfill his commands by showing his love to others. And we can do this in many different ways. We are all parts of one body in Christ, but just as each body has a unique function and role, we, too, have been given unique gifts to serve our God.
Some of us have been given the gift of sharing God’s Word with others and teaching the truths of his Word. Others have been given hands that serve in the church by cleaning, repairing, and serving. We have all been called to support the work of his church by giving our offerings of returning to God a portion of the gifts that he has blessed us with. We all serve in a variety of ways in God’s church.
All of these help spread the message of the Gospel to the ends of the earth. Maybe we can’t do that ourselves, but our gifts that we joyfully give to the service of the church help spread the message of love.
Our God has graciously invited all people to the great victory feast of the Lamb. That feast is ready, and God now calls all people to come and enjoy that feast. Some will reject this gracious invitation and be thrown out where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth. But God desires that as many as possible hear this glorious invitation of the Gospel. Let us go forth and use whatever gifts God has given us to share this invitation. Amen.