Invited to the Father’s banquet

series

Reading: Matthew 22:1-14

Again Jesus spoke to them – who is ‘them’? – look back at ch 21 –

To the religious leaders Jesus said:

Bear Fruit! <ppt>

It’s the end of another parable and religious leaders are listening to Jesus. He finishes the story with this comment”

Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruit.

Jesus has just used an illustration from Psalm 118 – and that’s a poem they would know well. It’s part of what the priests called the ‘great Hallelujah’ and they sang or recited it every passover.

It’s a picture of a stone on a building site. It’s an insignificant stone, one the builders threw on the junk pile, but God, the great the architect, spotted it and realised its potential. In fact it was just the right shape and size to complete the building – and it became the cornerstone holding the whole building together.

“The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. This is the Lord’s dong and it is marvellous in our eyes.”

the cornerstone <ppt>

So by implication Jesus is saying “The one you reject – i.e. me – has been placed – by God – at the very foundation of the religious building you think you’re constructing. You rejected me, but God set me as the cornerstone.

“What God is looking for is not your kind of legalistic faith, but people who show the fruit of his kingdom – people who show by their actions that they have almighty God as their king!”

Ouch!

See 21:45

“When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they perceived that he was speaking about them. And although they were seeking to arrest him, they feared the crowds, because they held Jesus to be a prophet”

So two things stopped them from arresting Christ

• the crowds loved him and hung on his every word

• he was, after all, only telling stories and quoting the Bible, and what could possibly be wrong with that?

the scene: crowd & leaders <ppt>

So imagine the scene.

• Crowds of people listening to Jesus, laughing when he laughed, crying at the pathos of his story-telling … and all the time gripped by every word.

• And in small clutches on the edge of the crowd were the religious officials. Self-appointed guardians of God’s good taste, feeling more and more uncomfortable as each story-line spilled out

And that’s where we are in 22:1

“Again Jesus spoke to them in stories,”

You can almost hear the crowd murmuring ‘go on Jesus, give them another one!” [and he told them a cracker].

• Let’s try to hear the story as they heard it

“The kingdom of heaven will be compared to a king who threw a wedding banquet for his son.

So we’ve got the scene: a king, prince and a wedding. The prince had found his bride and we’re hearing about the celebrations in the royal court.

So the king send his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding feast

This was normal practice. A person could be invited to a feast but, because lavish feasts like this took so long to prepare, it was not uncommon for a second message to be sent to say “we’re ready now – it’s time to turn up”

And here is the first twist in the narrative

“but they wouldn’t come”

Not couldn’t because they were sick or travelling, but wouldn’t because they decided they had better things to do.

So the king though ‘I’ll try again’ and

v4 “he sent other servants saying “tell everyone on the guest list ‘I’ve prepared the banquet! My ox roasts are ready, the fattened calves have been slaughtered, the decorations are here, my prince and his wife-to-be are waiting for their first dance – came and have a party! >>>”

But they ignored the servants

one of the guests went off to count his sheep (again), another one to read his e-mail

(sort of) The point Jesus makes is that the excuses they gave for not coming are entirely trivial

and then another twist in the narrative:

but the third bunch surrounded the kings servants, mugged them, got out knives and hacked them to death.

This is surely a vast overreaction. instead of responding to God’s call, the killed God’s messenger. And what had the religious establishment often been doing to God’s prophets for hundreds of years?

The king was livid! He called in his army general and gave him one simple and clear instruction – nuke them – burn down their town – wipe them out.

No sooner had the general left than the king called in some more servants. “These people we’ve invited” he told them “have passed up the invitation of a lifetime. So far as we are concerned they are just not worthy of being part of our celebration.

And here’s the point they would hear:

So here’s my plan. Go out into the streets and get anybody. Ben, Anna you’re invited – Coin, Fiona – you’re invited >>>

I want the bankers, the social workers, the bin men, the web designers,

I want the ministers wives and the whole of the Eastbourne bonfire society, Tell them ‘you’re invited to the royal wedding so get yourself ready and come!

And not long after the banqueting hall was heaving.

In their society it was customary for people attending a wedding to wear a particular type of clothing. Probably white.

BUT when the king came in he spotted one person who had accepted the invitation, but not bothered to get ready. Instead of wearing white – he was in … tartan!

So the king looks him up and down – “What’s this? I invited you to a wedding – you know what the score is, wear something white and you’re wearing this!”

and with a flick of the kings finger his bouncers took him and threw him out.

And under his breath he said “I invited everyone, but not everyone can be chosen for this.”

Then the Pharisees went and plotted how to entangle him, to get him to say something they could arrest him for.

Some theology …

Two things of theological importance – about how we work out and hear the message Jesus intended to give us from the story.

• <ppt: Mark and Luke are different> Some of you may spot that there are other stories with similar plots in Mark and Luke, and some people think they are all modifications of the same story. But when we look into the details, the differences are so great we really need to treat this as a separate parable, told by Jesus for this particular purpose on this particular day.

• <ppt: context matters> Something we’ve noticed about Matthew and the way he retells Jesus’ parables is that context (what’s going on around) is usually very important – and this is just the same. Understand the context and we’ll discover God’s message. Ignore the context and the story becomes an almost unsolvable puzzle.

• <ppt: ask questions> It’s always a helpful question to ask of the Bible “What did this mean to the person who was there at the time?” and “What did it mean to the first person who heard Matthew reading it to them?”

Symbols

Context (what’s going on?)

Jesus is having a running debate with the Pharisees and religious leaders.

• These people thought they were a cut above everyone else because they guarded God’s institutions and taught God’s people. BUT Jesus kept pointing the finger at them because they failed to live by God’s standards – the very standards they were teaching to others.

• So how does this (really bizarre) story tell us anything to do with that?

We’re going to look for symbols – and these are symbols the people (especially the Pharisees) would easily have picked up

The king

Who might the king symbolise – the most obvious match is God himself. He’s a generous king and full of love. He has a son whose special day is coming up when his son is celebrating his marriage – he’s found the love of his life!

The son

Although he’s only mentioned once, he’s key to the story. The king has a son who is in love with his bride and wants other people to celebrate with him. So who does the king ask first? – all the people who are associated with the king’s family. The courtiers, the officials and the dignitaries.

The banquet

What does this symbolise? There is going to be a climactic moment when all the invitation and preparations come together. The wedding itself. So the banquet symbolises the blessings of God’s salvation! He wants people to receive his largesse – he’s the generous king who spares nothing in the lavishness of the celebrations – just look! – whole oxen are being roasted – whole calves are slaughtered ready for cooking. This is a huge and opulent celebration with a limited number of guests.

The invited guests

If you were invite to an occasion like this, why you’ve really made it!. This is the hottest ticket in town. If you have one of these invitations you can put everything else on hold for the day. All you have to do is dress for a wedding and get on down there.

the rejected guest

We might also draw an inference from the fact that only one of the people who were invited was rejected – it indicates that God wants to eject very few! His grace is such that he seeks the many. Heaven will be full!

Message

Beware passing up God’s offers

Have you ever had that feeling ‘God’s doing something in my life’ – don’t ignore it!

You may think you don’t qualify but God wants you

God is actively searching for anyone who will accept his invitation to new life

Be careful to frame your life around God’s purpose for you.

Or think that you can get away with a lesser commitment than everyone else. Pseudo- Christians do exist who, on the outside, have accepted Gods invitation but on the inside know perfectly well they’re just in it for the ride. maybe to gain reputation or some other advantage by pretending to be in the kingdom.