14 November, 2017
Matthew 22:1-14 (Parable Of The Wedding Banquet)
(aka "The Best & The Greatest Party Ever"; aka Messianic Banquet - This is NOT a fictitious banquet)
Related passages on the description of this end-time Messianic Banquet:- Luke 14:15-24, Isaiah 25:6-8, Matthew 26:29, Luke 22:16-18, Revelation 19:6-9, Revelation 21:1-4
Backdrop
We want to party! Don’t we? Party big! And then we go to parties, and come back dry / un-satisfied, wanting for more! We are never satisfied with the endless wild parties of this world. All this is because we are all made for the ONE, holy, yet to come “The Best & the Greatest Party Ever” - “The Messianic Banquet of Matthew 22:1-14”!
Verse by verse commentary:
verse 22:1-2 "Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying: “The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son."
Note the significance of the "wedding" backdrop. On earth, a wedding can be considered as one of the most significant event, as it is about two souls deciding to spend rest of life with one another. In the Bible, the picture of earthly wedding is also used to describe the union of Jesus Christ ("groom") with His Church ("bride"). (https://www.gotquestions.org/bride-of-Christ.html). So, here the King being Father God, and Son being Jesus - this occasion is about celebrating the union of Jesus ("groom") with the Church ("bride") FOR ETERNITY - an occasion much more significant than earthly wedding!
3 "He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused to come."
Jews were the first to be invited to God's Kingdom. God proclaimed His message to Jews through prophets till John the Baptist. Romans 9:4 says about the Jews - "Theirs is the adoption to sonship; theirs the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and the promises.". But, as John 1:11 says "His own (Jews) did not receive Him (Jesus)"!
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.’
5 But they paid no attention and went off—one to his field, another to his business. "
This is quite mind blowing to me. The richest and the most generous guy ever is throwing a party and inviting people for free. Likely, it will be the best party ever and there will be best food and also a great networking opportunity. As Isaiah 25:6-8 says “The LORD of hosts will prepare a lavish banquet for all peoples on this mountain; A banquet of aged wine, choice pieces with marrow, And refined, aged wine.”. In-fact, a commentator pointed out the excuses given by people (from Luke 14:15-24) are quite lame (For example one said "I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to examine them" - who buys oxen without examining them??). This is inline with Romans 1:20 which testifies"people are without excuse.". The un-wiseness in rejecting this invitation for worldly things, is testified by Jesus in John 4:13-14: "Everyone who drinks of this water (of the world) will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.". Isaiah 55:1-2 also says "Every one who thirsts, come to the waters; And you who have no money come, buy and eat Come, buy wine and milk Without money and without cost. "Why do you spend money for what is not bread, And your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, And delight yourself in abundance.”
In-fact great life restoration is going to follow the party:- Isaiah 25:6-8: " ... He will swallow up death forever; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces ... ",
Revelation 21:1-4: “ ... He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away ... ”.
So despite all these glorious prospects and promises, why would people decline the invitation?? Quite mind-blowing, huh?
People have to be deeply deeply lost to decline such an invitation! - which is the case. Apart from one's own grossly sinful nature which results in great lostness, there is also Satan and his army of fallen angels who blind people (Matthew 13:25:- "But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away."; "2 Corinthians 4:4:- The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God."; Also a write-up on "Spiritual Warfare")
What excuses to do people give TODAY for rejecting to follow Jesus?
6. "The rest seized his servants, mistreated them and killed them."
Prophets were even mistreated, and some even killed (Matthew 23:37)!! They were so deeply deeply lost!
7 "The king was enraged. He sent his army and destroyed those murderers and burned their city."
Remember, "The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love." (Psalm 103:8). But God is also a just King - Jesus makes it clear - "But unless you repent, you too will all perish." (Luke 13:3). The good news is Jesus took all the punishments for our sins, so that if we repent and put our faith Jesus, we are delivered from judgement from the just God.
In-fact why would God let His dear prophets and Son Jesus (who never sinned) suffer and die for the sake of these grossly sinful / unfaithful people?? This is another mind-blowing fact! God did that because He loves people so much. In-fact the love story between God and His people is quite scandalous. In the Old Testament we see God's people consistently tend to go astray towards unfaithfulness, to the extent that they did not deserved any mercy. God's people were often called to have the spirit of "harlotry". But God remained faithful and kept working out plans for their redemption, at great great ... cost (i.e., super painful death of His sinless, beloved, Son Jesus)! (An write-up on how far would God go to love people)
8 “Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to come. 9 So go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find.’ 10 So 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."
Jews were initially invited. Then Jesus opened the invitation to all people:- Matthew 28:19-20:-"Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. ". At that time, Jews did not exist in all nations, hence this passage indicates that Jesus is here opening up the invitation to His Kingdom to all the people of the earth. In this second call, "servants" are Christians.
11 “But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. 12 He 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.’"
Now here, this could be the time after the second coming of Jesus, as referred to in Revelation 19:6-9, Revelation 21:1-4.
From Luke 14:15-24, we learn that the guests included "poor, crippled, blind, and lame". So it is very likely, that many may not have have been resourceful enough to have their own wedding clothes. So likely, the wedding clothes was distributed. I believe that being adorned with wedding clothes here is symbolic of "being saved"(Recall the imagery in Isaiah 61:10: “For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of his righteousness, as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.”). Also, because the judgement in verse 13 is for those who are not "saved" according to the rest of the Scriptures.
I believe ones mentioned in Matthew 7:23-24 (Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?' Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'") would also be like the man here not wearing wedding clothes. And also perhaps, ones like Judas.
14 “For many are invited, but few are chosen.”
Everyone is invited to be part of God's Kingdom (verse 9), but only those who put their faith in Jesus, and commit their lives to following Jesus are "chosen" to be with God in heaven for eternity.