Matthew 22:1 – 7
And again, Jesus spoke to
them in parables, saying, 2 “The kingdom of heaven may be
compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son, 3 and
sent his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding
feast, but they would not come. 4 Again he sent other servants,
saying, ‘Tell those who are invited, “See, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen
and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready. Come to the
wedding feast.”’ 5 But they paid no attention and went off, one
to his farm, another to his business, 6 while the rest seized
his servants, treated them shamefully, and killed them. 7 The
king was angry, and he sent his troops and destroyed those murderers and burned
their city. (ESV)
This is the parable of the marriage feast. And keep in mind
that this is when the Pharisees had ramped up their controversy with Jesus…
This was during the last week of our Lord’s ministry when it
was very apparent that He was on His way to the cross.
The enmity against Him had increased and the Pharisees, the scribes,
and rulers were plotting together to kill Him.
And knowing this, Jesus spoke very sharply to them and
informed them quite clearly about what was going to happen.
We read just three verses earlier; in Chapter 21, Verse 43 where
Jesus is telling the Pharisees: … I tell you; the kingdom of God will be taken
away from you and given to a people producing its fruits.
Jesus is telling these Pharisees that they were going to
lose their privileged position and that the gospel was from that time on, to go
out to all nations everywhere.
Now in today’s scripture we have our Lord's description of
what will happen as a result of the rejection of our Lord by the nation of Israel.
All of it is implied in this parable of the marriage feast.
However, we need to realize that this parable is based on an
eastern marriage… unlike how we do things here in the west.
The custom there was to invite people to the wedding feast a
long time before it actually occurred. There was no set date or time.
First, they would send out the invitations which would then be
acknowledged and accepted.
Then, when the time of the wedding had come, the servants
were sent out to tell those who had already accepted the invitation to come.
This could easily be a picture of nation of Israel.
You see, historically, they had been invited to the wedding
long before, through the prophets of old that God had sent. They were waiting
for their messiah to come and the invitation was to come and have fellowship
with the Son.
Remember our scripture tells us that the marriage feast was
for the son and now everything thing is ready.
The Son is there in their midst and is calling them to come…
“Come everything is ready. Come and enter into fellowship with Me."
But they refused even though they had already accepted the
invitation.
That is the picture our Lord is drawing here.
And not only did they refuse to come but when the king sent
his servants out a second time to inform them how wonderful the food was and to
entice them to come and enjoy the feast…
They ignored the invitation, going off to their farms and
businesses.
They were putting their own concerns of everyday life first.
They were taking the ordinary, normal matters of business and counting them as a
far greater importance.
Yet this parable tells of others were far worse; that they
seized the messengers the king had sent and killed them. They not only refused
the invitation, but they hated it and they murdered the servants who brought
it.
And it was then… and only then, that the king became angry…
Notice the nature of the call here. It is an invitation.
It is not a summons to report for duty; it is an invitation
which recognizes the right of the ones invited to reject, if they so desire.
It is without coercion or compulsion. When God offers to us
this marvelous gift of life in Jesus Christ, He does not threaten us. He does
not try to coerce or compel us to come; He offers it as an invitation which we
are free to accept, or reject, if we want to.
"Come, all you who are weary and heavy laden and I will
give you rest,"
Each of us is invited to come… if we really want to live… is
the nature of the invitation.
Let us not treat lightly this marvelous, and gracious
invitation to come to the fellowship of the Son.
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