Matthew 22:1-6 (ESV) – And again Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son, and sent his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding feast, but they would not come. 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.”’ But they paid no attention and went off, one to his farm, another to his business, while the rest seized his servants, treated them shamefully, and killed them. [(A parallel to this passage is found in Luke 14:16-24.) Jesus gives them another parable: the Parable of the Wedding Feast. This is another parable told specifically with the religious leaders in mind. This is actually the third of three parables Jesus spoke the scribes, lawyers, chief priests and Pharisees (the other two being the Parable of the Two Son—Matthew 21:28ff—and the Parable of the Landowner—Matthew 21:33ff). ‘The Kingdom of Heaven is like….’—each time Jesus speaks like this it reveals another facet, a few more details of what the Kingdom of Heaven is like. The information from each parable needs to be collected and merged to give the full picture. It’s sort of like the idea of taking a photograph of something from different angels. Each angle reveals new details of the same object. The object never changes, but the way of looking at it does. The king—God The son—Jesus Wedding banquet/marriage supper—the joy and privilege of being among the saved. The idea behind this parable is that the king should be due all the deference, honor, and respect due him. His son was owed the same as well. And the subjects were living in the kingdom; that is, they were expected (and not unreasonably at all) to accept the invitation. His servants—prophets, apostles, evangelists. ‘To those who had been invited’—the picture here is of the Jews as the chosen people. The idea is not that the Gentiles were ever barred from God’s Kingdom or were never to be invited. That’s not the intent of this parable. This parable is only speaking to show how evil and out of bounds the original invitees were in not attending. It’s to show how awful the majority of the Jews, and especially the religious leaders were, in what they were doing and how they were treating Jesus. Above all people in the world, the Jews should have recognized and been prepared for the arrival of the Messiah. But clearly the gospel record shows for the most part they rejected Him. It’s not that they didn’t know about the marriage feast; it’s that they refused to come—a conscious decision on their part—a conscious rejection of the king, and certainly showing the contempt they had for both him and his son. While the king would’ve been well within his rights to punish them for their initial refusal and rejection, he shows great loving patience toward the offenders by giving them another chance. Here we see God’s grace, love and mercy exhibited. ‘Some more servant’s—i.e. different ones at a different time. The idea is that they didn’t listen to the first ones, but surely they’d listen to the next ones (do you hear the echo to the Parable of the Landowner?). In fact in this second invitation the king has his servants elaborate on the great blessing this banquet will be to them: he’s spared no expense to make it an enjoyable occasion. The expense was all the king’s. The idea of oxen and fattened cattle shows he’d gone to great trouble to make this event spectacular and more than worth their time. ‘Come to the wedding banquet.’—the direct command of the king. In no way could they miss that they were required to be there. This wasn’t an optional occasion. The invitees blew off the invitation. (Luke’s gospel gives more detailed excuses about the rejections than Matthew’s. “I have just bought a field;’ “I have just bought five yoke of oxen;’ I have just married.”) The gist of it is: they rejected the offer and went off and did what they wanted to do. They focused on their stuff, not on acknowledging and honoring the king and his son on this most special of occasions. Matthew now gives a detail that Luke doesn’t: even worse than rejecting the king’s servants were the actions of some in abusing and mistreating the messengers. (Again, do you hear the echo to the Parable of the Landowner?)]
Posted on: Wed, 30 Oct 2013 10:37:11 +0000
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