21st Sunday after Pentecost Date: 19/09/05 Text: Matthew 22:1-14 Title: Let's Party!
21st Sunday after Pentecost
10/9/2005
Text: Matthew 22:1-14
Title: Let’s Party!
My dear fellow missionaries please join me in prayer. O Almighty God stir up your Holy Spirit within each of us as your Holy Words are spoken to us this morning. Let us not just hear what is being said, but take your Word into our hearts, so that when we leave this place, we will have the desire to invite others to join us at your banquet feast. Amen
Our Gospel reading for this morning is titled “The Parable of the Wedding Banquet.” It is pretty much taken for granted by those who read it that it generally does not apply to us, but to the Jews, especially the religious leaders of Jesus’ time who did not accept him as the promised Messiah. Those that think that way might concede if pushed that it might be talking about a future event, but that it really has little or nothhing to do with us today.
Over the years I have heard sermons preached on this parable. Some were written to show how terrible the Jewish people were at Jesus’ time. I have heard sermons that told the listener that God will only call you to faith so many times and then, POW that is it, no more chances. I have heard sermons that used this parable to put the fear of God into people because those listening were told that they really cannot know for sure if they are saved until Judgment Day, because after all look at what happened to the one wedding guest. I have even heard a sermon on how this parable shows us that we need to be properly dressed when we come to church.
None of those sermons do justice to the parable. For even they all have a different focus, they all have one thing in common; they are all law driven and have little or nothing to do with the Gospel, which is what this parable is really all about.
Before I explain what I mean, let’s take a quick look at the characters in the parable and who they represent. The King represents God. Those who are invited first are the Jewish people. The servants who are ignored, beaten and killed are the prophets, and disciples. The people gathered in from the street corners are the Gentiles. The person found without the proper wedding clothing is an unbeliever.
The problem is that this text is not about God’s condemnation, some event in the future, or the law, but it is about God and his love for all people. It is true that it has some law in it, for we see that those who mistreated and murdered the King’s servants were killed, and the city destroyed, and the man without the wedding clothes was tied up and thrown out into the darkness. That is all true, but that just clouds the true meaning of the text, because of that we tend to focus on the law and its condemnation.
Notice that the King, who is God, is the one sending out the invitations. He did the sending, they did the refusing. From that we see that God pursues those he invites, for God loves all people, and he wants them all to attend his Son’s wedding banquet but he will not force anyone to come and there is a limit to his patience as we see in verse 7, when those that turned down his invitation were killed and their city was destroyed.
But God does not stop there throwing up his hands in disgust and turning his back on the world when his servants are beaten and killed. He does not stop there, but issues the invitation again, this time to all people, which I think had to have included some of those who had first turned down his invitation. He does not care if those he first invited had rejected his invitation. He does not care if those he is inviting are criminals or the outcasts of society. He doesn’t care if they are clean, or educated, or Biblically illiterate, or anything else, for all he wants is for all to enjoy his Son’s wedding banquet.
I bet that there is not a single one of us here this morning that would have done what God did. If someone rejected our invitation to one of our children’s wedding we would have written them off in a heart-beat. They sure wouldn’t be invited to any more of our parties, those ungrateful wretches. That is what we would do, but thank goodness God is not like us, for he wants everyone to attend his Son’s banquet, including each one of us, as undeserving as we are.
Even today there are some who are too busy, or don’t care, or just will not accept his invitation. But that shouldn’t stop us from taking the invitation out to those we know, for each one of us should want others to share in God’s joyful banquet?
When we get to verse 11 we run into what looks like a difficulty in the text. If in fact the wedding banquet is heaven, as is commonly believed, then how is it that a wedding guest was thrown out of heaven?
Before we can figure out the answer to that question, we need to know what the wedding garment was that all the guests were given. The wedding robes were simply the white robe of righteousness that all those who believe in Jesus as their Savior were given when the Holy Spirit gave them their life-saving faith.
Now that we all know that the wedding garment is the righteousness of Jesus that he has clothed us with, we can see that the wedding banquet is not something in the future, or something that only takes place in heaven, but that it is taking place right now, here on earth.
Remember that the King is God in this parable and his coming to the wedding banquet is Judgment Day. That is why the person that did not have the robe on was thrown out when the King came in to see the guests.
We see from that that there are unbelievers in God’s church. They are sitting in churches all over the world for reasons known only to them and God. They are not wearing the robes of righteousness, even though we might think that they are, for God lets them stay in the church so that they can hear his words of forgiveness time and time again because he wants to give them the robe of righteousness he purchased for them on the cross. We can’t tell who they are, but our God the King can tell, and in the long haul that is all that matters.
So you see, we are taking part in the Son’s wedding banquet right now. It is to be a time of rejoicing and partying, for what better banquet table could we sit at than God’s table where we feast on his body and blood, where we hear Jesus’ words to us though the Word of God, where we see Jesus’ love through the love of those we worship with. I ask you, what could be better, for his banquet is a time of joy.
It is a time of joy, so why is it that we see so few joyful Christians? I don’t know the answer to that question, but I do know that some say that it is just their personality, the way they are, but I think that it is more than that. I think that too many people don’t feel the joy of forgiveness, for they still are hanging on to some of their own righteousness.
Others might think that Christians are suppose to look all solemn faced and all, for that is how their parents and others acted in church, for that showed everyone who saw them that they were serious about their religion.
Think about that for a moment. You say that you believe that you are undeserving of God’s invitation, of his forgiveness, that you know he has clothed you in his righteousness, but you are not joyful about that. I don’t know, but there seems to be a problem there someplace.
For knowing that you are clothed in Jesus’ robe of righteousness should not leave you solemn faced, for something interesting happens to those God gives Jesus’ robe of righteousness to. You see, you start to change. You start to notice that you are not speechless any more, for it seems that Jesus’ robe of righteousness has rubbed off on you, for you are starting to behave like the King behaves. You are spreading mercy and goodness around to “both the good and the bad” alike, hoping that others will accept the King’s invitation and join you in the greatest party ever given, the banquet feast that God has prepared for those who believe in him. Let’s party. Amen
10/9/2005
Text: Matthew 22:1-14
Title: Let’s Party!
My dear fellow missionaries please join me in prayer. O Almighty God stir up your Holy Spirit within each of us as your Holy Words are spoken to us this morning. Let us not just hear what is being said, but take your Word into our hearts, so that when we leave this place, we will have the desire to invite others to join us at your banquet feast. Amen
Our Gospel reading for this morning is titled “The Parable of the Wedding Banquet.” It is pretty much taken for granted by those who read it that it generally does not apply to us, but to the Jews, especially the religious leaders of Jesus’ time who did not accept him as the promised Messiah. Those that think that way might concede if pushed that it might be talking about a future event, but that it really has little or nothhing to do with us today.
Over the years I have heard sermons preached on this parable. Some were written to show how terrible the Jewish people were at Jesus’ time. I have heard sermons that told the listener that God will only call you to faith so many times and then, POW that is it, no more chances. I have heard sermons that used this parable to put the fear of God into people because those listening were told that they really cannot know for sure if they are saved until Judgment Day, because after all look at what happened to the one wedding guest. I have even heard a sermon on how this parable shows us that we need to be properly dressed when we come to church.
None of those sermons do justice to the parable. For even they all have a different focus, they all have one thing in common; they are all law driven and have little or nothing to do with the Gospel, which is what this parable is really all about.
Before I explain what I mean, let’s take a quick look at the characters in the parable and who they represent. The King represents God. Those who are invited first are the Jewish people. The servants who are ignored, beaten and killed are the prophets, and disciples. The people gathered in from the street corners are the Gentiles. The person found without the proper wedding clothing is an unbeliever.
The problem is that this text is not about God’s condemnation, some event in the future, or the law, but it is about God and his love for all people. It is true that it has some law in it, for we see that those who mistreated and murdered the King’s servants were killed, and the city destroyed, and the man without the wedding clothes was tied up and thrown out into the darkness. That is all true, but that just clouds the true meaning of the text, because of that we tend to focus on the law and its condemnation.
Notice that the King, who is God, is the one sending out the invitations. He did the sending, they did the refusing. From that we see that God pursues those he invites, for God loves all people, and he wants them all to attend his Son’s wedding banquet but he will not force anyone to come and there is a limit to his patience as we see in verse 7, when those that turned down his invitation were killed and their city was destroyed.
But God does not stop there throwing up his hands in disgust and turning his back on the world when his servants are beaten and killed. He does not stop there, but issues the invitation again, this time to all people, which I think had to have included some of those who had first turned down his invitation. He does not care if those he first invited had rejected his invitation. He does not care if those he is inviting are criminals or the outcasts of society. He doesn’t care if they are clean, or educated, or Biblically illiterate, or anything else, for all he wants is for all to enjoy his Son’s wedding banquet.
I bet that there is not a single one of us here this morning that would have done what God did. If someone rejected our invitation to one of our children’s wedding we would have written them off in a heart-beat. They sure wouldn’t be invited to any more of our parties, those ungrateful wretches. That is what we would do, but thank goodness God is not like us, for he wants everyone to attend his Son’s banquet, including each one of us, as undeserving as we are.
Even today there are some who are too busy, or don’t care, or just will not accept his invitation. But that shouldn’t stop us from taking the invitation out to those we know, for each one of us should want others to share in God’s joyful banquet?
When we get to verse 11 we run into what looks like a difficulty in the text. If in fact the wedding banquet is heaven, as is commonly believed, then how is it that a wedding guest was thrown out of heaven?
Before we can figure out the answer to that question, we need to know what the wedding garment was that all the guests were given. The wedding robes were simply the white robe of righteousness that all those who believe in Jesus as their Savior were given when the Holy Spirit gave them their life-saving faith.
Now that we all know that the wedding garment is the righteousness of Jesus that he has clothed us with, we can see that the wedding banquet is not something in the future, or something that only takes place in heaven, but that it is taking place right now, here on earth.
Remember that the King is God in this parable and his coming to the wedding banquet is Judgment Day. That is why the person that did not have the robe on was thrown out when the King came in to see the guests.
We see from that that there are unbelievers in God’s church. They are sitting in churches all over the world for reasons known only to them and God. They are not wearing the robes of righteousness, even though we might think that they are, for God lets them stay in the church so that they can hear his words of forgiveness time and time again because he wants to give them the robe of righteousness he purchased for them on the cross. We can’t tell who they are, but our God the King can tell, and in the long haul that is all that matters.
So you see, we are taking part in the Son’s wedding banquet right now. It is to be a time of rejoicing and partying, for what better banquet table could we sit at than God’s table where we feast on his body and blood, where we hear Jesus’ words to us though the Word of God, where we see Jesus’ love through the love of those we worship with. I ask you, what could be better, for his banquet is a time of joy.
It is a time of joy, so why is it that we see so few joyful Christians? I don’t know the answer to that question, but I do know that some say that it is just their personality, the way they are, but I think that it is more than that. I think that too many people don’t feel the joy of forgiveness, for they still are hanging on to some of their own righteousness.
Others might think that Christians are suppose to look all solemn faced and all, for that is how their parents and others acted in church, for that showed everyone who saw them that they were serious about their religion.
Think about that for a moment. You say that you believe that you are undeserving of God’s invitation, of his forgiveness, that you know he has clothed you in his righteousness, but you are not joyful about that. I don’t know, but there seems to be a problem there someplace.
For knowing that you are clothed in Jesus’ robe of righteousness should not leave you solemn faced, for something interesting happens to those God gives Jesus’ robe of righteousness to. You see, you start to change. You start to notice that you are not speechless any more, for it seems that Jesus’ robe of righteousness has rubbed off on you, for you are starting to behave like the King behaves. You are spreading mercy and goodness around to “both the good and the bad” alike, hoping that others will accept the King’s invitation and join you in the greatest party ever given, the banquet feast that God has prepared for those who believe in him. Let’s party. Amen
posted by Pastor Rhoads | 3:18 PM
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