Oct. 12, 2014 18th Sunday of Pentecost

Matthew 22:1-14

1 Once more Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying: 2 "The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding banquet for his son. 3 He sent his slaves to call those who had been invited to the wedding banquet, but they would not come. 4 Again he sent other slaves, saying, "Tell those who have been invited: Look, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready; come to the wedding banquet.' 5 But they made light of it and went away, one to his farm, another to his business, 6 while the rest seized his slaves, mistreated them, and killed them. 7 The king was enraged. He sent his troops, destroyed those murderers, and burned their city. 8 Then he said to his slaves, "The wedding is ready, but those invited were not worthy. 9 Go therefore into the main streets, and invite everyone you find to the wedding banquet.' 10 Those slaves went out into the streets and gathered all whom they found, both good and bad; so the wedding hall was filled with guests. 11 "But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing a wedding robe, 12 and he said to him, "Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding robe?' And he was speechless. 13 Then the king said to the attendants, "Bind him hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.' 14 For many are called, but few are chosen."

 “The Parable of the Wedding Feast”

Two points stand out in this text.

The first is summarized by the words of Dr. Helmet Thielicke:
“Christian satiation is worse then hungry heathenism.”  Indifference and complacency are both dangerous to faith.  They take the life out of it.

The second is pointed to by the words of Nietzsche: “If you expect me to believe in your Redeemer, you have to look more redeemed.”  God expects to see something different in our lives because we have been to his banquet.


We are shocked and surprised by the treatment of the one who came to the feast without a wedding garment. We do want to have our cake and eat it too.  As Dr Helmut Thielicke says, “We seat ourselves at the banquet table without a wedding garment when we allow our sins to be forgiven but still want to hang on to them.”  p. 190

When we have no intention of being changed by God’s grace!

God’s intention is to change us into God’s likeness - like it or not.  If we refuse to be changed; we will not be welcome in God’s Kingdom.  Make what you can of that!