Matthew 22:1-14
1 Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying: 2 “The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son. 3 He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused to come.
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. 6 The rest seized his servants, mistreated them and killed them. 7 The king was enraged. He sent his army and destroyed those murderers and burned their city.
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.
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.’
14 “For many are invited, but few are chosen.”
“Changed By God’s Grace”
Two thoughts and a challenge capture something of the meaning of this parable.
The first is summarized in 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. Again as Dr Helmet 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.”
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!
“They Made Light Of It”
When the Roman Emperor Constantine became a Christian, the Christian faith lost something. It lost its cutting edge. Nominal Christians appeared in vast numbers for the first time. It no longer cost to be a Christian. It became easy to make light of it.
We can see something of this today in:
Indifference - “Christianity without Sweat.” No call to discipleship; no costly grace freely given. No sacrifice in love until it hurts. Just easy going, rocking chair religion which isn’t too important and doesn’t get in the way.
Insincerity -”Christianity without tears”. No confession of sin; no tears shed for the wrongs of the past; no cross to bear in the present, just a name on a roll and a sometimes present body in a pew.
To be invited to the banquet is to fellowship with God at the Banquet table filled with grace; to share in the joys of being a part of Gods Kingdom, and to share in the work load of spreading this Kingdom on earth. It is a high calling, a great gift, and a life consuming challenge.
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