Invited to a Wedding
Invited to a Wedding
Matthew 22:1-14
It’s nice to get a wedding invitation. The usual venue is limited, so the guest list is small, and it’s nice to be included. You were special enough to the bride or the groom to be added to the list. It makes you feel part of the family. We like wedding invitations. We look forward to celebrating a special day with family or friends. Let me begin this way: you’ve been invited to a wedding.
Not just any wedding, mind you. You’ve been invited to a royal wedding. I don’t know about you, but we watched, fascinated, when Prince William and Kate Middleton got married. The pageantry, the lavish decorations, the uniforms and elaborate dresses, the cathedral. I wouldn’t be surprised if the whole world tuned in to watch. I wasn’t invited, of course. To the British royal family, I’m nobody. But we can imagine what it would be like, how special it would be to have been invited. Of course, we’d have to take a suitable gift. We’d have to dress appropriately for the occasion. But what an honor it would be to receive such an invitation. Let me begin this way: you’ve been invited to the wedding of the prince.
What will you do? How will you respond?
Jesus begins this parable this way: “The kingdom of heaven is like ...” We have noted before what that means. This is a kingdom parable, and shows us how things are done in the kingdom Jesus is inaugurating. This is the way things work in the kingdom of heaven. But there are layers of meaning.
“... a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son ...” This is also what we have labeled a “wedding parable,” and there are more to come. One thing to note in these parables, the king in the kingdom of heaven is, of course, God the Father. We need to be careful, though, in interpreting the parables. Like any such story, they are symbolic, but only within limits. In this parable, for example, like the one before it, the son in the story represents Jesus. In some parables, instead of a king, it is a wealthy merchant, but the son doesn’t always represent Jesus. In some cases, they may represent the listener. This parable leads us to some interesting parallels later on.
One of those we find in Revelation 19. There is a three-fold hallelujah as heaven celebrates the fall of the Great Babylon, the city serving as the symbol of the enemies of God’s people. The third “hallelujah” is a song of praise celebrating the wedding of the Lamb. And it is the combined voice of a great multitude – “Hallelujah! For our Lord God Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready. Fine linen, bright and clean, was given to her to wear” (Rev. 19:6-8). Then John hears the angel speak to him, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!” (Rev. 19:9).
And it is the Church that is the Bride of Christ. We find that, and usually ignore it, in Ephesians 5. The reason we ignore it is because we’re trying to get women to submit to their husbands, and don’t want to deal with the issue of the way men are to treat their wives. I’ve heard dozens of sermons about wifely submission, and few, if any, about husbandly responsibility toward their wives. Paul doesn’t pull his punches, but Christian preachers certainly have. What Paul lays on the men is far harsher, far more dangerous, far more demanding than anything he demands of women.
Husbands, love your wives just as Christ love the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing of water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives ... (Eph 5:25-28). Paul says, This a profound mystery – but I am talking about Christ and the church (Eph 5:32). Men, this is not only your example, but this is what is expected of you. You are to be like Christ to your wife. But “like Christ” means that you make her holy, blameless, a radiant bride. You make her into a woman who is proud to be your wife. And “like Christ” means that you give yourself up, you lay your life on the line for her, you make the sacrifice for her.
But, Paul says, it’s not really about you at all. It’s about the Groom, Jesus Christ, and his Bride, the Church. He gave his life to make you (plural) clean, to make you all into a a radiant church, to wash away all your stains, iron away all your wrinkles, and make you into his blameless Bride, so that all heaven can celebrate together at the wedding supper of the Lamb. The King has invited you to a wedding – the wedding of his Son.
Back to the parable.
Jewish weddings of Jesus’ day had two or three parts. The first part was the betrothal. That was not usually a quiet, private event, but was celebrated by the family and the community. Even a betrothal celebration might be a multiple day event. Then the groom went back to his father’s insula to build and furnish the apartment he and his bride to live in. When the father approved the building and the furnishings, then a date was set for the wedding. That’s what John 14 is all about – Jesus going to prepare a place for his Bride, not knowing when he would return, because it all depended on the Father’s approval. It’s also what Jesus meant when he said of his return, “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father” (Mt 24:36). Several weeks prior to the wedding, invitations were sent out. RSVPs were returned. Then preparations for the wedding began. When the wedding and wedding feast were ready, messengers were sent out to notify those who had RSVP’d that it was time. The feast is ready, come on over. And the family and community would gather to celebrate for about seven days. That’s what the wedding at Cana was all about, in John 2. Even the poorest families made it a grand occasion and went all out to celebrate with their neighbors.
“He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come ...” Here’s the situation: they had not just been invited; they had accepted the invitation. If you’ve ever planned a wedding, you need to know how many guests are coming so you know how much food to prepare, how many tables to set, how much wine will be needed, how large a venue you will need, and more. The king had invited, they had said they would come, preparations had been made, and now that it was time ... “but they refused to come.”
He sent his servants a second time – “‘My oxen and fatted cattle have been butchered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.’”
“But they paid no attention and went off – one to his field, another to his business. The rest seized his servants, mistreated them and killed them.” They made excuses. The king had invited them to celebrate the wedding of his son, and suddenly they were too busy. Worse than too busy, worse than making excuses, they disrespected the king. Their treatment was a direct insult to the king. To insult the king was treason, and their refusal was not just a passive snub, but a deliberate provocation, thumbing their noses at the king. It was not neglect, but overt and explicit disrespect. The king had prepared a place for them. They responded with what amounts to open revolt.
So the king reacted, as kings are wont to do – “He sent his army and destroyed those murderers and burnt their city.” Could Jesus be talking about us, now? We have been invited, but are we too busy? A place is prepared for us, but suddenly we’ve lost interest? The banquet table is set, but we’d rather be somewhere else? Are we, even passively, in rebellion against the king? Then we will find no place at the table. And we will rightly earn the king’s wrath, inviting our own destruction.
What happens next defies convention. Instead of an empty banquet hall, the king sends servants to scour the countryside for anyone who wanted to come – the poor, the lame, the beggars – in Jesus’ words, “Go to the street corners and invite anyone you can find.” Remember the parable of the workers. The street corners were where day workers hung out waiting to be hired to work in the fields. These are people who live hand-to-mouth, day-to-day, who sometimes have to glean the leftover harvest to have bread for their children. “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.” Instead of celebrating with the nobles, the king celebrated with the common people. And in the kingdom of heaven, the common are the nobility, for the last are made first, and the servants are given places of honor. We’ve already learned that the kingdom of heaven is upside-down and inside-out, not like the kingdoms of man.
This may seem cruel, but the king noticed one person who was not dressed properly. He was not wearing wedding clothes. That was also a mark of dishonor. You don’t come to the king improperly attired. The wedding supper of the Lamb is not a “casual Friday” event, or a “barefoot at the beach” affair. To come without the proper attire would have been considered an insult to the king and to the king’s son. And I must tell you that the proper attire here has nothing to do with the clothing you are wearing today. While that is an issue for me, it isn’t what Jesus is talking about.
Paul told the Galatian churches that all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ (Gal 3:27). To the church at Colossae, Paul wrote, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience (Col 3:12). Peter instructed, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another (1 Pet 5:5). Paul told the Roman Christians, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ (Ro 13:14). We are to put on the new self and the virtue of love (Col 3:10, 14). Your wedding attire is faith in Christ and a life devoted to Christ. Your wedding attire is the fruit of the Spirit and the attributes of Jesus. You are not dressed for the wedding supper of the Lamb until you are transformed and made new in Christ, until you are a new creation in Christ (Rom 12:2; 2 Cor 3:18, 5:17).
Let’s back up and take another look at the parable. This time, let’s consider the context: who was Jesus talking to? Just before this, we read that the chief priests and the Pharisees heard Jesus’ parables and knew he was taking about them (21:45). Our text began, Jesus spoke to them again ... (22:1). So, the parable of the wedding banquet is directed at the Pharisees and priests, the important leaders of the people (or at least they thought they were important). They are the ones who teach Torah, who lead the religious life of the nation. They would consider themselves influential enough to be invited to the wedding banquet. They are, after all, God’s servants, keepers of the faith. Jesus has already called God his Father, implying, at the very least, that he is the Son of God. In Matthew’s purpose, Jesus is bringing the kingdom of God to earth, and the Jews already considered God to be their king. They will immediately recognize themselves as the called ones, those who had been invited.
But they do not welcome God’s Son. They do not honor Jesus. In fact, we have just been told that they are looking for a way to arrest him. They have accused him of being in league with the devil. They have attempted to stone him to death on at least two occasions, according to John. Their refusal to believe, or to accept Jesus’ teaching, is an insult to God. These who know the Scriptures so well, who interpret the prophecies for the people, refuse to see what’s right in front of them. They are traitors to God. No doubt they have excuses for their own disobedience. In fact, as we know, they interpreted the Scriptures to their own advantage. But, to the point of the parable, they are those who are invited; they are the ones who have been called. But they excuse themselves from the wedding banquet. They are the ones who have killed the prophets. They were the tenant farmers in the previous parable who murder the son of the landowner. And though they knew the word, they paid no attention to it.
Because of their rebellion, the king will destroy them and their holy city, and turn his attention to the street corners. The invitation goes out now to whoever believes, to whosoever will, to “Whoever acknowledges me” (Mt 10:32), whoever hears and believes (Jn 5:24). It is the sinner whose prayer for mercy, the blind who pleads for sight, the deaf who hears the call of Christ, the lame who dances to the music of heaven, the gentile and outsider who truly believes. These are the ones around the banquet table, dressed in robes of righteousness, feasting with the king at the wedding supper of the Lamb. The call goes out to you and to me, the common and the plain, “come and dine.” These are those who have been chosen. Those who were called excused themselves, so the King has chosen others to take their place.
Come to the table. Gather for the wedding supper of the Lamb.
You are invited to the wedding.