Matthew 22:1-14 [Pentecost 21 CWS A]
Pastor Ron Koehler Grace-Tucson, AZ October 25, 2020
Jesus Guides His Church with a Gracious Invitation Dear friends in Christ, Certainly you know what it is like to have a really rough day, right? Even children and young people know what this is like. Everything goes wrong. You can’t do anything right. Mom and dad aren’t happy with you. School is awful. These days happen for adults when the whole day at work is stressful, and relationships are tense or on the verge of breaking apart, and the kids just won’t listen or behave. You have experienced really rough days. We all have. But you should know that Jesus had them too. Tuesday of Holy Week—just days before he would be put on trial by the Jewish leaders and sentenced to death on a cross by the Roman governor—was a day like that for Jesus. It started in the morning as Jesus and his disciples entered Jerusalem. Those Jewish religious leaders questioned his authority to clear the temple the day before and his teaching there in the temple courts. That day, one by one, each of the religious groups would come to him with a question designed to trap him in his words. They wanted to discredit his claims to be the Messiah and give them an excuse to put him to death. The chief priests, teachers of the law, the elders of the people, and the Pharisees questioned him. Then it was the Herodians…then the Sadducees… then the Teachers of the Law again. After they all put him on the spot, Jesus did the same with them, asking them what they thought of the Messiah. After they would not give an answer, Jesus taught the crowds and warned them about these leaders. Then he taught his disciples. Finally, he gave the “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees” sermon where he called them blind guides, whitewashed tombs, hypocrites, snakes and vipers. That was a long, rough day—and all that with his suffering and death on his mind! On that day, as the chief priest, teachers of the law, and elders of the people were gathered around him, Jesus spoke to them again in parables—the ones we have heard the last couple weeks and this one before us today. As we listen to Jesus teach through this story, we discover this truth: Jesus Guides His Church with a Gracious Invitation. I’d like you to keep in mind something that may not at first be obvious—even on this difficult day for our Savior, he was still trying to get the attention of those religious teachers with this story so that they would repent of their sins and accept his invitation of grace. His effort today with us is that we also might repent of similar sins, recognize his gracious invitation, AND that we serve him like the servants in the story.
Jesus substitutes a certain king for God, and the son of that king represents Jesus. He uses a wedding banquet as the setting for a story of how God extends a gracious invitation to all people…how some people react to that invitation…and what it means for them eternally. Since Jesus spoke this first to those Jewish religious leaders, let’s talk about that before we get to what this has to do with us. The Jews were God’s chosen people. Out of all the people in the world, he had to pick one from which the Savior would be born—one family tree and one people to pass on the promises of God regarding this Savior so that they and all other people might recognize that Savior when he finally came. There was nothing special about the Jews; it was simply God’s loving choice to make it them. They certainly were blessed to be God’s chosen people! All the religious leaders that I mentioned were especially blessed to know all the details of God’s love toward his people over the centuries and to know, inside and out, the promises and prophecies of the One who would come to pay for their sins. Unfortunately, they found themselves on the wrong side of this parable! The Gracious Invitation to attend the wedding banquet—the invitation to believe that Jesus is the son of God—was declined by many of those religious leaders and by many others within the Jewish community and outside of it too. He sent out his servants to summon those who were invited to the wedding banquet, but they did not want to come. Though God sent his servants (like John the Baptist) to invite them to see Jesus as God’s Son and their Savior, they did not want to believe that. God continued to send messengers of truth to share this Gracious Invitation, sharing greater details about the wonder of his love in Jesus and the forgiveness and salvation that come by faith in him: “Then he sent out other servants and said, ‘Tell those who are invited: Look, I have prepared my dinner. My oxen and my fattened cattle have been butchered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet!’ Some were too busy with their work and worldly concerns to be bothered with God. Others had different feelings; they hated the servants who graciously and excitedly invited them to trust in the Son of God: The rest seized the king’s servants, mistreated them, and killed them. Is this not what angry Jewish leaders had done to their own prophets whom God had sent to them? Though we clearly see God’s grace in repeated invitations to see his Son as the Savior and to trust in him, that undeserved love of God was rejected by many who listened to Jesus himself while he walked this earth, including those Jewish leaders who should have seen him for who is was and is! This reminds us how terrible the sinful nature is.
As a result, the king was very angry. He sent his army and killed those murderers and burned their town. This is how Jesus pictured God’s judgment on sin and unbelief. Those who reject the Gracious Invitation to trust in his Son will not receive eternal life in heaven but will instead suffer the banishment and fire of hell. After this glimpse of divine justice, we see God’s grace again! Another invitation goes out! His invitation to those who rejected it made them worthy to attend the banquet; their rejection made them unworthy. So the king continued to extend the invitation. Others were called to come to the banquet: “So go to the main crossroads and invite as many as you find to the wedding banquet.” Those servants went out to the roads and gathered together everyone they found, both good and bad, and the wedding hall was filled with guests. It didn’t matter whether the people God’s servants came across seemed like good people or bad people in the eyes of the world—all were invited. The invitation to trust in Jesus went out to everyone—not just those Jewish leaders who rejected Jesus. And the fact that the wedding hall was filled with guests tells us that many people trusted in Jesus as the One promised to deliver perfect satisfaction to his Father so that forgiveness and salvation could come to a world of sinners. Jesus concluded his story with this: But when the king came in to see the guests, he saw a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. He said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without wearing wedding clothes?’ The man was speechless. Then the king told the servants, ‘Tie him hand and foot and throw him into the outer darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ For many are called, but few are chosen.” Even in God’s kingdom—even in his church—it happens that some do not have faith in Christ. Just as the king would have known by the clothes the people were wearing whether they belonged at the banquet (since the custom seems to be that the one throwing the banquet provided special clothes to wear), so it is that God knows who are his and can see who truly trusts in his gracious love and his Son’s sacrifice. I hardly need to mention that the king commanding his servants to toss that person into the outer darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth represents God casting the unbelieving person into the suffering of hell. As I said at the outset, though this story was first addressed to those who confronted Jesus just days before his death and resurrection, the truths are there for us too. Those religious leaders knew that Jesus was targeting them with this parable. Sadly, they didn’t see his grace in telling them the story so that they might have one more chance to recognize their sin in rejecting him and instead put their faith in him as the Messiah. But what will we do with this story?
It is good to remind ourselves that knowing that Jesus is real, even knowing what he says about himself in the words of the Bible, is not the same as faith. Those leaders who rejected Jesus knew him. They understood what he was saying about himself— that he was the Son of God, that he was the promised Messiah who would pay for sin and bring salvation. The problem was they did not believe it! Is it possible that a person—say even you or me—could know those details, but be so disinterested, so consumed with worldly work or interests, that it doesn’t matter that much to us? Could we even end up in such a spiritual state that our “heart” just isn’t in it? Could we know the truths about Jesus, but actually lose our faith in him? The answer is “Yes.” Yes, that can happen to a person. We see in Jesus’ parable that rejection of him doesn’t have to take the form of anger and obstinate opposition; it can be apathy or an “I don’t have time for that” kind of thing. When a person doesn’t make the time for worship, for the study of God’s very words in Scripture, offers little in the way of prayers or praise or offerings or service to the God who has graciously invited them, that is rejection. If there is only a going through the motions of those things, but no heart in it, that too is rejection. If we have been guilty of being preoccupied with life and our own interests at the expense of God’s grace in Jesus, we have the opportunity to repent today. The same is true if we have found ourselves a little disinterested too. As people who know God’s Gracious Invitation, we know that we find forgiveness in the King’s Son. We pray that God’s Holy Spirit would continue to work on our hearts and build us up in our faith by speaking to us as we gather for worship and the study of his Word. We pray that he would strengthen our faith in Jesus as we receive the Lord’s Supper regularly. As God does strengthen our faith, we are eager to be his servants to whom he says: So go to the main crossroads and invite as many as you find to the wedding banquet. We get to tell anyone and everyone—those who seem good to people and those who seem bad—that God is inviting them to know who Jesus is and to trust in him! We get to share the exciting news that their every sin has been paid for, that God wants them to come and celebrate with him for all eternity in heaven! Many are called, but few are chosen, Jesus says. Yes, as we share the Gracious Invitation of the gospel, we know that many will reject it. They actually hate the idea of God and violently oppose him and his message. Or they are simply indifferent to it; they just aren’t interested. But some will believe! And they will look forward to the salvation that comes through faith in Jesus, trusting in the words of Revelation: Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb (19:9), the eternal celebration where Jesus, the Lamb of God, is joined to his bride, the Church! Give thanks to God today that you have received his Gracious Invitation, and that you have the blessed privilege of extending that invitation to others so that the wedding hall will be filled with guests! Amen. Now the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.