A Prophetic Parable

Psalm of the Day: Psalm 11

Psalm 11 ESV

To the choirmaster. Of David. In the Lord I take refuge; how can you say to my soul, “Flee like a bird to your mountain, for behold, the wicked bend the bow; they have fitted their arrow to the string to shoot in the dark at the upright in heart; if the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?” The Lord is in his holy temple; the Lord’s throne is in heaven; his eyes see, his eyelids test the children of man. The Lord tests the righteous, but his soul hates the wicked and the one who loves violence. Let him rain coals on the wicked; fire and sulfur and a scorching wind shall be the portion of their cup. For the Lord is righteous; he loves righteous deeds; the upright shall behold his face.

Scripture Reading: Hab 1:2-5

Habakkuk 1:2–5 ESV

O Lord, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not hear? Or cry to you “Violence!” and you will not save? Why do you make me see iniquity, and why do you idly look at wrong? Destruction and violence are before me; strife and contention arise. So the law is paralyzed, and justice never goes forth. For the wicked surround the righteous; so justice goes forth perverted. “Look among the nations, and see; wonder and be astounded. For I am doing a work in your days that you would not believe if told.

Sermon:

Good morning Church! I was Glad when they said to me let us go and worship in the house of the Lord!

last week, for those of us who were here and remember back all the way to seven days ago, we looked at two parables that Jesus told to, and about really, the pharisees. There was the parable of the two sons where Jesus showed the Pharisees that their claiming to follow God, but then refusing to repent and listen to John the Baptist and ultimately Jesus showed that they would not inherit the kingdom, rather, Jesus told them, repentant prostitutes and tax collectors would!

The next parable, the parable of the tenants, Jesus described the Pharisees and showed them what wretched holders of God’s promises and really the truth of who he was and what he was doing. And so he told them that the kingdom would be taken away from them.

In both of these parables, Jesus was talking to and about the pharisees. And the Pharisees understood at least that much. Verse 45. Matthew 21:45 “When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they perceived that he was speaking about them.” So Jesus says two parables, and last week I said this, but he gave tow parables that break the “rules” or parables. If parables are supposed to sort of be difficult to understand the full picture, they have layers and that makes them hard to understand. if that is the rule those parables broke them. Well if those two were the exceptions to the rule, then the parable that we are looking at today, the parable of the wedding feast, well it is the proof of those rules. This is a very difficult parable, there is a lot, like a LOT going on here to be unpacked and understood. And even the nature of what is happening here, is difficult.

Whereas the last two parables I called the Gospel parables. Parables that have at the heart a call to hear and respond to the gospel. This parable i would call a prophetic parable. In that Jesus is speaking about what God will do, things that have yet to come or will soon come. Things that have a, we would say an eschatological, a judgmental and last days sort of theme to them. In other words, all the easy stuff in the bible… wrapped in pictures that hide the truth form those not in the kingdom and reveal it to those who will...

And so this morning we are going to tackle this one parable. But even then It will start tricky, because I would argue that there are two distinct halfs or pictures that make up the whole one parable Jesus is showing us. So lets just dive in today. We will start by reading the whole thing and as we read it may God’s word speak to our hearts this morning.

Matthew 22:1–14 ESV

And again Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son, and sent his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding feast, but they would not come. Again he sent other servants, saying, ‘Tell those who are invited, “See, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding feast.” ’ But they paid no attention and went off, one to his farm, another to his business, while the rest seized his servants, treated them shamefully, and killed them. The king was angry, and he sent his troops and destroyed those murderers and burned their city. Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding feast is ready, but those invited were not worthy. Go therefore to the main roads and invite to the wedding feast as many as you find.’ And those servants went out into the roads and gathered all whom they found, both bad and good. So the wedding hall was filled with guests. “But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had no wedding garment. And he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless. Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot and cast him into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ For many are called, but few are chosen.”

These are the words of the Lord for us this morning, let us open with a word of prayer.

Dear Lord we do thank you for today. We thank you for your grace and mercy, for the hope that we have that you will wash us and make us new. That we can celebrate that we are your people bought with the precious blood of the lamb we have now been made a kingdom a nation of priests unto you. We now have hope and new life, not in our own strength and might, but because of the work of Christ. help us to rest in that, rest in your goodness and grace. We pray that you would open our eyes to see what you have done, give us ears to hear all that you have said. Help us to be those people who hear and apply your word, we pray that it would change us and shape us evermore into the image of your son. for it is in his name that we pray. AMEN.

Again, as I noted, i really feel like there are two stories at work in this one. Here it is fairly clear, we had a whole section earlier in Matthew if we remember back of kingdom parables. they all started with “the kingdom of heaven in like” or “the kingdom of heaven may be compared to” and again we have that same formulation. Jesus begins. Matthew 22:2 ““The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son,”

So that it is one parable in that this is all what the kingdom of heaven is like, there is one cohesive point Jesus is making, but In this there are sort of two halves.

The first picture:

So the first picture here will deal with, and we read this, the original invitees to the wedding feast. the ones who got the invitation in the mail, the ones who were asked to RSVP with their plus one. The ones who were originally invited, we have to deal with them first.

the king is having this wedding feast and he proclaims it: we are having this, and no one comes, so he sends his servants and again, no one comes. they ignore him and they even kill his servants. this parable has a lot less patience than the last parable, for he was angry, he sent his troops and he destroyed those murders, verse 7, and he destroyed their city. Then he says something along the lines of “fine, if y’all don’t want to be here we will go find people who will.”. That’s the first picture. the second one, we will get to it, but it will deal with these new guests who are invited.

What is at the heart of this first picture though, what is it dealing with? Well, a whole whole lot, but I would say in particular it is dealing with THE START OF THE CHURCH!

The START OF THE CHURCH

This picture of the master throwing a wedding feast for his son, and those people don’t come, so fine, what you thought you will have, that's not it anymore, instead lets invite people from all around, to just cut to the heart of it, people from every tribe tongue and nation, form everywhere. This is i would say the picture of the church.

Lets break down these pictures. Who is the master, the KING? It is God the father. his son? Jesus christ our Lord! What is this wedding feast, i would argue that as we read through this what is being looked at here is what we would call the great wedding supper of the Lamb In Revelation 19. It is the time when people from ever tribe tongue and nation. It is what all of creation looks forward to and it is our ultimate hope. And I would argue that it is the hope of the people of God, here Jesus showing us the church.

The way this plays out then is like this: The master goes to have this wedding feast, and the scribes the pharisees are refusing to hear and listen to the call to come and celebrate the groom, the Son, Jesus Christ, but they will not pay any attention. Matthew 22:5 “But they paid no attention and went off, one to his farm, another to his business,”

As the church is starting, those who should have been most enraptured with it, those who should have heralded the coming of the king, those who should have been proclaiming “hosanna to the son of David, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord” instead rejected him. They paid no attention. One to his farm one to his business. continuing on to verse 6. Matthew 22:6 “while the rest seized his servants, treated them shamefully, and killed them.” Really these are the two responses of the ones who should have got their letters in the mail as God builds his church. Some pay no attention because they have work to do. They are too busy. YEAH YEAH I hear you with all that “the kingdom of heaven is at hand” stuff, and all that “repent and come to God stuff” but I have work to to do. I am way to busy to celebrate that. There are bills to pay, things to do, really, you are not important enough to make time for. That’s how some respond, it gets worse

The others seize the servants treat them shamefully and kill them. Here again, like in the parable of the tenants, the true heart of the wickedness of those who would reject Christ is shown. these servants are again, like in the last parable are the prophets of God. Those who would be his mouthpieces, the heralds of his message, The ones who proclaim the new covenant and the new covenant people. reaching their loudest and most clear proclamation in the mouth of John the Baptist and the invitees reject and hate and kill these servants. Later Steven would call these pharisees out clearly when he asked them: “Which of the prophets did your fathers NOT kill?”

So here, The first portion of this is, in some ways a very brutal declaration of Jesus, to the pharisees, that the time of the Pharisees and their ways of doing things is ended, it is the time of those who belong to Christ. If you are not going to be a part of this, then you are not going to be a part of all that God is doing. the table is set, the wedding feast is prepared, the lamb has come and when the message goes to those previously invited they reject it. OK. the king was angry, here is why I say this is a fairly brutal way to say this. the king is angry he, verse 7, Matthew 22:7 “The king was angry, and he sent his troops and destroyed those murderers and burned their city.” They are done. They were not worthy verse 8 but what is being done in their place? Here is the beauty. Matthew 22:9-10

Matthew 22:9–10 (ESV)

Go therefore to the main roads and invite to the wedding feast as many as you find.’ And those servants went out into the roads and gathered all whom they found, both bad and good. So the wedding hall was filled with guests.

Here you go, that is the church. It is those who would hear and accept the message, the invitation, both good and bad. People who seem worthy, those are the good, and even those who may seem unworthy, they are invited too. just bring them in. Those servants go out into the roads and they just start proclaiming. There is a feast so you, come, and you come. It is not for the servants to determine who can and should be good enough to enter. Do you have breath in your lungs, well you have officially shown that you have all you need to be invited to this feast.

And I think THIS is important for us to realize as we think through this as the start of the church. If we were to look at the problems that many churches had and have we would see many problems like they had in the church in Corinth, honestly this is why that is such an important book of our bible. And one of their biggest issues (and honestly as i look around at the state of many churches today it is still a HUGE problem..) but one of their biggest issues was they thought the things of the church were only for the important, the well-to-do, the influential, here in our parable, the “GOOD”. But the invitation is for all.

here in this parable, what I would argue pictures the church at its start, and even now, what jesus is emphasizing is the universality of OUR call to go to all people and call them to repent. So we who are his servants must get out into the road and proclaim who Jesus is and what he has done. Gather all we can, proclaim the hope of the Gospel in season and out of season to those who are both good and bad. So that the wedding hall will be filled with guests.

This is the great celebration of all that God has done in Christ jesus. SO may we rejoice and share the good news.

So the wedding hall is filled with guests, no longer the pharisees and their laws and added laws, not filled with the Pharisees and their self-righteousness. Instead here is the wedding hall filled with a rag tag group of good and bad people who have responded to this message: JUST COME TO THE FEAST! That’s a fun description of the church.

Come sit at the marriage supper of the lamb, receive grace and forgiveness and all that is good here. But then we have to wrestle with THE SECOND PICTURE.

The SECOND PICTURE

The second picture I think is a little different. And really a little more difficult.

The king comes and he looks at all the guests. All those good and bad people. he comes and he looks at them and it is wonderful. My son’s wedding feast is full. There is much rejoicing, but wait just one second. What is this guy doing here. here is a man who has no wedding garment.

I invited you to a wedding why are you wearing A t-shirt shorts and flip-flops? This is not a beach wedding, this is a black tie event. So he says to him Matthew 22:12 “And he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless.”

he has no answer or recourse, no excuse, and so Matthew 22:13 “Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot and cast him into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’”

Here i believe Jesus is looking forward, past the founding, past where we are at the building and the living of the church, and all the way to, i see no real other way to read verse 13 with all this weeping and gnashing of teeth than judgement types of language. So what this picture is reveling to us is THE NATURE OF THE CHURCH

The NATURE OF THE CHURCH

When the king sees this man he does not have a wedding garment. That is the central point of action here, that is what starts everything. So, What is going on here? A few levels to this.

One: This man has shown himself as one who came to the feast trying to get for himself. Inside of the church, and this is a difficult to fully understand and adequately express, so here is my beast shot at it. inside of the Church are both those who belong here and those who do not. As we go out calling those who are both good and bad, as we go out calling upon those sinners - broken and lost - to hear the hope of the Gospel, as we go out and proclaim the excellencies of him who saved us, many WILL come. and for many, i would even argue, and I don’t think this is reading too much into this parable, contrary to what some might say the vast majority of those who come and stay at this feast come and are changed. they come and find in him their perfect savior. But there are some who come for other reasons. Maybe it is some family thing. My parents go so i went. Maybe it is because there is food, i mean, we do have potlucks from time to time. Maybe it is just so they can feel better about themselves. Whatever it is there is no spiritual truth and no gospel change underpinning this all. Certainly no fruit that we can see at all. The come without the wedding garment, and so the king says get him out of here

It is the same thought that Jesus gave us in the Sermon on the mount when Jesus says “not everyone who says to me LORD LORD will enter the kingdom of heaven.” They will respond: Didn’t we do all sorts of things in your name, he will say depart from me I never knew you. here is the same picture. I was here, I was at the wedding feast - well you were not dressed in the proper garments, you did not come with the right heart and attitude, i wanted you to come celebrate my son and you used this as a way for a free meal. this is a great warning for all of us.

Just because you can check all the right little boxes. I went to church every Sunday, I read my bible at least once a week, i prayed… well sometimes.... Those who do not come to the wedding feast clothed in the right garments will be cast out. So this leads to what I would say is the most important question: What are the right garments? you know, often when you invite people to church they will ask: well what should i wear? Just so you know my answer to that is clothes, I really don’t care what outward clothes you have on, because what is at stake here is much more important. What are these garments? It is the hope of the gospel, the hope of all of us it is nothing less than being clothed with the righteousness of Christ.

My wedding garments, as I think through and try and approach the wedding supper of the Lamb is not anything in my own strength and might and goodness rather I am clothed with the perfect righteousness of Christ given to me though I was a wretched sinner. What are the right garments to be wearing here? It is Christ, and his goodness. be washed in the blood of the lamb! that is the thought here. When you hear the invitation, hey come to the wedding feast and you ask: well what should I wear? It is not for you in your strength and might to try and work your way in, or pick out your best clothes. It is a free invitation and what is more, Jesus provides your Tux.

This is the heart, these two are the heart of all that is going on in this parable. That the church is being started and rather than the pharisees and their laws and the things that They thought the kingdom of God would be built on Jesus is saying NO, it is built on me. it is built upon the foundation laid by the apostles and prophets with Christ jesus himself being the cornerstone. and it is an invitation to come and dine dressed in the perfect righteousness of Jesus.

the church is built with bricks of people from all over, good and bad who have been washed in the precious blood of the lamb. The wedding fall is filled with guest who proclaim “worthy is the lamb who was slain to receive glory and honor and power and dominion. holy, holy holy is he!” That is what is being started here, but the warning is simple. The pharisees had the kingdom taken from them 21:43 - because they thought that they could do it their way. And the warning here is do not be just like them. They thought they could do it there way and they refused the invitation. But just because you think you responded, don’t think that improper garments will get you in. to push this metaphor a bit. Maybe the wrong garment he is wearing is “being a good person” it is “following all the rules” it is “trusting that a good God would never send a person to Hell” but the truth is this: anyone not clothed in the righteousness of Chrsit will be cast out into the outer darkness to a place with wailing and gnashing of teeth, not my words, but Jesus’.

So that leads us to our sort of ONE PROPHETIC THOUGHT

Our ONE PROPHETIC THOUGHT

as we draw closer to the end of Matthew, Jesus knows his time is up. He knows what is happening. the reason he sent the disciples to get the colt for the triumphal entry is because he knew that this was the last time he was going to Jerusalem. He has been dealing with the pharisees with some harsh borderline brutal words and that is only going to get more clear. And part of the reason that I believe he is doing this, and why he is willing to be so harsh with them is one hopefully harsh words will wake them but really point two is he is saying: what are they going to do to me, KILL ME? knowing that they will do that anyway. And so as he grows closer and the time is drawing shorter the language is being more piercing and clear, and this is seen in the summary thought for both parts of this picture is piercing and clear as well. It is how Jesus ends this passage: MANY ARE CALLED BUT FEW ARE CHOSEN.

MANY ARE CALLED BUT FEW ARE CHOSEN

How do we read through this thought? what is being said here? well we could get theological, but here it is helpful, just look at what happens in this parable. The pharisees are called. and invited and they rejected it. we called and sent servants and you killed THEM and rejected IT. the call went out, but you were not chosen, the kingdom is not for you.

Then we go out to every single persona and every place, come to the wedding feast, come to the wedding feast, in the roads and to all people, it does not matter good bad, the call goes out for many are called, but few are chosen.

but show up to the wedding in the wrong garment you may have heard the call, you may have even started to come, but you showing up in the wrong garment shows that you have not been chosen, for many are called, but few are chosen.

Not everyone gets to heaven, not everyone will be saved. The prophetic thought that runs throughout this whole parable is to hear the call repent and believe the gospel. Don’t take for granted anything less than the blood of Christ. nothing else can save and EVERYTHING will leave you wanting and short. The gospel call goes out to all people, for some it is restoration and healing hope and new life, but for others this call brings only Judgement, for why did you not respond? But here is the truth, many are called, but few are chosen.

Let us pray.