Invitation to Transformation
Kathryn Alban
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Invitation to Transformation (Matthew 22:1-14)
Invitation to Transformation (Matthew 22:1-14)
I have never attempted to preach on this parable before. Because to be honest I never really liked it or understood it. It just seemed harsh and confusing. However, in writing this sermon my mind has been changed to actually find this parable profound.
We are going to go through this parable verse by verse but before we do let me give some context:
This parable was spoken by Jesus in the Temple at Jerusalem during the last week of Jesus’ earthly ministry before his crucifixion. Jesus is speaking this parable to the religous leaders. The same group of People who were plotting to kill him and would succeed in a few days. And Jesus knew this. Up until the very end Jesus was continually trying to get these leaders to open their eyes to the truth…that is the mercy of Christ.
In this parable Jesus again is shining light on the actions of the religous leaders and who they were following in the footsteps of their ancestors who rejected God’s prophets.
Though this parable was spoken so many years ago to the religous leaders it has great application for us today.
So let’s get into it.
In this parable there is
King 👑 🤴 : God, the creator of the universe
Son ✝️: Jesus
🍽 Wedding Feast: Coming of Christ
🗣 Slaves: Prohpets
🙂 Those Invited: Jews
😤Violence: Israel/ Jews rejecting God’s message (Both those rejecting the word of prophets and those rejecting the current word of Jesus)
🔥 destroyed city = fall of Jerusalem in a.d. 70
😊 gathering of good and bad = evangelistic mission of church (gentiles)
⛪️ wedding hall = church
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.
Have you ever planned something and had those invited not show up? In working with Love INC every year we have different programs during the holiday season to provide families with food or gifts for the holiday. Usually how this goes is we have applications that go out and individuals sign up to receive the needed food or Christmas items. Once the application is received we have partners that go into go time mode of preparing the thanksgiving boxes or beautiful Christmas gifts. Some times they are brought in beautifaully wrapped for the children with above and beyond what need to be provided. And as the time get’s close I send out informaiton to all the families with instructions of when to come to get the items. Without fail some do not show up. So again I text, I call, I email…But everyyear there are those who do not show up…and what was once theirs to have we give away to others in need.
Now I always feel a little disappointed becasue of all the time and effort that went into preparing for those who do not end up coming to receive their gifts.
In this parable we have a King who has prepared a wedding feast for his son....and invitations go out but they are ignored!
-Have you ever been involved in preparing a wedding?
If you have you know it takes ALOT of time to prepare....And during this time Weddings were not just a few hour event…weddings would last 7 days!!!
That’s alot of preparation and this was this wedding was being planned not by an ordinary person…BUT by the KING!
So you know this wedding was going to be extravagant. It would have been the event that everyone would be desiring to be invited to and an invitation to this feast would have been an honor!
____Imagine_If someone came and invited you to Prince harry and Meghan’s..wedding (I dont know if you remember this wedding but it was crazy 1.9 billion people watched it and people like:
Elton John
Victoria and David Beckham
Serena Williams
George Clooney
Oprah
you’d be there, for the simple fact that the food would probably be some of the best you have ever tasted!
Yet these invitations go out and what happens “those invited would not come”.
This symbolized God (the King) sending his prophets (servants) to Israel (those invited) and them not listening. 👂
BUT we have a God who is merciful...
Again
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.
Image you saying you couldn’t come to the first invitation of Prince Harry and Meghan’s
wedding and then them sending news again describing what was prepared for YOU.
I mean how unworthy would I be to even receive an invitation let alone getting a second one describing what awaits at this feast...
But these who were invited “paid no attention and went about their day”.
Almost as if they were intitled to this invitation and it meant nothing.
symbolizing how the Israelites still did not change their ways even after being told what God had instore for them.
And symbolizing these religous leaders listening to Jesus who were hearing in real time what God has for them yet choosing to sceme to kill Jesus…not worried about meeting who they claimed to be THEIR GOD, but rather focused on their own selfish desires.
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.
Now the destruction and 🔥 burned city here is a prophecy of the actual destruction that would come to the city of Jerusalem (the city of the jews) 70 AD.
With this great invitation that was given but not accepted by the Jews, the King (God) takes his inviation and extends it to others (the gentiles) and we see this happen in the book of Acts and specifically through the Apostle Paul.
Now does this mean that God’s invitation (or salvation) was not meant for non-jews. No I do not believe so, but God always come first to His people. Those who he had walked with through generations to generations, the people he chose to bring salvation to the rest of the wicked world.
-And here we have that inviation be extended and accepted by the Bad and Good.
This means regardless of their past or weather or not the world deemed them a good person or a bad person. The invitation was extended to them.
Meaning regardless of our background. Our past mistakes, how the world views us. God’s invitation is for us.
So naturally these ordinary people who found themselves on this day invited by THE KING, flouded into the wedding hall. I am assuming very excited to be able to join in such a celebration.
“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.
Illustartion
Here we have the KING’s entrance. Who is taking a look at those who were excited to be in this great wedding hall.
-Now when I first read this parable I didn’t get this. I was just like ok all these people where just pulled from the streets. Where did these wedding garments come from.
…During Jesus time, the garments worn by guests to a wedding were apart of the decoration of the wedding. They were expected to match the atmosphere set forth by the one putting ont he wedding.
THIS IS WHERE IT GETS REALLY GOOD...So here the King must not only have invited these people but had presented them with new wedding garments to put on.
Meaning, this man without garments accepted the invitation but did not let it change him. He remained in his old clothing.
And though maybe he felt like no one noticed, the King brought his unchanging heart to light. Then the man is left speechless when standing in the truth....
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.”
-This always seemed harsh to me and honestly didn’t make much sense until I really studied this parable.
It may seen as though this King is unloving, But let’s look at the facts:
This man did not originally get an invitation
This man was invited undeservingly
This man accepted the invitation (knowing it was the King’s fest for his son and the custom of this time)
This man did not put on the garments offered to Him (which everyone else did)
You ever hear the saying “You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make it drink”.
Here this man had been shown undeserving mercy and acceptance but ultimately was not willing to change. He was not able to take off his old clothes and put on the clothing the reflected the atmosphere the KING was creating.
And due to this, he was thrown back out…into the world from where he came but in the light of the magnificence of this Wedding Hall we see this world resembles hell.
Conclusion:
So how does ALL of this apply to us?
“For many are called, but few are chosen”
You have a choice...
-The inviation is for all, but you are not chosen until you accept this invation and allow it to change you within.
Those who did accept the wedding garments represent those who were called to the banquette (Those who hear the gospel) accepted it (recognize Jesus as Lord and Savior) and put on the wedding garments (allow for their lives to be changed).
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.
For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.
God has called you…Not because some how you deserve it. Cause you don’t, non of us do. But becasue he loved you enough to call you worthy of the invitation into celebration with HIM.
But God doesn’t just stop there. He doesn’t call us and leave us as we are.
His invitation includes transformation.
God wants to make us a part of his decoration he wants us to become a part of who he is and what he portrays.
THE QUESTION IS, HAVE YOU PUT ON HIS CLOTHING OR ARE YOU STILL WALKING AROUND AS YOU USED TO BE.
That is NOT what God wants for you and He will not tolerate luke warm…He will expose it and the time is coming when he will allow for those who choose to cling to their own selfish desires and evil practices to have them.
BUT for those of us who accept this LOve and desire for God to make us new he will transform us and will look upon us with immense love and acceptance.
to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.
