The Parable of the Wedding Feast

Matthew 22:1-14

What would you do if you were invited to the royal wedding banquet? A special courier arrives at your door, specifically sent to you to deliver the invitation. You open your door and he tells you the good news. After your initial shock, you open the golden envelope and slowly slide from it the perfumed invitation card. Yes. Your full name, hand written in illuminated calligraphy, like something from the Book of Kells, visually pops amidst intricate patterns of roses, jewels, and grape vines interwoven about the border. You read that the King himself requests your presence. He has chosen you. There is no need to select whether you will take the chicken or the vegetarian dinner. The king has sacrificed his herd for the feast. He desires to share his delight with you. This will be the celebration of all celebrations! What do you do? How do you respond? How can you say anything but NO!?

Well, of course, if you are a chief priest or elder, you flatly refuse. You’ve got to get busy. This is your chance, the opportunity that you have been waiting for! The King will send himself to the poor house with such a sacrifice. Crazy. He sacrificed his wealth for his guests. You inform the messenger that you are not able to come. You suddenly have other business, like fattening your own herd, becoming the richest man in the kingdom. Self-reliant. Who cares about the feast and the fairy tale, you tell yourself. You laugh at the king’s sentimental folly. Your imagination reels not on the wedding, but on the dream that you will make yourself king. The messenger standing in front of you pleads for you to reconsider. “Sir, the feast is ready and I will provide you safe escort to the wedding.” Hmm. A loose end. If the messenger returns without me, the king will become wise to his new rival. Rival. You think about this briefly. No, I am not the king’s rival, he has always been mine. You make sure your would be escort never ever returns. Others invited do the same and strangely there are few wedding guests. The rebellion was obvious. And the king’s justice that followed was complete.

The king then sends out his messengers to the entire country, inviting everyone and anyone. The sacrifice of his herd was huge there would be plenty for everyone. Surely there are some that would come to the wedding, the greatest meal of all history! (gesture to the altar table).

Many did come.

Wow. The royal wedding! Me meeting the prince! I scrambled to be my best. What an opportunity! I plunged into the bath, scrubbed, and emerged deep cleaned. Donning my Sunday best, I did the same for my family. We were so happy for the king. What a joy to be invited. Who was I to be known by him and my company desired?! At the castle, we were introduced as royalty at the blast of the trumpet. I surveyed a sea of beauty and elegance. Everyone dressed extravagantly, in the king’s fashion, for the occasion.

Yet there was that one man. He had come, dirty and unpresentable, even bored with the wedding. Perhaps he just came for the meal, or maybe hoping to not be caught in the quash of the earlier revolt. The king called him “friend” and asked why he was not dressed for the occasion. I felt sure that the king would have given him his own regal robe if the man said he was poor and had nothing. But the man stood silent and shrugged with a disinterested half smile while glancing both at the food and the doorway. He was thrown out of the banquet hall.

Thank you for coming today to the greatest wedding feast of all history. It is true. The Great King has sacrificed all that he had so that you will have more than enough to eat at the table today. His Highest takes great joy in that you plunged into the waters of baptism to become clean, for the painstaking persistent scrubbing, the care you have for your soul, for washing your garments in the blood of the lamb to make them white as snow, for already coming as a family. You have decided he is not your rival. You are not about yourself. Your delight is his delight. The prince has captivated your eyes and you have robed yourself in humility, sacrifice, forgiveness, and love to match him. You are not guests. This is your wedding. You are the bride. Happily ever after for eternity.