Wedding Feast

MEET CO CO THE GOAT

His name was Co Co

Co Co was a goat

who is no longer with us.

Parental discretion is advised

It was around the year Y2K

We visited Grandma in Jamaica.

When Uncle Hambert heard we were coming

he spared no expense

It was a once in a lifetime event.

He moved heaven and earth

made sure we were received well and accommodated

We ate and slept like Kings

Rolled out the red carpet

A LITTLE BACKGROUND:

Our family is from Seaview which is in St Elizabeth

It is the view of the sea that gives it this name.

It’s beautiful in the country.

Red dirt, Mangoes, Coconuts, Avocados for miles

My grandpa was an epic fisherman

The portico was filled with fish scales

He would hike down to the sea

Which took a few hours at least to get there.

Tales of early mornings under the stars by himself

He would hear creepy sounds. and answer back

This nothing to do with the story but I mention it for 2 reasons:

Jamaicans don’t only Bobsled and my Grandpa is Epic

Back to Co Co

My 6 brother’s and sisters were about my son’s age.

The goat was tied up near the house when we got there

Zemrie was into pets and named everything with 2 eyes

Co Co was never supposed to have a name.

2-3 weeks later, no co co to be found

Have you ever had a homemade icy pop?

I went to the freezer to grab one

No icy juice pops just a decapitated goat.

We decided not to tell my siblings

After making the connection this was a Co Co pop

Where there’s a butcher there was bound to be a party.

A Feast prepared for the invited that would fill the house

Kahoot Question # 1

What is a Co Co Pop?

Lets pray

If following along we are reading Matthew 22:1-14

Beginning in V1

Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying:

The definition of a parable is a simple story used to illustrate a moral or spiritual lesson

V2: “The kingdom of heaven is like a king

We find out this King is a father

A KING who did something for His Son.

Kahoot Question # 2

The Kingdom of heaven is like a King who prepared 8 letters a wedding banquet for his son.

This King is God the Father

Anyone who knows the Father knows

He’s old, short fused, grumpy and passive about the existence of His creation

Similar to some of our father’s here on earth.

On the contrary

The first thing I want you to see in this parable is

the action of the Father on behalf of the Son, Servants and Guests.

Action One: The Kingdom Of Heaven is like a King who PREPARED a banquet

I want you to know you serve a God who is prepared for you

In verse 3 we see

the work of the King months before the wedding feast

because at this point of the story the King is making a second trip

to deliver a message to those who had been ______ KAHOOT #3 INVITED

I want you to know this morning that God has a message for you

And that He is inviting.

V3 also reveals

to those whom He invited, the time has arrived

He delivers the message through His servants who he ______ KAHOOT #4 SENT

the message resembles a telegram because it has a 4 letter word KAHOOT #5 COME

Come because its time.

When we speak of matters concerning a wedding feast

We learn in ancient Jewish tradition that only the Father knows the time.

To Fetch His bride

Because the Groom says: I go to prepare a place for you.

Jesus is the Son, He goes to prepare a place for you.

Verse 3 says

He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come,

but they refused to come.

Here’s what the King has done up to this point

PREPARED the banquet

INVITED the guests

SENT servants to tell the guests

COME: It is time

Jewish wedding works

First, the father of the groom made the arrangements for the marriage and paid the bride price.

Second the groom fetches His bride

Third step, the wedding ceremony, to which a few would be invited.

Prior to the wedding ceremony, the bride underwent a ritual immersion for ritual cleansing

The fourth step, the marriage feast, would follow and could last for as many as seven days.

Many more people would be invited to the feast than were to the marriage ceremony.

How did they respond?

They refused. They said, I’m good,

They refused and that’s cool because people refuse stuff all the time.

Sometimes I tell the gym membership no thank you

Sometimes I respectfully decline the shaded sidewalk running right by my house

Sometimes I’m busy, or I just need to get one more thing done then I’ll come

Let me just post this instagram reel real quick

Maybe there isn’t enough space at the wedding

Maybe there isn’t enough food

Maybe I don’t like what’s on the menu

What if I don’t know the bride or groom very well.

Let’s just say I heard a few things about the bride.

Ill send a gift to the registry

Sometimes I make dumb excuses to get out of stuff.

The trick is you have to add a lot of details to sound believable.

What do you tell younger siblings happened to your pet Co Co/

Found a friend. Got married started a Jamaican goat family

Notice the King’s actions in verse 4

Then he sent some more servants and said, ‘Tell those who have been invited that I have prepared my dinner:

My oxen and fattened cattle have been butchered, and everything is ready.

Come to the wedding banquet.’

The King sends servant wave #3 to the same people a second time

What do you call that

Kahoot: Love mercy grace All of the above

This time he gives them details

Gives the 411, the deets, the low down

There’s a free meal involved here

I’ve Butchered my Oxen and fattened cattle so yes There’s enough to go around

and my fattened cattle: I'm giving the best I have to offer

God don’t give that filler stuff they call hamburger at MCD

he gives the ribeye, that Kobe, burnt ends off the brisket baby

The fattened cattle: meaning Been preparing for this meal for some time now

Possibly since the foundations of the world

He’s been thinking about your name placement for a while

Everything is ready meaning “Were right on schedule

Not running late, nothing to hold us up. The butchering is done

Come to the wedding banquet.

Everything on my end to be done has been done

All you have to do is show up

This King really wants them at the Son’s Banquet

God the Father wants you to know that He is not passively pursuing you.

He is not some distant God that might bump into you by chance and

recognize your face from somewhere saying oh you made it

He’s been thinking about you

The King really wants you at the Son’s Wedding Feast

At the second invitation things get worse in verse 5

But they paid no attention and went off—one to his field, another to his business.

They didn’t need or want the Kings substance

The kings food, the kings bounty

They went off to their own farm and business

They had stuff to do

They were busy

Back to the grind

Business as usual

In verse 6 things go from bad to worse.

The rest seized his servants, mistreated them and killed them.

They move from being passively obtuse or busy

To an unsafe threat to the kingdom

They have moved from Hot to luke warm to cold

The King executes judgement in verse 7

V7 The king was enraged. He sent his army and destroyed those murderers and burned their city.

Some believe this to predict the destruction of Jerusalem in ad 70,

it is also said it was primarily the temple that was burned then, not the entire city.

others say still it most likely anticipates the fire of final judgment

V8 Then he said to his servants,

The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to come.

What does one have to do to deserve the Kingdom of God?

The pharisees were good people according to their standards

Upright, looked up to in society.

Kept the law, surely these deserved the Kingdom

Friends, while I may not be a murderer or a Pharisee

I give my time and energy in ways that must merit

At least an extra 5 minutes if I should stumble in late.

Or accidentally leave my garment on the dresser. Right?

V9 So go to the street corners

and invite to the banquet anyone you find.’

Reminiscent of the Gospel preached to all the world beginning Jerusalem Judea to the ends of the earth

10 So the servants went out into the streets and

gathered all the people they could find,

the bad as well as the good,

The pharisees were good people according to their standards

Upright, looked up to in society.

Kept the law, surely these deserved the Kingdom

Friends, while I may not be a murderer or a Pharisee

I give my time and energy in ways that must merit

At least an extra 5 minutes if I should stumble in late.

Or accidentally leave my garment on the dresser. Right?

Also in verse 10 we see a big objective of the King

So the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find

and the wedding hall was filled with guests.

KAHOOT: FILLED What is the objective of the King?

11 “But when the king came in to see the guests,

he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes.

Everyone else from random street corners throughout the city seem to have gotten the memo

He did not come to see who is naughty or nice, good or bad

The King invited them all

He didn’t even come in to see who was not wearing the garment

The verse says he came to see the guests.

It would seem impossible not to have a garment especially if it were provided

This is an unpopular idea because tradition doesn’t mention many cases like this

But this isn’t just any kind of Co Co Pop kind of feast is it?

We need to see if they sell this garment on amazon

because it seems pretty important

Gen 3:21God made garments of skin for adam and His wife and the Lord clothed them

Zechariah 3:4 He spoke and said to those who were standing before him, saying, “Remove the filthy garments from him.” Again he said to him, “See, I have taken your iniquity away from you and will clothe you with festal robes.”

Isaiah 61:10 I will rejoice greatly in the Lord, My soul will exult in my God; For He has clothed me with garments of salvation, He has wrapped me with a robe of righteousness, As a bridegroom decks himself with a garland, And as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.

Isaiah 64:6 For all of us have become like one who is unclean, And all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment; And all of us wither like a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.

Revelation 19:8 It was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean; for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.

Psalm 22:18 They divide my garments among them, And for my clothing they cast lots.

12 He asked, ‘How did you get in here

without wedding clothes, friend?’ The man was speechless.

I asked my Bible class why did He call him friend? Abby said

Another act of mercy, the benefit of the doubt maybe spilled something on it.

Gives him a chance to acknowledge or even ask for one

The man had nothing to say.

No poorly crafted excuses.

I asked my class if it was fair

that he was thrown out because of just his clothes

Tiffany said Yes because

There are only two groups in this story.

Invited Rejecters or Invited Accepted

Whether he was a murderer who survived from the burned city

Whether he was a late comer from the farm

Whether the business man who happened to be doing his business across the street.

He was marked with the group the “invited who rejected the invitation.”

He was a threat to the kingdom

They don’t just shew him away either. Verse 13 says

13 “Then the king told the attendants, ‘Tie him hand and foot, and throw him outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

14 “For many are invited, but few are chosen.”

The king wants to know

who has accepted the invitation

Because those who accepted the invitation

are wearing a garment

Those wearing the garment have accepted the Son

Those who accept the son get the benefits of the son

Those who have the benefits of the Son are covered by the righteousness of the son

So when the King sees you and me

He sees His son

On my good bad or best day

I could never come close to earn

a garment like that on my own

Jesus bought you that garment with his own blood sweat and tears

1Peter 2:24 says

He himself bore our sins in His body on the cross so that we might die to sins and live to righteousness.

This is an established fact and an ongoing process.

Ive been trying to be good all my life

Keep a clear conscience

Trying to be good in my own garments

I ran out of energy, people are messy

their yucky problems get all over my garments

I just need to keep them clean long enough to cross the finish line

pay my tithe, feed the poor

pray for that family member that cant ever seem to get their life together.

avoid the other messy people problems

Spend some time confessing and repenting and go about my day feeling good about myself

Now when I wake up in the morning

I put on the garment

I say thank you father that my condemnation fell on Jesus

That when the father sees me he sees the righteous white robes of His son Jesus

Now When I confess, I confess that Jesus is the Son of God

What I am saying is I cant but you can

I confess I am indifferent to my fellow brother or sister

I cannot bring myself to love them without judging them, but you can in me and through me.

move me to repentance

I no longer have to pretend

to tolerate people because its the “right thing to do”

I can confess that I am hurt and mad as H E double Hockey stick

that it is simply impossible to forgive that person after they violated my trust

I cannot let it go but you can. in me and through me. Move me to repentance.

you will not surprise God.

What are you wearing this morning?

Are you wearing the garment

Gucci chanel, AF1

Them vintage Jordans

Put on the garment wont you?

Its free. Put it on daily, 3 times a day

Set an alarm

So Co Co did not die in vain

Jamaican curry on anything tastes good

you could eat your head if you put curry on it

It was a big party.

Some rando people from the street corners

My Mom and bro separated for a long time celebrated their birthdays together

Although co co tasted delicious

What tasted even sweeter was

The reunion of a family separated by space and time

The reunion of humanity to God through Jesus

Where once we were far away, now have been brought close

By the blood of the lamb

We can be seated at the right hind of the father in Jesus Today

But also quite literally in His presence when we sit at the welcome one of these days

I cant wait.

See you there.