Matthew 22:1-14: “Jesus Teaches His Disciples The Parable
About The Wedding Feast”
by
1.
INTRO:
1.1.
We are still here in the last week of Jesus’ life, the
Passion Week, and having cleansed from the temple the thieves who were selling animals
for sacrifice and making money exchanges, Jesus is in the temple and continuing
to teach all who will listen
1.2.
In our last study, we saw that Jesus taught two
parables which were for the Pharisees and religious leaders in Jerusalem, and these
parables were parables outlining the judgment that was to come upon them for
not following the Lord and upholding the charge that they had received to be
leaders over God’s people in Israel
1.2.1.
These parables told of the destruction of
1.3.
In this next section of the gospel of Matthew, we see
that Jesus taught the people a parable concerning a Wedding Feast that a king
hosted for his son who was getting married, and then this king sent out his
slaves to call in the ones who had been invited
2.
VS 22:1-7 -
“22:1 And Jesus answered and spoke to them again in parables, saying, 2 “The
kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king, who gave a wedding feast for his
son. 3 “And he sent out his slaves to call those who had been invited to the
wedding feast, and they were unwilling to come. 4 “Again he sent out other
slaves saying, ‘Tell those who have been invited, “Behold, I have prepared my
dinner; my oxen and my fattened livestock are all butchered and everything is
ready; come to the wedding feast.”’ 5 “But they paid no attention and went
their way, one to his own farm, another to his business, 6 and the rest seized
his slaves and mistreated them and killed them. 7 “But the king was enraged and
sent his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and set their city on fire.”
- Jesus teaches a parable about a
Wedding Feast for a prince
2.1.
In Luke 14, Jesus taught a similar parable about a landowner who decided
to host a big dinner and invite any and all to come and celebrate with
him. However, this is a different
parable, for in this parable Jesus says, ‘The kingdom of heaven may be compared
to’, plus this parable is not about just a ‘dinner’, but rather about a
‘wedding feast’, and, the wedding feast is for the son of a king.
2.1.1.
In Luke’s parable there are some similar applications that can be made as
with this parable.
2.2.
In saying that ‘the kingdom of heaven may be compared to’, Jesus is
really saying that this parable is teaching us principles about how the kingdom
of heaven is going to be built or established.
2.3.
When we think about it, the depth of God’s love is revealed to us in that
He chose to condescend to our level to teach us infinite truth through real
life stories that we can relate to on our own level.
2.4.
In this parable we see that this king wanted to honor his son by having
this festive Wedding Feast, and this is of course symbolic of the fact that God
the Father desires to honor His only begotten Son in like fashion, and, to
honor His Son really should be the great goal of our lives as Christians.
2.4.1.
In John 5:22-23, the apostle John quoted Jesus as saying that it was the Father’s desire
to honor the Son, “…but He has given all judgment to the Son, in order
that all may honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor
the Father who sent Him.”
2.4.2.
In Phil. 2:10, we are told that one day every knee shall bow to Jesus and every tongue
shall confess that He is Lord.
2.4.3.
Jesus is raised up to the right hand of God, being seated upon the throne
of heaven now, and as such He is already being honored and worshipped by all of
the angels and creatures before His throne.
2.4.4.
I love all of the choruses that we sing to honor Jesus and His Name, in
all of His glory, majesty and beauty.
2.5.
Spurgeon once spoke about what this Wedding Feast means to
us and what kind of a celebration it is to be, “Observe, then, the generous method by which God honors Christ is set
forth here under the form of a banquet. I noted Matthew Henry’s way of
describing the objects of a feast, and with the alliteration of the Puritans,
he says, “A feast is for love and for laughter, for fullness and for
fellowship.” It is even so with the gospel. It is for love; in the gospel,
sinner, you are invited to be reconciled to God, you are assured that God
forgives your sins, ceases to be angry, and would have you reconciled to him
through his Son. Thus love is established between God and the soul. Then it is
for laughter, for happiness, for joy. Those who come to God in Christ
Jesus, and believe in him, have their hearts filled with overflowing peace,
which calm lake of peace often lifts up itself in waves of joy, which clap
their hands in exultation.”
2.6.
What hindered the king from being able to honor his son was the
unwillingness of the invited guests to attend the Wedding Feast. It wasn’t that they couldn’t make it, it was
that they wouldn’t come.
2.6.1.
Many people refuse God’s loving and gracious off of salvation, to their
own ruin.
2.7.
In this parable, the king sent out his slaves to do the inviting, and
these slaves symbolize John the Baptist, the 12 apostles, and the church in
general, who in the book of Acts went out to the nation of Israel initially,
and then also the Gentiles, calling them to come to salvation through Christ.
2.8.
The ones who had been invited to the wedding feast refers to the Jews who
had already been called to be God’s people and given the promises relating to
the Messiah coming to redeem mankind.
The Jews declined to receive Jesus as their Messiah and come to Him for
salvation.
2.9.
This king was mighty in his power and his kingdom was far-reaching, and
he could have forced the people to come to the Wedding Feast, however if they
did not come of their own free will this would not truly accomplish His purpose
of honoring his son.
2.9.1.
God could have made robots who had no choice but to worship Him and do
His will, however He desired to be volitionally loved by His people, and
therefore He created people with a free will who can choose whether or not to
worship and serve Him. Yet, in doing so
God also knew that tragically many would not choose to worship and serve Him,
and that these ones would be eternally punished for such wicked and sinful
actions.
2.10.
The king told the slaves who
went out to invite people to the wedding feast that they were to tell the
people, ‘“Behold, I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and my
fattened livestock are all butchered and everything is ready; come to the
wedding feast.”’, and this refers to the fact that salvation has already been procured
for us by Christ upon the cross, and the door is unlocked and ready to be
entered for all of those who are willing to come to salvation.
2.11.
Some of those who had been invited ‘paid no attention’ to the invitation,
and they went to their own farms or businesses, but others actually were so
foolish and wicked as to mistreat and to kill the slaves who went making this
invitation to the Wedding Feast. All
refusals to the invitation of a king to such an event are grievous acts of
sedition and rebellion.
2.12.
It is a considered a tremendous insult and affront to refuse the
invitation of a king to an event such as a Wedding Feast, and therefore the
king exacted revenge upon those who refused such a gracious and generous offer
to attend such a prestigious and important royal event. Therefore, to those who refused the
invitation to come to the Wedding Feast and murdered his slaves, the king sent
out his armies and destroyed them and set their city on fire.
2.12.1.The most wicked thing that a
person can do is to refuse the offer of salvation through Jesus, and thus
refusing to receive Christ as your Lord and Savior is the only sin that will
send a person to hell.
2.12.1.1.In Hebrews
10:26-31, the
author (probably the apostle Paul) gave a severe warning to those who had once
claimed to have had a salvation experience with Christ and then later turned
away from Him and began living in sin, writing that it is a terrible sin to
trample under foot the Son of God and regarded that covenant God has extended
to us as being unclean or of no value, “26 For if we go on sinning willfully
after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice
for sins, 27 but a certain terrifying expectation of judgment, and the fury of
a fire which will consume the adversaries. 28 Anyone who has set aside the Law
of Moses dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. 29 How
much severer punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled under
foot the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by
which he was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace? 30 For we know
Him who said, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay.” And again, “The Lord will judge His
people.” 31 It is a terrifying thing to
fall into the hands of the living God.”
3.
VS 22:8 - “8 “Then
he *said to his slaves, ‘The wedding is ready, but those who were invited were
not worthy.”” - The king tells his
slave that the wedding is ready, but the ones who were invited ‘were not
worthy’
3.1.
The worthiness of the ones invited was decided not upon their innate
goodness and works, nor their station and pedigree in the world’s eyes, but
simply upon whether or not they were willing to accept the invitation to come
to the Wedding Feast.
3.1.1.
A person is not saved based upon any innate goodness or righteousness
that they have of their own, but whether or not they are willing to receive the
gift of salvation by faith, and for those who are willing to receive the gift,
the righteousness of Christ is then imputed to them.
4.
VS 22:9-10 - “9
‘Go therefore to the main highways, and as many as you find there, invite to
the wedding feast.’ 10 “And those slaves went out into the streets, and
gathered together all they found, both evil and good; and the wedding hall was
filled with dinner guests.” - The
king commands his slaves to go out into the streets and gather in all who are
willing to come, both evil and good
4.1.
The ones who originally had been invited, the Jews, chose by and large to
ignore the invitation to come to the Jesus as their Messiah and receive
salvation, and therefore the Lord sent out the apostles and brethren of the
early church to all of the corners of the earth to bring to salvation any and
all who would be willing to come.
4.2.
In Luke’s parable of the Great Dinner, the slaves were told to go out and
‘compel’ any and all to come to the dinner.
You see, God greatly desires that all people come to salvation through
His Son.
4.3.
This Wedding Feast was the most precious and important event to occur in
this kingdom, for this event was for ‘the son’ of the king, and therefore the
king had to send out his slaves to go out and compel all who would come, so
that he might be able to fill the banquet hall with guests.
4.3.1.
God gave His only begotten Son to come to earth to undergo the greatest
of humiliation and suffering so that the sins of all mankind might be covered
and salvation be procured for all who would come to salvation. Therefore, it is such an important task for
us His church to be obedient and go out and proclaim to all who will listen the
wonderful news of the ‘Greatest Story Ever Told’, in hopes that as many as
possible shall come to spend eternity with God in heaven.
4.4.
We see that the invitation to come to salvation through Christ went out
both to those who were trying to live a righteous life under God’s Laws and
commandments as wells as to those who were living totally apart from God and
righteousness, even to the vilest of sinners.
4.4.1.
No matter how much a person has sinned, nor how heinous has been the
particular sins he has sinned, Christ will still forgive and give him eternal
life if he comes in repentence and faith to Him to be saved.
4.4.1.1.I believe that even a man as
wicked as Adolph Hitler could have been saved if before he died he had come to
repentence and faith in Christ for salvation.
4.4.1.2.This does not mean that any
man who has committed heinous sins should not and will not receive justice in
the courts of law for those sins he has committed.
4.5.
Finally, now the wedding hall has been filled with guests, for though the
ones originally invited did not come (the Jews), many along the highways and
byways were persuaded to come to the Wedding Feast (and receive salvation).
5.
VS 22:11-14 -
“11 “But when the king came in to look over the dinner guests, he saw there
a man not dressed in wedding clothes, 12 and he *said to him, ‘Friend, how did
you come in here without wedding clothes?’ And he was speechless. 13 “Then the
king said to the servants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, and cast him into the outer
darkness; in that place there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ 14 “For
many are called, but few are chosen.”” -
The king came and looked over the crowd at the Wedding Feast and
discovered a man who had not come wearing wedding clothes
5.1.
Since many who had been invited to this Wedding Feast were poor and
destitute, they would not have been able to afford proper wedding attire
required to attend such a solemn and important celebration, it is believed that
the king actually provided the wedding attire for the guests who came. In fact, I have read that it did on occasion
occur that a king would provide proper clothing for guests invited for some
occasion to his palace.
5.1.1.
This man in these verses came to the Wedding Feast but refused to dress
appropriately, however he came only in appearance for his heart was not to
honor the son nor the king, in fact he was a rebel and an enemy of the kingdom,
for he came to the Wedding Feast not for the reasons for which it was given. He would eat the fine food and enjoy the
entertainment and celebration, however inwardly he was a traitor and he
intended to pay no homage to the son.
5.1.1.1.Spurgeon once preached about how
this man symbolized many of those in the church, “Are there not crowds of people whose union to the church is nothing
better than an insult to God? Custom sways them, and not sincere faith. They
have no regard to the great Head of the church or to the heart-searching God.
They treat church-membership as a trifle, and have no tenderness of heart
touching the matter. They, in effect, say, “The table of the Lord is
contemptible.” “Spots are they in our feasts, feeding themselves without fear.””
5.1.2.
The wedding garments which this man refused to wear actually refer to our
sanctification in Christ.
5.1.2.1.In Isaiah 64:6, Isaiah wrote about how
that all of our righteous deeds are ‘as filthy rags’, “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.”
5.1.2.2.In Zechariah
3:3-5,
Zechariah had a vision, and he saw Joshua there in filthy garments, however the
Lord who had forgiven him clothed him with clean festal garments and a clean
turban, “3 Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments and standing before
the angel. 4 And 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.”
5 Then I said, “Let them put a clean turban on his head.” So they put a clean
turban on his head and clothed him with garments, while the angel of the Lord
was standing by.”
5.1.2.3.In Galatians
3:27, Paul
wrote about how each of us as Christians have clothed ourselves with Christ, “27 For
all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.”
5.1.2.4.In Rev. 19:7-8, a great multitude is
proclaiming the marriage of the Lamb (Christ) to the church has come, and that
the bride has made herself ready, and it says that it ‘was given to her’
clothes to clothe herself in fine linen, “7 “Let us rejoice and be glad and
give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride has
made herself ready.” 8 And 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.””
5.1.2.5.In 1 Cor. 1:30, Paul wrote about the fact
that Christ has become our righteousness, holiness, and sanctification, “30 It is
because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from
God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. ”
5.2.
Here in these verses, the king confronts the man for coming to the
Wedding Feast not wearing wedding garments, and the man knows that he is wrong
and he is therefore ‘speechless’, and this man symbolizes the person who claims
to have had a salvation experience with Christ, and yet he has not gone on to
abide in Christ and live a sanctified life.
5.2.1.
There are many people who claim to be Christians and yet who pay no
attention to knowing or following God’s Word, and they hope and perhaps
erroneously believe that just because they have had some sort of experience
with Christ that they will enter heaven, however the scripture is clear that
without living a sanctified life no one will enter the kingdom of heaven.
5.2.1.1.In Heb. 12:14, the author wrote that we
Christians are to pursue being peacemakers and the sanctification without which
no one will see the Lord (go to heaven), “4 Pursue peace with all men, and the
sanctification without which no one will see the Lord.”
5.2.1.2.In 1 Cor.
6:9-11,
Paul wrote about how that those who continue to habitually live in sins will
not inherit the
5.3.
The man who came to the Wedding Feast and yet cared not to wear proper
attire was a man who heeded the General Call to salvation that goes out to all
men, yet he was a man whom God in His foreknowledge and foreordination had not
chosen to salvation from before the foundation of the world. Therefore, this man’s conversion was
superficial as he had not true remorse and conviction for his sins, and no
washing of regeneration where he had received a new heart, mind, and will from
the Lord which would cause him to worship and follow Christ with all of his
heart. The problem was not that God was
not willing to bring this man to a genuine conversion, it was that the man
himself was not willing to truly humble himself in repentence and believe upon
Christ for salvation.
5.3.1.
We see then the sovereignty of God in electing some to salvation, but
also the sovereignty of man in choosing whether or not to be saved, and in our
finite minds we cannot truly grasp how that both of these concepts could be
true, however this is what we see reflected throughout God’s Word.