This Sunday we are looking at the parable of the wedding banquet, found in Mt 22: 2-14. Andrew (aka “guest-blogger”) is sharing his insights and no-doubt thought provoking ruminations on the text. But, if you are going to be there, lets not let him do all the work, but come having grappled with the text ourselves. Here it is:
The Parable of the Wedding Banquet - Mt 22: 2-14
The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son. He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused to come.
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.’
But they paid no attention and went off—one to his field, another to his business. The rest seized his servants, mistreated them and killed them. The king was enraged. He sent his army and destroyed those murderers and burned their city.
Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to come. Go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find.’ So the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, both good and bad, and the wedding hall was filled with guests.
But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. ‘Friend,’ he asked, ‘how did you get in here without wedding clothes?’ The man was speechless.
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.’
For many are invited, but few are chosen.
Questions for reflection:
As you reflect on the parable and attempt to honestly evaluate yourself, you may like to consider the following questions:
The King initially invites the worthy, the good and the great … but they turn down the invitation. In what ways do you see yourself deserving God’s blessing, but miss His grace?
The invitation is to everyone, the good and the bad, the worthy and the unworthy. Everyone is indiscriminately “in” until they choose to be “out”. What reactions does that kind of generosity provoke in you?
Tags: Parables
“He sent his army and destroyed those murderers and burned their city.”
Is this a merely a metaphor, or would God really do this?
(I just got a new Bible and I love the way it translates some of the titles of God as “The Lord of Heaven’s Armies”.)
Remember when Joshua met an angel, he asked “Whose side are you on?” and the angel was very clear: “Neither”.
In which case, if God is really all-powerful, why would he **require** the israelites to wipe out the canaanites themselves, and why did he disfavour Saul for not finishing the job when they were all-but-annihilated. There is a traditional explanation but most people dont seem to be aware of it.
OOOh that’s a good one. In my humble opinion it’s more to do with faith than God’s ability to kill the enemy himself. It may also be the case that in that instance he wanted the other nations around Israel that it was the people who anihalated (sorry sir, i can’t spell sir
) them. God probably knew the outcome of Saul’s failure and wasn’t a very happy being.
See you sunday
Becky
On the “Neither” thing, I recall reading that that may be a mistranslation, I think the NET bible has something different.
On the city burning thing, I didn’t think it was a metaphor but a graphic warning of what would happen to Jerusalem if it didn’t stop its violent and anti-God ways. History tells us that Rome destroyed the temple and Jerusalem, just as Jesus warned and predicted.
So did God personally destroy Jerusalem? Not sure about that, but he did let the Romans do it!
What is the “traditional explanation” you refer to?
Hi Alistair
I only discovered this recently:
when Ham looked on Noah’s nakedness, he cursed Canaan, Ham’s son.
And Canaan was the father of the Canaanites. The suggestion is that there was some kind of sexual deviancy that began with Ham, and might have been even more apparent in Canaan. Alternatively, an atheist might claim that this story was invented as an excuse for what happened later.
Later it says that God did not send Israel after Canaan until their “wickedness had reached its fullness”. In other words, he wanted to show the world what that stuff leads to: unfaithfulness, all kinds of sexual perversion (consider Lot’s experiences), child-killing (by burning them on an idol to Molech), and also debilitating fear.
Then he wanted Israel to make a total break from that, and was more passionate about that than about Canaan who had made such hell for themselves. (Contoversial, I know. Thats just what I think). Thus even foreign marriages were forbidden. I suspect one of the reasons Canaan were defeated so easily was fear, or a lack of inner security.
In practice, the Israelites didnt quite manage it, and the rest is History.
Ah right, *that* traditional explanation. I had forgotten all about that!
Did Israel really defeat the Canaanites easily? I cursory read of Judges would leave you with that impressions, but apparently (according to an article I read a while ago), reading between the lines through some of the other historical books (Kings?), another picture emerges. I’m not suggesting that Judges is wrong, but merely that perhaps different books of the bible give different historical perspectives. Anyway, kinda off topic now!
Oops: I meant: a cursory read of Joshua. Then compare with Judges etc.
Sorry, that was somewhat off topic.
I feel peeved that I missed some of the earlier discussions. My fault.
The wedding:
Everybody is allowed in, but not everyone comes, and some dont come are not there to share in the King’s happiness.
“For many are invited, but few are chosen”. I sometimes wonder why God doesnt fill me with light and love, and then I realise I choose trivial goals and pastimes instead.
I think the final comment touches the strange relationship we have with God. We have incredibly important choices to make, but he has already chosen. In the story, the King is enraged, but when it comes to God, that doesnt mean he didnt foresee it. Paul says that the Jews were rejected (in human terms: they rejected Christ) so that the gentiles could enter the kingdom, and that after the full number of gentiles have come in, jealousy would finally bring the Jews as a nation back into the Kingdom.
And history tells us that Jerusalem was burned in a huge massacre in 70AD.
Yikes.
This is just a quick opening thought that i will expand on- but could the wedding banquet be a metaphor of the mission field? God invites some people first, but if you don’t go, he chooses others….. Tea time but i will be back! (LOL)
Bye
Continuing on from my last thought- on a full stomache i might add- I don’t have much experiance of the mission field myself, but the idea that the wedding banquet could be a metaphor for the mission field just popped into my head “out of nowhere” so bear with me and please feed back. the rich important people could symbolise those who God has already equiped and might be using in a different area of the field, but calls to go, and if the reply “Oh but i’m already busy doing this.” God might move on to the people standing on street corners, (those he has not yet equiped) and send them.
Then he equipes those who are willing, (lends them a tuxido/ pretty dress if you will) and sends them. (Sorry this is kind of long and very spraffy and badly strung together, but keep reading) The badly dressed man who the owner of the house finds could be the ill equiped- those who don’t follow all of God’s instructions- and the consiquence might be the same? Hows that for a meditation Rupert/ Andrew? Chew over, enjoy, and feed back if you want.
God bless
Interesting thoughts Becky…but I’m not sure about the logical conclusion that God sends those that are not well-equipped for mission to hell!
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