"He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused to come."

            Romans 6:11: " …count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus."

 

            I got off to a bit of a rough start in the sermon preparation this week, when I read Klyne Snodgrass's introduction to the parable: "Matthew's version of the Parable of the Wedding Banquet is enough to make any interpreter go weak in the knees."

            Jesus tells three parables aimed at the authorities in the Jerusalem Temple, just before he goes to the cross. These are spoken in the middle of conflict. They act as three mirrors held up to these leaders. They speak to us as well, words of warning, but also of grace and invitation, if we will listen.

            All three deal with people who refuse God's invitation to obey, to follow, and to receive grace. The first concerns two sons, one of whom obeys in word, but not in deed. He agrees to work in the vineyard, but then does not. The second concerns some tenants in a vineyard who act like owners. When the time comes for them to pay the rent, to present a portion of the harvest, they refuse. The third is about a village where the most important people are invited to the wedding of the king's son, but they do not attend because they are too busy with other things.

            All three speak to us of matters of attitude and thinking. When we get lost in pride, or a deluded sense of our own importance, we miss out on our relationship with God.

            So the first parable deals with our inflated sense of ourselves. We obey with words and not deeds. How do we deal with that issue of our intentions and the words we speak verses actual obedience to God, doing his will, working in the vineyard? To me, the primary issue here is accountability. If we have another person, or a small group, where we can actually talk about our walk with the Lord and how we are putting our faith into practice, then we really can live out our convictions. But it is very hard to do it alone.

            The second issue is that of pride; thinking we own the vineyard, when in fact we are tenants. This week at the Midwinter Conference I went to a workshop on stewardship. The leader said that the word "tithe" has changed its meaning in the church over the years. It used to mean 10 percent. A tithe was 10 percent of your income. But now people generally use the word to mean they give regularly, at any level. So, "I tithe" has come to mean, "I put something in the offering plate consistently." Research shows that members of evangelical churches are the most generous givers, and that they give about 2.5% of their income. This is an example of how we tend to feel like owners, rather than renters. In many ways, we give part of what God asks of us.  I think that the way to make the significant spiritual journey from owner thinking to renter thinking is through prayer. That is the journey we are headed toward in the weeks to come.

            This third story is about a wedding banquet, and about people who were too busy to attend. They missed it.

            We approach this last parable with weak knees indeed. R.T. France says the parable is difficult to understand because "its symbolism invades the telling of the story." All along the way there are parts of the story that do not seem to fit. Those who refuse the invitation to the wedding end up killing the messengers. That is extreme. The king then calls in the army and burns their city. After that new guests are invited to the banquet, and yet the dinner is still warm. These all seem extreme and puzzling to us. But there are elements of the story that draw us out of the story to a reality we need to understand. For example, we see that these servants who bring the invitation must be the Old Testament prophets, who were mistreated and even killed. The burning of the city may be Jesus' way of talking about the destruction of the temple and much of Jerusalem, and that will in fact happen in 70 AD. He talks more about that in the next chapters. France says that it is the improbable details of the story that also cause us to focus on application.

            So what does this parable mean?

            Snodgrass points out that banquets or feasts were prominent descriptions of the Kingdom of God throughout the Bible. For instance, in Isaiah 25 we read "On this Mountain the Lord Almighty will prepare a feast of rich food." In describing the banquets it says that God will swallow up death forever, and that He will wipe away every tear.

            Near the end of the book of Revelation we read, "Blessed are those who are invited to the Wedding Supper of the Lamb!" (19:9)

            So the wedding feast in the parable draws us to the fulfillment of God's purposes in his Kingdom. This is not just a wedding; it is the event you do not want to miss.

            The custom in those days was to issue two invitations. The first came in advance of the great event. Invitations were extended, people made preparations and the host knew how much food to prepare. Then, when the feast was almost ready, and the smoke from the barbeque was wafting through the village, the second invitation was given, and there was just enough time for everyone to go home and put on clean clothes for the wedding feast. The wedding actually began with a feast, and then lasted several days. So, in this story, the people had already been invited and they had agreed to come, but at the second invitation – "All is ready" – they refused. The patient king sent out more servants, but this time "they paid no attention." A better translation would be "they just didn't care."

            They were too busy for God's grace. But it's more than that. It's not just that they missed a good party. It is that their choice to ignore the King led to destruction. Jesus is saying to the authorities, "You have ignored the purposes of God, you have rejected the gift of his Son for your salvation; you are going to lose this temple that means so much to you." That is a prophetic word, one not easy to speak.

            For us it is a warning. If you are too busy for God, too busy to pray, too busy to read the Word, too busy to obey, too busy to do his will, then it's not just that you miss out on something very good he has for you, but you are in danger. Busyness leads to distraction and that leads to wandering, and that leads to sin and is consequences.

            So the invitation goes out to the whole town. This certainly reminds us of Jesus, who ate with tax collectors and sinners, who went beyond the righteous and well-born in his invitation. It also speaks to us about how the invitation ever got to us. Where were you when you first heard that God loves you? Where were you when you were invited to grace?

Our revival heritage helps us find that location. So many of the revival hymns were testimony songs and they give us words to express our journeys to the Kingdom:

           "Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me.

           I once was lost, but now am found, was blind, but now I see."

 

           "Out of my bondage, sorrow and night, Jesus, I come; Jesus, I come.

           Into thy freedom, gladness and light, Jesus, I come to Thee."

 

            Those songs help us understand the nature of lostness. They describe the geography of our souls when we were distant, cold towards God, without his love and salvation. They help us to understand that salvation is not about trying to become a good person; it is all about hearing an invitation and responding.

"Jesus, I come to thee."

            But one person did not go home and change into his clean clothes. He came to the feast without a wedding garment. He was disrespectful. He made no preparation for Kingdom living. That must be saying something about responding to the invitation, but continuing to live the old life, even being proud of it. It is a word about the dangers of sin.

            Paul writes in Romans 6, "Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin. How can we live in it any longer?"

           We are invited to the kingdom by the grace of God in Christ. So, each day we prepare our hearts to receive that grace and to live in it. There is no life, no hope, and no promise in the old life.

           Grace leads us home.

           Amen.