Matthew 22:1-14
Jesus is once again speaking in comparison, this time comparing the kingdom of heaven to a wedding feast. A king has prepared a wedding feast for his son and sent his servants to gather the ones who had been invited. But the invited ones start sending their "regrets", coming up with many excuses. The king was angry and destroyed them and burned their city. Having done that, he tells his servants that the feast will go on, but with new invited guests. The servants went out and gathered everyone they could find, good and bad, and brought them in to the wedding hall. But one got in without wedding garments and was cast out by the king himself.
The chief priests and elders question to Jesus "By whose authority are you doing these things?" has opened a can of worms. Jesus is on His 3rd comparison, each one saying essentially the same thing. In this story, God is still the King, and Jesus is still the Son. The Israelites are the first set of invited guests, who do not end up coming to the wedding feast, by their own choice. The prophets are the first set of slaves, and the second set of slaves will be those who take the gospel to the Gentiles-- the new set of invited guests. Jesus is explaining to the crowd that all of the prophecies from the Old Testament are going to be fulfilled in this New Testament. The Law and Old Covenant are not plan A, with Jesus coming on the scene as plan B. The feast has been planned since the beginning, with God and His Son never stepping out of their roles. The only thing that has changed is the guest list. It's not a taking-away of the promise to Israel, because God does not ever turn back from any promise. But the guest list is expanding outside of the old promise and including everyone who would be compelled to come. But there is a dress code to this wedding feast. The garment required is salvation. No one comes to the wedding feast without it.
We should see ourselves as both an invited guest and a servant at this feast. The kindness of the King invites us to repentance. (Romans 2:4) If we accept, we put on the robe of salvation that only Jesus can offer, and we are welcomed to the feast. But we have people to invite, too. We need to go out and compel others to come to this beautiful feast. We invite the "good" and "bad", and let the King sort from there. "I will greatly rejoice in the Lord; my soul shall exult in my God, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation; he has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself like a priest with a beautiful headdress, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels." Isaiah 61:10 I pray we leave the excuses behind and join the party!
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