Matthew 22:1-46
Jesus tells a parable that extends the borders of his kingdom; he teaches on taxes and marriage; he riddles the religious leaders; in between all this he sums up all the commandments with a couple of sentences.
I had a dream last night, and couldn’t help but compare it
to the man who was thrown out for not preparing himself for the wedding. The dream went like this: I was eating dinner with a young child at a
nice restaurant. We were enjoying some
shrimp. After the meal was done, I
noticed that she had been eating only the tails and not the meat. The shrimp were large and full of
goodness. I remember feeling that it
was such a shame that all that meat had been wasted.
I began to think of this like that of the wedding feast
written in Matt. 22. In the passage
there are three types of guests and four responses. There are the invited, the called and the
chosen.
Of the first group , “The Invited”, give two responses; The first was of disregard. The KJV says that “They made light of it.”,
and went about their business. The
second response was that of hostility toward the invitation and they were met
with the same fate in the end.1
The second group is the “called”. Anyone that would come was welcome, all walks
of life, regardless of what they had
done in the past.
All are called, but few are chosen. Who is chosen? The chosen were all who prepared
themselves. In the parable given about
the Kingdom of Heaven in Matt: 25, we can see that there are those who are
unprepared for the wedding and are unable to borrow any oil from the other
virgins.
Oil has two uses in the Bible, light and anointing.2 Christ
is the light of the world,3 and the Holy Spirit is the gift we are anointed
with. Coming to Christ involves abiding
in the light.4 We are anointed with the Holy Spirit which leads us into all
truth.5 There is no way to God other
than through Christ.6
You can’t borrow someone else’s faith. You can’t simply come to church because it
was how you were raised. Something has
to take place from within. Why would
anyone even be content with this, unless deep down, they really did not believe
that through Christ we can have life and have it more abundantly.7 It is the same as having no faith. Jesus is the Word 8 and if you do not put
your faith in the Word, then you are not clothed with Christ.
Why was the man not chosen as a guest? The better question might be: Why did he refuse the Wedding Garments? He missed out on the goodness of the gift given. He refused it actually; just like that little
girl, who was content with only shrimp tails, leaving all the goodness of the
meat on the plate.
1 “Put your sword back in its place," Jesus said to
him, "for all who draw the sword will die by the sword.” Matt 26:52
2 “olive oil for the light; spices for the anointing oil and
for the fragrant incense;” Ex 35:8
3. “When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, "I
am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but
will have the light of life." John 8:12
4. “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we
have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us
from all sin.” 1 John 1:7
5. “But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of
you know the truth.” 1 John 2:20
6. “Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the
life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6
7. “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I
have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” John 10:10
8. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with
God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through
him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been
made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all
mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not
overcome it.” John 1: 1-5
Amy Norris
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1 Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying:
2 “The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for
his son. 3 He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet
to tell them to come, but they refused to come.
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.’
5 “But they paid no attention and went off—one to his
field, another to his business. 6 The rest seized his servants, mistreated
them and killed them. 7 The king was enraged. He sent his army and
destroyed those murderers and burned their city.
8 “Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding banquet
is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to come. 9 So go to the
street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find.’ 10 So the
servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find,
the bad as well as the good, and the wedding hall was filled with guests.
11 “But when the king came in to see the guests, he
noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. 12 He asked, ‘How
did you get in here without wedding clothes, friend?’ The man was speechless.
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.”
15 Then the Pharisees went out and laid plans to trap
him in his words. 16 They sent their disciples to him along with the
Herodians. “Teacher,” they said, “we know that you are a man of integrity and
that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. You aren’t swayed
by others, because you pay no attention to who they are. 17 Tell us then,
what is your opinion? Is it right to pay the imperial tax to Caesar or
not?”
18 But Jesus, knowing their evil intent, said, “You
hypocrites, why are you trying to trap me? 19 Show me the coin used for
paying the tax.” They brought him a denarius, 20 and he asked them, “Whose
image is this? And whose inscription?”
21 “Caesar’s,” they replied.
Then he said to them, “So give back to Caesar what is
Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.”
22 When they heard this, they were amazed. So they left
him and went away.
23 That same day the Sadducees, who say there is no
resurrection, came to him with a question. 24 “Teacher,” they said, “Moses
told us that if a man dies without having children, his brother must marry the
widow and raise up offspring for him. 25 Now there were seven brothers
among us. The first one married and died, and since he had no children, he left
his wife to his brother. 26 The same thing happened to the second and
third brother, right on down to the seventh. 27 Finally, the woman died. 28 Now
then, at the resurrection, whose wife will she be of the seven, since all of
them were married to her?”
29 Jesus replied, “You are in error because you do not
know the Scriptures or the power of God. 30 At the resurrection people
will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in
heaven. 31 But about the resurrection of the dead—have you not read what
God said to you, 32 ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the
God of Jacob’? He is not the God of the dead but of the living.”
33 When the crowds heard this, they were astonished at
his teaching.
34 Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the
Pharisees got together. 35 One of them, an expert in the law, tested him
with this question: 36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the
Law?”
37 Jesus replied: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with
all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’
38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like
it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 All the Law and the
Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
41 While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus
asked them, 42 “What do you think about the Messiah? Whose son is he?”
“The son of David,” they replied.
43 He said to them, “How is it then that David,
speaking by the Spirit, calls him ‘Lord’? For he says,
44 “ ‘The Lord said to my Lord:
“Sit at my
right hand
until I put your enemies
under your
feet.” ’
45 If then David calls him ‘Lord,’ how can he be his
son?” 46 No one could say a word in reply, and from that day on no one
dared to ask him any more questions.
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