An Invitation from Heaven

Matthew 22:1-14 October 9, 2005

Audio Link: An Invitation From Heaven

Today's Scripture is a story about a wedding banquet. In Jewish marriage custom, the wedding hosts sent out two invitations for a wedding. The first was sent far in advance to let people know that a wedding was being prepared and they were invited. This was necessary because weddings were major events that could last as long as a week. Furthermore, it took time for the replies to come back.

When all the preparations were complete, messengers were sent out with a second invitation telling the guests that the feast was ready and it was time for the celebration to begin. To turn down that second invitation was not merely bad manners, it was considered a rejection of the host family's hospitality, and a complete insult to their dignity.

The banquet is a favorite image for the kingdom of God in Scripture. The king (God) hosts a banquet to celebrate the marriage of his son (the Messiah). The guests are invited to the feast, some of them reject the invitation, some of them don't pay attention to the invitation, and some of them (the people of Israel) even kill the king's servants. The king, infuriated, destroyed the murderers and their city (referring to the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem in AD 70).

In today's parable, the invitees react to their invitation to the wedding banquet in all sorts of puzzling ways. The first group "will not come". We can say that they are non-believers or atheists. They don't want to know what kind of existence follows this earthly life. They are satisfied with this earthly life and think that is all there is to existence. They have no interest in eternal life or in responding to an invitation from the kingdom of God.

The second group "makes light of it" because they are busy with worldly pursuits. After having originally agreed to come, these people refused the last invitation. The meal was ready, the king had made great preparations, but these guests placed a higher priority on their farms and businesses, deciding not to go to the great banquet. Their priority is not salvation or eternal life but life itself. The Messiah had arrived, yet they went about their daily business as if nothing important were happening. In fact, many made light of it and went away.

Another group mistreats and even kills the messengers! God sent Israel an early "invitation" to His son's wedding through the Old Testament Law and prophets. Now that Jesus had arrived, proclaiming the second invitation, the nation was rejected Him. The king's invitation had been refused, even ridiculed and his servants had been killed, so he was enraged. The feast was ready and waiting, but those invited were not worthy.

What can we learn from this parable? It reminds us that the things, which make men deaf to the invitation of Christ, are not necessarily bad in themselves. One man went to his estate; the other to his business. They did not go off on a wild party or an immoral adventure. They went off on the excellent task of efficiently administering their business life. A decision in itself, not bad or wrong, but a poor choice in view of the alternative.

It is very easy for a person to be so busy with the things of this present time that one forgets the things of eternity, to be so preoccupied with the things which are seen that one forgets the things which are unseen, to hear so insistently the claims of the world that one cannot hear the soft invitation of the voice of Christ. The tragedy of life is that it is so often the second bests, which shut out the bests, that it is things that are good in themselves which shut out the things that are great. A man can be so busy making a living that he fails to make a life; he can be so busy with the administration and the organization of life that he forgets life itself.

As Christians, we are pulled in two directions. We all want to go to heaven, but this life also holds great appeal. We are like the youngster in Sunday school who listened intently while the teacher told about the beauties of heaven. She concluded by saying, "Raise your hand if you want to go to heaven." Every hand shot up immediately-except one. "Why don't you want to go to heaven, Johnny?" "Well," he replied, "Mom just baked an apple pie for dinner."

Now, we don't need to feel guilty for having a strong desire to enjoy life. Marriage, a family, a fulfilling job, travel, recreation-these are all needed in our earthly lives. But if the delights of our earthly home are so attractive that we lose sight of God's purpose for putting us here, something's wrong. Too many Christians are mixed up with the things of this world. Thus, their spiritual powers dissolve and they are not able to do anything for God.

When we ask them to do something for God and to be faithful to the church, they tell us that they are too busy. I still remember the impression a bumper sticker gave me that said, "Check your speed, before we do!" This is originally a warning from the police, however I understand this as if God is saying to us, "What makes you so busy? For what are you busy? Check your life's speed, before I intervene in your busy life!" When you are too busy to do something for God, and you are too busy to accept God's invitation, you are busier than God wants you to be.

Let's go back to today's Scripture. The king still wanted to share his banquet, so he ordered his servants to go out into the main streets and invite everyone they found. They did so, bringing both good and bad, meaning the servants didn't discriminate with regard to social standing, reputation, or moral character into the wedding hall for the feast. Even if they were outcasts or sinners, the king invited them. This scene pictures God's gracious invitation to all kinds of people-Jew and Gentile, rich and poor, male and female, good and bad. As the servants gathered all who would respond, so God gives salvation to all who hear and respond. The hall is finally full!

This parable reminds us that God's invitation is the invitation of grace. Those who were gathered in from the highways and the byways had no claim on the king at all; they could never, by any stretch of the imagination, have expected an invitation to the wedding feast, still less could they ever have deserved it. It came to them from nothing other than the wide-armed, openhearted, generous hospitality of the king. It was grace, which offered the invitation, and grace, which gathered men in.

A nominal church member had lived with the philosophy that his good works would be more than enough to get him into Heaven. One night, he dreamed of the Judgment. He was standing behind Mother Teresa. As the saintly nun was called to stand before the Lord, this presumptuous sinner overheard God say, "Teresa, I was really expecting a lot more out of you." Even though Theresa was a famous saint to the people, in God's eyes, her good work was not enough to participate the banquet of the kingdom. This story tells us that we cannot sneak into God's kingdom on our own work. Therefore, today's parable teaches us again that salvation is God's gift.

Now, at the end of this story, Jesus describes a man who had free wedding clothes issued to him. All he needed to do was to accept the grace of the new clothes, but for whatever reason, he chose to wear the clothes of his old life. On that basis, he also chose to live on his own terms. It is no wonder he is thrown out, because the banquet is all about living on God's terms.

The wedding clothes probably refers to clean, fresh clothing. It was unthinkable to come to a wedding banquet in soiled clothes. This would insult the host, who could only assume that the guest was ignorant, had not truly been invited, or was not prepared for the banquet. Think of it this way, it is as if you hosted your son's wedding and then found the best friend of your son, who was designated as the best man, wearing blue jeans instead of a tuxedo. When the king pointed this out, the man was speechless. The man had been invited, but he needed his wedding garment or he would miss out on the banquet. How are we to prepare ourselves to enter the kingdom of God? What does it mean to be "properly dressed" for the occasion?

This parable has nothing to do with the clothes in which we go to church; it has everything to do with the spirit in which we go to God's house. It is profoundly true that church-going must never be a fashion parade. But there are garments of the mind and of the heart and of the soul - the garment of expectation, the garment of humble penitence, the garment of faith, the garment of reverence - and these are the garments without which we ought not to approach God.

Roy McClain tells of a beggar who stopped a lawyer on the street in a large southern city and asked him for a quarter. Taking a long, hard look into the man's unshaven face, the attorney asked, "Don't I know you from somewhere?" "You should," came the reply. "I am your former classmate. Remember, second floor, old Main Hall?" "Why, Sam, of course I know you!" Without further question the lawyer wrote a check for $100. "Here, take this and get a new start. I don't care what's happened in the past, it's the future that counts." And with that he hurried on the street. Tears welled up in the man's eyes as he walked to a bank nearby. Stopping at the door, he saw through the glass the well-dressed tellers and the spotlessly clean interior. Then he looked at his filthy rags. "They will not take this from me. They will swear that I forged it," he muttered as he turned away.

The next day the two men met again. "Why, Sam, what did you do with my check? Gamble it away? Drink it up?" "No, " said the beggar as he pulled it out of his dirty pocket and told why he had not cashed it. "Listen, friend," said the lawyer. "What makes that check good is not your clothes or appearance, but my signature. Go on, cash it!". It is not our appearance or success or failures in life that makes us acceptable to God, it is the grace of Jesus Christ which clothes us with righteousness.

The wedding clothes picture the righteousness needed to enter God's kingdom. Jesus Christ has provided this garment of righteousness for everyone, but each person must put it on; it means accepting Christ's gracious provision of his life given for us, in order that we may enter the king's banquet. There is an open invitation, but we must be ready to wear garments, which only Jesus Christ provides. People at the banquet must wear the garments of righteousness given to us in Jesus Christ.

It is true that the door is open to all men, but when they come they must bring a life that seeks to fit the love that has been given to them. Grace is not only a gift. We must be clothed in a new purity and a new holiness and a new goodness. The door is open for all, but the door will not remain open for the sinner to come in and remain a sinner, but it remains open for the sinner to come and become a forgiven sinner. The one who is not open to change has not truly accepted the spirit of the invitation, for the kingdom of heaven requires a change of heart by those who would reside there.

Through today's parable, Jesus tells us amazing things about the heavenly banquet. God wants us to join him at his banquet, which will last for eternity. That's why He sends us invitations again and again. His last invitation is Jesus Christ.

Have you accepted his last invitation? What is your response to the invitation today? Are you too busy with this life? Do you take the invitation lightly? Will you be wearing the garments of righteousness? We have to remember this fact; many are invited, but few are chosen. Take time now, to reset your priorities and get right with God. RSVP today -"Heavenly Father, I'm coming to Jesus' banquet, and I'm wearing the clothes of righteousness you sent!"

An Invitation from Heaven

An Invitation From Heaven - Sermons On-line - Reverend KyungMo Koo