Parables -
Parable of the Wedding Feast
Matthew 22:1-14
———————————————
Invitations are difficult to pass up, and you might not get another one. Jesus has invited everyone to the banquet and He asks us to invite others.
Among the great number of books authored by C.S. Lewis is the highly provocative The Screwtape Letters. In it the profound Englishman had the devil brief his nephew, Wormwood, on the subtleties and techniques of tempting people. The goal, he counsels, is not wickedness but indifference. Satan cautions his nephew to keep the prospect, the patient, comfortable at all costs. If he should become concerned about anything of importance, encourage him to think about his luncheon plans; not to worry, it could induce indigestion. And then this definitive job description: "I, the devil, will always see to it that there are bad people. Your job, my dear Wormwood, is to provide me with the people who do not care."
Christians have the privilege to help others see what they are missing. A family was visiting a cave in the state of Kentucky. The guide led them through many beautiful and winding subterranean passageways. Suddenly he turned off all the lights and said, "I'm the only one who knows how to get back to the entrance. If I left you here, you'd probably never find your way out. Anyone lost in this cave would no doubt become insane within a week from the oppressive loneliness. Be quiet for a moment and feel the darkness!" The dad will always remember his youngster clutching his arm. After about 30 seconds, someone in the party could endure it no longer and cried out, "Turn on the lights! I'm going crazy now!" The guide laughed, but we'll not soon forget that frightening experience. The dad thought of the "outer darkness" of Hell and shuddered!
Our Father of Heaven still invites others to the wedding feast of salvation. Through the Savior's atonement He has provided the perfect garment of righteousness that every sinner needs. We can avoid the horror of blackness that each doomed soul will experience in Hell.
The core problem is not that we are too passionate about bad things, but that we are not passionate enough about good things.
This is Henry Ward Beecher's epigrammatic and convincing phrase, "The elect are whosoever will; the non-elect are whosoever won't."
Opening Questions — Get Us Thinking:
· What can we do to make Christianity a celebration and still do things “in a fitting and orderly way”?
· How can we express in our daily lives the concept that Christianity is serious but not solemn?
The Parable of the Wedding Banquet—Matthew 22:1-14
1Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying: 2“The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son. 3He 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. 6The rest seized his servants, mistreated them and killed them. 7The 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.9So go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find.’ 10So 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. 12He 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.”
Research Questions — “Dig Deeper” to find God’s Will
1. What is the main point of this parable?
2. Why is the banquet held?
3. What do you learn about those originally invited? What is so surprising about their response?
4. Who did the king eventually invite? Why?
5. What were the two types of responses to the third invitation?
6. What is the problem with one guest (vv. 11-12) What does it mean to be in the king’s presence “without wedding clothes”? Why is this ill-clad guest banished?
7. What warnings did Jesus make to the Jews and the Gentiles in his parables?
8. How do those who have accepted the invitation sometimes make it difficult for others to accept?
9. Share your reaction to the idea that church is a celebration?
Reflective Questions — Live it today.
1. Why do people refuse to come to God’s party (celebration) today?
2. If God’s church is a little bit of heaven on earth, what will heaven itself really be like?
3. Imagine that you are standing outside the door where God’s great party is going on. What sounds do you hear?
4. Finish this sentence. Many Christians are missing God’s party because….
5. How can we have fun at a party whose host has such a wrathful side?
6. What is the relationship between our robes of white received from God and the clothes of Christian virtues which we are to develop in our lives? (Revelation 3:4,5 and Colossians 3:9-12; Romans 13:14)
7. What would happen if we saw a more celebrating atmosphere.
8. What are ways the church excludes others from God’s party, making it a private party? What can you do to help someone else receive an invitation?
No comments:
Post a Comment