
Wedding receptions have been a big deal for a long, long time. Back when our Savior walked this earth, Jewish receptions often lasted one full week! They were hosted at the bridegroom’s home, following a gala procession from the bride’s home to his. Everyone looked forward to them. Which is why Jesus used a wedding reception as a picture of heaven.
However, the wedding reception in Jesus’ parable is no ordinary affair hosted at the Waters of Minocqua or a small-town VFW hall. This is a royal wedding! A king prepared it for his son, and the king instructs the messengers to say, “My oxen and fattened cattle have been butchered, and everything is ready.” Yes! MEAT! Did you notice how that’s the only menu item Jesus itemizes in his parable? Perhaps because the average Jew in Jesus’ day didn’t consume meat on a regular, daily basis. They just couldn’t afford it!
But the king in this parable could! So who wouldn’t drop everything to go? This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!
Who wouldn’t go? The religious dignitaries who listened as Jesus shared this parable on Tuesday of Holy Week. The chief priests and Pharisees hadn’t come to learn from Jesus, but instead they were waiting for the right moment to trap him, capture him, try him, and kill him. So when they “heard his parables, they knew that he was talking about them.” (Matthew 21:45)
Because Jesus knew exactly what these religious leaders were up to, he sighted in God’s Law squarely on them, when he shared how the king’s reception invitations were rejected! “He sent out his servants to summon those who were invited to the wedding banquet, but they did not want to come. “Then he sent out other servants and said, ‘Tell those who are invited: Look, I have prepared my dinner. My oxen and my fattened cattle have been butchered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet!’ “But those who were invited paid no attention and went off, one to his own farm, another to his business. The rest seized the king’s servants, mistreated them, and killed them.” (Matthew 22:3-6)
What does the parable teach us? Although the Lord sent his servants, the prophets, over and over again to invite his people to come to him and be saved, far too many of the Jews rejected the Lord’s message. Some were just too busy with life. They “went off—one to his own farm, another to his business.” Money, power, and possessions—that unholy trinity left no room in their hearts for the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. But others went even further. They mistreated and killed the servants, the prophets, sent out with the wedding invitations. “As a result, the king was very angry. He sent his army and killed those murderers and burned their town.” Matthew 22:7
What happened next? Well, put yourself in the king’s sandals. Your son is getting married. You’ve got the hall decorated. The band is hired and ready to go. And you’ve got all this food. (Including MEAT!) But all your wedding invitations have been rejected. The hall is still empty. Now what? “Then (the king) said to his servants, `The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to come. Go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find. ` So the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, both good and bad, and the wedding hall was filled with guests.’”
This is a picture of our gracious Lord God. He is the one who tells us, his servants, “Go!” Literally, “Keep on going and going and going.” Put the Energizer Bunny to shame in your zeal and energy in proclaiming the message I have given you. Take the Gospel of my Son and keep carrying that Gospel out—beyond the city walls and into the country! Out into all the countries! To all the peoples, whether you think they are good or bad.
Take the Good News of Jesus to the end of the world! (Mark 16:15) Do this with confidence and joy, knowing that the Gospel message will fill God’s wedding hall above! The message of sins washed away completely by the blood of Jesus, the message of pure white wedding attire given to us as God’s gift through Jesus and only Jesus—that message will change hearts and minds and souls for time and for eternity. And the number of those in God’s banquet hall will be so great, it will be just as promised in the vision that the Apostle John was privileged to see. “After these things I looked, and there was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people, and language, standing in front of the throne and of the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and with palm branches in their hands. They called out with a loud voice and said: Salvation comes from our God, who sits on the throne, and from the Lamb.” (Revelation 7:9-10)
There is no way I want to miss this reception! And there is no way you want to miss this reception either! And there’s no need for us to miss it. We have our invitations signed, sealed and delivered—in the blood of Jesus Christ.
So whatever you do, don’t lose your invitation. And when at last I see you at the banquet table, please pass the prime rib. I’ll pass the potatoes.
Privileged to Serve,
Rev. Glenn Schwanke