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spent2102
"Come to the Banquet"
George Michael child
Text: Matthew 22:1-14
Date: The Twenty-First Sunday after Pentecost 
10/13/02
In the beginning, God gave Man "every plant
yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree
with seed in its fruit…for food…and behold, it was very good" [Genesis
1:29, 31 (ESV)]. But, suddenly, apparently, Man decided it was not
good enough. Wanting more…desiring to "be like God;" a fruit forbidden-the
line in the sand, the divide between Divine and human, Creator and
creature was crossed and creation was condemned. Then began the
game: desiring more, there would never be enough. God made Man a
hungry being. But this hunger can only be satisfied with God himself.
To this day, people feed their hunger not with the Creator but with
the creation-and yet they, and we, are always hungry.
God the Lord, from the beginning, had a plan.
He's just like that, you know: not willing for evil to win over
anyone, but to prepare the way and to invite everyone back to his
banquet-the only food that satisfies: himself. Someone once called
this hunger a "God-shaped hole." So, he prepared a people for himself
and fed them. He fed them with the Passover Lamb. He fed them with
Manna and quail in the desert. He fed them with bread and gave them
drink of water and the fruit of the vine to make them glad. He fed
them with his creative Word. This people learned that this God-their
God-does things! He provides for them. And in the providing for
their physical bodies he would provide also for their true hunger-The
Desire for Him.
God gave his Law to lead his people to this
truth. "The whole commandment that I command you today," his prophet
said, "you shall be careful to do, that you may live and multiply,
and go in and possess the land that the Lord swore to give to your
fathers. And you shall remember the whole way that the Lord your
God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might
humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether
you would keep his commandments or not. And he humbled you and let
you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did
your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not
live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from
the mouth of the Lord" [Deuteronomy 8:1-3 (ESV)]. So reiterated
our Lord in the face of temptation in the wilderness where he began
his road to our salvation [Matthew 4:4].
As he actively worked out our salvation, he
spoke about our hunger and how he was the answer, as he said, "This
is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent" [John
6:29 (ESV)]. But what does faith have to do with hunger? He said,
"I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and
whoever believes in me shall never thirst" [John 6:35 (ESV)]. Still,
the hunger and the thirst persists!
The chief priests and Pharisees of the Jews
who were quickly ganging up against Jesus really did know better!
They had prayed time and again the words of the psalm, "The eyes
of all wait upon Thee, and Thou givest them their meat in due season.
Thou openest Thine hand, and satisfiest the desire of every living
thing" [Psalm 145:15-16]. They knew and often rehearsed, read, preached
and heard what Isaiah wrote, celebrating that they have a God who
has a track record of doing amazing "God stuff" for them. They looked
forward to the fulfillment of that mountain feast of choice food
and fine wine in celebration of God swallowing up death and wiping
away tears of mourning [Isaiah 25:6-9 (ESV)]. And this rejoicing
was not in something unexpected, but in something they fully expected-salvation
from sin and death and an eternal banquet of joy. At least, that
is the substance of the faith they had inherited. But now, just
when the Messiah was about to bring all this to fulfillment, they
were bent on casting it all aside. Our parable last Sunday [Matthew
21:33-43] has the year 70 A.D. written all over it, that is, the
vineyard was being taken from them and given to other people when
the Jerusalem temple was destroyed in that year. Matthew tells us
that the chief priests and Pharisees perceived that Jesus was speaking
about them in these parables and, as a result, were seeking to arrest
him.
Just like last Sunday, the point of the parable
before us today is easy to discern for us who know the rest of the
story. "The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave
a wedding feast for his son." The parable concerns how the kingdom
comes to people now. "See, I have prepared my dinner…and everything
is ready." Three times we are told the feast is ready. God has done
everything. All that remains is for people to respond to the invitation
and to come to the banquet. Jesus was reaching out to those who
were first in line to receive the invitation. It is utterly insane
for anyone not to come to the feast of salvation. Yet we read that
those who were invited "would not come." Upon a second attempt to
invite them we read, "they paid no attention and went off, one to
his farm, another to his business." And how many of us consider
the invitation of salvation to be less significant, less important
than our daily tasks and living? But what's worse is, like the last
parable, when God sent prophets with his Word of invitation and
salvation they seized them, "treated them shamefully, and killed
them."
Those who were first on the invitation list
refused. It was only proper protocol that the Jews be first. But
this banquet has always been intended for all, regardless of the
acceptance or rejection of those first-invited. This king wants
people to come to the banquet. He can't help himself. So, regardless
of the refusal of those who were invited first, he tells his servants
to go and randomly invite anybody and everybody with no qualifications,
both the evil and the good. And the wedding hall was filled with
guests.
The kingdom, the reign of heaven begins now.
You don't have to wait until the last day. In fact, you better not,
for that is when the invitation-doors will be shut and you will
be left standing outside. It is clear where this wedding hall is:
in a place like this where the Word of God is preached in its purity
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